Washington (AFP) – US President Donald Trump’s trade envoy nominee Jamieson Greer told his confirmation hearing Thursday that universal tariffs were worth studying, adding that he would work to restructure global trade ties. On the campaign trail, Trump floated the idea of across-the-board tariffs on all US imports, and Greer would be a crucial figure in implementing the president’s trade and tariffs agenda if confirmed as US trade representative.
A universal tariff “is something that should be studied and considered” to see if it can reverse the direction of the US trade deficit and offshoring, said Greer, a trade lawyer and official in Trump’s first administration. He was responding to concerns over sweeping duties, which some lawmakers warned could drive up prices. He raised the possibility of the global tariff in the context of a trade policy memo released on Trump’s inauguration day, which called for a report from government agencies by April 1.
Addressing the Senate Finance Committee, Greer added that “we have a relatively short window of time to restructure the international trading system to better serve US interests.” Greer, a partner at law firm King & Spalding, served as chief of staff to Trump’s former trade representative Robert Lighthizer during his first presidential term. During that time, he helped to see through a trade deal between the United States, Mexico, and Canada — although Trump has since announced, and then paused, fresh tariffs on both partners as talks continue.
Asked about potential trade wars with neighboring countries, Greer said “the action that the president is talking about is about fentanyl, where we don’t want another single fentanyl death.” “We need to come to an agreement on that,” he said, adding that Mexico and Canada appear willing to do so. Trump has cited illegal immigration and the flow of fentanyl across US borders as a reason for seeking 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico — though a lower rate on Canadian energy. Canada for its part has countered that below one percent of undocumented migrants and fentanyl entering the United States comes through its border.
Greer also stressed the need for the country to have a “robust manufacturing base” and innovation economy, warning it would have “little in the way of hard power to deter conflict and protect Americans” otherwise.
On US trade ties with the world’s second biggest economy, China, Greer said Washington and Beijing need to have a “balanced relationship” overall. He said it was important that if China wanted to trade with the United States and have healthy economic ties, much of this will need to be premised on fair market access. If confirmed, Greer said he would swiftly assess and enforce China’s compliance with a Phase One trade deal Washington and Beijing inked in 2020, marking a truce in the escalating trade war between both sides.
During Trump’s first term from 2017 to 2021, the United States introduced tariffs on billions of dollars worth of imports — notably on China but also America’s allies. In particular, the first Trump administration imposed levies on some $300 billion in Chinese goods as Washington and Beijing engaged in a tit-for-tat tariffs war. Trump’s trade representative at the time, Lighthizer, emerged as a strongman in talks as he sought to force changes in Beijing’s economic policies.
Greer added Thursday that the United States should be a “country of producers.” “We need to create incentives to produce in America, and we need to create incentives to get market access overseas,” he said. On gaining market access, he called for the use of “all the tools at our disposal” to do so. Greer additionally said he was committed to looking at other unfair trade practices if confirmed as USTR.
© 2024 AFP
