President Trump on Friday laid out his “America first” trade agenda in Asia, delivering a denunciation of the “unfair” multilateral trade agreements that he said undermine the United States’ “sovereignty” and economic power.
Speaking to a gathering of CEOs on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Vietnam, Trump vowed to strike bilateral trade agreements “with any Indo-Pacific nation that wants to be our partner and that will abide by the principles of fair and reciprocal trade.”
“From this day forward, we will compete on a fair and equal basis. We are not going to let the United States be taken advantage of anymore,” he said. “I am always going to put America first the same way that I expect all of you in this room to put your countries first.”
“What we will no longer do is enter into large agreements that tie our hands, surrender our sovereignty, and make meaningful enforcement practically impossible.”