US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he wants to avoid policies that make it difficult for other countries to do business with the US — even as his administration has done precisely the opposite.
Trump has imposed tariffs on billions of US dollars in goods and launched disputes with most key US trading partners over the past three years, but in a lengthy Twitter post, the president said: “We don’t want to make it impossible to do business with us. That will only mean that orders will go to someplace else.”
“The United States cannot, & will not, become such a difficult place to deal with in terms of foreign countries buying our product, including for the always used National Security excuse, that our companies will be forced to leave in order to remain competitive,” he tweeted.
Trump appeared to be directing his tweets at hardliners in his administration, referring to a proposal to block General Electric Co (GE) from selling jet engines to China.
“I want China to buy our jet engines, the best in the World,” he wrote. “I have seen some of the regulations being circulated... and they are ridiculous.”
US officials are considering denying a license to CFM International SA, a joint venture between GE and France’s Safran SA, to export more of its jet engines to China, the Wall Street Journal said in a report over the weekend, citing people familiar with the discussions.
China is using the engines to develop its own airliner, Commercial Aircraft Corp of China Ltd’s (COMAC, 中國商飛) C919, to compete with Boeing Co and Airbus SE.
The Journal said that US officials worry that Beijing could reverse-engineer the engine and enter the engine market.
Another goal of the US proposal reportedly is to slow development of the COMAC airliner.
GE said that it has provided products and services globally for decades.
“We aggressively protect and defend our intellectual property and work closely with the US government to fulfill our responsibilities and shared security and economic interests,” the Boston-based company said.
The episode marks the latest example of the administration’s often-chaotic approach to policymaking, with the president publicly and unexpectedly weighing in on ongoing deliberations, leaving businesses confused over where US policy is headed.
“Uncertainty is death to trade,” former US Department of Commerce official Kevin Wolf, who is now a partner at the Akin Gump law firm, said at a conference on Tuesday on US export controls, where the president’s tweets caused a stir.
The US Department of Commerce declined to comment. The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Additional reporting by AP
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