Sen. Rob Portman is expressing skepticism of key elements of President Trump’s trade policy but hopeful about China talks after the apparent sidelining of White House trade czar Peter Navarro.
The Ohio Republican, a former U.S. trade representative, said he disapproves of Trump’s decision to prosecute a multi-front trade war, preferring that dispute be handled separately. Portman also opposes the administration tactic of invoking national security to justify certain tariffs and has proposed legislation to clamp down on this practice.
But Portman is a bit more optimistic about the president’s approach after a deal was reached with Mexico and Canada to update the North American Free Trade Agreement. And the senator said he expects negotiations with China are on firmer footing now that Bob Lighthizer, the Trump-appointed U.S. trade representative, appears in charge.
“I think the president, as I’ve said both publicly and privately to administration officials, has had too many balls in the air. And that makes it tough, sometimes, to resolve issues. Frankly, we just don’t have the bandwidth to take on five or six fights at once,” Portman said.
Portman discussed this and other matters during a wide-ranging interview with “Behind Closed Doors,” a Washington Examiner podcast set to air on Tuesday.
Confronting China was one critical aspect of trade policy where Portman found agreement with Trump.
However, the second-term senator suggested the talks with Beijing had faltered because of disorganization in the West Wing and the involvement of Navarro, a top adviser to Trump on trade. That has changed, Portman said, with the ascension of Lighthizer as the top U.S. negotiator.
“With regard to China, finally we have a process in place to try to resolve our longstanding disputes with them. There, I have been in agreement with the president that we have to take on China, and there needs to be a process in place where they understand clearly what our objectives are,” Portman said.
“But a lot of it was, they didn’t really know what our objectives were,” he continued. “We had four or five people talking for us, each had a little different perspective. Now you have one person in charge, Bob Lighthizer, who’s the U.S. trade representative, which I think is a huge step in the right direction.”
