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The president’s top economic adviser on Wednesday implied that the U.S. may not abide by any rulings from the World Trade Organization (WTO), a tough signal ahead of a Group of Seven summit this weekend where Trump is expected to face a backlash from allied leaders over his protectionist trade agenda. “International, multilateral organizations are not going to determine American policy,” White House National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow told reporters at a press briefing organized to preview President Trump’s trip to Canada for the G-7. The comments paint an unyielding stance on trade as the president prepares to meet...

... “Yesterday we met with the president a couple times, and he is very seriously contemplating kind of a shift in the NAFTA negotiations,” Kudlow says. “His preference now, and he asked me to convey this, is to actually negotiate with Mexico and Canada separately. He prefers bilateral negotiations and he’s looking at two much different countries. Kudlow says Trump “hates multilateral” treaties. “Canada is a different country than Mexico, they have different problems, and you know, he’s believed that bilaterals have always been better,” says Kudlow. “Now I know this is just three countries, but still, you know, oftentimes,...

Donald Trump is following through on his threat—or promise, as his voters see it—to impose steep tariffs on foreign goods in the name of supporting American industry, starting with levies of 25 per cent on steel and 10 per cent on aluminium imports. Allies and neighbors that had been granted temporary exemptions are now set to feel the brunt of the tariffs: Canada is America’s leading source of foreign steel, and Mexico and the European Union will also feel the pain. They’re all threatening to retaliate, and the press is calling this a trade war. If this is a war,...

SHANGHAI—Long derided as a casino, China’s once-volatile stock market is going through a long stretch of calm. One reason is an orchestrated government effort to keep traders and investors in line. Three years after a national uproar when Chinese stocks plunged by nearly half in just over two months, traders and brokers say regulators are increasingly stepping in to influence trades and make China’s markets appear less volatile, especially during political events when Beijing wants to project stability.

President Trump criticized Canada on Friday for being “highly restrictive on trade” and accused the U.S. ally of treating the agriculture sector “very poorly.” “Canada has treated our Agricultural business and Farmers very poorly for a very long period of time. Highly restrictive on Trade! They must open their markets and take down their trade barriers! They report a really high surplus on trade with us. Do Timber & Lumber in U.S.?” Trump tweeted. Trump said in a statement Thursday the U.S. would only “agree to a fair deal” with Canada.

Canada will retaliate against new U.S. tariffs by imposing its own trade barriers on U.S. steel, aluminum and other products, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said Thursday. This story is developing. Please check back for updates.

European leaders may be scratching their heads because they've never seen anyone like President Donald Trump, CNBC's Jim Cramer said Thursday. "Whatever the Europeans are doing, they are confused because they've never seen anything like this president," Cramer added on "Squawk on the Street." "They are so over their heads versus this guy."

The Trump administration will put tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union, the latest action in a string of protectionist policies to crack down on alleged trade abuses. The tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum imports will take effect at midnight Thursday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told reporters. The U.S. gave those allies a reprieve from those duties, but the exemptions were set to expire Friday. The Trump administration will place quotas or volume limits on other countries such as South Korea, Argentina, Australia and Brazil instead of...

U.S. to shorten length of visas for some Chinese citizens: White House NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Reuters) - The U.S. government plans to shorten the length of visas issued to some Chinese citizens as part of a strategy to prevent intellectual property theft by U.S. rivals, a White House official said on Tuesday. The U.S. State Department will implement measures from June 11 to “enhance security for some Chinese visa applicants,” the official said. The change would come as President Donald Trump’s administration attempts to crack down on what it says is theft of U.S. intellectual property by China. “Going forward, a...

The Trump administration said it would proceed with tariffs on $50bn in Chinese imports and broader investment restrictions, rebooting a trade war with Beijing that it claimed was “on hold” less than two weeks ago. The new tariffs, to be formally unveiled in two weeks, are intended to punish Beijing for what President Donald Trump has argued is a systematic campaign by China to steal US technology. The announcement came as Wilbur Ross, US commerce secretary, prepared to lead a delegation to Beijing this week and as critics in Congress assailed Mr Trump for having declared that he would soften...

President Donald J. Trump is Confronting China’s Unfair Trade Policies FOREIGN POLICY Issued on: May 29, 2018 From now on, we expect trading relationships to be fair and to be reciprocal. President Donald J. Trump YEARS OF UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICES: China has consistently taken advantage of the American economy with practices that undermine fair and reciprocal trade. For many years, China has pursued industrial policies and unfair trade practices—including dumping, discriminatory non-tariff barriers, forced technology transfer, over capacity, and industrial subsidies—that champion Chinese firms and make it impossible for many United States firms to compete on a level playing field....

While New Delhi-Washington ties have strengthened in recent times with the US calling on India to play a more weighty role in the Indo-Pacific and also Afghanistan, the deal with Russia and US imposing sanctions on Iran after withdrawal from the Iran nuclear accord seems to have created chinks in the relationship. India is planning to procure S-400 Triumf air defence missile systems for the Indian Air Force from Russia. A senior US Congressman has said that the proposed deal would "complicate" building interoperability between the United States and Indian militaries. "There is a lot of concern in the US...

In April, Beijing was given a list of goods that China buys in various countries that can be replaced by American ones. The list includes oil, oil products, liquefied natural gas, beef, poultry and soybeans. Washington is pressuring Beijing by lobbying long-term contracts for the supply of energy resources and agricultural products to China in order to reduce the multi-billion-dollar trade deficit between the countries, according to the Financial Times. Washington also intends to seek the abolition of quotas on US supplies to China. If the parties agree to remove trade barriers, then the expansion of energy supplies, according to...

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Friday found a common cause in their shared unease at U.S. President Donald Trump’s actions on Iran, climate change and international trade. Speaking at a question-and-answer session in front of an audience of business executives and Russian officials, Putin said the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran deal was damaging and counter-productive. Macron said he would try to convince Trump to return to talks about Iran’s nuclear program, and was also critical of Trump’s decision to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. “That was not desirable,” Macron said,...

Russian President Vladimir Putin took US President Donald Trump to task over a recent increase in trade barriers and an abandonment of the international trade order, all without saying his counterpart's name. In a speech at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin disparaged recent trade protectionism from countries including the US and urged nations to recommit to free trade. "We do not need trade wars or even temporary trade truces," Putin told a crowd of world leaders. "We need full-time trade peace." In addition to the general comments about protectionism, Putin also specifically attacked Trump's recent tariffs. Without specifically...

President Trump told Fox News on Friday he has struck a deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping to ease U.S. sanctions imposed on Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE. The Commerce Department last month blocked China's ZTE from importing American components for seven years, accusing it of misleading U.S. regulators after it last year settled charges of violating sanctions against Iran and North Korea. The ban was a virtual death sentence for ZTE, which relies on U.S. parts. The Trump administration, though, caused controversy by putting ZTE in play amid trade negotiations. According to Trump, Xi recently called him to ask if...

ZTE, the Chinese telecoms equipment maker, is estimated to have lost more than $2bn in revenue since the imposition of a ban on the supply of US components by Washington last month, according to calculations based on last year’s figures. ZTE reported full-year revenues of Rmb108.8bn ($17bn) in 2017, or an average of $1.4bn a month. The US ban on supplying parts to ZTE — after the group was found to have violated sanctions against North Korea and Iran — was imposed roughly six weeks ago, implying lost revenues of more than $2bn. The potential reversal of the US ban...

Trump's hawkish national security advisor John Bolton jumps into the White House's China trade talks National security advisor John Bolton is involved with U.S.-China trade negotiations. A National Security Council official told CNBC that it was only "natural" that Bolton be involved in recalibrating the U.S. trade relationship with China. Bolton, who was recently criticized by North Korea, said in March that a revamped trade policy with China "could be a little shock therapy." Kevin Breuninger | Kayla Tausche Published 11:45 AM ET Tue, 22 May 2018 Updated 11:52 AM ET Tue, 22 May 2018 As the U.S. and China...

A Senate panel on Tuesday rebuked President Trump's efforts to ease sanctions on the Chinese telecom firm ZTE, which the intelligence community and trade regulators have warned poses a national security risk for the U.S. The Senate Banking Committee approved an amendment in an overwhelming and bipartisan 23-2 vote that would block Trump from easing sanctions on ZTE without first certifying to Congress that the company is complying with U.S. law. The move comes the same day The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration and China are closing in on a deal to ease off ZTE in exchange...

Donald Trump is now deep into trade negotiations with China and NAFTA 2.0 negotiations with Canada and Mexico. We are strong free traders, but we believe that Trump's plans to negotiate better trade agreements that reduce trade barriers abroad are right on the mark. He also has to make sure those deals fully protect U.S. intellectual property, or what is commonly called know-how. American investments, ingenuity and entrepreneurship have made intellectual property one of our nation's most important assets. IP-intensive industries, including software, biotechnology and entertainment, now support nearly one-third of all U.S. jobs. But too often, our foreign trading...