Trump Mulls Trade, Nuke Demands With Xi: This Week in Washington

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump will be looking for trade wins on his 11-day trip through Asia, where he’s expected to reiterate his campaign promises to end unfair trade practices and negotiate stronger agreements.

At the same time, he’ll need to tread carefully as he presses heads of state to exert more pressure on North Korea and its nuclear program, especially when he meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday.

Trump indicated in a Fox News interview last week that he plans to be cautious. When asked by Laura Ingraham if he would be tough on China’s trade policies during the trip, Trump responded: “You have to understand something very important -- we have a problem called North Korea.” He also added that China, North Korea’s biggest trading partner, has been “pretty terrific” about helping to defuse tensions.

Since his presidential campaign, Trump has been critical of Beijing’s trade practices, claiming they fail U.S. workers and led to an “embarrassing” trade deficit. He also threatened to label China a currency manipulator -- a vow he hasn’t followed through on. Trump and Xi will give joint statements on Thursday.

Still, even without the North Korea issue, the China visit may not spur major trade breakthroughs. Representatives from about 40 companies are expected to sign deals for billions of dollars in U.S. investments, but analysts warned that several deals Trump and Xi plan to announce would have advanced without Trump’s trip.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross also said ahead of Trump’s travels that the U.S. and China won’t reach agreements on complex issues like intellectual property rights and forced technology transfers, but there will be some “decent deliverables.”

During his stop in Japan on Monday, Trump praised Xi in a joint press conference with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, but also said the trade gap with China “has to come down.”

The president departs Tokyo Tuesday for South Korea, where he will address South Korea’s National Assembly Wednesday morning and call for increased pressure on North Korea before heading to China.

Trump then attends the APEC summit in Vietnam starting Friday, where he will meet with world leaders who are working to finalize the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, a pact Trump withdrew from earlier this year.

Trump travels to the Philippines on Sunday and will extend his trip by a day to attend the East Asia Summit.

Taxes

The House Ways and Means Committee will begin marking up a Republican tax plan Monday after the panel’s leader Kevin Brady proposed changes to the bill.

Brady on Friday, a day after the tax bill’s unveiling, released a chairman’s mark that makes technical changes to the measure. The updated bill would raise income tax thresholds at a different pace starting in 2018, which would put Americans in higher tax brackets more quickly.

Brady said more substantive changes will come as committee members offer amendments during a markup that is expected to run through Thursday. Some of those changes could include simplified rules on partnerships, limited liability companies and other so-called pass-through businesses, Brady said Sunday.

One of the bill’s sticking points that may be addressed at the markup: a provision to end most state and local tax breaks. Some Republicans from high-tax states have said they would oppose any bill the terminates the so-called SALT deductions, while Brady has proposed a compromise on the issue.

Republican Representative Carlos Curbelo of Florida also said that lawmakers are examining cuts to wind and solar tax credits. A forecast by Bloomberg New Energy Finance said the current tax plan would reduce wind development in half.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch said he plans to release his version of the tax bill by the end of the week. The Senate plan is likely to be drastically different from the House measure, and may need certain tweaks to comply with Senate rules.

The House tentatively plans to consider the bill on the floor next week, with the goal to send their legislation to the Senate by Thanksgiving. The Senate could start marking up its bill next week.

Mass Shooting Response

Amid all that, lawmakers in Washington will again be asked what - if anything - they’re going to do beyond offering thoughts and prayers in response to another mass shooting, this time in Texas.

After a shooter killed more than 50 and injured hundreds in Las Vegas, lawmakers talked about banning or increasing regulation of bump stocks, devices that allow firearms to shoot at speeds similar to automatic weapons. So far, however, no action has been taken. Those calls will ramp up again.

Other notable events

• The Clearing House annual conference, covering regulations and the future of payments in the commercial banking industry, starts Monday in New York
  • Wells Fargo & Co. CEO Tim Sloan, former SEC Chair Mary Jo White and Federal Reserve System’s Vice Chairman for Supervision Randal Quarles are among the speakers at the event, which runs through Wednesday
• Voters in New Jersey and Virginia will choose new governors in elections on Tuesday. Utah’s third congressional district also holds a special election Tuesday for the House seat vacated by Representative Jason Chaffetz, who retired June 30
• The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee marks up a North Korea sanctions bill Tuesday
• Bloomberg convenes the Year Ahead Summit in New York on Wednesday for a discussion of topics facing global CEOs
  • Citigroup Inc. CEO Michael Corbat and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell are among the speakers
• Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin speaks at the Economic Club of New York Wednesday
• The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee holds a hearing Wednesday on the nomination of Kirstjen Nielsen for Homeland Security secretary
• The U.S. observes the Veterans Day federal holiday on Friday
  • Local, state and federal government offices will be closed
  • Stock markets will be open, bond markets closed

Read more

• Link to the Washington Weekly Agenda for the week of Nov. 6
• Link to Bloomberg Government’s What to Watch, an in-depth guide to the week in Congress

To contact the reporter on this story: Jackie Edwards in Sydney at jedwards160@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Derek Wallbank at dwallbank@bloomberg.net, Chelsea Mes

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