USTR Lighthizer Says Trump Needs 4 More Years to Achieve Trade Goals

Outsourcing wasn't about competitive advantage, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said during an interview with conservative lobbyist Matt Schlapp, in a video branded Conservative Political Action Conference/Live. He said that while the Trump administration believes in competitive advantage, classic economists “never thought of the notion they can create scale through economic nationalism and gain advantage over another country.”

Lighthizer, who was speaking May 20, said the U.S.-China relationship is “still imbalanced, but I think it's moving in our direction.” He said it's not just China, though, and said that South Korea's steel industry is more efficient than the U.S. steel industry because its government underwrote those investments.

“The unfortunate truth is we need another four years if we're actually going to sit down there and complete this policy, and hopefully we're going to get those four years,” he said. “This has been a directional change, these things take time.”

Lighthizer said companies “are better off with supply chains closer,” and that long supply chains through Vietnam or China leaves us at a risk of the country having “other priorities when you need the product.” He said that “the profit at the end of the day was very, very little.”

It makes more sense to do bilateral agreements rather than multilateral agreements, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, he said, though he said that the “multilateral approach helps multinational corporations the most.”

He said the administration's focus is no longer on “profit maximization for multinational companies [and has shifted] to focusing instead on workers and farmers, and what's good for our communities.” He said it's crucial for the jobs for the 60% of adults who don't have college degrees to be middle-class jobs. “It's the dignity of work,” he said.