Senate Finance Members Meet With Trump Trade Advisers; Wyden Complains of 'Few Details'

Members of the Senate Finance Committee didn’t leave a Feb. 15 private meeting with White House trade leaders with any specific sense of how the Trump administration plans to approach the myriad trade issues under its purview, two Republican members and one Democratic member of the committee said following the discussion. Committee ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in a statement that National Trade Council chief Peter Navarro and White House Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt “offered few details” and no strategy on the administration’s trade objectives. “I made clear that any new NAFTA deal needs to eliminate rules that undermine U.S. trade remedy protections for American workers and must create market access for dairy farmers and other businesses that drive America’s rural economy, and address the full range of challenges facing American workers and businesses trying to compete in a fast-moving 21st century global economy,” Wyden said. Navarro and Greenblatt at times appeared to “contradict” congressional trade directives enacted in 2015 and were at odds with recent statements made by President Donald Trump about his trade policy, Wyden said.