Trump trade czar: History made today with new US-South Korea trade deal
President Donald Trump’s top trade adviser Peter Navarro on Wednesday called the original U.S.-South Korea trade deal under the Obama administration one of the worst in the nation’s history.
“The top three worst deals in American history, you got at the top, China getting into the WTO in 2001. Number two is NAFTA and then number three, this one here that was done by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in 2012,” Navarro said during an interview with FOX Business’ Lou Dobbs.
The Trump administration secured a new trade deal with South Korea boosting America’s auto exports and limiting imports of South Korean steel. Since 2012, the U.S. trade deficit with South Korea has soared from $16 billion to nearly $23 billion last year.
“The president, during the campaign, was committed to renegotiate it and guess what, promises made, promises kept. History made today,” Navarro said.
Navarro, director of trade and industrial policy, said the South Korea trade deal provides a glimpse of Trump’s ability to negotiate fair trade deals that are in the best interest of country, including the North American Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
“We have the best trade negotiator in the last 30 years in Ambassador Robert Lighthizer. He’s running that, I think they’ve gone through six rounds now. He’s hopeful they can get a fair [NAFTA] deal,” he said.