As Trade Partners Flock To Make A Deal With Trump Before April 9, Congress Would Lock In Trade Imbalances Forever:
https://dailytorch.com/2025/04/as-trade-partners-flock-to-make-a-deal-with-trump-before-april-9-congress-would-lock-in-trade-imbalances-forever/
President Donald Trump says the phone is ringing off the hook with trade partners anxious to make reciprocal trade deals after the President raised tariffs across the board among trade partners on April 2, before April 9 when the tariffs are due to take effect. For example, on April 4 Trump strongly signaled that trade negotiations could be about to with Vietnam after the President levied a 46 percent tariff on that country, writing on Truth Social, “Just had a very productive call with To Lam, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, who told me that Vietnam wants to cut their Tariffs down to ZERO if they are able to make an agreement with the U.S. I thanked him on behalf of our Country, and said I look forward to a meeting in the near future.” In the least, this should show that President Trump is open to negotiation, but trade partners should also pay very close attention that the retaliatory tariffs Trump is levying are not just in response to their tariffs, White House trade advisor Peter Navarro warned on CNBC’s Squawk Box this morning on April 7, “Let’s take Vietnam. When they come to us and say ‘we’ll go to zero tariffs,’ that means nothing to us because it’s the nontariff cheating that matters.” The non-tariff barriers include things like subsidies, import bans and perhaps most critically competitive currency devaluations, wherein trade partners devalue their own currencies in order to make the dollar stronger and cheapen the price of exports to the U.S. There, the value of the Vietnamese dong to the U.S. dollar has dropped from 0.00005 in 2011 down to 0.000039 today, a 22 percent decrease. In that time, the trade in goods deficit with Vietnam went from $13 billion in 2011 to $123 billion in 2024, and 846 percent increase, according to data compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau. Obviously, it’s not just Vietnam that is doing this. Except now certain members of Congress want to take away the President’s ability to increase and decrease tariffs, locking in the current trade imbalances forever. For better or for worse, Congress delegated this responsibility in the 1930s to enable Franklin Roosevelt to negotiate reciprocal tariff reductions in the 1930s during the Great Depression. The authority has since shifted to that under the 1974 Trade Act. How about instead let’s give President Trump the space — and leverage — he needs to negotiate better deals with foreign trade partners? The U.S. economy has been sick for a very long time, and it’s time for it to take its medicine.
Urge Congress To Support President Trump’s Reciprocal Tariffs!
https://www.votervoice.net/AFLG/campaigns/124583/respond
