US May Use Law Firms Striking Deals With Trump to Work on Trade Negotiations

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The president said ‘a lot of countries’ want to make deals ’that are proper for the United States’ and the firms can help negotiate those trade agreements.

President Donald Trump said on April 10 that during negotiations with U.S. trading partners, his administration may reach out to the law firms that struck deals with him after his executive orders threatened to revoke their government contracts and security clearances.

Trump made the comments during a Cabinet meeting on Thursday.

The president said he thinks his administration is “very close” to the first U.S. trading partner reaching a deal to avoid reciprocal tariffs and suggested some of the law firms could help with the negotiations.

Several have brokered agreements to provide at least $100 million in pro bono legal services for mutually supported causes after Trump targeted them with executive orders, threatening their contracts and security clearances with the federal government.

“We have a lot of law firms that have paid me a lot of money in the form of legal fees. We’re going to probably use those firms too if we can. I think we can,” Trump said, adding that some have offered upwards of $125 million in pro bono legal services following his executive orders.

Trump said “a lot of countries” want to make deals “that are proper for the United States,” and the firms can help the administration negotiate those trade agreements.

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“We want to make [the deals] proper,” he added.

The president has accused the law firms targeted by his orders of engaging in “weaponization of government” against political opponents and “harmful activity” inconsistent with the nation’s best interests.
He recently signed several executive orders targeting the firms that have worked with clients or causes against him, including Perkins Coie, which worked with the Democratic National Committee and the 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign in generating the controversial Steele dossier.
Another order targeted Covington & Burling, whose lawyers worked on the former special counsel Jack Smith’s investigations into Trump.

The firms have responded by saying the president’s actions are retaliatory and violate their constitutional rights to free speech and due process.

Several, including Milbank and Paul Weiss, have brokered deals with the Trump administration to provide at least $100 million in pro bono legal services for mutually supported causes to avoid the actions in the president’s orders, which include losing government contracts and security clearances for their employees.

Others, like Perkins Coie and WilmerHale, have responded with litigation.

On April 10, a senior White House trade official said that more than 15 countries had made trade deal offers to the administration amid its announcement of reciprocal tariffs last week.

Those offers came ahead of Trump’s pausing tariffs on many U.S. trading partners on April 9.

Meanwhile, the administration confirmed on Thursday that tariffs on Chinese imports have risen to 145 percent, which includes the 20 percent fentanyl and illegal immigration-related tariffs Trump imposed earlier this year.

Trump’s pauses on Wednesday excluded the tariffs on China. The president has accused Beijing, which imposed retaliatory levies on U.S. goods, of having a “lack of respect” for the United States and world markets.

During Thursday’s Cabinet meeting, United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer confirmed that multiple countries had contacted the administration to broker trade deals.

“We’ve had countries come in over the past couple of weeks that represent more than half of global domestic GDP, more than half,” Greer said.

“That’s who’s coming in to talk to [the president and his] advisers about how to have reciprocal trade.”

Samantha Flom, Jack Phillips, and Emel Akan contributed to this report.

Original News Source Link – Epoch Times

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