Trump vows sweeping changes to US trade policy

Donald Trump on Thursday ripped into U.S. trade policy, saying an overhaul of the nation’s global agreements is needed to boost economic and jobs growth.

The Republican presidential nominee continued his streak of bold promises on trade that include renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and pulling the United States out of a expansive Pacific deal. 

{mosads}Trump has made a habit of promising sweeping changes to the trade agenda if he is elected, including “predatory trade practices, product dumping, currency manipulation and intellectual property theft have taken millions of jobs and trillions in wealth from our country,” which he stated during remarks at the Economic Club of New York. 

A fact sheet released by the Trump campaign said that he will kill the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) even if President Obama and Congress are “reckless enough to pass it in a lame-duck session.”

The president is urging Congress to ratify the TPP before he leaves office. 

Trump again vowed to renegotiate or terminate “disastrous trade deals” like NAFTA, label China a currency manipulator, identify every trade violation and go more forcefully after Beijing for breaking global rules. 

As punishment, the real estate magnate stuck with his promise to slap tariffs on countries that violate the rules, especially China, a message he has delivered regularly throughout his campaign. 

“I like China, they’re my tenant, they buy condos all the time, they’re just fine, but you know what, they are a currency manipulator and we’re going to apply tariffs to any country that devalues its currency to gain an unfair advantage over the United States,” Trump said.

“They are a manipulator on a grand-master level and we can’t allow it to happen and our people and our representatives and our politicians don’t even have a little clue as to how to play the game.”

Trump said he would specifically ask the U.S. Trade Representative to bring trade cases against China.

The White House on Tuesday filed its 14th trade case against Beijing at the World Trade Organization since 2009, this time over subsidies for rice, wheat and corn.

The United States has won every case decided so far.

“I will use every tool under American and international law to end these abuses, and I will use our greatest business leaders and finest negotiators, some of you are in this room,” Trump said.

He said the trade deals are a disaster because they have been negotiated by “political hacks.”

The New York businessman also went directly after what he said are the “special interests” funding Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign, saying they “are the same people profiting from these terrible trade deals.”

“The same so-called experts advising Hillary Clinton are the same people who gave us NAFTA, China’s entry into the World Trade Organization, the job-killing trade deal with South Korea and now the Trans-Pacific Partnership,” he said.