Trump to Use G20 to Promote ‘Fair and Reciprocal Trade,” Says White House

President Donald Trump wants to use the G20 summit, opening Friday in Osaka, Japan, to promote “fair and reciprocal trade” as part of his “pro-jobs, pro-growth strategy,” said the White House Thursday. The Trump administration is “working to open new markets for American goods and services, while ensuring any deal is enforceable and creates a level playing field for our workers and companies,” it said. The U.S. is working with its allies to “confront unfair trade practices, including intellectual property theft, unfair labor practices, and forced technology transfer,” it said without mentioning China. Trump will “encourage our allies and partners to lower tariff and non-tariff barriers to free, fair, and reciprocal trade,” it said. He’s also committed to “encouraging innovation” by promoting “growth in the digital marketplace and supporting emerging technologies,” including artificial intelligence, which have “the potential to make a positive, meaningful impact on living standards and productivity,” said the White House. “Overly burdensome regulations can stifle innovation and limit the potential of these transformative technologies to fuel economic growth.” The U.S. will promote “innovation-friendly policies that support growth in the digital economy and pave the way for technological innovation,” said the White House. The administration urges G20 members “to work together to advance an open, fair, market-based digital economy, which will benefit all our nations through the free flow of data,” it said. Trump's planned meeting on the G20 sidelines with Chinese President Xi Jinping will figure critically in the administration's decision whether to impose the threatened List 4 Section 301 tariffs on virtually all remaining Chinese imports not previously dutied. The threat of additional tariffs "will in no way intimidate the Chinese people," said a Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Thursday. "I would like to remind the U.S. that waging a trade war and raising tariffs will hurt others as well as itself and can never solve any problem at all. We hope the U.S. will earnestly listen to the outcry against the trade war and additional tariffs of its people and various groups at home and heed to the call to boycott unilateralism, protectionism and bullying from the international community at the G20 Osaka summit."