The U.S. will not meet with China to talk about trade until he's convinced they're ready to make a deal, President Donald Trump said, speaking with reporters after U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley announced her resignation on Oct. 9 at the White House. Trump said the U.S. rebuilt China by purchasing so many Chinese goods, and that he wants to put an end to the unbalanced trading relationship. "China wants to make a deal. And I say they’re not ready yet. I just say they’re not ready yet. And we’ve canceled a couple of meetings because I just say they’re not ready to make a deal," he said. "It’s been a one-way street for 25 years. We’ve got to make it a two-way street. We’ve got to benefit also, OK?"

Withdrawing from NAFTA before ratification of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement would "trigger devastating negative economic consequences," the Koch Brothers' Freedom Partners organization told President Donald Trump in a letter sent Oct. 3. The letter, which commended the administration for reaching an agreement, said USMCA has positive elements on digital trade, e-commerce and finances, but the introduction of wage standards and stricter auto rules of origin "drive up costs for everyone while protecting only a few jobs at the expense of many others." Freedom Partners and Americans for Prosperity asked the administration to immediately drop the steel and aluminum tariffs on Mexico and Canada, and to end the threat of Section 232 tariffs on autos and auto parts.

Previous presidents gave lip service to curbing China's unfair trade practices, but never followed through, National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said during a Q&A at the Economic Club of Washington, D.C. "And President Trump is following through. Don't blame Trump, blame the system he inherited." Kudlow, who called Trump a disrupter, acknowledged that he is "more of a doctrinaire free trader" than his boss. But, he said, the China problem can't be left alone. "China has played fast and loose with the rules," Kudlow said Oct. 4. "The World Trade Organization needs reforms to enforce those rules. China is not a developing country anymore."

While an Atlantic Council scholar doesn't expect tariffs on Chinese goods to be lifted in the next six months, he said a resolution next year may be coming. "I don't believe there's any incentive for the administration to back down, certainly before the mid-terms," said Bart Oosterveld, the director of the Atlantic Council Global Business and Economics program. But, he added, he doesn't think the administration is interested in waging a trade war with China through the election in 2020. He also said the Chinese are willing to compromise.

President Donald Trump will appoint some new members to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations for four-year terms, the White House said in a notice. New members include Robert DeMartini, CEO of New Balance; Charles Rivkin, CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America; and Gary Jones, president of United Automobile Workers. The other appointees are:

President Donald Trump and the president of South Korea signed the revised U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (see 1809040039) during a ceremony on the sidelines of the United Nations meeting in New York Sept. 24. The change from tariffs to quotas on steel that was part of the KORUS renegotiation has already taken effect. No other immediate changes to duties on South Korean goods is expected from the FTA signing. The White House also released a fact sheet on the deal and trade with South Korea.

President Donald Trump is in favor of moving forward with proposed Section 301 tariffs on a broad group of products from China, according to a report from Bloomberg. The proposed tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports (see 1808010070) could come soon after the comment period on the proposal ends on Sept. 6, the report said. Asked to confirm the report during an interview, Trump called it "not totally wrong."

A "second-level" delegation from China is coming to the U.S. next week for talks, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Fox News Aug. 16, but what he said next suggested they would not be doing substantive negotiations to roll back the trade war. "Maybe they'll re-open those talks," he said. Kudlow quickly pivoted to talking about other trade negotiations. "We're making great headway in Europe, making headway in Mexico," he said, and added that he thinks what comes out of those talks is "going to be reassuring."

President Donald Trump said in an Aug. 15 tweet that tariffs are leading to great new trade deals. "Our Country was built on Tariffs," he said. "Other Countries should not be allowed to come in and [steal] the wealth of our great U.S.A. No longer!" So far, no new trade deal has been finalized during the Trump administration, though South Korea agreed to steel quotas and a longer period of high tariffs on imported trucks as part of a revised U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS). KORUS has not been signed, however. Canada, Mexico and the U.S. have been discussing a new NAFTA for a year; Canada is insistent that the U.S. will not use the leverage of Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs in NAFTA negotiations (see 1804260010).

In a series of tweets before a campaign rally in suburban Columbus, Ohio, and again on Aug. 5, President Donald Trump said tariffs "are working big time," and "foolish people scream" when his government imposes them. He said because of tariffs, America is winning, and China is "doing poorly against us" for the first time, and other countries' economies are hurting, too. Trump's preferred metric, the trade deficit, is still growing, through June and is up 7 percent compared to the first half of 2017. He said China is spending a fortune trying to convince "our politicians to fight me on tariffs."