Source:  POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 11/13/19

The president on Tuesday defended his tariff policies during a speech at the Economic Club of New York, denying that his erratic trade actions have caused uncertainty for U.S. companies, writes Pro Trade's Doug Palmer. The U.S. would actually be in much worse shape over the long term if he wasn't aggressively challenging China now, Trump argued.

Mixed signals: Despite the trade fallout on farming, manufacturing and other sectors, Trump has plenty of positive economic data he can tout as he makes the case for reelection: Unemployment was down to 3.6 percent in October, and consumer confidence remains high.

But economic growth is on track to slow to about 2.3 percent this year and could decelerate even further in 2020. The Port of Los Angeles estimates that Trump's tariffs threaten nearly 1.5 million U.S. jobs and more than $186 billion of economic activity nationwide, in a report released Tuesday.

"Phase one" direction: Trump also claimed that the U.S. and China are closing in on a partial trade agreement that would include massive Chinese purchases of American farm goods, per Pro Trade's Adam Behsudi. "We're close," he said.

Of course, trade officials have yet to determine when and where Trump and President Xi Jinping would meet to sign the limited agreement, which the White House announced one month ago. And they're still negotiating potential tariff cuts under the deal.