Trump boxed in on trade

[tulc]

Trump boxed in on trade

President Trump is in a trade mess.

His new trade deal to replace the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is bogged down in Congress with little chance of passing, while the China deal he promised more than a year ago is quickly unraveling.

The administration on Friday increased tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods, raising the prospect of retaliatory measures from China, and Trump is due to make a decision Saturday on whether to place tariffs on automobile imports.

Congressional Republicans are frustrated that the new NAFTA deal, known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), is stalled with little prospect of winning ratification in the Democratic-controlled House. That impasse is coming at a time when negotiations with China are sliding backward, leading to prolonged pain in farm states whose exports have been caught up in the trade war.

“From the agriculture states, states where agriculture is key, the impact is being felt,” said Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Barrasso(R-Wyo.). “People at home are still absolutely with the president, but they’d like to see this come to a conclusion.”

GOP senators this past week pressed Vice President Pence at a private meeting to speed up talks with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to get a deal to implement USMCA, which needs congressional approval, and to reach an agreement with China.

“We need to see it done soon. The confidence back home is shaky. Folks are hurting,” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who represents a farm state and is up for reelection in 2020, told The Hill after Tuesday’s meeting.

But Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) are insisting that the deal’s labor and environmental protections need to be strengthened, which would mean reopening the talks with Canada and Mexico and stretching the process out for several more months.

On the China front, progress is slow going.

Or as President Trump said March 2, 2018:

trade wars are good, and easy to win,

tulc(isn't sure that is true)

 

[The Barbarian]

"Nobody knew how difficult trade wars are to win."