According to Sen. Roy Blunt, POTUS Donald Trump’s use of tariffs as a driving force in his negotiations with Mexico is also meant to be a message for China, as the two top world economies are in the midst of a long-standing trade war.
“I think the biggest message here is not to Mexico but to China that the president is clearly willing to use tariffs,” Blunt said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” during its airing on Sunday.
The senator proceeded saying that notwithstanding his personal reservations about tariffs, Trump has faith in tariffs as a “significant economic tool” - “something he has always said should be part of our arsenal.”
On 7 June, Trump announced that the promised 5 percent duties on imports were about to be suspended after Mexico’s new administration had committed to take further action with regard to border enforcement.
When afterwards asked to comment on the provisions which had been reportedly been reached as early as in Marc, Blunt asserted he didn’t know “that they were.”
No deal is done till it’s done and announced,” he added, bringing up the last-minute collapse of trade talks between the US and China after Beijing backtracked on earlier commitments vis-a-vis security of intellectual property.
The senator then praised the Mexican government and President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador for their part in the negotiations as well as remarks by Lopez Obrador at a rally Saturday, when he remarked to the audience that the country emerged from the talks “with our dignity intact.”
US-China trade talks have been brought to a standstill by the Huawei row, in which Washington blacklisted the Chinese telecom giant alongside its 40 affiliates on the grounds that they allegedly breached user security at the behest of the Chinese authorities – something that the company’s management vigorously rejected, stating they used absolutely secure codes for their products.