FOREIGN POLICY/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The emerging fault lines in the global trading system were laid bare Tuesday [1-23-18], as 11 Pacific Rim nations agreed to forge a new commercial bloc that excludes the U.S., while President Donald Trump signed orders to curb cheap Asian imports he said had unfairly harmed American manufacturers…
The debate is expected to intensify this week as it shifts to Davos, Switzerland, where Mr. Trump is scheduled Friday to explain and defend his emerging ‘America First’ policies to the World Economic Forum, a group that has staunchly defended and fostered globalism over the past four decades…
U.S. officials said that as they put forth more aggressive trade policies in the coming weeks, they will also try to persuade skeptical allies that their actions are intended to improve the international economic system, not destroy it. The underlying message: The U.S. is neither retreating from trading partners nor fighting them…
Mr. Trump’s emerging trade policy involves three main components, each advanced in different forms this week.”
-Jacob M. Schlesinger, “Trump Tariffs Spark Criticism, Raise Tensions Over Trade,” The Wall Street Journal online, Jan. 23, 2018 09:30pm