Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross — after announcing preliminary countervailing duty rates for softwood lumber from Canada this week — on Tuesday said “one of the problems” with NAFTA is that lumber and an unrelated dairy dispute with Canada are two key areas not covered by the trilateral agreement, which he said is stalled in Congress. [Jenny Leonard]…
President Donald Trump again leveled criticism about NAFTA in an interview with the Associated Press, promising to either renegotiate the trade deal or terminate it. [CHARLIE SPIERING] April 24th, 2017 [Breitbart] “I am going to either renegotiate it or I am going to terminate it,” he said. “If they don’t treat fairly, I am terminating NAFTA.” Trump…
House and Senate Democrats on Tuesday released a report on President Trump’s “broken promises” to American workers, included the administration’s decision not to label China a currency manipulator, its failure to date to launch NAFTA renegotiations and a lack of action on various “Buy American” proposals. [Charlie Mitchell] April 25th, 2017 [Inside U.S. Trade] The…
Chinese media reports questioning the ownership and funding of big-spending conglomerate HNA Group were pulled suddenly after publication from mainland websites and social media on Monday. [He Huifeng] April 24th, 2017 [South China Morning Post] One of the missing reports, by The Beijing News, questioned how HNA, Hainan Airlines Group, was able to evolve from…
U.S. Trade Representative nominee Robert Lighthizer was unanimously approved by the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday, sending his nomination to the Senate floor. [Dan Dupont] April 25th, 2017 [Inside U.S. Trade] The panel also approved a statutory waiver to allow him to serve as USTR. The quick approval followed weeks of debate among Republicans and…
HANGZHOU, China — China’s vast steel industry is a major target of President Trump. But this hulking shell of a mill here shows why China is likely to keep pumping out more and more steel, inflaming trade tensions between the two countries. [KEITH BRADSHER] April 20th, 2017 [The New York Times] The Hangzhou steel mill,…
What was worse about President Trump’s decision to let China off the currency manipulator hook (for now) was its geopolitical rationale. [Alan Tonelson] April 20th, 2017 [Industry Today] What was worst about President Trump’s decision yesterday to let China off the currency manipulator hook (for now) was not the scrapping of a long-time campaign promise…
President Trump said on Thursday that his administration will lay out its plan for the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement within two weeks, while also ripping Canadian dairy and lumber policies. April 20th, 2017 [Inside U.S. Trade] The remarks came as Trump was signing an unrelated executive order on steel imports in…
President Donald Trump signed an executive memorandum on Thursday ordering the Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross to investigate steel imports. But he also previewed action on NAFTA. [CHARLIE SPIERING] April 20th, 2017 [Breitbart] “The fact is, NAFTA, whether it’s Mexico or Canada, is a disaster for our country,” he said, referring to the North American…
The Treasury Department has not found that any country meets its criteria for currency manipulation in a much-anticipated report that for the first time says any country that accounts for “a large and disproportionate share” of the U.S. trade deficit will be more closely monitored. [Jenny Leonard, Jack Caporal and Isabelle Hoagland] April 20th, 2017…
