The Trump administration seems likely to ramp up trade enforcement efforts on China when it has more staff about a year from now, American Enterprise Institute resident scholar Derek Scissors said during a May 3 event hosted by Kelley Drye on the first 100 days of the administration. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping essentially punted on substantively addressing bilateral trade issues during their early April meeting the U.S.’s and China’s “100-day plan” (see 1704100008) reached during that meeting is more spectacle than substance, he said. But said the U.S. could increasingly press China on issues including intellectual property rights protection as the Trump administration will be facing more political pressure to act in 2018.

President Donald Trump issued executive orders to address violations and abuses of U.S. free trade agreements (here) and to create the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy (here) on April 29. The FTA executive order tasks Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and the U.S. trade representative with submitting performance reviews of all trade agreements to which the U.S. is a party. The order also directs examinations of all trade relations with World Trade Organization members with which the U.S. doesn’t have FTAs but has significant trade deficits in goods. Every performance review will cover “violations or abuses” of any U.S. FTA, investment agreement, “WTO rule governing any trade relation under the WTO,” or trade preference program hurting U.S. workers. The order also instructs the reviews to document any “unfair treatment by trade and investment partners” having similar effects.

President Donald Trump signed a memo on April 27 that outlines the Commerce Department’s Section 232 investigation into aluminum imports (here), which started the day before (see 1704270024). The memo orders the investigation to take into account how the quantities, availability, character and use of those imports affect the U.S.’s ability to meet national security requirements, noting the close relationship between the nation’s economic welfare and national security. Should the investigation find that aluminum imports are threatening or impairing national security, the report must recommend actions and steps to adjust imports so they won’t have that impact, the memo said.

President Donald Trump sent to the Senate the nomination of Mira Ricardel to serve as under secretary of commerce for export administration, the lead position at the Bureau of Industry and Security, the White House said April 28. Ricardel currently serves as special assistant to the president and associate director for presidential personnel, and worked at Boeing before that.

President Donald Trump may terminate the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), he told The Washington Post in an interview (here). Next week will mark an anniversary for the pact, and will trigger a review period allowing a renegotiation or ratification of a new version of the agreement. Trump told the South Koreans that the U.S. will either “terminate or negotiate,” he said in the interview. Trump referred to the deal as a “one-way street” and a “horrible deal.” The U.S. ran a $27.7 billion trade deficit with South Korea in 2016, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (here). During a visit to Seoul last week, Vice President Mike Pence noted that the U.S. is reviewing all existing trade agreements (see 1704180002). Trump also mentioned that terminating KORUS can be immediate pursuant to the deal, whereas withdrawing from NAFTA would require six months’ notice.

President Donald Trump and Argentine President Mauricio Macri directed their Cabinets to speedily outline a path forward in resolving pending bilateral agricultural issues, “based on scientific principles and international standards,” the leaders said in a joint statement (here). Trump and Macri met in Washington April 27, committing to expand trade and investment between the U.S. and Argentina, including in agricultural and industrial products, the White House said.

The White House said April 25 it sent to the Senate President Donald Trump's nomination of House Judiciary Committee senior majority counsel Vishal Amin to be the White House’s intellectual property enforcement coordinator. The Senate Judiciary Committee will handle Amin's confirmation hearing.

President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke by phone on April 25 about dairy trades, as well as lumber imports from Canada, the White House said (here). While the announcement described the call as “very amicable,” Trump spoke to a meeting of agriculture leaders on April 25 and said then that the U.S. is “not going to put up” with Canada’s unfair dairy trade-related practices, which he said have “been going on for a while,” according to a report from the dedicated White House press pool. "People don't realize Canada's been very rough on the United States ... they've outsmarted our politicians for years,” Trump said, also referencing countervailing duties the Commerce Department set on Canadian softwood lumber April 24 (see 1704250034).

President Donald Trump is considering signing an executive order proclaiming the U.S.’s intent to withdraw from NAFTA, but he hasn’t decided what course to take, according to a report by CNN (here). The order could bring about a renegotiation of the pact, not an outright U.S. withdrawal, CNN reported. Politico reported (here) that the White House may reveal the order late this week or early next week. That story also said that National Trade Council Director Peter Navarro and White House chief strategist Steve Bannon drafted the order, which was submitted this week to the White House staff secretary for final stages of review. The White House didn’t comment.

After congressional lawmakers and industry stakeholders requested that the White House work to loosen Canadian price constraints harming U.S. milk exports (see 1704130051), President Donald Trump highlighted the contentious situation during a speech in Kenosha, Wisconsin. “What's happened to [Wisconsin dairy farmers] is very, very unfair,” Trump said, according to remarks (here). “It's another typical one-sided deal against the United States. And it's not going to be happening for long.” During the address, Trump returned to some of his aggressive trade rhetoric used during the campaign, calling NAFTA a “complete and total disaster,” vowing “very big changes” during the renegotiation or else U.S. withdrawal.