TAXES/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The giant tax-cut bill heading toward the White House is going to make something President Donald Trump hates — the U.S. trade deficit — much worse, according to former President Barack Obama’s top trade negotiator…
During the 2016 election and since taking office, Trump has repeatedly railed against U.S. trade deficits with Mexico, China and other nations, arguing they mean the U.S. is losing out.
His administration rejected the Trans-Pacific Partnership, largely negotiated by Froman, and is currently renegotiating NAFTA and threatening to unilaterally withdraw from the deal.
Froman said rejecting TPP, which included renegotiated trade terms with Mexico and Canada, was a historic blunder that will damage the U.S. for decades as China supplants America as the leader on trade deals in the Pacific region…
Froman said that while leadership in both parties now scores political points by ripping trade deals, the American public more broadly is much less skeptical of them…
Froman added that trade deals like TPP and NAFTA have become convenient political punching bags for the irreversible impacts of technology and globalization on jobs and incomes.”
-Ben White, “After tax cuts, watch America’s trade deficit surge,” Politico, Dec. 20, 2017 05:10am