[CTC] Trump adviser: U.S. will strike bilateral deals in Asia-Pacific

[Arthur Stamoulis]

Politico Pro
Trump adviser: U.S. will strike bilateral deals in Asia-Pacific

By Hans von der Burchard

U.S. President Donald Trump will seek bilateral trade deals with countries such as Japan, Australia and New Zealand to avoid strengthening China, one of his closest advisers on trade has said.

Peter Navarro, director of Trump’s newly created National Trade Council <https://greatagain.gov/navarro-national-trade-council-c2d90c10eacb#.od7j9x7qi>, hit back at criticism that the U.S. withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership <http://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trumps-first-blunder-china-trade-policy-trans-pacific-agreement-tpp/> would play straight into China’s hands.

“They’d be right if we weren’t going to go right to Japan and Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Thailand and negotiate bilateral deals,” Navarrotold Fox News on Sunday <http://video.foxnews.com/v/5301885718001/?playlist_id=3386055101001#sp=show-clips>.

Australia already has a free trade agreement with the U.S., signed in 2004, but Trump has repeatedly said he would look at every trade deal the U.S. has signed and could renegotiate to win a better deal for American workers.

Navarro added that the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Washington negotiated with 11 other countries, was “flawed,” and advocated bilateral deals with individual countries instead.

“Every country in [the Asia-Pacific] region loves to be with America because we represent democracy, freedom, economic growth, prosperity,” he argued, adding that “nobody in Asia wants to deal with China.”

“They’re afraid of China,” Navarro said. “Right now China is bullying Taiwan, China is bullying Japan, China is using its economic power basically to have its way.”

However, New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English is wary about a deal with the U.S., calling Trump’s proposed 30-day break clause in agreements unattractive.

This article first appeared on POLITICO.EU <http://www.politico.eu/pro/trump-advisor-us-will-strike-bilateral-deals-in-asia-pacific/> on Jan. 30, 2017.

 
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