WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed the new North American trade pact with Canada and Mexico into law, pronouncing a "glorious future" for US industry.
It was another opportunity for Trump to tout successes in the midst of an impeachment trial where he is fighting charges of abuse of office and obstructing Congress. On Tuesday he announced a Middle East peace plan -- rejected immediately by the Palestinians -- and earlier this month he signed a truce in his trade war with China.
But even if the new USMCA trade deal with America's neighbors was crafted in close consultation between Trump's Republicans and the Democrats, the president pointedly didn't invite any of the Democratic leaders to his big White House signing ceremony.
The USMCA replaces the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, which Trump has long targeted, saying that it resulted in shipping US jobs abroad.
"Today, we are finally ending the NAFTA nightmare," he said at the White House.
Analysts say USMCA retains many elements of NAFTA, a mammoth deal that created a free trade zone across all of North America, shaking up entire industries and supply chains.
Economists say that overall NAFTA increased growth and raised the standard of living in North America, binding the three countries in a complex web of trade rules and services.
But the new deal does change content rules on auto manufacturing, to boost US jobs, and requires higher salaries for some Mexican auto workers.
It also makes changes to e-commerce, intellectual property protections and dispute settlement for investors, as well as imposing tougher labor provisions, requiring reforms to Mexico's laws.
'COLOSSAL'
Mexico ratified the new agreement December 10, and Canada is expected to follow suit in coming weeks.
For Trump, the "colossal victory" of USMCA fits neatly into his "America first" campaign message ahead of a difficult November reelection fight and his current battle to see off impeachment over alleged abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
"Two decades of politicians ran for office vowing to replace NAFTA... yet when selected they never even tried," he told government members, lawmakers, union representatives and selected workers assembled at the White House's South Portico.
"I'm not like those other politicians -- I guess in many ways," he said. "I keep my promises."
Under NAFTA, "we lost our jobs, we closed our factories and other countries built our cars. But we changed that," he said. "The USMCA closed these terrible loopholes."
US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who led Washington's negotiations both with USMCA and the recent truce in an even higher-stakes trade battle with China, called it a "great, historic agreement."
NAFTA, he said, had been "highly controversial from the start" and many lawmakers subsequently "came to regret" their support.
And Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is a senior advisor, said the president was wrong-footing his many critics with USMCA, the China deal and the Mideast plan.
"He's brought a businessman's approach to Washington. He's a pragmatist," Kushner said on the FOX & Friends show, which provides mostly uncritical coverage of Trump's White House.
"The people in Washington may not like it that he's making them do work and he's making things happen that people have spoken about for many years before but couldn't deliver on," Kushner said.
Agence France-Presse
WASHINGTON -- US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday warned Silicon Valley not to bolster China's "Orwellian" state, two days before the world's two largest economies sign a partial trade deal.
Speaking to a tech-heavy crowd in San Francisco, Pompeo trumpeted the "phase one" deal to tame a two-year trade war but told businesses that they needed to do more.
"We need to make sure American technology doesn't power a truly Orwellian surveillance state. We need to make sure American principles aren't sacrificed for prosperity," Pompeo said at the Commonwealth Club.
He said he was not discouraging firms from heading to China, insisting that the Trump administration wants "American companies to get rich doing business there."
"At the same time, we need to make sure that our companies don't do deals that strengthen our competitor's military or tighten their regime's grip of repression in parts of that country," he said.
Rights advocates have voiced growing concern about China's use of technology to develop intrusive electronic surveillance.
In the tightly controlled western region of Xinjiang, where experts say more than one million mostly Muslim people are incarcerated, China is said to be fine-tuning technology that will allow security forces to quickly identify anyone and give details about their movements and background.
"Ask yourselves just a few questions -- who am I dealing with? What's the true risk/return calculus to doing business in China?" Pompeo said.
Trump is set to sign the partial deal on Wednesday after prolonged feuding, dropping new tariffs that were set to take effect on Chinese electronic products and cutting in half those imposed on September 1 on $120 billion worth of products.
The White House has said the agreement includes improvements on Beijing's requirements that foreign companies transfer technology -- which the United States say is a pretext for rampant intellectual theft.
The Trump administration says that the accord will also give US companies better access to the Chinese market for financial services and require China to buy more US products.
"We will do our part in the government. We will keep ramping up our enforcement," Pompeo said.
"But defending freedom and national security isn't just the government's job. It's one for each and every citizen," he told the tech companies.
Agence France-Presse
NEW YORK - Wall Street on Monday set records for a third straight day as investors absorbed a new US-China trade deal and Beijing released upbeat economic data.
US and Chinese officials on Friday announced a partial trade deal, with Washington cancelling and reducing tariffs in exchange for Chinese pledges to increase purchases of US exports and reform its trade practices.
All three main US stock indexes finished at records, joining the upward drift in Europe where Paris, London and Frankfurt all posted strong gains.
Chris Low of FTN Financial told AFP the markets' jubilance may not be entirely justified.
"The best you can say is that it eliminates some of the negative scenarios people were worried about," he said.
"I think the market is rallying simply because the worst case scenario of US-China trade plummeting is off the table."
Officials in Beijing released data showing China had had a better-than-expected pickup in the retail and industrial sectors in November, a spot of good news at the close of a difficult year for the world's second-largest economy.
London's FTSE 100 which benefitted from continued post-election optimism and a dip in the value of the pound.
In the eurozone, Frankfurt's DAX 30 index climbed 0.9 percent to close just shy of a record high.
And the Paris CAC 40 won 1.2 percent, briefly breaching the 6,000 points level for the first time in 12 years.
The eurozone's economy meanwhile remained at a near standstill in December, extending the worst quarterly performance since 2013, according to a closely-watched survey compiled by IHS Markit research group.
While the removal of uncertainty surrounding Brexit -- following the Conservatives' commanding victory in last week's British elections -- allowed markets to breathe a huge sigh of relief, analysts urged caution with the saga having some way to run.
"This is just the end of the beginning," noted Quentin Fitzsimmons at T. Rowe Price.
"The real work of negotiating the UK's future trading relationship with the EU lies ahead and that has the potential to become very complicated."
- Key figures around 2300 GMT -
New York - Dow: UP 0.4 percent at 28,235.89 (close)
New York - S&P 500: UP 0.7 percent at 3,191.45 (close)
New York - Nasdaq: UP 0.9 percent at 8,814.23 (close)
London - FTSE 100: UP 2.3 percent at 7,5519.05 points (close)
Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 0.9 percent at 13,407.66 (close)
Paris - CAC 40: UP 1.2 percent at 5,991.66 (close)
EURO STOXX 50: UP 1.1 percent at 3,772.74 (close)
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.3 percent at 23,952.35 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng: DOWN 0.7 percent at 27,508.09 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.6 percent at 2,984.39 (close)
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3286 from $1.3331 at 2200 GMT on Friday
Euro/pound: UP at 83.82 pence from 83.42 pence
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1139 from $1.1121
Dollar/yen: UP at 109.60 yen from 109.38 yen
Brent North Sea crude: UP 0.2 percent at $65.34 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.2 percent at $60.21 per barrel
source: news.abs-cbn.com
Mexico's foreign minister said Sunday the country would not accept a US proposal for steel and aluminum production under the new trade deal, saying it would leave Mexico at a disadvantage.
During a meeting with senators to discuss details of negotiations for the United States-Mexico-Canada treaty (USMCA), Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said the US proposed that 70 percent of steel for automobile production come from the North American region.
The proposal would put Mexico "at a very great disadvantage," said Ebrard, because cars produced in Mexico also use components made in Brazil, Japan and Germany.
Ebrard said the Mexican delegation will ask at the next meeting of treaty representatives that the provision come into effect "more than 5 years" after the start of the trade pact, rather than immediately.
Mexico will also not accept "any term" for aluminum provisions, Ebrard said, because they do not have the resources to produce aluminum.
Mexico is one of the world's largest automobile exporters due to multiple brands -- including General Motors, Nissan, Fiat-Chrysler and Volkswagen -- building facilities in the country.
Ebrard's comments come just a few days after after Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he would not accept a US proposal for supervisors to oversee the implementation of Mexico's labor reforms under the USMCA.
Mexico is the only country so far to ratify the new deal, negotiated at US President Donald Trump's behest to replace the 25-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which he considers "a disaster" for the United States.
In a bid to comply with its commitments under the new deal, which was signed in November 2018, Mexico has raised its minimum wage and passed labor reforms to give unions more power and workers more say in running them.
But US labor groups and opposition Democrats in the House of Representatives have voiced skepticism over the Mexican government's ability to enforce the new rules.
That has led to a drawn-out ratification process in the United States, where the trade deal now risks getting mixed up in Trump's ongoing impeachment drama and electoral politics heading into his 2020 re-election campaign.
Canada has said it will ratify the deal in tandem with the US.
Agence France-Presse
WASHINGTON -- Engulfed in an impeachment inquiry and other political turmoil, US President Donald Trump on Friday trumpeted the success of his hard-line stance with China, claiming to have scored a major win in the grinding trade war between the economic powers.
But while Trump took a victory lap for what he called it a "substantial phase one deal," it will take weeks to finalize and the final details are not clear, nor will it roll back tariffs already in place on hundreds of billions of dollars in two-way trade.
Trump hailed a breakthrough on an initial deal that included a surge in purchases of American farm products and also covers intellectual property, financial services and currencies.
With the deal the White House will hold off on a massive tariff increase planned for next week, and as negotiations progress new tariffs planned for December also could be called off, US officials said.
Trump said China had pledge to rapidly ramp up purchases of American farm products, to $40-50 billion. That would be a stunning feat, more than doubling from the prior level of less than $20 billion in 2017.
Total US agriculture exports were $140 billion in 2018, so that increase would mean a third going to China.
"So I suggest the farmers go immediately by more land and get bigger tractors," Trump told reporters at the White House.
"There was a lot of friction with China. Now it's a love fest," he said at the end of his meeting with Beijing's lead trade envoy, Vice Premier Liu He.
MIXED REACTION
After more than a year of trench warfare, however, it remained unclear whether the countries could sustain the momentum needed to conclude subsequent "phases" of the deal.
Trump said it would take up to five weeks to conclude the first phase and get a deal on paper, which would cover some key issues like currency manipulation.
But he said he hoped to sign with Chinese leader Xi Jinping when they are both in Chile for the APEC leaders summit in mid November.
However, some observers said the deal was underwhelming.
Greg Daco of Oxford Economics called it an "itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny handshake deal."
Though it lays the foundation for a broader accord later, "behind the hype, this is nothing more than partial and ostensibly unsustainable deal lacking in real enforcement mechanisms," he said in an analysis.
"For businesses this will mean less damage, not greater certainty."
The National Retail Federation said it was encouraged by the progress, adding, however: "Although this is a step in the right direction, the uncertainty continues."
ROLLING BACK TARIFF HIKES
But even the incremental win could be a boon for Trump, who faces an impeachment firestorm and a stinging criticism in Congress for his treatment of Kurdish allies in Syria, only the latest episodes in the White House's perpetual turmoil.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters Washington would not impose the tariff increase on $250 billion in Chinese goods, which were set to rise to 30 percent from 25 percent on Tuesday next week.
And US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the next round of tariffs due to hit on December 15 could be canceled.
"The president has not made a final decision on that, but there was plenty of time to make that decision. That is certainly part of this process with the Chinese," he said.
He also said the agreement will include new measures on enforcement.
While the details are scant, Mnuchin said the sides made good progress on opening the Chinese economy to financial services, while including an agreement on preventing manipulation of the yuan.
The US Treasury in August branded China a currency manipulator, accusing Beijing of deliberately weakening the yuan to gain unfair trade advantages.
Trump also said the deal would make some steps toward protecting American technology, a major focus of the trade frictions.
Since the China trade war began last year, moments of comity and cheer have more than once been shattered, giving way to jolting deteriorations in relations between the two sides.
China has so far balked at Trump's demands for profound changes in the way Beijing manages its economy, which analysts say could politically undermine the Communist Party.
Liu also praised the accord.
"We very much agreed to get to the China-US economic relationship right. It is something good for China or for the United States and for the whole world," he told reporters at the White House.
"We are making progress towards a positive direction."
source: news.abs-cbn.com
NEW YORK - US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday a deal to end a nearly 15-month trade war with China could happen sooner than people think and that the Chinese were making big agricultural purchases from the United States, including of beef and pork.
"They want to make a deal very badly... It could happen sooner than you think," Trump told reporters in New York.
Trump said later after signing a limited trade deal with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe there was a good chance of reaching an agreement with China.
He said China was trying to be nice to him and added to reporters: “I was nice to them.”
"We're having some very good conversations," Trump told a later news conference.
"You know why they want to make a deal? Because they’re losing their jobs, because their supply chain is going to hell and companies are moving out of China and they're moving to lots of other places, including the United States."
In the meantime, Trump said, the United States was taking in "billions and billions of dollars in tariffs."
"China is starting to buy our agricultural product again," Trump added. "They’re starting to go with the beef and all of the different things, pork, very big on pork."
"You know they want to make a deal and they should want to make a deal. The question is, do we want to make a deal?”
Trump spoke a day after delivering a stinging rebuke to China's trade practices at the United Nations General Assembly, saying he would not accept a "bad deal" in US-China trade negotiations.
US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said there was communication between the two sides and the Chinese would be in the United States for talks in early October.
"At this stage what you want to do is have confidence building and show goodwill, and I think ... we’re doing that," he told reporters. "The president wants a deal if he can get a good deal. If he doesn’t ... we have a tariff policy in place."
China's top diplomat hit back at US criticism of its trade and development model in a speech on Tuesday after Trump spoke at the United Nations. Wang Yi, China's foreign minister and state councilor, said Beijing would not bow to threats, including on trade, though he said he hoped the high-level trade talks next month would produce positive results.
Wang also dismissed the concerns of those in the United States who worry that China will unseat the United States from its leading role in the world, calling it a strategic misjudgment. Asked about this remark, Trump said: “Maybe they just say that.”
The early October meetings are to include the top trade negotiators from both sides: Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, Lighthizer and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. They are expected to determine whether the world's 2 largest economies are starting to chart a path out of their trade war or headed for new and higher tariffs on each others' goods.
Trump has sought to pressure China to agree to reduce trade barriers through a policy of increasing tariffs on Chinese products. On Tuesday, he accused China of the theft of trade secrets "on a grand scale" and said it was taking advantage of World Trade Organization rules.
Although Trump held out hope in his UN speech that the United States and China could still reach an agreement, he made clear he wanted a deal that would re-balance the relationship between the two economic superpowers.
Wang said the trade war was inflicting unnecessary damage on both countries, raising costs for American firms, pushing up consumer prices and dampening US growth potential.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols, David Brunnstrom and David Lawder; Editing by Alistair Bell and Lisa Shumaker)
source: news.abs-cbn.com
OTTAWA - Canada took a first step toward ratifying a new North American trade agreement on Monday just three days ahead of US Vice President Mike Pence's trip to Ottawa to discuss passage of the treaty.
Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland presented what is known as a "ways and means motion" to the House of Commons, which opens the way for the formal presentation of a bill.
The deal known as the USMCA, which would replace the 25-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement, has yet to be approved by legislatures of the 3 participating countries - Canada, Mexico and the United States.
The United States struck deals on May 17 to lift tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada and Mexico, removing a major obstacle to legislative approval.
Pence is due to meet Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa on Thursday.
The United States is Canada's top trading partner, taking in 75 percent of its goods exports. Reaching a new trade deal had been a priority for Trudeau's Liberal government, and a national election is five months away.
Freeland said she had spoken over the weekend with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and less than 2 weeks ago with Mexico's government about their ratification process.
The administration of US President Donald Trump, a Republican, negotiated the deal but some US Democratic lawmakers demand stronger enforcement provisions for USMCA's new labor and environmental standards.
John Manley, a former Canadian Liberal foreign minister, said on Friday that Canada should pass the new treaty this summer.
"To fail to pass it is going to be a signal to the US Congress that it is still open for renegotiations," Manley told Reuters.
Some US lawmakers have said passing the treaty would become more difficult after the congressional summer recess due to budget battles and increased campaigning ahead of the November 2020 presidential election.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump warned China on Saturday that it should strike a trade deal with the United States now, otherwise an agreement would be "far worse for them if it has to be negotiated in my second term."
Washington and Beijing are locked in a trade battle that has seen mounting tariffs, sparking fears the dispute will damage the global economy.
Two days of talks ended Friday with no deal. China's top negotiator said the 2 sides would meet again in Beijing at an unspecified date, but warned that China would make no concessions on "important principles."
"I think that China felt they were being beaten so badly in the recent negotiation that they may as well wait around for the next election, 2020, to see if they could get lucky & have a Democrat win -- in which case they would continue to rip-off the USA for $500 Billion a year," Trump said in a tweet Saturday.
"The only problem is that they know I am going to win (best economy & employment numbers in U.S. history, & much more), and the deal will become far worse for them if it has to be negotiated in my second term. Would be wise for them to act now, but love collecting BIG TARIFFS!"
Trump had accused Beijing of reneging on its commitments in trade talks and ordered new punitive duties, which took effect Friday, on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, raising them to 25 percent from 10 percent.
He then cranked up the heat further, ordering a tariff hike on almost all remaining imports -- $300 billion worth, according to US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer -- from the world's second-biggest economy.
Those tariffs would not take effect for months, after a period of public comment.
Trump also said Saturday that firms could easily avoid additional costs by producing goods in the United States.
"Such an easy way to avoid Tariffs? Make or produce your goods and products in the good old USA. It's very simple!" he tweeted, echoing a similar message he sent Friday -- and even retweeted.
Only a week earlier, the United States and China had seemed poised to complete a sweeping agreement.
Washington wants Beijing to tighten its intellectual property protections, cut its subsidies to state-owned firms and reduce the yawning trade deficit; China wants an end to tariffs as part of a "balanced" deal.
While supporters laud Trump as a tough negotiator, free-trade-minded Republicans have warned that the tariffs could do real damage to the economy, and many farmers -- including Trump supporters -- say the tariffs have hit their bottom line.
As the trade war spread, China imposed $110 billion in duties on farm exports and other US goods.
Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, from the farm state of Iowa, cautiously welcomed the new tariffs but urged negotiators to reach a quick solution "so we can avoid prolonged tariffs, which we know have an impact on the US economy."
source: news.abs-cbn.com
NEW YORK -- The United States and China are close to reaching a major trade deal that would see both sides lower some of the tariffs imposed during an often-bitter trade war, a report said Sunday.
Negotiators for the 2 sides have made substantial progress and a final accord is close to being hammered out, according to the Wall Street Journal, which quoted anonymous sources on both sides.
A deal would be welcomed by financial markets, which have suffered through the often-rancorous trade conflict between the world's two largest economic powers.
The Journal said talks last month in Washington had helped narrow differences, meaning a formal agreement might be ready when President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping meet in late March while Xi is on a European trip.
It stressed, however, that some hurdles remain, and that the pact will likely spark complaints on both sides that too much has been given away.
The report said China had tentatively agreed to lower tariffs or ease restrictions on farm, chemical and auto products, among others.
Chinese negotiators have also offered to speed up the timetable for removing foreign-ownership limits on car ventures and to reduce tariffs on imported vehicles to below the current 15 percent rate, according to the Journal.
In a move meant to respond to Trump's repeated demands for a narrowing of America's trade gap with China, Beijing would also increase its purchases of US goods, including a possible multi-billion-dollar buys of natural gas from the Cheniere Energy group.
In exchange for Chinese concessions, Washington would do away with most of the trade sanctions it imposed last year, the report said.
The paper quoted analysts as saying that the failure of Trump's recent summit talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi could affect the trade talks in one of two opposite ways.
It could persuade Beijing that Trump is desperate for a win, or China might take it as a sign that Trump, as his advisErs say, is willing to walk away from a bad deal.
The year-long tit-for-tat trade war has imposed punishing tariffs totaling many billions of dollars on a large portion of the trade between the two economic powers.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
