EuroWire November 2018

Transatlantic Cable

salvage NAFTA; and Washington was due on 5 th September to resume negotiations with Canada on keeping the pact intact. The administration on 3 rd September also released the terms of a renegotiated KORUS with what most trade experts considered to be only minor tweaks. † It should be noted that Mr Woodward, who enjoys a sterling reputation for probity and accuracy, is also known for his policy of “triangulation”: the verification by at least three sources of every item used in his reporting.

Trade

The bit of sleight-of-hand that apparently rescued the North American Free Trade Agreement from the US president According to the Washington Post , a new book on the Trump presidency by legendary Watergate journalist Bob Woodward includes an account of how Mr Trump’s then-economic adviser Gary Cohn stopped the president from ordering a US exit from NAFTA and a trade deal with South Korea. The Post published excerpts of the book – “Fear” – in early September, with public release due later in the month. The title is a clear reference to the emotional atmosphere of an administration rife with brutal infighting and in which “close advisers quietly manoeuvre to control Mr Trump’s impulses and prevent political and national security disasters.” (“Cohn Lifted Papers Off Trump’s Desk to Stop NAFTA Exit, Book Says,” 4 th September) Mr Woodward, who together with Carl Bernstein wrote “All the President’s Men,” the definitive account of the scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon in 1974, described settings and events in the Trump White House in exhaustive detail. Mr Woodward wrote that Mr Cohn quietly saved the South Korea-US trade agreement, known as KORUS, when in 2017 he removed “off Trump’s desk” a letter awaiting the president’s signature that would have ordered a US withdrawal. He did something similar the same year when Mr Trump was bent on pulling out of NAFTA. According to the Post account by Shawn Donnan, with assistance from Justin Sink, under orders from Mr Trump his staff secretary drafted a notification letter of withdrawal from NAFTA. But, along with other advisers, the secretary worried that this could trigger an economic and foreign relations crisis. He consulted Mr Cohn, who told him, according to Mr Woodward: “I can stop this. I’ll just take the paper off his desk.” Mr Cohn, who has since resigned his National Economic Council post after failing to block the new tariffs on steel and aluminium imports into the USA, reportedly told a colleague that he palmed the letter to protect national security. It seems that Mr Trump never noticed its disappearance from his desk. † Mr Cohn’s intervention may have saved both NAFTA and KORUS, wrote Mr Donnan. In late August the USA announced it had reached a bilateral deal with Mexico to

Steel

Image: www.bigstockphoto.com Photographer Adrian Grosu

Smaller manufacturers report disproportionately greater hardship from the fallout of the tariffs imposed last spring Some executives at the Steel Market Update (SMU) conference, held from 27 th to 29 th August in Atlanta, said that the tariffs placed on steel and aluminium imports by US President Donald Trump in March are having a more severe impact on smaller manufacturers compared to larger manufacturers. Some 95 per cent of attendees at this steel “summit” are actively associated with the flat rolled steel industry in North America and worldwide. As reported by Michael Fitzgerald of Platts S&P Global Platts , during one session executives from two manufacturing companies shared the issues they were facing as a result of the tariffs and ongoing trade uncertainty. (“Steel Tariffs Disproportionately Hurt Small Manufacturers: Execs,” 29 th August) “It is hard to plan your business when tweets change your marketplace,” said Christopher Shipp, sales vice president at Priefert Steel, a Texas-based company that operates four steel plants in Texas, Arkansas and Idaho. The reference was, of course, to Mr Trump’s inclination to communicate by way of his Twitter account. According to Mr Shipp, Priefert has already paid more than $400,000 in tariffs this year and delayed $5 million worth of expansion plans. The rapid rise in its costs has caused the company to raise prices to its customers four times this year, and it is struggling to push the higher costs through the supply chain. Prices are at the point at which customers are delaying orders.

Said Mr Shipp, “They’re saying, ‘It’s not worth that. We’ll wait.’”

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November 2018