The president also slammed the U.S. trade relationship with South Korea and China, saying the U.S. is renegotiating its free trade agreement with Seoul and willing to use trade as a bargaining chip with Beijing to force action on North Korea.
Trump’s remarks to reporters onboard Air Force One, en route to Paris, come as the Commerce Department is briefing lawmakers on its Section 232 national security investigations into steel and aluminum imports, which could put Beijing in the crosshairs, and as the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative seeks a special session with South Korea to review KORUS. Also, Chinese officials are preparing to head to Washington for the first meeting of the Comprehensive Economic Dialogue next week.
“Steel is a big problem. Steel is — I mean, they’re dumping steel,” Trump said on July 12. “Not only China, but others. We’re like a dumping ground, okay? They’re dumping steel and destroying our steel industry, they’ve been doing it for decades, and I’m stopping it. It’ll stop.”
“There are two ways — quotas and tariffs. Maybe I’ll do both,” he added.
