U.S. President Donald Trump is considering an executive order to launch a trade investigation that could lead to supplemental duties in certain product categories, a Trump administration official told Reuters.
Trump has made reducing U.S. trade deficits a key focus of his economic agenda to try to grow American manufacturing jobs. He has taken particular aim at renegotiating trade relationships with China and Mexico.
The new order, if issued, would seek to determine whether U.S. trade deficits for those product lines are the result of dumping of imported products below cost and unfair subsidies by foreign governments, the official said late on Sunday in Washington.
That could eventually lead to additional import duties, but any decisions on such punishments would depend on the probe’s findings, not “pre-determined conclusions,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the order was still being considered. The official did not specify