Washington, Mar 31, 2017: US President Donald Trump is again ready to take actions regarding South Asia, especially India and China.He has signed executive orders instructing his administration to examine the cause of trade imbalances with over 15 countries, including China and India.
As Donald Trump is soon to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping,it is being assumed that the prime target of these orders is China. However, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, during his interaction with White House reporters, insisted that the executive order expected to be signed today is not just about China.
It is about all major countries with which the United States has significant trade deficit.
Having a look at statistics, The US has a massive trade deficit of USD 347 billion with China, followed by Japan (USD 68.9), Germany (USD 64.9), Mexico (USD 63.2 billion), Ireland (USD 35.9 billion) and Vietnam (USD 32 billion)and India(USD 24 billion).
"This is not meant to say that everybody on this little list is an evil doer. That's not the case," Ross said, noting that China is the number one source of trade deficit.
As per the executive order, Ross said President would instruct the Department of Commerce and the US Trade Representative to review and report back to him within 90 days on actionable items to reduce the trade deficits, mentioned PTI.
Echoing similar views, Peter Navarro, Director of White House National Trade Council, said, "Nothing we're saying tonight is about China. Let's not make this a China story. This is a story about trade abuses."
"This is a story about under-collection of duties, this is a story about 40 countries that basically subsidise their products and send them into our country or dump their products, and this is about collecting those products and defending American workers and manufacturing," Navarro said.
According to Navaro, USD 2.8 billion in import taxes imposed against violators of US anti-dumping laws have gone uncollected since 2001.
"For the first time, we're looking at what's been the source of the large and persistent trade deficit that has contributed to job losses," he said.
-prepared by Nikita Tayal of NewsGram Twitter @NikitaTayal6