 US President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference. (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images) By Max Ehrenfreund After a campaign defined in large part by a pledge to turn the nation's trade agenda on its head, President Trump has opened his presidency with a series of modest, more cautious steps — leaving protectionists and free-trade advocates alike wondering if Trump is ramping up to delivering on his promises or pulling back from them entirely. A draft letter from the administration to Congress that leaked this week called for maintaining the North American Free Trade Agreement largely as it currently exists — after Trump during the campaign called the agreement the "the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere." On Thursday night, Trump's commerce secretary announced a set of small-bore duties on a few specific types of imported steel plate — and then went on cable television the next morning to proclaim that the United States is in a "trade war" with the world. The uncertainty was on display in microcosm Friday afternoon when, after speaking at a White House event on a pair of trade-related executive actions, Trump left the room with the official documents waiting for him on the desk beside the podium — unsigned. The White House confirmed the president later signed the papers, ordering studies and reviews that further frustrated advocates of free trade without satisfying protectionists. The questions about Trump's trade plans take new urgency this week ahead of his first meeting with President Xi Jinping of China, scheduled for Thursday and Friday at the president's Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida. Read the rest on Wonkblog. | 
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