President talks tough about trade
TRUMP’S 100-DAY MARK
Reporter Trump at the White House. Yesterday he headed for one of the states that was key to his election victory PRESIDENT Donald Trump spent his 100th day in office talking tough on trade in one of the states that delivered his unlikely win.
The president signed an executive order yesterday that will direct his Commerce Department and the US Trade Representative to perform a comprehensive study of the nation’s trade agreements to determine whether America is being treated fairly by its trading partners and the 164-nation World Trade Organisation (WTO).
It was one of two executive orders the president signed at a shovel factory in Pennsylvania’s Cumberland County, the kind of place that propelled his surprise victory.
The last week has been a frenzy of activity at the White House as Mr Trump and his team have tried to rack up accomplishments and make good on campaign promises before reaching the symbolic 100-day mark. In addition to the visit to the Ames tool factory, which has been manufacturing shovels since 1774, the president held one of his signature campaign rallies in Harrisburg to cap the occasion.
It is a return to fundamentals for a president who has, in recent days, sounded wistful reflecting on his term so far.
Earlier this week, Mr Trump announced his intention to work to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement. He also said he would begin renegotiating a free trade deal with South Korea, with which the US has a significant trade deficit.
“There isn’t a day that goes by that the president doesn’t discuss some aspect of trade,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said at the White House on Friday.
The executive orders signed yesterday are Mr Trump’s 31st and 32nd since taking office - the most of any president in his first 100 days since the Second World War.
It’s a jarring disconnect from Mr Trump’s rhetoric during the campaign, when he railed against his predecessor’s use of the tool, which has the benefit of not needing congressional sign-off.
The more significant of the two orders gives the Commerce Department and the US Trade Representative 180 days to identify violations and abuses under the country’s trade agreements and recommend solutions.
Mr Ross said the WTO, the Genevabased arbiter of world trade rules, is bureaucratic and outdated and needs an overhaul.
Mr Ross downplayed the possibility that the United States would consider leaving the organisation but did not rule it out.
The administration argues that unfair competition with China and other trade partners has wiped out millions of US factory jobs. Mr Ross said dissatisfaction with trade policy is one reason voters turned to Mr Trump.
“They’re fed up with having their jobs go offshore. They’re fed up with some of the destructive practices,” he said. “So in effect, the country said in this last election: It’s about time to fix these things. And the president heard that message.”