international trade

The Trump administration is currently evaluating and assessing all international trade deals from the lens of America First, with the objective of securing fair terms of trade in the interests of the US. Whether ally, non-ally, or traditional adversary, all trade agreements are being assessed objectively and renegotiated from this perspective. The Trump administration's policy toward international trade is a departure from traditional US foreign policy, where strategic interests have been given greater consideration in determining terms of trade. While strategic interests are certainly being taken into consideration, they no longer serve as sufficient justification for imbalanced terms of trade, at least from a US economic perspective.

In this regard multilateral organizations such as the World Trade Organization are also being re-evaluated through the perspective of America First. The World Trade Organization was established as a multilateral framework of international rules governing trade defined by Western values, providing a forum for third-party mediation in the event of trade disputes. Each member negotiates a membership agreement individually with the WTO that sets its terms and conditions for entry as well as trade with other members. From the Trump administration's perspective, the cumulative effect of WTO terms may put the US at a disadvantage with respect to other countries, namely China, whose entry had created a significant imbalance in trade with the US since China's accession to the WTO in 2001(check). It is the perspective of the Trump administration that perhaps negotiating bilateral agreements with other countries one-on-one would better serve US interests.

The Trump administration has established a series of tariffs as a means of negotiation with other countries to better level the trade playing field. While high protective tariffs are overall generally not in the interests of the broader citizenry of the implementing nation, although they could be helpful to target domestic industries, the disadvantages generally outweigh the benefits. Tariffs that may benefit a single industry may have negative ripple effects on multiple others that depend on more competitively-priced imports and materials in their product assembly line, not to mention the higher costs for end-product consumers. High tariffs are therefore generally (with select exceptions) not in the long term interests of the domestic economy of the imposer, but may serve as a rather useful negotiation tool foe short-term. It is the latter that best explains the use of tariffs by the Trump administration. Alternatively, the President has suggested a global economy of no tariffs as an of a level playing field, in which all countries and all industries can compete on equal global terms. 

The following are the tariffs that have been imposed by the Trump administration:

The following are the trade agreements that are currently being renegotiated by the Trump administration, as well as key US points of interest in the renegotiation process: 

Within the context of the current trade climate and the implications for select industries in all affected nations, as well as the significance of the US as a trade partner for many countries around the world, it is in the interests of all parties to effectively renegotiate terms of trade to mutual and bilateral satisfaction with the US as efficiently and as timely as possible.