The Trump administration won’t label China a currency manipulator in an annual Treasury report on currency manipulation due this week, President Donald Trump told The Wall Street Journal (here). Trump said China hasn’t manipulated its currency for months and labeling China a currency manipulator now could threaten U.S.-China cooperation on confronting the North Korean threat, according to the April 12 article. “I think our dollar is getting too strong, and partially that’s my fault because people have confidence in me," he said. Trump listed naming China as a currency manipulator among his priorities during the presidential campaign. The White House didn’t comment.

His administration could either omit or include trade elements -- the “border adjustment” aspects -- in its tax reform plan expected to roll out later this year, President Donald Trump said during an interview on Fox Business (here), according to a transcript (here). “We ... could keep trade and we could keep certain things separate,” Trump said. “We may put it in the tax code or we may keep it separate. We have a lot of different things.” Trump also expressed opposition to the term “border adjustment,” saying it means “we lose,” and suggested rebranding the term as an “import tax,” “reciprocal tax,” “matching tax” or “mirror tax.” “When you say reciprocal, nobody fights you,” Trump said. “When you say I'm going to charge a 10 percent or a 20 percent border tax, everyone goes crazy, because they like free trade,” Trump said. “Well, they don't say that the other countries are charging you much more than that.”

President Donald Trump plans to nominate Gilbert Kaplan to serve as under secretary of commerce for international trade, the White House said (here). Kaplan is currently an attorney in King & Spalding’s International Trade Group. At the firm, he filed the first-ever successful U.S. anti-subsidy case against China and before that served as deputy assistant secretary and acting assistant secretary of commerce for import administration, it said.

Trade expansion will be among the topics of discussion when President Donald Trump hosts Argentina's President Mauricio Macri April 27, the White House said in a statement (here). “President Trump and President Macri will discuss ways to deepen the close partnership between the United States and Argentina,” the White House said. “The two leaders will exchange views on a range of bilateral and regional issues, including the expansion of trade, security sector collaboration, and the deteriorating situation in Venezuela.”

The Trump administration will start the formal NAFTA renegotiation process after the Senate confirms U.S. trade representative nominee Robert Lighthizer, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said April 10 (here). “USTR drives that,” Spicer said. “And so our focus is getting that done, and then we'll be ready to go.” A more detailed work plan for renegotiating NAFTA -- including submittal of the required 90-day notice to Congress before international negotiations can begin in earnest -- will likely materialize after Lighthizer’s prospective confirmation, Spicer said. “But as of right now, that's not there.” Speaking to a group of CEOs April 11, President Donald Trump said renegotiating NAFTA will bring "some very pleasant surprises," according to a report from the White House press pool. The Senate Finance Committee postponed its consideration of Lighthizer until after the Senate’s spring break. Senators are expected to return to Capitol Hill on April 24.

President Donald Trump expressed concern to Chinese President Xi Jinping last week that China’s policies related to economic intervention, industry, agriculture, technology and cybersecurity are impacting U.S. jobs and exports, according to a White House statement of their April 6-7 meeting (here). “The President underscored the need for China to take concrete steps to level the playing field for American workers, stressing repeatedly the need for reciprocal market access,” it said. The White House also noted that the leaders agreed to establish a new four-pronged bilateral negotiating framework, including a Comprehensive Economic Dialogue. Former President Barack Obama conducted talks under a “Strategic and Economic Dialogue” with meetings that alternated between the countries’ capitals year-to-year.

President Donald Trump on April 6 took an executive action to continue for one year the national emergency status for Somalia (here) under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The action also extends former President Barack Obama's July 20, 2012 executive order (here) that blocks transactions associated with U.S. persons determined by the U.S. government to have engaged in the import or export of charcoal from Somalia on or after Feb. 22, 2012.

A March 31 executive order (here) signed by President Donald Trump tasked the commerce secretary and the U.S. trade representative with leading interagency efforts to submit a report to the White House by June 29 on the causes and impacts of the 2016 U.S. trade deficit in goods. The order instructs those Cabinet officials to consult with the secretaries of State, the Treasury, Defense, Agriculture and Homeland Security in preparing the report. The order also notes a 2016 U.S. trade deficit in goods of more than $700 billion and an overall trade deficit last year of more than $500 billion.

The Trump administration is considering a push for new World Trade Organization trade facilitation commitments as part of NAFTA renegotiations, according to a draft notice from Acting U.S. Trade Representative Stephen Vaughn (here). That would mean new rules requiring NAFTA countries to conduct "customs operations with transparency, efficiency, and predictability, and that customs laws, regulations, decisions, and rulings are not applied in a manner that would create unwarranted procedural obstacles to international trade," it said. Those commitments were included in a list of three main "customs matters" in the draft. Congress earlier this week (see 1703290038) received the draft, which, once finalized, would formally initiate a consultation period ahead of NAFTA discussions.

President Donald Trump sent the nominations of Scott Gottlieb for Food and Drug Administration commissioner and William Hagerty for U.S. ambassador to Japan, to the Senate, according to a White House announcement.