Copyright nytimes
The commitments on minerals announced on Sunday are nonbinding and will require more negotiations, but they were “a step in the right direction,” said Alexander Feldman, a partner at the Asia Group, putting Mr. Trump “in a better negotiating position.” Missing from Sunday’s announcements were details about so-called rules of origin that many officials and business leaders throughout Southeast Asia have been waiting for. The Trump administration wants to punish countries that allow Chinese exporters to evade tariffs by passing them through third countries. To do so, Washington must define the nationality of products that are shipped to the United States. One idea would be to require countries to put a ceiling on the amount of foreign materials in a good they ship to the United States. Resolution on rules of origin is central to Mr. Trump’s aim to reduce China’s dominant role as the starting point for many of the world’s manufactured goods. The next stop for Mr. Trump this week is Japan, where he is expected on Tuesday to meet with Sanae Takaichi, Japan’s new prime minister. Among the issues they could discuss is how Japan can invest hundreds of billions of dollars in the United States and increase military spending.
