Washington: The Trump administration is using tariffs as leverage to force trading partners to open their markets, strengthen enforcement and rebuild American manufacturing, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told lawmakers on Wednesday, laying out what he described as a new US trade doctrine built on reciprocal agreements backed by tariff pressure.
Tariffs are not simply punitive measures but also negotiating tools designed to secure better market access for businesses and workers, Greer told members of the Senate Finance Committee.
“We are committed to continuing to use tariffs and to negotiate deals to support the reindustrialisation of our economy, protect American workers and increase their wages and shrink our trade deficit,” he said.
Greer argued that the administration’s approach was already delivering results.
“The combination of tariffs and deals core to the President’s trade policy has yielded quick and impressive results,” he said.
According to Greer, the United States has concluded: “19 framework or reciprocal trade deals, covering 32% of global gross domestic product.”
Holding up what he said was the agreement with Indonesia, Greer told senators, “It’s substantive. There are annexes. There are tariff schedules of all the things that they’ll be reducing for the United States.”
He added: “And I have a dozen more deals like this.”
Greer said the administration’s reciprocal trade strategy had produced record American exports while changing the composition of imports in favour of industrial production.
“Everyone said trade would collapse. We’ve never exported as much as we are now,” he said.
He said imports were increasingly shifting from consumer goods to machinery and equipment needed to expand domestic manufacturing.
“The United States has not stopped trading with the world, but the composition of that trade has changed in a way that benefits Americans,” he said.
Greer cited several countries that had agreed to lower trade barriers as a result of negotiations with Washington.
He said Cambodia had “already removed all of its tariffs” on US goods, while North Macedonia had also eliminated tariffs.
Malaysia, he said, was preparing to reduce all tariffs to zero and remove long-standing non-tariff barriers.
Indonesia was expected to implement its commitments later this year, while Jordan had already signed a new agreement.
Greer also highlighted agreements with Israel and the European Union, saying Israel had accepted American standards and the EU had lowered industrial tariffs to zero while expanding tariff-rate quotas for US farmers.
Throughout the hearing, Greer repeatedly stressed that enforcement remained central to the administration’s strategy.
“Trade enforcement… means tariffs,” he said.
Even where trade agreements include dispute settlement mechanisms, he argued, tariffs remain the ultimate enforcement tool.
“If folks don’t do this, so we expect these countries to implement, we expect in the future that these countries will retain these agreements because they’ve made them to the United States of America,” Greer said.
“As long as I’m here, you can count on me to use whatever tools I have, whether it’s Section 301 or other tools, to enforce these agreements.”
Democratic lawmakers strongly disputed the administration’s approach, arguing that tariffs had increased costs for American consumers and businesses while creating uncertainty for farmers and manufacturers.
Greer rejected those criticisms, saying the administration’s strategy had expanded exports, reduced the trade deficit and encouraged new manufacturing investment.
(IANS)
