‘Trump mulls trade order that may lead to additional duties’

WASHINGTON: United States President Donald Trump was considering an executive order to launch a trade investigation that could lead to supplemental duties in certain product categories, said a Trump administration official.

Trump has made reducing US trade deficits a key focus of his economic agenda to try to grow American manufacturing jobs. He has taken particular aim at renegotiating trade relationships with

China and Mexico.

The new order, if issued, would seek to determine whether US trade deficits for those product lines were the result of dumping of imported products below cost and unfair subsidies by foreign governments, said the official.

That could eventually lead to additional import duties, but any decisions on such punishments would depend on the probe’s findings, not “pre-determined conclusions”, said the official.

The official did not specify which product lines could be investigated.

“The administration would use the results of that investigation to determine the best path forward, which could include everything from no action at all to the levying of supplemental duties.”

The Axios news website earlier quoted an official saying such an executive order would likely target steel and aluminiumand household appliances.

It will be separate from a March 31 Trump order authorising a 90day Commerce Department study of trade abuses and their effect on US trade deficits.

News on the additional order comes two days after Trump’s first meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Florida.

US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Trump’s nominee to be the top US trade negotiator, Robert Lighthizer, have said they would work to find new trade remedies to stop unfairly traded imports. Reuters

The administration would use the results of that investigation to determine the best path forward, which could include everything from no action at all to the levying of supplemental duties.