Trump Trade Representative Jamieson Greer Shares Message To All Nations About Tariff Negotiations

2 days ago

At today's Senate Finance Committee hearing, Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) questioned U.S. Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer about President Trump's tariffs.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you, Ambassador. Yesterday, Secretary Besant stated that you and he

00:05both will lead trade negotiations with Japan. I'm very pleased that President

00:11Trump has decided to press for market access in this case. I hope we'll see

00:17more negotiations that press for zero-to-zero barriers, but could you

00:20explain a little bit what is the scope of these negotiations?

00:25Certainly. Thank you, Chairman. So, as you know, yesterday the President directed

00:30Secretary Besant and myself to interact with the Japanese. We've already been

00:34having several conversations with them over past weeks, so this is not a new

00:38development, but we are taking it to a new level. Obviously, we want to have more

00:42market access in Japan. For us, we feel like we could have more and better

00:46agricultural market access. There are also structural impediments to some of our

00:50industrial goods in terms of standards and regulations and that kind of thing. I

00:54also think that there are things we can do with our trading partners, things

00:58that aren't always purely in the trade sector with respect to economic

01:01security, whether it's export controls alignment or investment screening

01:04alignment or energy, making sure that our partners are tied up with us with

01:09respect to liquefied natural gas and other resources, as opposed to being

01:14dependent on other countries that may not be as friendly. And so, I think all of

01:18these factors will go into these discussions with Japan in the coming

01:21weeks. Well, thank you. And as you indicated in your testimony, you've been

01:25approached, the administration, or you have been approached by about 50 other

01:30countries already. I assume that the objective in these approaches, and I assume

01:38that there will be discussions and negotiations with them, but first, could you

01:41verify that? Is the objective here to engage in market access negotiations with

01:48these countries? Chairman, as these countries approach us, the idea is that

01:54we've had years and years of non-reciprocal access, and it's

01:57contributed to these trade deficits. As the countries come to approach us, what

02:01we've told them is, if you have a better idea to achieve reciprocity and to

02:06get our trade deficit down, we want to talk to you. We want to negotiate with you. And

02:11it goes both ways. Sometimes they have exports to us that are driven by

02:14subsidies and unfair trading practices. And then, obviously, they have non-reciprocal

02:19treatment on their end, where they block our exports, sometimes through

02:22prohibitive tariffs, quotas that are not administered in the appropriate way, or

02:26other unfair trading practices. So these are the kinds of things that should be

02:29targeted. And I don't want to prejudge the negotiations, but if they're able to

02:33provide an alternative plan that can further these objectives, I think we're open to

02:37that. Well, thank you. The America First Trade Policy Memorandum rightly tasked the USTR to

02:44review China's compliance with the Phase One Agreement. Under the agreement, China is

02:50obligated to purchase more U.S. goods and change basic practices and laws, the

02:56so-called structural commitments. The prior administration refused to discuss

03:01whether China complied with its structural commitments. And, by the way, these were

03:04commitments made in response to tariffs in President Trump's first presidency, correct?

03:09That's right. What is your analysis of China's compliance with the

03:14structural commitments that it made in Phase One so far? Our assessment, Chairman,

03:19is that in the initial stages of implementing the agreement, China made

03:23significant movement to make these structural changes, whether it was with

03:26respect to agricultural rules, financial services, or IP. We found during the

03:31Biden administration there was little enforcement and little communication, and

03:35that the Chinese did not comply with this agreement in large part. I've had a

03:41call with my counterpart. I've communicated to him our feeling on this, that they have

03:44not complied with the agreement, and I think we're disappointed by this. It's not

03:49surprising, but we are certainly disappointed by that. And now you're

03:53engaged to, again, see if we can get compliance. We will see, right? The

04:00Chinese obviously have agency in this. It's not just a matter of U.S. policy. We,

04:05of course, welcome and we hope that foreign countries will change their

04:08practices to make sure that they're fair, and we look forward to continue to

04:12monitor that situation. Thank you. The administration has announced it's

04:17negotiating an agreement also with India, and it appears already to be yielding

04:22results, such as India dropping its digital services tax. Although India has

04:28high tariffs, its non-tariff barriers are just as significant, if not more so. Will

04:35you try to include commitments on matters such as intellectual property,

04:38technical barriers to trade, and science-based agricultural rules to take

04:42on those barriers? Yes, and I have a standing call with my Indian counterpart to

04:47address these very issues. All right, thank you. Senator Wyden. Thank you.

04:52Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I saw

Trump Trade Representative Jamieson Greer Shares Message To All Nations About Tariff Negotiations

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