Trade

COMPARE:

Trump/Pence Administration

2017 to Present:

Trump Administration Trade Deals with Mexico, Canada and China

December 14, 2019

US- Mexico- Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA):
• After the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA) gathered political dust on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s impeachment desk for over a year, the California Democrat finally agreed to let House members vote on the measure.
• Through tough regional content rules and strict labor and environmental provisions, USMCA is forecast to create over 75,000 new auto jobs and almost 200,000 new jobs overall.
• USMCA will also break down Canadian and Mexican agricultural barriers – a boon for American dairy, poultry and wheat farmers. It should pass both chambers of Congress by comfortable margins.

Source: Fox News – Peter Navarro – 12/14/19
Link: Good Week for Trump

U.S. – China Trade Agreement:

• After a similarly long gestation period, the United States and China completed a "phase one" trade agreement. It represents an important milestone along President Trump’s long march towards ending China’s economic aggression against American workers and manufacturers.
• The centerpiece of the deal is a strong and effective enforcement mechanism. The United States can impose proportionate penalties without fear of retaliation if China violates the deal’s provisions on intellectual property theft, forced technology transfer, or currency manipulation.
• In another boon for American farmers, China has also committed to a dramatic increase in purchases of pork, soybeans and other agricultural products. To ensure China negotiates in good faith on Phase Two of the deal, tariffs remain in place on over $350 billion of Chinese imports.

Source: Fox News – Andy Puzder – 12/13/19

Link: ANDY PUZDER: TRUMP’S CHINA TRADE DEAL BRINGS US GREAT BENEFITS, FULFILLS CAMPAIGN PROMISE

President Trump’s Strategy: Force China’s to stop its Unfair Harmful Trade Practices by applying Tariffs

May 12 2019

The average tariff that we imposed on China when Trump entered the White House was about 4 percent. China’s tariffs on us were about 10 percent. The playing field is tilted especially against us. We have an open market and are competing against the second largest economy in the world whose doors are slammed shut.

This status quo is both economically and politically untenable going forward. Trade cannot be a one way street, and something has to give here. That means immediate reforms of mercantilist Chinese economic behavior on tariffs, on other trade barriers, on theft of intellectual property, and on cyber espionage against the United States. We are not dealing with a friendly power here but with an increasingly hostile one that has become an existential threat.

The strategy is to hit the vulnerable Chinese economy hard with tariffs and strong arm Beijing into giving American companies and products greater access to Chinese markets. There is not one demand that Trump is making of President Xi Jinping that is unreasonable. Free traders should recognize that if these tariffs work, we will have greater free trade at the end of this battle.

The risk here is a ramped up trade war that makes everyone poorer, but this is a gamble worth taking for our country, as Trump is leveraging the strategic advantage the United States has over China today. China is an export based economy that has been nurtured on its nearly unfettered access to the multitrillion dollar American consumer market. By failing to negotiate in good faith, the Chinese are risking more than a half trillion dollars of annual sales and crashes in their economy and stock market.

Even the widespread complaint that the cost of these tariffs will be borne by American consumers may be exaggerated. The last round of tariffs at 10 percent had minimal impact on import prices, suggesting that Chinese companies absorbed the tariffs out of their profits rather than raising the prices on goods sold at Walmart and other retailers in the United States.

The timing for this confrontation with China could hardly be shrewder. The American economy is flying high, along with the stock market, so we are in good shape to ride this out. Meanwhile, Beijing miscalculated big time in thumbing its nose at the demands made by Trump. The Chinese underestimated his resolve on this issue. I know that Trump will not back down on this.

Beijing also miscalculated the resolve of Americans and our increased antipathy toward China. I have observed a refreshing rally around the flag on this issue. Senator Charles Schumer tweeted in support of Trump on China, and this is indicative of the frustration that Americans feel about Chinese misbehavior, both economically and militarily. Other Democrats, including Senator Sherrod Brown, also support the tariffs. We have a rare bipartisan consensus that the United States needs to stand up to China.

What free traders should be doing is to help Trump pass the United States Mexico Canada Agreement, which would further undermine China and advance international trade. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should do her patriotic duty by bringing the North America free trade deal into the 21st century. She should at the very least schedule an up or down vote on this landmark legislation in her chamber.

The foregoing paragraphs are excerpts from the May 12, 2019 article appearing on the website of The Hill. Here is a link to this article on this site: China’s Unfair Harmful Trade Practices

COMING SOON... We are working on content for this section. If you have any suggestions for content, please send content and/or links to: AddContent@vote4yourlife.com