President Donald Trump unveiled his trade policy objectives this week and emphasized his plan to strengthen “the American economy, the American worker, and our national security” in his second term.
Just hours after taking the oath of office on Monday, Trump introduced a myriad of sweeping executive actions which included a presidential memorandum outlining his vision for an “America First” trade policy. By reducing American “dependence on other countries,” the president’s policy aims to promote “investment and productivity” and defend U.S. “economic and national security,” according to the memorandum.
“Americans benefit from and deserve an America First trade policy,” Trump wrote. “Therefore, I am establishing a robust and reinvigorated trade policy that promotes investment and productivity, enhances our Nation’s industrial and technological advantages, defends our economic and national security, and — above all — benefits American workers, manufacturers, farmers, ranchers, entrepreneurs, and businesses.”
The president’s trade policy requires federal agencies to deliver various reports and recommendations to him by April 1, 2025, including on “unfair trade practices” from foreign countries, the reciprocity of existing trade agreements and an investigation into the “economic and national security implications” resulting from current trade deficits, according to the memorandum.
“Looking at President Trump’s first term, he is not religious about protectionist trade policy or free trade policy,” Andrew Hale, a senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “He looks at the big picture, and he is a dealmaker. He wants the best deal for America, and particularly he wants to make American manufacturing great again.”
The U.S. trade deficit has been steadily rising for decades, reaching $773.4 billion in 2023 — the deficit with China also grew to roughly $279.4 billion the same year. In 2022, the U.S. trade deficit with China was $382.3 billion, a 8.3% increase over 2021, the year former President Joe Biden took office. Recently, China’s trade surplus grew to a record $104.84 billion in December 2024, and nearly $1 trillion for the year.
Beyond addressing the trade deficit, Trump’s plan involves reshoring critical American manufacturing, noting in his memorandum that he “treated trade policy as a critical component to national security” in his first administration.
Hale similarly warned that U.S. outsourcing of manufacturing to foreign countries such as China remains a potential stumbling block, and emphasized the need to “nearshore and friendshore” American manufacturing.
Despite mounting concerns over national security amid China’s growing global influence in recent years, the U.S. has continued to outsource jobs and manufacturing to the country. The trade deficit with China has cost the U.S. 3.82 million jobs since 2001, with manufacturing accounting for 2.89 million of the lost jobs, according to a May 2023 report from Coalition for a Prosperous America.
The U.S. relies heavily on importing various goods from China, including imports of lithium batteries, computers, smartphones and pharmaceutical drugs. In 2023, China accounted for 4.6%, or $46.7 billion, of U.S. services exports and 2.7%, or $20.1 billion, of U.S. services imports, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service published in December 2024.
“There are lots of things we [the U.S.] can do to encourage nearshoring, friendshoring and sourcing intermediate goods from our allies and friends,” Hale told the DCNF. “We should not be having free trade with foreign adversaries, non-market economies, and autocracies like China. That’s just a recipe for disaster.”
Republican Missouri Rep. Jason Smith, the House Ways and Means Committee chairman, issued a statement on Tuesday praising Trump’s “America First” trade policy, writing that the president “wasted no time in demanding better treatment of American workers and businesses, as the American people clearly voted for him to do.” Smith also applauded Trump’s “willingness to look at all possible avenues to hold China accountable” and curb its ability to “undermine” America’s economy.
“For far too long, other countries have felt free to impose unfair tariffs, taxes, and non-tariff barriers against American exports and businesses,” Smith wrote in the statement. “The success and necessity of existing tariff policies like those established during President Trump’s first administration provide valuable lessons into how we can strategically deploy trade policies to sharpen our nation’s competitive edge, demand more reciprocal access to foreign markets for American goods, and protect our national security.”
Ahead of his return to the Oval Office, Trump promised to impose sweeping tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico, claiming that the countries are allowing fentanyl and illegal migrants to pour into the U.S. On Inauguration Day, Trump threatened to enact 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico by Feb. 1. The president’s memorandum built on his prior comments, calling on the Commerce and Homeland Security secretaries to recommend “appropriate trade and national security measures” to address “the unlawful migration and fentanyl flows from Canada, Mexico, the [People’s Republic of China].”
During his first presidency, Trump increased tariffs on goods imported from China, kicking off a contentious trade war between the two countries in 2018.
China’s officials, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, have repeatedly warned the U.S. against reigniting a trade war. Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang said on Tuesday that there would be “no winners” in a new trade dispute between America and China.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Screen Capture/PBS NewsHour)
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