This was the slogan during the election and remains the main focus for President Donald Trump. He is insisting on homegrown production wherever possible.
Trump wants American businesses to return to their previous dominance in the global markets.
Below I will review some of President Trump’s actions that are aimed at his objectives to “Make America Great Again”.
TPP
The Trans-Pacific Partnership was a free trade agreement between the United States and 11 other countries (Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam) that border the Pacific Ocean.
The trade disputes started in 2017 with President Trump withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade (TPP) pact that was agreed upon on in February of 2016 by President Obama.
In March of 2018, the other 11 TPP countries signed a modified agreement without the United States. In April 2018, Trump signaled the United States might be willing to rejoin the TPP but he would only do so if he could get “a better deal” than Obama did.
On January 2019, the CPTPP ( Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership) entered into force for Vietnam. The agreement will make it more difficult for U.S. businesses, especially farmers, to export to Japan. U.S. food will be more expensive than that of signatories like Canada.
Free Trade
America, Canada, and Mexico free trade agreement (NAFTA), in addition to the emerging free trade agreements around the world.
The NAFTA agreement was the largest free trade agreement in the world and has tripled the trade between Canada, the USA, and Mexico since it was enacted. As a collective there was approximately $22 Trillion in gross domestic product (GDP).
Many experts believe that free trade agreements are a necessity for the United States when competing in an ever more globalized world.
Sanctions
His increasing use of sanctions to “Make America Great Again” against Russia, Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela.
Unilateral sanctions—even when imposed by the largest economy in the world—face far more difficult challenges, especially in an increasingly integrated international economy.
As American sanctions have expanded and proliferated over the past two years, they have also led to increasing tensions between the United States and its allies and trading partners around the world.
The conventional wisdom is that sanctions never work, that they are costly politically and economically, and that their use should be constrained. The use of sanctions is still controversial among politicians and economists.
President Trump has made a case against Huawei’s international business expansion. Australia, New Zealand, and The USA have banned the use of certain technology from Huawei and are pressuring many other countries (Canada, UK, and Europe) to follow suit.
Tariffs
The tariffs started with many commodities in China and President Trump imposed three rounds of tariffs totaling $250 billion in imports to the USA.
Then in March of last year, tariffs were introduced to all steel and aluminum imports into the USA. Canada, Mexico, and Europe were most seriously impacted.
This month further tariffs were imposed on Europe for many other commodities including but not limited to clothing, shoes, and cars.
In retaliation, all countries that have been slapped with tariffs have also put tariffs on American imports into their country. The European Union announced to the World Trade Organization some commodities originating from the USA with tariffs as high as 25%,
Current Issues
The ongoing negotiations between China and the USA that are reportedly going well.
China has reduced some of the trade barriers and made it easier for foreign enterprises to operate in the Chinese market by reducing some of the previous restrictions placed on foreign businesses.
The renegotiated NAFTA Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) that has not been ratified by any of the involved countries. Trump has called for Congress to ratify it within six months. There are ongoing issues by the newly powerful Democratic party in the USA. If not ratified, the U.S. will revert to pre-NAFTA trade conditions. If ratified, it will go into effect in 2020.
In addition, there are fierce ongoing negotiations between Canada and the USA on Steel and Aluminum tariffs.
