A huge number of the issues that are currently addressed by President Trump have given headaches to numerous White House administrations, stated Michael Froman, who was part of the Obama administrations as U.S. Trade representative, CNBC informed.
At the annual Singapore Summit, Froman talked to CNBC on recent situation in the global trade, and although he had some remarks for Trump’s administration, he noted that surprisingly this team is somehow trying to tackle issues that have been a concern for officials in the long term.
“Different administrations have had different approaches — I was part of another administration that had a somewhat different approach — but certainly some of the underlying concerns about subsidies, about [intellectual property] theft, about forced technology transfer, those are longstanding issues that a number of administrations have been concerned about,” he said.
He also was quite diplomatic about Trump’s tactics describing them as very distinctive to what he is used to.
“He certainly has a very distinct approach to trade, and it’s something that he’s had a longstanding view on, long before he ran for president,” he said. “I think the rest of the world is paying attention to that.”
Froman also emphasized that international collaboration and discussion are the key ingredients in the process of shaping the global trade policy.
“I think we are most influential vis-a-vis China when we are part of a broad-based coalition of other developed and developing countries, and I think the administration has started to reach out and work with the EU and Japan vis-a-vis China, and I think broadening that out to include other major emerging economies could be helpful as well,” he said.
He also said that the U.S. needs to have a “meaningful dialogue” with China that involves Washington having a “clear idea about what it is we want China to do, and make sure that we can put it forward in a way that the Chinese will see that it’s in their interest as well.”
On the subject of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the now-defunct 12-nation trade agreement he had helped shape, Froman said he was encouraged by the ongoing discussions around its U.S.-lacking successor.
“I think it’s good that the other 11 countries continue to pursue TPP, that there are other countries that want to join it,” he said.
Trump canceled U.S. involvement in the TPP when he entered the White House, but Froman told CNBC he sees the work that went into the original agreement as impacting current U.S. policy.
Be the first to comment