President Donald Trump promised supporters that he would work to reverse job losses resulting from bad trade deals made by past administrations.
The president pointed to the job losses since George H.W. Bush, including policies favored by former President Bill Clinton, who signed NAFTA, President George W. Bush, who partnered with 13 additional countries for free trade agreements, and President Barack Obama, who signed trade deals with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama.
“From Bush 1 to present, our country has lost more than 55,000 factories, 6,000,000 manufacturing jobs and accumulated trade deficits of more than 12 trillion dollars,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Last year we had a trade deficit of almost 800 billion dollars. Bad policies & leadership. Must WIN again!”
The trade deficit for the United States rose to a nine-year high in January, according to the Commerce Department.
Trump said he wanted to work with China to reduce the trade deficit with the United States by $1 billion.
“Our relationship with China has been a very good one, and we look forward to seeing what ideas they come back with,” he wrote. “We must act soon!”