Trump’s Overreach on Trade: Project Syndicate

The US trade strategy may be to isolate China until the nation enforces property rights and allows foreign investment without technology-sharing requirements. In negotiating post-Brexit trade agreements with the United Kingdom or the European Union, the United States expects to prevent trade partners from making deals with non-market economies, specifically China, explains Daniel Gros, writing for Project Syndicate. The agreement replacing NAFTA with Mexico and Canada includes a clause requiring “transparency” and “appropriate action,” which could mean tariffs if either nation negotiates trade deals with non-market economies. “Asking a trading partner to ensure ‘transparency’ when they negotiate with other countries may sound innocuous, but it represents an unprecedented level of interference in partner countries’ trade policymaking,” he writes. “Trade negotiations are already arduous, protracted affairs, not least because they involve easing protection of politically sensitive sectors.” The demands could be challenging to enforce. Gros pointed out that Napoleon targeted Britain with a blockade in 1806, an overreach that triggered hostility. Nations resent attempts by other countries to set limits on trade. – YaleGlobal