Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: The conflict in the Middle East whipsawing food prices and
Speaker 2: creating uncertainty for global trade. Palmer Am Marie John is
Speaker 2: from Washington now with a special guest, a Marie. Good morning, John.
Speaker 3: That's right, an individual who just met with a number
Speaker 3: of the US trade partners at a wto meeting and
Speaker 3: Cameroon is Ambassador Jamison Greer, the United States Trade Representative.
Speaker 2: Ambassador gear Good morning, Thank you so much for joining me.
Speaker 1: Good morning, great to be here.
Speaker 3: So you just got back from meeting with a number
Speaker 3: of trade partners, and at the moment, global trade is
Speaker 3: upended by what's going on in the Strait.
Speaker 2: Of her Moose.
Speaker 3: Did you have an update to give American trading partners
Speaker 3: about the flow of trade through that critical waterway.
Speaker 1: Well, right now. I think the thing to understand is
Speaker 1: that the United States is generally insulated from a lot
Speaker 1: of the supply chain effects when it comes to direct
Speaker 1: commodities and things like that. For a lot of that,
Speaker 1: we have domestic sourcing. We have sourcing from our partners
Speaker 1: to the north and south of US and other places.
Speaker 1: But obviously we're aware that this has an impact in
Speaker 1: other countries, particularly in Asia. We know that their supplies
Speaker 1: are tight, and so we're watching that really closely. When
Speaker 1: I was meeting with all of them, this was not
Speaker 1: particularly high on their agenda things to discuss with me
Speaker 1: because we were meeting for other reasons. But we're monitoring
Speaker 1: the situation given that the supplies of commodities coming out
Speaker 1: of the Gulf can affect our treating partners longways.
Speaker 3: And it's not just crude, it's loqualified petroleum gas, which
Speaker 3: you need, especially in countries like India to cook.
Speaker 2: It's fertilizer. Do you have a sense of a timeline.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, first of all, any kind of operation,
Speaker 1: you're focused on objectives and you don't want to set
Speaker 1: artificial timelines. When I hear from the Secretary of State
Speaker 1: of sectur of Defense, they talk about, you know, operations
Speaker 1: in terms of weeks. We hope that's the case. The
Speaker 1: Trump administration has made a lot of headway and its
Speaker 1: objectives in Iran in terms of destroying ballistic missiles, destroying
Speaker 1: the navy, and making progress to make sure that they
Speaker 1: don't have in a nuclear weapon.
Speaker 3: You met on the sidelines with your Chinese counterpart. China
Speaker 3: buys the lion's share of Iranian crude. We have seen
Speaker 3: Chinese vessels given safe passage to Destrait. Did this become
Speaker 3: a focal point of that conversation.
Speaker 2: It did not.
Speaker 1: When I met with my counterpart, Minister Wong, the Ministry
Speaker 1: of Commerce minister, this did not come up. We were
Speaker 1: focused on preparing for the Leader's meeting, which will occur
Speaker 1: in mid May. We were talking about the WTO itself
Speaker 1: and the future of it, or potentially lack thereof, as
Speaker 1: the case.
Speaker 3: May be, And so black there up youre thinking about getting.
Speaker 1: Out, well, I wouldn't say that. I would just say
Speaker 1: that the ability of the World Trade Organization to meet
Speaker 1: the needs of the moment, addressing structural imbalances, currency issues,
Speaker 1: huge export driven surpluses by other countries, the WTO has
Speaker 1: never been able to address those things and it won't
Speaker 1: be going forward. It can barely address issues on its
Speaker 1: current agenda.
Speaker 3: So potentially you want a revamp of the WTO.
Speaker 2: Is that what you're calling for?
Speaker 1: I will tell you that we have called for a reform.
Speaker 1: The Trump administration has put in many proposals, concrete proposals
Speaker 1: about reform about how to graduate countries to take on
Speaker 1: more obligations as they become more developed. We've talked about
Speaker 1: making sure that countries can adjust their tariff schedules to
Speaker 1: account for national core interests, and we put forward a
Speaker 1: reform plan together with a bunch of trading partners at
Speaker 1: a recent meeting and Cameroon, and there was near consensus
Speaker 1: on this. Countries like Brazil and Turkey eventually opposed the
Speaker 1: closing package, which is unfortunate, but it's also kind of
Speaker 1: exhibit a of how the WTO's unable to address these
Speaker 1: core challenges.
Speaker 2: Back to the street.
Speaker 3: In your conversation with your Chinese counterpart, the President has
Speaker 3: been pretty direct to European allies, if you want the
Speaker 3: straight to open, you should also help us send vessels,
Speaker 3: send a mind.
Speaker 2: Sweep er, send your navy.
Speaker 3: If China is the one that's benefiting the most in
Speaker 3: terms of they're the ones that for years have been
Speaker 3: supporting this brutal regime.
Speaker 2: Should they also not be on the hook to reopen
Speaker 2: the street.
Speaker 1: Well, listen, this is a decision for China, and I'll
Speaker 1: obviously let the President and TERFF, State and SECT Turf
Speaker 1: Defense decide how they're going to line with other countries
Speaker 1: in reacting to the straight Offomus closing. Again, it affects
Speaker 1: these other countries much more than affects US.
Speaker 2: Other countries have been.
Speaker 1: Working with Iran to figure out arrangements to get out oil, gas,
Speaker 1: fertilizer and all these other things. But it is clearly
Speaker 1: in the interest of the world community to make sure
Speaker 1: not only to make sure that the Strait is open,
Speaker 1: but to make sure that Iran doesn't get a nuclear weapon,
Speaker 1: Iran doesn't empower its terror proxies in the region. The
Speaker 1: world would be much safer if the world was aligned
Speaker 1: on taking care of the Iran issue.
Speaker 3: As you prepare for this trip, there's a lot of
Speaker 3: reporting that China, like Russia, is helping Iran, even when
Speaker 3: it comes to not just supply chains but targeting US troops.
Speaker 3: Is this going to be on the agenda when the
Speaker 3: president meets? Is this even potentially a reason why the
Speaker 3: trip could maybe get postponed.
Speaker 1: In past meetings between the presidents, they've always talked about
Speaker 1: conflicts and hotspots. In the past, they've talked about Ukraine
Speaker 1: and Russia, They've talked about Iran. Assume that they'll talk
Speaker 1: about these things again. With respect to your question, is
Speaker 1: there going to be a delay in the meeting. I
Speaker 1: haven't heard talk about that either internally. I didn't hear
Speaker 1: that from my Chinese counterpartment. I talked him last week.
Speaker 3: When it comes to the tariffs right now, there's Section
Speaker 3: three or one tariffs that you're looking into when it
Speaker 3: comes to China, and we've seen China actually have their
Speaker 3: own announcement that they're going to investigate US companies. This
Speaker 3: tit for tat we might see in the trade between
Speaker 3: Ijing and Washington back to where we're almost what it
Speaker 3: feels like.
Speaker 2: A year ago.
Speaker 3: Do you think that's going to hinder the US from
Speaker 3: getting back to the twenty percent level they were at
Speaker 3: before I eep it was struck down.
Speaker 1: I don't think so. When you look back to the
Speaker 1: Busan agreements, the agreements we achieved with the Chinese last year,
Speaker 1: we were seeking stability. We were seeking to receive, achieve
Speaker 1: a level of tariff application on one side and the
Speaker 1: flow of rare earth minerals and things from the other side.
Speaker 1: Both sides want stability, Both sides want to see continuity.
Speaker 1: The Chinese know that the United States is trying to
Speaker 1: control for our you know, giant trade deficit, we've had
Speaker 1: with China for a long time, which went down by
Speaker 1: thirty percent last year, by the way, So I don't
Speaker 1: think it's going right.
Speaker 3: But China's imports to other countries in the and I
Speaker 3: went up, and then those countries are important to the
Speaker 3: United States, don't you have an issue with transhipment at
Speaker 3: the moment?
Speaker 1: So there's there's always been an issue with transhipment. But
Speaker 1: when you look at our shipments from third countries outside
Speaker 1: of China since April, right since Liberation Day, that deficit
Speaker 1: has gone down by seventeen percent. So while there may
Speaker 1: be some transhipment, overall, our trade deficit is going down,
Speaker 1: so down with China, it's going down with the rest
Speaker 1: of the world. It's going exactly the right production direction.
Speaker 1: At the same time, wages are going up in America,
Speaker 1: productivity is going up.
Speaker 2: Do you think you're going to get to the twenty
Speaker 2: percent level?
Speaker 1: Well, I can't prejudge the investigations right at Section three
Speaker 1: oh one. We have to go through the legal process.
Speaker 1: We have to collect information. It's quite public, it's quite transparent.
Speaker 1: You know. We know what the nature of the deal
Speaker 1: is that we struck with the Chinese, so we will see.
Speaker 1: All I know is that the President for sure is
Speaker 1: going to keep protecting our economy. He's going to protect
Speaker 1: our producers so we can continue to have increased production
Speaker 1: in the US increase wages here.
Speaker 3: If China plays hardball though, not just with their own investigations,
Speaker 3: but potentially bringing rare earths back into the foraight. I
Speaker 3: know they have basically till October. There's a deal on
Speaker 3: the table potentially, then would you look to maybe decrease
Speaker 3: the tariff level.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, from our perspective, we're looking for stability.
Speaker 1: We're trying to achieve we're trying to get the trade
Speaker 1: deficit reduced, We're trying to increase manufacturing in the United States,
Speaker 1: and we're trying to increase real wages and all of
Speaker 1: that is happening. So we don't see a need to
Speaker 1: change our policy. The Chinese wants stability, We want stability.
Speaker 1: I actually see a positive agenda with China going forward,
Speaker 1: where we learn to manage our trade with each other,
Speaker 1: where we pick the kinds of things we want to
Speaker 1: be selling to each other, things that are mostly non sensitive,
Speaker 1: to avoid some of the national security elements that prove
Speaker 1: challenging and negotiations. I see stability with China over the
Speaker 1: next year.
Speaker 3: When it comes to this extension on rare earths, Are
Speaker 3: you going to need one in October or will you
Speaker 3: think the United States is in a place where we
Speaker 3: don't extension.
Speaker 1: Well, we've made a lot of progress. We have a
Speaker 1: few months, so I think we'll assess that down the road.
Speaker 1: You know, we have Project Vault where we're stockpiling a
Speaker 1: lot of critical minerals and rare earths. We have new
Speaker 1: projects in the United States to mind process and manufacture
Speaker 1: rare earths, including permanent magnets that we need for different motors.
Speaker 1: We're working with our counterparts and our trading partners Australia,
Speaker 1: the EUGE, Pan, Mexico to find projects we can do
Speaker 1: together to increase supply chain security.
Speaker 2: How much will weare Earth's.
Speaker 3: Be on the table this discussion with the President in
Speaker 3: Shijing Pang in May.
Speaker 1: So when we met in Paris with our Chinese counterparts
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago, we talked about rare earths.
Speaker 1: The process with the Chinese is working fairly well. There
Speaker 1: are a few things here and there where we highlighted
Speaker 1: that we didn't feel like we were getting rare earths
Speaker 1: in a timely fashion, and we highlighted that to our partners.
Speaker 1: They took note of that and have it under consideration.
Speaker 1: So the presidents will talk about it if they need to.
Speaker 1: Our hope and expectation is that we're able to manage
Speaker 1: a lot of it between now and then.
Speaker 3: At the staff level, do you think you're going to
Speaker 3: have to meet your counterparts again before for the big
Speaker 3: leader meeting in Beijing.
Speaker 1: I don't think we're going to need to do that,
Speaker 1: particularly when we were in Paris. We reach general agreement
Speaker 1: on the types of outcomes we want for the leader's meeting,
Speaker 1: and right now our deputies and our staff community are
Speaker 1: in regular communication to try to land all those outcomes.
Speaker 3: Can you give us any sense of what the main
Speaker 3: deliverables are going to be in Beijing?
Speaker 1: I think that one of them. In people. There's been
Speaker 1: a little bit of coverage on this. We've been talking
Speaker 1: about a board of trade, a US China board of Trade,
Speaker 1: which really will be a mechanism to help manage trade.
Speaker 1: Over the past ten years or so, as the United
Speaker 1: States has tried to eliminate its trade deficit with China,
Speaker 1: figure out its export control situation, if we can formalize
Speaker 1: the mechanism a little bit to make sure that we
Speaker 1: are we can agree on things we are selling to
Speaker 1: each other. For the US, we want to be selling boeings,
Speaker 1: we want to be selling medical devices, pharmaceuticals, AG products,
Speaker 1: things like that. You know, the Chinese want to be
Speaker 1: selling things to us, and we're willing to buy things
Speaker 1: like you know, low tech consumer goods and things like that,
Speaker 1: certain commodities that maybe the Chinese have that we don't.
Speaker 1: And so coming establishing that type of mechanism at the
Speaker 1: leader's meeting and then going through a process of figuring
Speaker 1: out how to optimize trade with each other, that's going
Speaker 1: to be a
Speaker 3: Big deliverable Ambassador Grow, Thank you so much for your time
Speaker 3: this morning.