Treasury Secretary Mnuchin to global elites: Trump's 'America First' is not America alone

Kim Hjelmgaard | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Thousands march against Trump in Switzerland Protesters in Zurich and Davos carried banners ahead of Donald Trump's visit to WEF later this week.

DAVOS, Switzerland – U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin dismissed concerns Wednesday that President Trump's protectionist economic goals clash with global cooperation.

"This is about an America First agenda, but America First does mean working with the rest of the world" on free trade, Mnuchin told reporters at the World Economic Forum in this Alpine resort.

"We don't need to worry about this crowd," he said, referring to the business and political elite gathered here this week.

Many participants — CEOs, world leaders and heads of international organizations — are concerned about Trump's economic agenda after he pulled out of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. He also has threatened to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and to place tariffs on imported steel and aluminum.

On Tuesday, Trump imposed tariffs on imported solar-energy components and large washing machines.

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Mnuchin said Trump is "absolutely" committed to free and fair trade and that newly enacted U.S. corporate tax cuts will enable "U.S. companies to compete fairly." Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and other administration officials joined Mnuchin to promote Trump's agenda in advance of the president's address to the group Friday.

Mnuchin said the U.S. delegation includes 10 Cabinet secretaries because it is "very important for the world’s biggest economy" to "interact with our counterparts." But Ross was less conciliatory than Mnuchin.

Asked about the dangers of a trade war in the wake of the tariffs Trump just imposed, Ross said some trading partners are protectionist even when they talk about free trade.

"We don’t think that adhering to the rules is protectionist. We think, in fact, it is essential to having markets operate properly, to have people play by the rules," he said.

Ross acknowledged that China, which manufacturers many of the sanctioned solar panels and washing machines, could retaliate and slap tariffs on U.S. goods.

He said that trade wars are "fought every single day," that nations are always trying to "take advantage" and that every time someone takes a trade action there's "always potential for retribution and retaliation and that’s up to the Chinese to decide."

China's ambassador to the U.S., Cui Tiankai, told USA TODAY's editorial board Tuesday that China will consider retaliation. But he added, "Protectionist measures taken against each others’ exports … I don’t think these will help us solve the domestic, economic problems, or domestic social problems, because our two economies are so closely connected."

"A much better way would be to focus on how to expand our bilateral trade, so it would be a dynamic balance," Cui said.

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Trump arrives in Davos on Thursday morning. He will meet with world leaders and Klaus Schwab, the founder of the World Economic Forum, as well as the CEOs of European companies with large U.S. operations to encourage them to invest further in America.

The U.S. dollar came under pressure after Mnuchin broke from tradition and said a weaker dollar was good for American trade. U.S. administrations have tended to call for a strong dollar policy. The dollar index, which measures the currency against a basket of six major currencies, skid to a three-year low. It was recently off 0.6% at 89.632.