Omnibus Report on Significant Trade Deficits
Signed March 31, 2017·Donald Trump·82 FR 16721
Source
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Plain-language summary
Directs the Secretary of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative, working with the Secretaries of State, Treasury, Defense, Agriculture, and Homeland Security and other relevant agencies, to prepare and submit to the President an Omnibus Report on Significant Trade Deficits within 90 days. The report must identify foreign trading partners with which the United States had a significant goods trade deficit in 2016, and for each one assess the major causes of the deficit, including tariffs, non-tariff barriers, dumping, subsidies, intellectual property theft, forced technology transfer, and labor practices. It must also evaluate whether the partner unfairly disadvantages U.S. commerce, the effects on domestic manufacturing and defense industries, effects on employment and wages, and any imports or practices that may harm national security. The agencies may hold public meetings and gather input from state, local, and industry stakeholders while preparing the report.
Not written or reviewed by a person. Read the full order below for anything you intend to rely on.
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Legal standing
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Claimed authority
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
Quoted from the order as written. Many orders cite nothing more specific than “the Constitution and the laws”; this reproduces what the order claims, not an assessment of whether it holds.
The order, in full
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;
(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.Reproduced from the Federal Register plain-text record, signed March 31, 2017. Typesetting artifacts are removed; no wording is changed.