Senate Republican: Skeptics of Trump trade policy can ‘take some encouragement’ from developments

Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said Sunday that skeptics of President Trump’s trade policies should be encouraged by recent developments.

“People like me who’ve really been concerned about the president’s stated trade policy can take some encouragement about what happened in the last couple days,” Blunt told “Fox News Sunday.”

“The signing of the U.S.-Canada-Mexico trade agreement, that’s a big step that six months ago or even just a few weeks ago we were concerned we would not be making that kind of progress.”

{mosads}”And on the Chinese front … we need more specifics here,” Blunt said, regarding the ceasefire reached with the U.S. in what has been an escalating trade war. 

“This has hurt a lot of Missouri farm families and farm families all over the country, but the president’s goal to get China in a better and fairer place on trade is the right goal.”

On Saturday, Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping announced a 90-day pause on new tariff actions as both countries work to finalize trade agreements regarding intellectual property, technology theft, and non-tariff trade barriers.

The announcement came after Trump and Xi met for a working dinner in Argentina as part of the Group of 20 summit of nations.

Trump and the leaders of Mexico and Canada on Friday signed a revised North American trade agreement that rewrites many of the rules governing free trade and caps off a bitter trade dispute between the three nations.

The president said late Saturday that he plans to formally terminate the North American Free Trade Agreement in an effort to pressure Congress to approve the new trade deal.