The
U.S. is still open to multilateral trade agreements, despite an initial Trump
administration preference for bilateral deals, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross
said during a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. While
the Trump administration has been criticized for its lack of engagement in
multilateral deals, including its withdrawals from the Trans-Pacific
Partnership (TPP) and the Paris climate accords, Ross said the administration's
desire to make changes to current practices did not mean it would no longer be
a world leader. Ross stressed the administration's willingness to participate
in multilateral agreements provided member countries are open to equitable
tariffs.
"If
China or the EU or anybody else is willing to match our tariffs, we’ll
pull" for an agreement, Ross said. Specifically on the European Union
(EU), Ross pointed out the U.S. has not pulled out of the Transatlantic Trade
and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a sign of that openness to multilateral
deals, Ross noted. "When we dropped from TPP, we did not drop from TTIP,"
he said. "It wasn't an accident that we didn't walk from TTIP."
However, there have not been any additional talks via TTIP.