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President Trump Issues Trade-Related Executive Orders and Memoranda

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 February 2018

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Extract

The United States' total trade deficit in 2016 was $502.3 billion. President Trump believes that the deficit—and especially its consequences (“wealth … stripped from our country”), causes (“bad trade deals”), and images (“shuttered factories”)—played a prominent role in his electoral success in 2016. Since taking office, Trump has signed a series of executive orders and memoranda on trade in order to fulfill various campaign promises on this front. The executive orders and memoranda focus mainly on gathering information and laying groundwork for future executive action. Taken together, they signal the Trump administration's intention to address the United States' trade deficits, especially with China.

Type
International Economic Law
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 111 , Issue 4 , October 2017 , pp. 1045 - 1053
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 by The American Society of International Law 

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References

1 Bureau of Economic Analysis Press Release, 2016 Trade Gap Is $502.3 Billion (Feb. 7, 2017), available at https://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/international/trade/2017/pdf/trad1216annual_fax.pdf.

2 White House Press Release, Remarks by President Trump et al. at Signing of Trade Executive Orders (Mar. 31, 2017), at https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/03/31/remarks-president-trump-et-al-signing-trade-executive-orders [hereinafter Mar. 31 White House Press Release].

3 See, e.g., White House Press Release, Presidential Memorandum for the Secretary of Commerce (Apr. 20, 2017), available at https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/DCPD-201700259/pdf/DCPD-201700259.pdf [hereinafter Presidential Memorandum Regarding Steel Imports].

4 Executive Order 13786, Omnibus Report on Significant Trade Deficits, 82 Fed. Reg. 16721 (Mar. 31, 2017), at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/04/05/2017-06968/omnibus-report-on-significant-trade-deficits.

5 Id.

6 See Mar. 31 White House Press Release, supra note 2.

7 Needham, Vicki, Trump Signs Executive Orders Ramping Up Trade Enforcement , Hill (Mar. 31, 2017)Google Scholar, at http://thehill.com/policy/finance/326803-trump-signs-executive-orders-ramping-up-trade-enforcement.

8 Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (Anti-Dumping Agreement), 1868 UNTS 201, available at https://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/19-adp.pdf (providing threshold requirements for initiating an investigation in Article 5 and regulating the procedure of investigations in Article 6); see also Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, 1869 UNTS 14, available at https://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/24-scm.pdf.

9 Executive Order 13785, Establishing Enhanced Collection and Enforcement of Antidumping and Countervailing Duties and Violations of Trade and Customs Laws, 82 Fed. Reg. 16719 (Mar. 31, 2017), at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/04/05/2017-06967/establishing-enhanced-collection-and-enforcement-of-antidumping-and-countervailing-duties-and.

10 Needham, supra note 7.

11 White House Issues Two Executive Orders Related to Trade Enforcement, Sidley Updates (Apr. 3, 2017), available at https://www.sidley.com/~/media/update-pdfs/2017/04/20170403-intl-trade-update.pdf.

12 U.S. Customs and the New Trump Administration: Your Top Ten Questions Answered, Foley & Lardner LLP (Feb. 7, 2017), at https://www.foley.com/us-customs-and-the-new-trump-administration-your-top-ten-questions-answered-02-07-2017.

13 U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), Antidumping and Countervailing Duties: CBP Action Needed to Reduce Duty Processing Errors and Mitigate Nonpayment Risk (July 2016), available at http://www.gao.gov/assets/680/678419.pdf [hereinafter U.S. GAO Antidumping and Countervailing Duties Report]. The report does not make findings of bad faith, but a comment from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) filed in the appendix of the report notes that the GAO statistical analysis may “understate the impact of the duty evasion issues relating to high-risk imports from China.” Id. at Appendix IV.

14 These steps build on the 2015 Enforce and Protect Act, which “establishe[d] formal procedures for submitting and investigating antidumping or countervailing allegations of evasion against” foreign exporters. See The Enforce and Protect Act, 19 USC §1517 (2016), at https://www.cbp.gov/trade/trade-enforcement/tftea/enforce-and-protect-act-eapa [hereinafter EAPA]. On August 14, 2017, the CBP issued its first final decision under EAPA authority, finding that certain wire hangers were transshipped from China through Thailand to avoid antidumping duties, in one of its many recent investigations of illegal imports from China. See U.S. Customs and Border Protection Press Release, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Exercises EAPA Authority, Launches Multiple Investigations on Illegal Imports from China (Aug. 17, 2017), at https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/national-media-release/us-customs-and-border-protection-exercises-eapa-authority-launches.

15 U.S. GAO Antidumping and Countervailing Duties Report, supra note 13.

16 Nat'l Fisheries Inst., Inc. v. United States Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, 30 C.I.T. 1838 (Nov. 13, 2006), available at https://www.cbp.gov/bulletins/41slipops1.pdf; Appellate Body Report, United States—Customs Bond Directive for Merchandise Subject to Anti-Dumping/Countervailing Duties, United States—Sections 301–310 of the Trade Act of 1974, WT/DS345/AB/R (circulated July 16, 2008), available at https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/343_345abr_e.pdf.

17 Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China Press Release, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang's Regular Press Conference (Mar. 31, 2017), at http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/t1450613.shtml.

18 Presidential Memorandum Regarding Steel Imports, supra note 3; White House Press Release, Presidential Memorandum for the Secretary of Commerce (Apr. 27, 2017), at https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/presidential-memorandum-secretary-commerce [hereinafter Presidential Memorandum Regarding Aluminum Imports].

19 Presidential Memorandum Regarding Steel Imports, supra note 3; Presidential Memorandum Regarding Aluminum Imports, supra note 18.

20 Id.

21 White House Press Release, Press Briefing by Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross on the Memorandum Regarding the Investigation Pursuant to Section 232(B) of the Trade Expansion Act (Apr. 20, 2017), at https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-signing-memorandum-regarding-investigation-pursuant-section-232b-trade-expansion-act.

22 World Trade Organization Press Release, National Security Cited in Two Trade Concerns at Goods Council Meeting (June 30, 2017), at https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news17_e/good_10jul17_e.htm.

23 Id.

24 Id.

25 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, Oct. 30, 1947, 61 Stat. A-11, 55 UNTS 194, at https://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/gatt47_02_e.htm#articleXXI [hereinafter GATT].

26 Office of the United States Trade Representative, 2017 Special 301 Report (Apr. 28, 2017), available at https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/301/2017%20Special%20301%20Report%20FINAL.PDF; see, e.g., Office of the United States Trade Representative, 1989 Special 301 Report (May 25, 1989), available at https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/1989%20Special%20301%20Report.pdf.

27 Ministry of Commerce People's Republic of China Press Release, Regular Press Conference of the Ministry of Commerce – May 11, 2017 (May 12, 2017), at http://english.mofcom.gov.cn/article/newsrelease/press/201705/20170502577390.shtml.

28 Associated Press, Trump Highlights Executive Orders on Trade, LA Times (May 1, 2017), at http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-updates-everything-president-trump-highlights-executive-orders-on-1493672444-htmlstory.html.

29 Id.

30 Executive Order 13796, Addressing Trade Agreement Violations and Abuses, 82 Fed. Reg. 20819 (Apr. 29, 2017), at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/05/04/2017-09156/addressing-trade-agreement-violations-and-abuses.

31 White House Press Release, Remarks by President Trump at Signing of Executive Orders on Trade (Apr. 29, 2017), at https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-signing-executive-orders-trade [hereinafter Apr. 29 White House Press Release].

32 Executive Order 13797, Establishment of Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, 82 Fed. Reg. 20821 (Apr. 29, 2017), at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/05/04/2017-09161/establishment-of-office-of-trade-and-manufacturing-policy. Through Executive Order 13788, President Trump established that “[i]t shall be the policy of the executive branch to buy American and hire American.” That order provides, in part:

In order to promote economic and national security and to help stimulate economic growth, create good jobs at decent wages, strengthen our middle class, and support the American manufacturing and defense industrial bases, it shall be the policy of the executive branch to maximize, consistent with law, through terms and conditions of Federal financial assistance awards and Federal procurements, the use of goods, products, and materials produced in the United States.

Executive Order 1378, Buy American and Hire American, 82 Fed. Reg. 18837 (Apr. 18, 2017), at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/04/21/2017-08311/buy-american-and-hire-american.

33 See Apr. 29 White House Press Release, supra note 31.

34 Ministry of Commerce People's Republic of China Press Release, Regular Press Conference of the Ministry of Commerce - May 25, 2017 (May 27, 2017), at http://english.mofcom.gov.cn/article/newsrelease/press/201706/20170602585140.shtml.

35 Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China Press Release, Research Report on China-US Economic and Trade Relations (Courtesy Translation) (May 25, 2017), available at http://images.mofcom.gov.cn/www/201705/20170525093626470.pdf.

36 Id.

37 White House Press Release, Presidential Memorandum for the United States Trade Representative (Aug. 14, 2017), at https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/08/14/presidential-memorandum-united-states-trade-representative.

38 Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China Press Release, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying's Regular Press Conference (Aug. 15, 2017), at http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/t1484923.shtml.

39 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), Twitter (Apr. 11, 2017, 4:59 AM), at https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/851766546825347076.

40 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), Twitter (Sept. 3, 2017, 9:14 AM), at https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/904377075049656322.