US Wants to Sell to China, Ease Restrictions on Exports, Trump Says

President Donald Trump said he does not want to make it more difficult to export U.S. goods, adding that he has “instructed” his administration to make it easier for countries to do business with the U.S. “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,” Trump said in a series of Feb. 18 tweets. He added that the U.S. wants to sell to “China and other countries” and “We don’t want to make it impossible to do business with us. That will only mean that orders will go to someplace else.”

Trump also said he has “seen some of the regulations being circulated, including those being contemplated by Congress, and they are ridiculous. I want to make it EASY to do business with the United States, not difficult.” It was not immediately clear which regulations the president was referring to. The White House did not comment.

Edwin Alden, a professor at Western Washington University and a trade scholar, called the series of tweets “just jaw dropping.” Alden said in a Feb. 18 interview that the tweets suggest that the tightening of de minimis U.S. content in sales to Huawei from 25% to 10% will not happen.

Trump also said “I want China to buy our jet engines, the best in the World.” The administration is considering blocking exports of jet engines to China co-produced by General Electric, according to a Feb. 16 report from The Wall Street Journal. The engines are for a new aircraft being developed by China, and a U.S.-imposed restriction on the sale could have “steep repercussions” for GE, the report said.

Alden said while Trump’s comments “cuts all that off at the knees,” he added that it’s hard to know if the direction toward tightening will be halted, given the momentum for it in the administration. “It’s hard to know whether he’s going to stay focused on it or not,” he said.

The Commerce Department is working on export controls on a range of emerging and foundational technologies to make it more difficult for China to acquire sensitive U.S. technology (see 2002040057). The agency is also considering expanding its export control jurisdiction to a broader array of foreign sales containing U.S. goods (see 2002050047), and administration officials frequently mention national security concerns as justification for sanctions and export controls, including its placement of Huawei on the Entity List (see 2002130059).