President Donald Trump is reportedly weighing a new trade-related executive order. (Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump reportedly is considering
an executive order that eventually could fulfill his campaign promise
of leveling duties and tariffs on certain trade partners and products.
Reports surfaced Sunday night that Trump's team
is weighing an order that would direct government officials to
specifically look into whether certain items contributing to America's
trade deficits with other countries are tied to the practice of product
dumping, which occurs when international companies import a glut of
products into a particular market at unnaturally low prices in an
attempt to eat up market share and beat out domestic rivals. It's then
possible import tariffs could be levied or increased on such products.
Citing "administration sources," Axios
reported Sunday that steel and aluminum would be product categories
targeted. The outlet also reported that this order – should it indeed
result in the introduction of import duties on certain goods – could
make some items more expensive for consumers while hurting U.S.
companies that rely on cheap imported materials like steel.
However, American companies that produce goods
similar to the ones that would be targeted by Trump ultimately could
benefit as their international competitors' prices go up.
Trump, as part of his trade-heavy economic
agenda, already has sought a review of America's international commerce
portfolio to identify where and why deficits exist. He also has demanded
stricter efforts to curb dumping, a call with which this separate order
would align.
But much is still up in the air about when such
an order would be released and how far it would go. Axios reported
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is leading the charge, but that final
details had yet to be ironed out.
Reuters, meanwhile, cited an administration
official as saying the results of any investigation following the
potential order – such as import duties – would depend on what the
review found and would not be the result of "predetermined conclusions."
The reports are notable in that China is the
world's largest producer of both steel and aluminum, so Trump's order –
though it may not be specifically designed to hurt Chinese trade
interests – undoubtedly would send ripples to Beijing. The news also
comes only days after Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Trump at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to discuss, among other things, future trade relations between the two countries.
The U.S.-Chinese delegations at the summit
agreed to a 100-day time frame for discussions on tweaking the
countries' trade relationship, with goals reportedly of increasing
American companies' access to the relatively isolated Chinese consumer
market and mitigating America's deficit with China, which accounts for a
significant portion of the overall U.S. trade deficit.
China already is wililng to more broadly open its market to U.S. financial investments and beef exports, according to the Financial Times, while more changes to the two countries' trade relationship could be forthcoming.
Trump and his team described last week's
Mar-a-Lago meeting as productive, which was notable given the amount of
tension thought to be at play as Xi traveled to Florida to meet with a
new president who has threatened to level steep tariffs against Beijing
and label China a currency manipulator while out on the campaign trail.
And while it appears the two were able to make
it through their inaugural meeting without any significant public
gaffes, Trump has left the threat of trade action on the table.
The U.S. president in the aftermath of the meeting tweeted that "tremendous goodwill and friendship was formed," but that "only time will tell on trade."
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