US sets new trade talks with EU, Japan, Britain

washington — US officials have announced negotiations for separate trade agreements with Britain, the European Union and Japan as part of efforts by President Donald Trump’s administration to rebalance global commerce.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the administration notified Congress of its intent to negotiate the three separate trade agreements.

“We are committed to concluding these negotiations with timely and substantive results for American workers, farmers, ranchers and businesses,” Lighthizer said in a statement.

The move follows the Trump administration’s renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, and its push to correct what Trump maintains is an unbalanced trade picture.

In the notifications to Congress on Japan and the EU, Lighthizer cited “chronic US trade imbalances” and said US exporters have been long “challenged” by tariff and non-tariff barriers in Japan and in Europe.

The goal, he said, is to achieve “fairer, more balanced” trade with the US partners.

Lighthizer said the US would seek a trade agreement with Britain as soon as it exits the European Union in 2019.

The letter to Congress said Washington would aim to address tariff and non-tariff barriers and achieve “free, fair and reciprocal trade” with the United Kingdom.

Trump has been playing hardball with US trading partners, using tariffs and threats in an effort to boost American exports and curb the longstanding deficit in merchandise trade, despite warnings from many lawmakers and the International Monetary Fund.

In May, the president had ordered the Commerce Department to investigate the possibility of imposing tariffs of up to 25 per cent on foreign autos and auto parts, a prospect that alarmed the industry and could have serious repercussions for Japan and Europe.

“We need to work together to resolve the current trade disputes,” IMF chief Christine Lagarde said at an IMF and World Bank gathering in Bali.