Trump administration rejects free trade statement
BADEN-BADEN, Germany — The Trump administration on Saturday rejected a statement from other leading economies that warned against the perils of trade protectionism, the latest sign of how the administration’s more combative approach to diplomacy could create rifts with U.S. allies and leave traditional partners in the dark about the direction of U.S. policy.
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, appearing at a gathering of economic ministers and central bankers from the 20 largest economies, rebuffed multiple entreaties from German officials to include in the meeting’s joint statement language stressing the importance of free trade and that it should be conducted in a “rules based” manner, following existing standards and agreements.
By rejecting language that would have said the United States is opposed to protectionism, the White House sent a clear signal that it would not accept existing trade norms and could pursue a more antagonistic approach with trading partners around the world. Such language has been considered ordinary and uncontroversial in recent meetings of the Group of 20.
“I understand what the president’s desire is and his policies and I negotiated them from here, and we couldn’t be happier with the outcome,” Mnuchin said at a news conference Saturday.
Trump made opposition to free trade a cornerstone of his presidential campaign and pulled the United States out of a sweeping Asia trade
deal shortly after taking office, but has not yet followed up with other concrete steps to revamp the terms of America’s economic relationship with the world. He has threatened tariffs and other measures to correct what he says are other countries’ unfair advantages in their trade relationships with the United States, mostly taking aim at China and Mexico.
For many years, the United States has been the country rallying other nations to the cause of free trade and common language in the communiques that follow meetings of economic ministers and central banks. Several European officials and one former U.S. official who had attended past G-20 meetings said it was the first time the United States had blocked such an effort.
The move follows new strains in the U.S. relationship with Britain and Germany, traditionally two of America’s most steadfast allies.
The White House on Friday cited an uncorroborated Fox News report to accuse a British spy agency of surveilling him — an accusation the agency said was baseless.
Then Trump launched a pair of tweets Saturday morning accusing Germany of failing to fulfill its obligations after several negative headlines about his meeting Friday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Washington.
“Despite what you have heard from the FAKE NEWS, I had a GREAT meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel,” Trump said on Twitter. “Nevertheless, Germany owes vast sums of money to NATO & the United States must be paid more for the powerful, and very expensive, defense it provides to Germany!”
Germany does not owe vast sums of money to NATO, the defense alliance. Member nations are expected to spend 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense spending, but Germany only spends 1.2 percent. It’s unclear what Trump is referring to when he says the United States must be paid more for its defense of Germany, which hosts a major U.S. Air Force base.
German economic officials spoke Saturday in BadenBaden about the same time Trump sent the accusatory tweets.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said the United States was at an “impasse” with others about what they should say on trade protectionism, so they decided to say nothing at all. He also accused the Trump administration of not having a firm view on what it was seeking in terms of a trade policy.