82 FR 16721 - Omnibus Report on Significant Trade Deficits

Executive Office of the President

Federal Register Volume 82, Issue 64 (April 5, 2017)

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 64 (Wednesday, April 5, 2017)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 16721-16722]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2017-06968]




                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 82 , No. 64 / Wednesday, April 5, 2017 / 
Presidential Documents

[[Page 16721]]


                Executive Order 13786 of March 31, 2017

                
Omnibus Report on Significant Trade Deficits

                By the authority vested in me as President by the 
                Constitution and the laws of the United States of 
                America, and in order to ensure the informed exercise 
                of the authority over international trade granted to me 
                by law, it is hereby ordered as follows:

                Section 1. Policy. Free and fair trade is critical to 
                the Nation's prosperity, national security, and foreign 
                policy. It is in America's economic and national 
                security interests to promote commerce by strengthening 
                our relationships with our trading partners, vigorously 
                enforcing our Nation's trade laws, improving the 
                overall conditions for competition and trade, and 
                ensuring the strength of our manufacturing and defense 
                industrial bases.

                For many years, the United States has not obtained the 
                full scope of benefits anticipated under a number of 
                international trade agreements or from participating in 
                the World Trade Organization. The United States annual 
                trade deficit in goods exceeds $700 billion, and the 
                overall trade deficit exceeded $500 billion in 2016.

                The United States must address the challenges to 
                economic growth and employment that may arise from 
                large and chronic trade deficits and the unfair and 
                discriminatory trade practices of some of our trading 
                partners. Unfair and discriminatory practices by our 
                trading partners can deny Americans the benefits that 
                would otherwise accrue from free and fair trade, unduly 
                restrict the commerce of the United States, and put the 
                commerce of the United States at a disadvantage 
                compared to that of foreign countries. To address these 
                challenges, it is essential that policy makers and the 
                persons representing the United States in trade 
                negotiations have access to current and comprehensive 
                information regarding unfair trade practices and the 
                causes of United States trade deficits.

                Sec. 2. Report. Within 90 days of the date of this 
                order, the Secretary of Commerce and the United States 
                Trade Representative (USTR), in consultation with the 
                Secretaries of State, the Treasury, Defense, 
                Agriculture, and Homeland Security, and the heads of 
                any other executive departments or agencies with 
                relevant expertise, as determined by the Secretary of 
                Commerce and the USTR, shall prepare and submit to the 
                President an Omnibus Report on Significant Trade 
                Deficits (Report). To aid in preparing the Report, the 
                Secretary of Commerce and the USTR may hold public 
                meetings and seek comments from relevant State, local, 
                and non-governmental stakeholders, including 
                manufacturers, workers, consumers, service providers, 
                farmers, and ranchers. The Report shall identify those 
                foreign trading partners with which the United States 
                had a significant trade deficit in goods in 2016. For 
                each identified trading partner, the Report shall:

                    (a) assess the major causes of the trade deficit, 
                including, as applicable, differential tariffs, non-
                tariff barriers, injurious dumping, injurious 
                government subsidization, intellectual property theft, 
                forced technology transfer, denial of worker rights and 
                labor standards, and any other form of discrimination 
                against the commerce of the United States or other 
                factors contributing to the deficit;
                    (b) assess whether the trading partner is, directly 
                or indirectly, imposing unequal burdens on, or unfairly 
                discriminating in fact against, the commerce of the 
                United States by law, regulation, or practice and 
                thereby placing the commerce of the United States at an 
                unfair disadvantage;

[[Page 16722]]

                    (c) assess the effects of the trade relationship on 
                the production capacity and strength of the 
                manufacturing and defense industrial bases of the 
                United States;
                    (d) assess the effects of the trade relationship on 
                employment and wage growth in the United States; and
                    (e) identify imports and trade practices that may 
                be impairing the national security of the United 
                States.

                Sec. 3. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order 
                shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or 
the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

                    (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with 
                applicable law and subject to the availability of 
                appropriations.
                    (c) This order is not intended to, and does not, 
                create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, 
                enforceable at law or in equity by any party against 
                the United States, its departments, agencies, or 
                entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any 
                other person.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

                THE WHITE HOUSE,

                    March 31, 2017.

[FR Doc. 2017-06968
Filed 4-4-17; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3295-F7-P