Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Trump has stern message on trade
Trump touts 1-on-1 deals as 11 nations say TPP will go on
The president tells Pacific Rim nations the United States won’t be taken advantage of any longer.
DA NANG, Vietnam — President Donald Trump on Friday delivered a stern message to a group of Pacific Rim nations eager for signs of the United States’ continued engagement and economic leadership in the region: America First.
“We are not going to let the United States be taken advantage of anymore,” Trump told an audience of business leaders assembled in Vietnam for the AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation summit, which annually gathers leaders from across the region and around the world to discuss trade and development.
“I am always going to put America first the same way that I expect all of you in this room to put your countries first.”
Though the president began with fulsome praise, citing individual countries by name for their economic and social progress, he soon segued to the kind of speech he often delivers to rowdy American arenas full of supporters — railing against unfair trade practices, closed factories and Chinese economic aggression.
Unlike at those rallies, at this seaside conference where business and government leaders are trying to salvage a Pacific nations trade deal that Trump derailed, the American president received scattered applause, even as many in the crowd stood to snap pictures at the start of the half-hour speech.
At a couple points, Trump paused to express his disappointment at the restrained reactions.
“Not too many people here are from Thailand,” he said when his warm words about the country were met with silence.
Hours after he complained that “while we lowered market barriers, other countries didn’t open their markets to us,” trade ministers from 11 Pacific Rim countries said they reached a deal Saturday to proceed with the Trans Pacific Partnership deal that Trump pulled the U.S. out of earlier this year.
“Ministers are pleased to announce that they have agreed on the core elements of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership,” the 11 nations said.
After days of conciliatory talk during his visit to Beijing, Trump offered harsher criticism of China than he had publicly in that country.
He also spoke against countries that use “government-run industrial planning and state-owned enterprises” and engage in “product dumping, subsidized goods, currency manipulation and predatory industrial policies,” echoing critiques from his campaign speeches.
“They ignored the rules to gain advantage over those who followed the rules, causing enormous distortions in commerce and threatening the foundations of international trade itself,” he said.
The tough critique contrasted with Trump’s rhetoric in China leading up to Friday’s speech, when he he sought to build a warm personal bond with President Xi Jinping.
“I do not blame China or any other country, of which there are many, for taking advantage of the United States on trade,” Trump said. “If their representatives are able to get away with it, they are just doing their jobs.”
“I wish previous administrations in my country saw what was happening and did something about it,” he said. “They did not, but I will.”
The remarks on China injected added tension at the conference. Trump’s speech was followed by an address from Xi, who celebrated globalization and open markets. Since Trump’s rejection of the TPP, Xi has aggressively courted Asian trading partners, seeking to fill the leadership void.
Xi’s message was nothing less than a rebuttal of Trump’s nationalism and protectionism.
“We should continue to foster an open economy that benefits all,” Xi said. “Openness brings progress, while self-seclusion leaves one behind.”
Trump’s speech was one of two major addresses he has delivered on his 13-day, five-nation tour. The first, in Seoul, focused on security and the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear program.
Friday’s speech was intended to outline Trump’s economic agenda and the principle of a “free and open Indo-Pacific,” a term his administration has begun promoting to bring India into the regional alliances to help balance China’s growing power.
Trump withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership soon after taking office. President Barack Obama, picking up from President George W. Bush’s efforts, had brokered that agreement in part to counter China and assert America’s place as a power in the region.
It was supported by many of the Asian allies Trump is visiting and addressing on his trip, and they have been apprehensive about U.S. intentions since he was elected, given his nationalist and anti-globalist platform.
Trump said the U.S. would remain an important regional player but on far different terms than under Obama and other recent predecessors.
He said the U.S. would instead forge bilateral trade agreements with individual countries “that will abide by the principles of fair and reciprocal trade, while resisting multilateral agreements that tie our hands, surrender our sovereignty and make meaningful enforcement practically impossible.”