Trump signs order against trade abuses a week before meeting Xi Jinping

US President Donald Trump sought to push his crusade for fair trade and more manufacturing jobs back to the top of his agenda on Friday by ordering a study into the causes of US trade deficits and a clampdown on import duty evasion.

The executive orders came a week after Trump’s promise to replace Obamacare imploded in Congress and a week before he meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Florida, a summit that promises to be fraught with trade tensions.

Trump said at a White House signing ceremony that he and Xi were “going to get down to some serious business” next week and vowed that “the theft of American prosperity” by foreign countries would end.

One of the orders directed the Commerce Department and the US trade representative to conduct a 90-day review of the causes of massive US trade deficits. It will study the effects of abuses such as the dumping of products below costs, unfair subsidies, “misaligned” currencies and “non-reciprocal” trade practices by other countries.

“We’re going to investigate all trade abuses, and, based on those findings, we will take necessary and lawful action to end those many abuses,” Trump said, adding that he wasn’t beholden to any businesses.

Trump administration officials have said they plan tougher enforcement of US trade remedy laws and will initiate more unilateral trade deals. In his 2016 White House bid, the New York businessman campaigned heavily against free-trade deals and accused China of draining jobs from US factory towns with cheap exports.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang on Friday said the US-China trade imbalance was mostly the result of differences in the two countries’ economic structures and noted that China had a trade deficit in services.