Here is a description of the U.S. team.
STEVEN MNUCHIN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY
Mnuchin, a former banker, Hollywood film financier and Trump campaign finance manager, holds the top cabinet post overseeing economic and financial regulatory policy. The ex-Goldman Sachs executive was once viewed as one of the administration’s “globalists” allied with former White House economic adviser Gary Cohn in opposition to tariffs. But in recent months, he has voiced strong support for Trump’s tougher trade approach to China and steel and aluminum tariffs. The Treasury is now developing U.S. investment restrictions on Chinese companies.
ROBERT LIGHTHIZER, U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVE
Lighthizer served as a deputy USTR in the 1980s, using tariff threats to win voluntary export restraints from Japan on autos and steel, earning a reputation as a tough negotiator. The Washington trade lawyer has long expressed views that China has failed to live up to obligations that came with joining the World Trade Organization in 2001. He led USTR’s “Section 301” intellectual property study alleging that China misappropriated U.S. technology, resulting in threatened tariffs on up to $150 billion in Chinese goods. Lighthizer said this week that changing the U.S. relationship with China is “a big, big challenge” that would play out over years.
PETER NAVARRO, WHITE HOUSE TRADE AND MANUFACTURING ADVISER
Navarro, a former economics professor at the University of California-Irvine, won notoriety for his controversial book and film, “Death by China.” He holds the most hawkish views on Chinese trade policy, and is seen as likely to oppose a short-term agreement that does little to change the course of China’s industrial policy. He recently argued on Fox Business Network that the tariffs are designed to compensate the United States for “robbing our technology blind,” adding: “If you allow China to basically capture the industries of the future, we won’t have a future.”
LARRY KUDLOW, WHITE HOUSE ECONOMIC POLICY ADVISER
Kudlow is best known as CNBC television’s longtime conservative markets and economics commentator, who replaced Gary Cohn as the head of the National Economic Council. Like Cohn, Kudlow has long been an advocate for free markets and trade, and had frequently criticized Trump’s tariff approach. But since taking the job he has referred to tariffs as a negotiating tactic aimed at achieving fairer trade relationships. Kudlow also has acted to calm uneasy markets by telling White House cameras that a trade war has not started and the tariffs may not take effect.
WILBUR ROSS, U.S. COMMERCE SECRETARY
Ross, the 80-year-old billionaire investor and steel executive, has been a strong advocate of tariffs to level the playing field for U.S. companies. At Commerce, he heads the administration’s stepped up anti-dumping enforcement efforts and presided over global steel and aluminum tariffs enacted in March. But Ross’ influence in trade policy has waned somewhat after Trump rejected a deal that Ross had arranged last July during the last major U.S.-China economic dialogue in Washington.
Reference: Reuters
Thai
Eng