Donald Trump has a new plan to consolidate the various federal agencies that currently have jurisdiction over U.S. trade policy into one “very important office,” a proposal he claimed would do more to advance the economic interests of American workers and “the national interest of the United States.”
Trump teased the proposal as a “major announcement” during his Thursday afternoon rally in Delaware, Ohio, promising that it would “bring jobs back” to the Buckeye State, and other areas where blue-collar workers have been adversely affected by “bad trade deals.”
“American trade policy is currently mismanaged by dozens of competing bureaucracies, spread across the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, State, Treasury — all of these departments,” said the Republican presidential nominee.
“It’s so complicated. So many different departments have to get involved, and by the time they get involved, they’re gone. They’ve signed with all of these other countries,” Trump told the crowd. He unveiled what he called the “American Desk,” which would function within the Commerce Department and handle all functions related to trade policy.
“The mission of the American Desk will be to protect the economic interests of the American worker, and the national interests of the United States,” he said, describing the proposal as a “major reorganization of our bureaucracy.”
“It’s going to be America First,” Trump added.
Trump did not make clear whether he would eliminate the Office of the U.S Trade Representative, a Cabinet-level agency that operates within the Executive Branch and is currently responsible for negotiating and enforcing trade agreements.
