Ambassador Robert E. Lighthizer, the U.S. Trade Representative, testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday and discussed the U.S. trade policy agenda.
Lighthizer told the committee that USTR has been hard at work, and the agency submitted a new budget request to Congress and has started implementing President Trump’s agenda on trade, including notifying Congress of the administration’s intent to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, which is a principle priority of the President. Lighthizer said it that NAFTA negotiation rounds can begin as soon as August 17, and that is his intention.
In addition, Lighthizer said he traveled to Vietnam to participate in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Ministers Responsible for Trade meeting and led the U.S. delegation for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development ministerial meeting in Paris. “Those engagements allowed USDA to press its trading allies on a bilateral basis to open markets for American exports and to reiterate the president’s message that America and our workers insist on a fair shake,” Lighthizer said.
“USTR is also working to advance each point of President Trump’s trade policy agenda, which includes promoting U.S. sovereignty, enforcing U.S. trade laws, leveraging American economic strength, protecting U.S. intellectual property rights, and reducing America’s presistent trade deficit,” Lighthizer said.
To read Ambassador Lighthizer’s written testimony, click 20170622TR-Lighthizer-Testimony
