Trump seeks to expand trade policy

Talks were formally launched with the EU, Britain and Japan

The Trump administration formally launched trade talks with the European Union, Britain and Japan on Tuesday as the president looks to expand his “America First” trade policy.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer sent Congress three letters Tuesday notifying lawmakers that Trump and his team are going to negotiate trade deals with those governments. The move was widely expected — Trump has been discussing trade with EU, British and Japanese leaders for months. But giving notice to Congress signals an intent to make wide-ranging free-trade agreements with those countries and a commitment to keep pursuing deals around the globe even as Trump escalates his fight with China.

The aim is to “address both tariff and non-tariff barriers to achieve fairer, more balanced trade,” Lighthizer said in the letter.

Trump says the United States has been taken advantage of by its trading partners and that tough tactics, including tariffs, will bring other nations to the negotiating table. He has been emboldened to continue his trade agenda and tactics after finalizing a new trade agreement with Canada and Mexico last month.

If Trump can reach a deal with Japan, it would mark the first free-trade deal between the world’s largest and thirdlargest economies. Under President Barack Obama, Japan and the U.S. attempted to finalize the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, but Trump pulled the U.S. out of the TPP in his first week in office. Japan agreed to commence talks for a bilateral trade deal with the U.S. at the end of September.

Obama also tried to finish a major trade deal with the EU before leaving office, but it was not completed. U.S. trade with the EU supports 2.6 million American jobs, according to the Commerce Department.

Trump has slapped tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the EU, Britain and Japan, and has threatened to put tariffs on car imports. Germany and Japan are both major players in the U.S. auto market.

Trump says he is using the tariffs to get leverage in the trade negotiations, but the affected nations see them as an affront to their long friendship with the U.S. French President Emmanuel Macron went as far as to say Europe will not negotiate “with a gun at our head.”

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross met with European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström this week as the two sides try to advance trade talks.