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Latin America's 'collective eye roll'
Story Date: 4/16/2018
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Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE 4/13/18
Trump's hard-edged rhetoric on trade has made it more challenging for the U.S. to check China's economic influence in its own backyard. Trump has chosen to skip the Summit of the Americas, a two-day gathering of Western Hemisphere leaders that kicks off today in Lima, Peru, leaving it up to Vice President Mike Pence to use the forum to make the case that the U.S. remains the best trading partner for nations in the region, Pro's Sabrina Rodriguez reports.
Here's the catch: Many Latin American nations stand to gain from a trade war between the U.S. and China, at least in the short run. Chinese demand for soybeans and other agricultural products that it imports from the U.S. in large quantities could shift business to Argentina and Brazil, said Carlos Gutierrez, former Commerce secretary under the George W. Bush administration.
"To the extent that the U.S. makes it more difficult to access and buy commodities because of these trade battles that are going on ... that business could well go to Latin America," Gutierrez told Sabrina. A trade war is bad for the global economy, he added, "but in the short term, because of the dislocation of products, the benefits would go to some of these Latin [American] countries."
Lighthizer's NAFTA calendar: Trump's trade chief won't be making the trip to Lima, meaning that a meeting of the NAFTA nations' top trade officials on the sidelines of the summit is no longer possible. Nevertheless, Lighthizer has appeared confident in recent meetings on the Hill and with administration officials that a preliminary NAFTA deal is possible in the next couple of weeks. He and other U.S. officials have been telling their Mexican and Canadian counterparts that the timeline is being driven by the U.S.' Trade Promotion Authority process.
The goal is to have something approved before Congress recesses for the holidays, which is supposed to be on Dec. 13, according to the current legislative calendar.
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