Trump signs executive orders to stop trade abuses ahead of Xi visit

World Today

President Donald Trump, accompanied by Vice President Mike Pence, right, speaks during a signing ceremony for executive orders regarding trade in the Oval Office at the White House, Friday, March 31, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

The Trump administration is cracking-down on trade abuses as the U.S. President signed a pair of executive orders that could strain relations between the world’s two biggest economies.
All of this, ahead of the Xi-Trump Summit next week.

CGTN’s Owen Fairclough reports.


Follow Owen Fairclough on Twitter @owefair

Donald Trump has long complained the U.S. gets a raw deal on trade, and these executive orders are aimed at ending it.

He blames export-driven countries for destroying U.S. jobs with unfair export subsidies that undercut American producers and wants to investigate what he calls trade abuses.

“The theft of American prosperity will end. We are going to defend our industries and create a level playing field finally,” Trump said from the White House.

Trump has aired these longstanding grievances as he prepares to host China’s President Xi Jinping at his Florida resort on April 6th and 7th.

The U.S. has a trade deficit – that’s importing more goods than it exports – running into hundreds of billions of dollars with China.

China’s Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang says it’s trying to narrow that gap.

“China will further increase domestic demand and will also raise demand for foreign goods and services, including those from the United States. Chinese investment in the U.S. has been rising rapidly in recent years, which is business activity that gives lots of employment opportunities for local people. This also helps improve the trade imbalance between China and the United States.”

Some economists say these arguments are about how we calculate import and export figures.

For example, an iPhone assembled in China is regarded as a Chinese export – but the money Apple makes from it is accounted for in the U.S. – contributing to the economy.

 


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