Former deputy U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer, shown here in 2007, is President Donald Trump’s pick for the USTR job. (Dole Institute of Politics via YouTube)

Trump’s trade nominee pledges tough enforcement

Washington | Reuters — U.S. President Donald Trump’s choice for the top trade negotiator on Tuesday pledged an “America First” strategy to aggressively enforce U.S. laws and trade deals to stop unfair imports and push China to scrap excess factory capacity. Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. Trade Representative nominee, told senators at his confirmation hearing that […] Read more



(Dave Bedard photo)

U.S. challenges Chinese wheat, corn, rice price supports at WTO

Washington | Reuters — The United States on Tuesday launched a challenge to China’s price supports for domestic production of rice, wheat and corn at the World Trade Organization, charging that these far exceed limits that China committed to when it joined the WTO in 2001. The U.S. Trade Representative’s office said China’s “market price […] Read more

(Europa.eu)

U.S., European trade negotiators battle political headwinds

New York | Reuters — Facing deeply entrenched differences and political headwinds, the top negotiators trying to reach a sweeping U.S.-European free trade deal avoided agriculture, public procurement and other thorny issues in talks this week. Instead, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Daniel Mullaney and European Commission lead negotiator Ignacio Garcia Bercera said on Friday they […] Read more