U.S. Treasury chief reports progress on trade talks

BARI, Italy — U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Saturday that major trading partners are “much more comfortable” with the Trump administration’s stance on trade and tax policy and understand that they will benefit from the intended U.S. growth.

Mnuchin spoke after face-toface meetings with major trade partners such as Germany, Japan and Canada on the sidelines of the Group of Seven finance ministers’ meeting in Bari, Italy.

The meeting focused on finance and security issues such as keeping multinationals from dodging taxes and a collective response to cybercrime like the ransomware attack that hit dozens of countries Friday.

A broader theme not on the written agenda, however, was the desire of foreign leaders to get a better read on Trump’s policies, and U.S. officials’ desire to make their positions clear. Trump has vowed to press for trade that is fair as well as open and benefits U.S. workers and has focused on bilateral, or country-to-country, relations.

Mnuchin said that after meetings in Bari and a broader finance summit in Baden-Baden, Germany in March, “people feel a level of comfort” in understanding the Trump administration policies. He said counterparts understand that “we don’t want to be protectionist, but we reserve our right to be protectionist to the extent we believe trade is not free and fair.”

One partner openly pushing back was Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau, who rejected as “baseless” duties the U.S. imposed on some Canadian lumber imports. Still, both he and Mnuchin stressed how important the U.S.-Canada trade relationship is to both economies. A Canadian ministry statement called it a “productive discussion” and that Canada committed to working out a durable solution.