WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump will order staff Friday to pinpoint countries and goods responsible for America’s nearly $50 billion trade deficit, in a protectionist warning shot to trade partners like China.
Top administration officials said Trump will issue a pair of executive orders aimed at rooting out the causes and culprits behind America’s trade deficit, in a first step toward converting tough trade rhetoric into action.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said one order would result in analysts going “country by country, and product by product,” reporting back to Trump within 90 days.
They will look, he said, for evidence of “cheating,” inappropriate behavior, trade deals that have not lived up to their promise, lax enforcement, currency misalignment and troublesome World Trade Organization constraints.
“It will form the basis for decision making by the administration,” he said.
The order comes a week before Trump meets Chinese President Xi Jinping and is likely to be seen as a warning shot across Beijing’s bow.
“Needless to say the number one source of the deficit is China” he said, before listing more than a dozen other “countries that will potentially be involved.”
The others listed were: Japan, Germany, Mexico, Ireland, Vietnam, Italy, South Korea, Malaysia, India, Thailand, France, Switzerland, Taiwan, Indonesia and Canada.
However Ross said the presence of a deficit did not necessarily mean that retaliatory or remedial action would be taken.
“It’s a little bit hard to say that someone is an evil-doer if they are providing a product we can’t,” he said.
“In some cases it will simply be that they are better at making the product or can do it far cheaper than we can.”
“This is not meant to say that everybody on this little list is an evil-doer.”
Throughout the campaign Trump had vowed to put America’s trading relationship with the world on a more advantageous basis and put “America first.”
Critics counter that although the United States runs a deficit with some countries, no nation has benefited more from current global trading arrangements than its only superpower.
In a second executive order Trump will order the government to look at ways the United States can better recover trade duties on products that are subsidized by foreign governments or dumped on the US market.
“We’ve under collected 2.8 billion of these duties” said Peter Navarro, a top Trump trade adviser outlining the plan.
Under the proposals being considered US customs officials could impose more substantial bonding requirements at the border or examine products’ risk.
Listing various problem areas, Navarro said: “This is a big deal. It’s steel, chemicals, agricultural products, machinery — it’s the whole gambit.”
Navarro insisted the new measures would be fall within rules at the WTO, where some might see the United States erecting a technical barrier to trade.
“There is no issue here” he said. “We’ve been collecting these duties — we just haven’t been doing it very well. The WTO is silent on the issue of incompetence.”
Trump to name and shame trade ‘cheats’ in protectionist warning shot
Trump to name and shame trade ‘cheats’ in protectionist warning shot
Egypt’s annual inflation falls to 10.3% in December: CAMPAS
RIYADH: Egypt’s annual headline inflation rate slowed sharply to 10.3 percent in December, down from 23.4 percent in the same month a year earlier, official data showed.
According to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, the overall consumer price index reached 264.2 points in December. On a monthly basis, inflation rose marginally by 0.1 percent.
CAPMAS attributed the annual deceleration primarily to a decline in food prices, including a 1.1 percent drop in meat and poultry, 1.2 percent in dairy, cheese and eggs, 1 percent in fruits, 2 percent in vegetables, and 0.1 percent in sugar and sugary products.
Prices of household appliances, audio-visual equipment and information technology devices also declined by 0.5 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.
However, other categories recorded increases, including grains and bread by 0.1 percent, oils and fats by 0.3 percent, and beverages such as coffee, tea and cocoa by 0.1 percent.
Month-on-month inflation showed limited movement, with food and beverage prices falling by 0.8 percent due to similar declines in meat, dairy, fruit and vegetable prices. In contrast, modest cost increases were recorded in grains, oils and beverages.
Alcohol and tobacco prices rose by 0.2 percent, while clothing and footwear increased by 0.7 percent, driven by higher prices for fabrics, up 1.6 percent, ready-made garments, up 0.4 percent, and footwear, up 1.6 percent.
Housing and utilities recorded an increase of 1.5 percent, reflecting a 1.9 percent rise in actual rents, a 1.6 percent increase in electricity, gas and other fuels, and a 0.5 percent rise in maintenance costs.
Furniture and household equipment prices climbed 0.9 percent, while healthcare rose by 0.5 percent, led by outpatient services, up 1 percent, and hospital services, up 1.8 percent. Transport costs increased by 0.2 percent, and recreational and cultural services rose by 0.6 percent, including a 1.5 percent increase in organized travel.
Annual inflation data showed a broad-based increase across most sectors. Food and beverages rose by 0.9 percent year on year, with fruits up 22.6 percent, despite a 4.1 percent decline in meat and poultry and a 4.8 percent drop in vegetables.
Alcohol and tobacco prices jumped 18.2 percent, while clothing and footwear climbed 14 percent. Housing and utilities surged 22.5 percent, largely due to higher rents and energy prices.
Healthcare recorded one of the highest annual increases at 23.9 percent, driven by a 28.9 percent rise in medical equipment prices and a 21 percent increase in hospital services. Transport costs rose by 21.1 percent, education by 10 percent, and restaurants and hotels by 13 percent.
The category of miscellaneous goods and services registered a 12.2 percent annual increase, with personal care products rising 13 percent and personal belongings up 27.2 percent.
