A YEAR OF ‘AMERICA FIRST’ MOVES
ThE US haS wiThdrawn or iS rEnEgoTiaTing TErmS oF major agrEEmEnTS
President Donald Trump sparked fears of a trade war and sent markets reeling on Thursday when he announced steep new tariffs on imports of steel and aluminium.
The move to protect American industry from unfair trade practices was the latest salvo in Trump’s “America First” trade agenda.
Below are his other major trade policy steps since taking office last year.
Making good on a campaign pledge, Trump on his first full day in office withdrew from the 12-member trade pact negotiated by his predecessor.
He said the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) — which has yet to take effect but has been signed by participating nations — left the United States exposed to unfair competition and was a bad deal. Trump’s election opponent, Hillary Clinton, also opposed the deal.
But a year after taking office — after the 11 other members signaled they would press ahead with or without Washington — Trump struck a different tone, suggesting he would be open joining again if the United States won unspecified changes.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said this week that highlevel talks on this subject had begun, although other trade issues take precedence. “I’ve met with several of my counterparts and other people who’ve begun to have high level conversations on TPP,” he said. “It’s not a priority at the moment but it’s something the president will consider.”
After denouncing the 24-yearold North American Free Trade Agreement as a “disaster” and the “worst trade deal maybe ever,” Trump last year called for the pact to be renegotiated, but stopped short of withdrawing.
Delegates from Washington, Ottawa and Mexico City are currently attempting to retool the deal, but they have hit some serious stumbling blocks and the talks have been acrimonious in recent months.
Mexico and Canada oppose the American demand for higher requirements for US-made content in automobiles and the elimination of an important trade dispute mechanism.
The future of the agreement, which has seen sharp growth in trade but painful changes for certain industries, remains uncertain. Like NAFTA, Trump said the agreement with Korea, the sixthlargest US trading partner, is a “horrible” deal that should be renegotiated or scrapped entirely.
US and South Korean officials are currently in talks to revamp the 2012 pact, known as KORUS, which is now one of the only trade pacts still standing in the Pacific region since Trump withdrew from TPP. The Trump administration has ramped up efforts to clamp down on dumping and unfair subsidies of foreign goods sold in the US market. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross says he has doubled the cases compared to the prior administration. This has meant a steady drum beat of announcements of tariffs on goods from Chinese aluminum foil to Spanish olives to Vietnamese tool chests.
But even if the number of cases has increased, the estimated annual value of the imports involved is in line with actions taken in prior years, since the Trump administration has focused on smallerticket items, like Chinese cartonclosing staples and Sri Lankan rubber bands. The White House suffered a major loss last month when the independent US International Trade Commission blocked efforts to impose tariffs on about $5 billion in mid-size aircraft manufactured by Canada’s Bombardier. Trump last month slapped tariffs of up to 30 per cent on imports of solar panels over four years, and up to 50 per cent on washing machines over three years, saying foreign-made goods had left US producers hanging by a thread.
The move largely impacted China and South Korea and again raised hackles among major industry players. The solar industry itself claimed the move would cause a “crisis” and cost thousands of jobs and billions in investment. — AFP
I’ve met with several of my counterparts and other people who’ve begun to have high level conversations on TPP Steven Mnuchin if all countries followed the example of the United States, this will undoubtedly result in a serious impact on the international trade order