A June 20 meeting of President Donald Trump, Republican lawmakers and other administration officials ended without any commitment to kill language in the Senate-passed version of the fiscal year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 5515) that would revise a recently lifted Department of Commerce ban on U.S. companies selling telecom software and equipment to ZTE, said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, and others. The Senate voted 85-10 June 18 to pass H.R. 5515 with the ZTE provision intact, despite Trump's push to weaken the language or kill it completely (see 1806190018). Trump “wanted to make sure the negotiation that [Secretary of Commerce Wilbur] Ross had with the Chinese over the ZTE matter was understood and it was respected, and particularly given the fact the president is negotiating with China over things like North Korea,” Cornyn told reporters. “I think there’s a path forward to address the president’s concerns as well as national security.” Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., a critic of the bid to reinstate the ban, said the meeting ended with participants making “serious strides in solving the ZTE issues.” Trump “should not have his hands tied as he engages in major negotiations dealing with trade and the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” Perdue said in a statement. That bill gives Commerce discretion on interpreting the timing of ZTE's violations.

President Donald Trump will terminate NAFTA and start over if Mexico and Canada do not agree to change their ways, he said in a June 19 speech. Trump, who was speaking to the small business association National Federation of Independent Business, pivoted to NAFTA after complaining that Mexico does not prevent Central Americans from traveling to the U.S. to seek asylum. "They do nothing for us, and I see it through NAFTA," he said of Mexico. "I see with $100 billion-plus that they make on trade through NAFTA -- one of the worst deals ever made by this country. A disaster." Trump acknowledged that people ask him not to terminate NAFTA, and he said he tells them, "But it's no good." He said they respond: "Yeah, but we know what we have." The audience laughed.

Nearly 60 trade groups asked Congress to hold hearings on the president's use of tariffs and quotas on allies, and to consider "whether amendments to existing delegations of authority are necessary to clarify Congress’ important role in the execution of the nation’s trade policy." The letter, sent June 18, also praised Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, for scheduling such a hearing for June 20.

White House trade policy adviser Peter Navarro said the list of Chinese products that could be subject to 25 percent tariffs will be a subset of the original list of 1,300 products released in April (see 1804040019). Whether the Section 301 tariffs come to bear against those products will be up to the president to decide, he said while speaking at an event hosted by The Wall Street Journal on June 12. The administration has said the tariff list would be released this week.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed to raise tariffs on longtime allies because, in his view, they have ripped off America. But at a post-G-7 press conference, he laid out the consequence if they don't drop their tariffs to the same level as the U.S. "It's going to change. They have no choice. If it's not going to change, we're not going to trade with them," he said. He listed Canada, the European Union -- which he called "brutal" -- and India as offenders that could be barred from exporting to the U.S.

President Donald Trump blasted allies' trade practices just before heading to the G-7 summit in Canada in a tweet storm that included repeated swipes at Canadian dairy practices, European tariffs and trade deficits. "Please tell Prime Minister Trudeau and President Macron that they are charging the U.S. massive tariffs and create non-monetary barriers," he said in one tweet, before closing with, "Look forward to seeing them tomorrow."

President Donald Trump plans to nominate Miller Baker and Timothy Reif to be judges on the Court of International Trade, the White House said in a statement. Baker is co-chair of the McDermott Will & Emery appellate practice group. Reif is senior adviser to the U.S. trade representative and was the USTR's general counsel from 2009 to 2017.

Peter Feldman, a senior counsel for the Senate Commerce Committee, was nominated to serve as a commissioner on the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the White House said. If confirmed, Feldman would be the last appointment to form a 3-2 Republican majority at the independent regulatory agency. “Once the committee receives the formal nomination and other required submissions, I expect we will move quickly to convene a confirmation hearing,” said Commerce Chairman Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.

The U.S.-China trade war is on hold, but President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House May 22 that he's not happy with how the talks in Washington progressed at the end of last week. “I’m not satisfied but we have a long way to go," he said. "I want this to be a great deal for the United States and I want it to be a good deal for China too. It may not be possible." Amid reports that the Commerce Department may rescind its export ban on ZTE and instead levy another fine and require a board shakeup, Trump said no deal has been reached. "We will see what happens. We're discussing deals. We're discussing various deals," he said.

The European Union is just two weeks away from possibly facing 25 percent tariffs on its steel exports to the U.S., and European Council President Donald Tusk offered some criticism of President Donald Trump. "Looking at the latest decisions of President Trump, someone could even think 'with friends like that, who needs enemies,'" Tusk told reporters in Sofia, Bulgaria. "But frankly speaking, Europe should be grateful to President Trump, because thanks to him we have got rid of all illusions. He has made us realise that if you need a helping hand you will find one at the end of your arm." President Donald Trump, asked about that comment at the White House on May 17, said: "Look, the European Union has been terrible to the United States on trade. They've been terrible to our workers." He said only China and a few others had treated America worse. He also said, "They can call me all sorts of names."