President Donald Trump on Friday told G-20 leaders in a private meeting they were “largely responsible” for the U.S. trade deficit, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Trump wants America’s trade deficit to reduce significantly – through May it increased to $233 billion for the year compared to $206 billion in the first five months of 2016 according to trade data – and the president criticized several G-20 nations including China, Germany, Mexico and Canada for what he has referred to as unfair trade practices.
Trump has called the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico a "disaster" and his administration is working to overhaul the trade pact. The trade deficit with Canada, Mexico and China are "all wider year-to-date compared to the same period in 2016 – a development which will likely heighten the protectionist rhetoric coming from Washington," a team of researchers at Oxford Economics wrote in a research note Thursday according to the U.S. News & World Report.
"The vast majority pointed out that we need free, but also fair, trade," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said according to the Journal. "The discussions on this are very difficult," she said.