New Focus on Trade Agreements with China

Kerry Lear

8 years ago

President Donald Trump has made it clear that his administration&rsquo&semi;s trade policies will reflect his &ldquo&semi;America First&rdquo&semi; campaign&period; &nbsp&semi;&NewLine;Last week, it was revealed that China had&nbsp&semi;the&nbsp&semi;largest-ever annual trade surplus with the&nbsp&semi;U&period;S&period; in 2017&period; &nbsp&semi;&NewLine;So why is the U&period;S&period; importing more from China than exporting&quest; Well, for years Chinese companies have been accused of stealing trade secrets from U&period;S&period; companies and then making a similar product for much less money&period;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;&NewLine;The U&period;S&period; Commerce Department is expected to reveal its findings this week from the probe the department did into China&rsquo&semi;s intellectual property theft and cyber espionage&period;&nbsp&semi;&NewLine;This evidently has influenced the Trump administration to take a stricter stance on the trade agreements with China&period;&NewLine;&ldquo&semi;There&rsquo&semi;s a lot of consensus around the viewpoint that China does need to be the focal point, because China&rsquo&semi;s behaviors are causing significant problems for the U&period;S&period; economy and for the global trading system,&rdquo&semi; said a White House economic official&nbsp&semi;to Wall Street Journal&period;&NewLine;Trump has threatened to end or at least renegotiate multiple trade agreements, including the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico and the U&period;S&period;-South Korea free-trade agreement&period; &nbsp&semi;&NewLine;&ldquo&semi;I&rsquo&semi;m not going to minimize Nafta and Korus&period; I do think everyone realizes that even if Nafta and Korus aren&rsquo&semi;t working as well as they could, they are only part of the broader concerns we have,&rdquo&semi; said the official to WSJ&period;&NewLine;&ldquo&semi;He (Trump) has also continued to grumble about the trade deficit with China, telling President Xi Jinping recently that &ldquo&semi;the situation is not sustainable&rdquo&semi;, according to the White House,&rdquo&semi; writes Today&period; &ldquo&semi;But Mr&period; Trump has yet to deliver on the tariffs he threatened to introduce during the 2016 campaign, or the unapologetic protectionism outlined in an inaugural address in which he pledged to &ldquo&semi;protect our borders from the ravages of other countries making our products, stealing our companies and destroying our jobs&period;&rdquo&semi;&nbsp&semi;&NewLine;Although Trump expressed some harsh criticisms of China in his first year, he also had some productive meetings with the Chinese President Xi Jinping&period;&nbsp&semi;&NewLine;&ldquo&semi;When Mr Trump was in Beijing, he touted his &&num;8220&semi;great chemistry&&num;8221&semi; with Mr&period; Xi, and told the media that instead of blaming China for the imbalanced bilateral trade relationship, he gave China &&num;8220&semi;great credit&&num;8221&semi; for effectively taking advantage of another country for the benefit of its citizens&period; Mr&period; Trump has also tweeted that their conversations on both trade and North Korea were &&num;8220&semi;very productive&&num;8221&semi;&period; Chinese media reported that both leaders hailed the great progress achieved in the bilateral relationship and agreed to further enhance cooperation,&rdquo&semi; writes The Straits Times&period;&nbsp&semi;&NewLine;Trump has played nice in hopes that China would assist with the North Korea nuclear missile problem&period; &nbsp&semi;&NewLine;&nbsp&semi;&&num;8220&semi;I have been soft on China because the only thing more important to me than trade is war,&&num;8221&semi; said Trump to The New York Times last month&period; &&num;8220&semi;If they&&num;8217&semi;re helping me with North Korea, I can look at trade a little bit differently, at least for a period of time&period;&&num;8221&semi;&nbsp&semi;&NewLine;China hasn&rsquo&semi;t applied enough pressure according to Trump, meaning it&rsquo&semi;s time for the U&period;S&period; to reevaluate its trade policies with the Communist country&period;&nbsp&semi;&NewLine;The Trump Administration has said that it&rsquo&semi;s making trade policy a priority this year, especially pertaining to China&period; &nbsp&semi;&NewLine;&ldquo&semi;You do see a theme in some of the upcoming decisions the president has to make,&rdquo&semi; said the official to WSJ&period; &ldquo&semi;You have Chinese industrial policy at its core&period;&rdquo&semi;&NewLine;The administration has discussed introducing harsher penalties on Chinese imports, like aluminum, steel, and solar equipment&period; But, this could ignite a trade war&period; China imports a large supply of U&period;S&period; soybeans, which could change in response to penalties&period;&nbsp&semi;&NewLine;However, China does seem fairly open to renegotiating trade policies&period;&nbsp&semi;&NewLine;Hua Chunying, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said that &ldquo&semi;a large number of facts prove that the economic relations and trade between China and the United States are mutually beneficial&hellip&semi;&period; We are willing to make concerted efforts with the United States to stay committed to building the robust, steady and sound economic relations&period;&rdquo&semi;&nbsp&semi;&NewLine;It also looks like lawmakers are more on board with trade renegotiations with Beijing versus Canada&period; &nbsp&semi;&NewLine;&ldquo&semi;At Senate hearings this week, senior Republican lawmakers who have urged the president to be more cautious on shaking up Nafta said they would heartily endorse a harder line against Beijing&period; &ldquo&semi;President Trump&rsquo&semi;s priority of confronting the challenges posed by China is a goal that I support,&rdquo&semi; said Utah&rsquo&semi;s Orrin Hatch, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees trade legislation,&rdquo&semi; writes WSJ&period; &NewLine;Author&rsquo&semi;s note&colon; It&rsquo&semi;s about time we&rsquo&semi;ve had a president that takes trade negotiations seriously&period; China has been stealing our technology all along&period; Then they sell it back to us for a cheaper price&period; Not to mention, the country manipulates their currency and have been playing us in regards to North Korea too&period; It&rsquo&semi;s time to hold them accountable&period;&nbsp&semi;&NewLine;