China's Vice Premier Liu He was scheduled to meet with President Donald Trump, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on May 17 to discuss trade issues. Trump told reporters the same day that "we have been ripped off by China" and that he doubts trade talks between the countries will be successful.
President Donald Trump on May 8 withdrew U.S. participation in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, setting the stage for sanctions suspended under the agreement to once again take effect. In a presidential memorandum announcing the decision, Trump directed the State and Treasury departments to “immediately begin taking steps to re-impose” all U.S. sanctions “waived in connection with the JCPOA,” and do so “as expeditiously as possible.” The memo set a deadline of November 2018 for putting the sanctions back in place.
President Donald Trump's proclamations on the latest extensions to country exemptions on the Section 232 tariffs (see 1804300064) will be published in the Federal Register on May 7. The proclamations on steel and on aluminum say that while Canada, Mexico and the European Union face a June 1 deadline to agree to "satisfactory alternative means" to ameliorate the national security threat their imports cause, Australia, Brazil and Argentina do not have an expiration date on their exemptions. The president said since those countries have reached agreements in principle, he didn't think a deadline was necessary. But if those agreements are not finalized promptly, he reserves the right to impose tariffs.
The U.S. has asked China to reduce the bilateral trade deficit by $200 billion by the end of 2020, according to an eight-point list of demands that leaked to journalists during two days of trade talks in Beijing. The Wall Street Journal has reported that in addition to expected positions on intellectual property, investment barriers in China, forced tech transfer, and subsidies to high-tech firms, the document also asked China to agree not to retaliate against U.S. farmers.
President Donald Trump told reporters April 24 that he wishes he could make a trade deal just with France, because trade with the European Union "has been unfair for a long time," but that his Cabinet is negotiating with the EU around the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum. On NAFTA, Trump said, "NAFTA as you know is moving along. We're doing very nicely with NAFTA. We could make a deal very quickly, but I'm not sure that's in the best interest of the United States. We'll see what happens."
Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, on April 17 downplayed the possibility of the U.S. rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership, telling reporters it is "more of a thought than a policy" at this point, according to a Bloomberg report (see 1804120027). President Donald Trump previously asked Kudlow to take the lead on re-entering the TPP. Trump later tweeted his dislike of the deal, which he exited on his third day in office in 2017. "While Japan and South Korea would like us to go back into TPP, I don’t like the deal for the United States. Too many contingencies and no way to get out if it doesn’t work. Bilateral deals are far more efficient, profitable and better for OUR workers. Look how bad WTO is to U.S." South Korea is not one of the 11 countries currently in the TPP.
President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House that NAFTA negotiations are going great, and while he also said "we're pretty close to a deal," he dismissed talk that the U.S. is pushing to reach a tentative agreement in early May. "It could be three or four weeks, it could be two months it could be five months, I don’t care,” Bloomberg quoted him saying on April 12. “So the narrative of I’m pushing for a deal -- I never push for a deal. I don’t care. In fact, if everybody in this room closed their ears I’d say that I’d rather terminate NAFTA and do a brand new deal but I’m not going to do that because I’d rather everybody to be happy in this room, okay?"
Even though officials have trumpeted the rewrite of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) as historic and a win, President Donald Trump said in Ohio that he may hold back on signing it until talks with North Korea are held. The March 29 speech was supposed to be about infrastructure, but Trump spent at least half the time talking about other subjects, including trade.
President Donald Trump, speaking to the press about signing the omnibus spending package for fiscal year 2018, opened by talking about negotiations with allies about exemptions from Section 232 tariffs on aluminum and steel. "Some tremendous trade deals are being made with various countries. We're negotiating very long very hard, but very quickly," he said. "The deal with South Korea, according to [Commerce] Secretary [Wilbur] Ross and [U.S. Trade Representative] Bob Lighthizer is very close to being finished, and we're going to have a wonderful deal with a wonderful ally." He said the U.S.-Korean Free Trade Agreement, or KORUS, as originally implemented "was a deal that was causing a lot of problems for our country with employment."
The spending bill that covers the rest of the fiscal year, through Sept. 30, became law March 23, bringing with it a renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences (see 1803010003). At the bill-signing news conference, President Donald Trump railed against the omnibus, saying, "there are a lot of things I'm unhappy about in this bill. I will never sign another bill like this again."