Trump trade chief pick says tariffs could reverse deficits but study needed

Jamieson Greer, President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. commercialized representative, said connected Thursday that a cosmopolitan tariff needs further survey to gauge its interaction on rising U.S. trade deficits, and enactment countries connected announcement they indispensable little import barriers to support entree to the U.S. market.

Greer told a U.S. Senate confirmation proceeding that Trump’s run committedness of imposing astatine slightest a 10% cosmopolitan tariff would beryllium examined under an inauguration day trade memo, which ordered a study by April 1.

He said the survey would besides analyse the interaction of a increasing U.S. goods commercialized deficit, which on Wednesday reached a grounds $1.2 trillion for each of 2024 arsenic imports surged.

“Part of the question is however ample of a commercialized shortage bash we want, due to the fact that the commercialized shortage represents, successful ample part, manufacturing jobs that person (gone) overseas,” Greer told the Senate Finance Committee.

“A cosmopolitan tariff is thing that should beryllium studied and considered to spot if it tin reverse the absorption of that shortage and the offshoring” of jobs, said Greer, a Washington commercialized lawyer who was main of unit to erstwhile USTR Robert Lighthizer during Trump’s archetypal term.

Like Lighthizer, Greer wants to propulsion for smaller commercialized deficits and adjacent attraction from U.S. commercialized partners.

He said it was “a immense problem,” that commercialized deficits were increasing with definite countries, including Vietnam, that person precocious tariff and non-tariff commercialized barriers.

The U.S. goods commercialized shortage with Vietnam roseate 18% past twelvemonth to $123.5 billion, according to Census Bureau data, owed successful portion to companies shifting accumulation distant from China to debar Trump’s first-term tariffs.

If confirmed, Greer said helium would successful “short order” measure unfair trading practices of countries that support ample commercialized imbalances with the U.S. “and explicate to them that if they privation to bask continued marketplace entree to the United States, we request to person amended reciprocity.”

Asked astir Trump’s archetypal tariff threats against Canada and Mexico and caller 10% duties connected Chinese imports, Greer said the extremity of these actions was reaching agreements to curb the travel of the deadly opioid fentanyl into the U.S., and amerciable migration. Trump has sometimes said his extremity besides was to chopped commercialized deficits and to rise revenue.

“The enactment that the president is talking astir is astir fentanyl,” Greer said.

“We don’t privation different azygous fentanyl death. A kilogram of fentanyl tin termination 50,000 people, by immoderate calculations. We can’t person that, and we request to travel to an statement connected that.”

Regarding the U.S. trading narration with China, helium said it needs to go balanced, and that this would necessitate much than lowering Chinese tariffs, but besides reducing non-tariff barriers.

Greer said that arsenic directed by Trump’s commercialized memo, helium volition reappraisal wherever China did not comply with the 2020 “Phase 1” commercialized woody with Beijing. The woody paused a two-year commercialized warfare and included commitments by China to boost purchases of U.S. workplace goods, energy, manufactured products and services.

“From there, you determination to quality colony and you determination to enforcement,” Greer said.

In summation to the 10% tariffs imposed this week, Trump vowed during his statesmanlike run that helium would enforce duties of 60% connected Chinese goods.

Greer said the 2020 U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement connected trade also needed to beryllium re-examined to guarantee China and different overseas countries of interest are not “free-riding” connected it for duty-free entree to the U.S. The USMCA is owed for renegotiation by 2026.

Greer added that helium wanted to clasp Mexico and Canada to their USMCA marketplace entree agreements, including dairy for Canada and vigor for Mexico.

Greer besides called for a much muscular attack to integer commercialized to propulsion backmost against regulatory efforts by South Korea and the European Union against U.S. exertion firms aft the Biden administration last twelvemonth dropped its longstanding World Trade Organization demands for escaped cross-border information flows and prohibition of information localization requirements.

“We should not beryllium outsourcing our regularisation to the European Union oregon Brazil oregon anyone else, and they can’t discriminate against america and it won’t beryllium tolerated,” Greer said.

Asked by respective senators astir his plans for expanding cultivation trade, which suffered during Trump’s past commercialized wars, Greer said helium wanted to grow overseas markets for “competitive” U.S. farmers.

“That means that we request to spell and summation marketplace entree wherever things person been closed,” helium said, citing India and Turkey arsenic markets that request to afloat unfastened to U.S. workplace goods.

In his opening remarks, Greer said helium would propulsion for a pragmatic U.S. commercialized argumentation focused connected rebuilding U.S. manufacturing and shoring up proviso chains.

“If the United States does not person a robust manufacturing basal and innovation economy, it volition person small successful the mode of hard powerfulness to deter struggle and support Americans,” helium said.

(Reporting by David Lawder and Andrea Shalal; further reporting by Bo Erickson; Editing by Cynthia Osterman, Rod Nickel and David Gregorio)