DAVOS: US President Donald Trump took his “America First” message to theworld’s elite on Friday, telling a summit of business and political leadersthat the United States would “no longer turn a blind eye” to what hedescribed as ”unfair trade practices.”
Trump became the first sitting US President in 18 years to address theannual conclave of the rich and powerful at the Swiss ski resort of Davos,closing the summit with a speech in which he declared the United States”open for business”.
“Now is the best time to bring your money, your jobs, your businesses toAmerica,” he said, singling out tax cuts and curbs to regulation asboosting the investment climate.
“After years of stagnation, the United States is once again experiencingstrong economic growth,” he said. “The world is witnessing the resurgenceof a strong and prosperous America.”
He said he would always promote “America First”, as he expected other worldleaders to do on behalf of their own countries. “America First does notmean America alone. When the United States grows so does the world,” hesaid.
But he swiftly turned to a theme of demanding tougher enforcement of traderules, accusing unidentified countries of unfair practices, includingstealing intellectual property and providing state aid to industry.
“We will enforce our trade laws and restore integrity to the tradingsystem. Only by insisting on fair and reciprocal trade can we create asystem that works not just for the United States but for all nations,”Trump said.
“The United States will no longer turn a blind eye to unfair tradepractices,” he said. “We cannot have free and open trade if some countriesexploit the system at the expense of others. We support free trade but itneeds to be fair and it needs to be reciprocal.”
While he has a record of opposing multi-lateral trade agreements involvingmany countries, he said the United States would consider “mutuallybeneficial” bilateral trade agreements with other individual states.
That could include countries that have signed up to a Trans-Pacific tradeagreement from which he has withdrawn, he said, adding that he would alsoconsider negotiating with them collectively if that was in the US interest.
Before his trip to Davos, Trump imposed 30 percent tariffs on importedsolar panels, among the first unilateral trade restrictions made by theadministration as part of a broader protectionist agenda.
NO “DAYLIGHT” ON DOLLAR
The Trump administration`s debut at Davos caused a storm, not least becauseof comments by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who said this week theUnited States benefited from a lower dollar, which would make its exportscheaper.
Mnuchin`s remarks sent the U.S. currency tumbling and drew sharp rebukesfrom the European Central Bank and other figures, who view countriestalking down their own currencies as a violation of unwritten rules to keeptrade balanced.
On Thursday, Trump said he ultimately wants the dollar to be strong,lifting the greenback briefly. U.S. officials sought to dispel anyimpression of disarray, saying Mnuchin was making an observation about theimpact of a lower dollar, not announcing a new policy to drive it down.
“I don`t think there`s any daylight between the President and SecretaryMnuchin,” an administration officials told reporters in Davos. “I thinkthat there were some people who took some comments that the secretary madewhere he was essentially reciting and explaining in descriptive manner abasic economic principle and took it to represent … some sort of policyannouncement or shift.”