The U.S. government is actively engaging Thai officials in hopes of expanding U.S. exports to Thailand, President Donald Trump said before an Oct. 2 bilateral meeting with Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha at the White House. The Trump administration has devoted specific attention to U.S. trade deficits in goods with other countries, and the U.S. runs about an $11.5 billion cumulative goods trade deficit with Thailand so far this year, according to Census Bureau data. “I think we're going to try and sell a little bit more to you now, make that a little bit better if that's possible,” Trump said alongside Prayut. “But we have a big, full period of time scheduled with our two staffs.” Trump said officials from both nations have been “negotiating very long and hard,” and that their relationship is “becoming more and more important,” acknowledging that Thailand makes “different things that are really very important to us.”

An executive order released Sept. 21 by the White House outlined new sanctions on entities with links to North Korea. The order would prohibit any transfer, payment, export, withdrawal or other dealing in the property of any person Treasury determines to operate in the North Korean textile, transportation, manufacturing, medical, mining, IT, fishing, construction, energy or financial services industries. The order also bans any transactions involving anyone Treasury finds to own, control or operate any North Korean seaport, airport or land port of entry; anyone found to have engaged in at least one “significant” import from or export to North Korea of any goods, services or technology; and any North Korean who has engaged in commercial activity that generates revenue for the North Korean government or the Workers’ Party of Korea. The sanctions authorities are “in addition to” Commerce Department export control authorities, the order says.

President Donald Trump met with African leaders on Sept. 20 and voiced hope for expanding U.S. trade in Africa, including in the sectors of agriculture, transportation, energy and health care. Speaking in New York, Trump noted six of the world’s 10 fastest-growing economies are in Africa. “Increasing American trade and investment across diverse industries … will further transform lives throughout the continent,” Trump said. In other remarks in New York that same day, before his meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May, Trump said "we look forward" to "doing a lot of trading with" the U.K., but didn't specifically mention anything about prospects of concluding a post-Brexit, U.S.-U.K. free trade agreement. During a discussion earlier this week at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (see 1709180028), U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said such a deal is still probably a few years off, as the U.K. looks to build its trade negotiating competency post-Brexit.

President Donald Trump wants to “continue trade” with Qatar, he said Sept. 19, even as other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Egypt in June imposed a boycott on the country over concerns related to Doha’s alleged backing of terrorism. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., in June announced he was blocking consent for arms sales to GCC states until a clearer path for resolving the boycott emerged (see 1706260053). Major U.S. arms sales are subject to preliminary approval by the chairman and ranking member of both the Foreign Relations and the House Foreign Affairs Committee before a statutory 30-day congressional review process starts. "Senator Corker will again begin providing informal clearance on future sales when there is a path forward to resolve the dispute and sees this as a tool for additional administration leverage," a Corker aide said in an email.

The White House directed the Treasury and State departments on Sept. 8 to extend the Cuban Assets Control Regulations for another year, according to a presidential memorandum. The authority to administer sanctions on Cuba was set to expire on Sept. 14, the White House said.

The American Line Pipe Producers Association (ALPPA) asked the Trump administration to act quickly in slapping tariffs on imports pursuant to its ongoing Section 232 investigation on steel. In a Sept. 7 letter to President Donald Trump, ALPPA said global steel overcapacity, largely created by China, has spurred a surge of U.S. steel imports in recent years, despite G-20 and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development discussions. “There is an urgent need for immediate Section 232 relief for the domestic large diameter line pipe industry,” the letter says. “Chinese producers are increasingly shipping greater volumes of dumped and subsidized steel to other countries for production of large diameter line pipe that can then be shipped to the U.S. market at lesser duty rates or, in many cases, duty free.”

The White House is allowing Japan and South Korea to buy “substantially” more military equipment from the U.S., President Donald Trump said in a tweet Sept. 5. Trump has provided “conceptual approval” for the purchase of “many billions of dollars’ worth of military weapons and equipment” from the U.S. by South Korea, the White House said in a readout of a Sept. 4 call between Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-In. A National Security Council spokeswoman said the “conceptual approval” means Congress would also have to sign off on the transaction before the equipment is exported. Days earlier, Trump threatened to cut off all U.S. trade with North Korea’s trading partners after that nation’s latest nuclear test in another tweet. "The United States is considering, in addition to other options, stopping all trade with any country doing business with North Korea," Trump said in the Sept. 3 tweet.

NAFTA talks probably will extend past the U.S.’s hoped-for deadline of Dec. 31, as major differences among the three parties involved start to emerge and the U.S. lacks political direction on several fundamental issues, trade analysts said Sept. 5. The U.S. during the second round of renegotiations Sept. 1-5 in Mexico City floated domestic content requirements for automobiles under NAFTA, but didn’t put forth a definitive threshold, a trade lobbyist said. U.S. negotiators have bandied about the possibility of a 35 percent to 50 percent requirement for U.S. automobile content, and are likely to go to the third round in Ottawa with a more specific proposal, the lobbyist said.

President Donald Trump on Aug. 30 again said the U.S. will “terminate” NAFTA if it can’t renegotiate it, according to a White House transcript of his tax reform speech in Springfield, Missouri. "Hopefully we can renegotiate it," he said. "But if we can't, we'll terminate it and we'll start all over again with a real deal." Trump repeatedly mentioned a potential withdrawal from NAFTA in recent weeks (see 1708280025 and 1708230036). Asked during a visit to Washington this week whether Mexico would continue renegotiating in the case that Trump -- as a negotiation tactic -- triggered NAFTA’s six-month process for U.S. withdrawal, Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray Caso said, “No,” according to an Aug. 30 Reuters article. During his visit to Washington, Videgaray agreed with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to “continue with a ‘serious’ renegotiation process,” Reuters reported him as saying. Trump also called Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Aug. 31, and both "stressed their hope" to conclude negotiations by the end of 2017, the White House said. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the Commerce Department didn’t comment. The second round of NAFTA renegotiations will take place in Mexico City Sept. 1-5.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer was set to update President Donald Trump on NAFTA negotiations during a 20-minute meeting starting at 11 a.m. Aug. 30, according to a White House spokeswoman. A meeting with Lighthizer was listed on Trump’s schedule for Aug. 30. Trump recently said withdrawal from NAFTA may be necessary (see 1708280025). The second round of NAFTA renegotiations will take place in Mexico City Sept. 1-5.