U.S. Trade Policy

President Trump has broken with decades of U.S. trade policy in a bid to protect American industries from foreign competition, sparking fears of a punishing trade war. Trump has announced $60 billion in tariffs on Chinese imports, demanded changes in a long-standing trade pact with Mexico and Canada and removed the United States from multilateral Asian trading negotiations. The administration says the changes in trade policy are necessary to restore manufacturing decimated by low-cost competitors overseas, where wages are far lower than in the United States and governments sometimes subsidize private industry to give them an edge in global markets. Trump's tariff targets include cheap steel and aluminum imports, which have led to layoffs and plant closures in those industries in the United States. But critics say the administration is ignoring the benefits of free trade, arguing that lowering trade barriers has expanded global commerce and spurred greater prosperity here and abroad.