Trump calibrates his tone on trade, as big decisions on China loom

Slowly, President Trump is putting together a trade strategy for the US.

It is piecemeal. To some, it is too backward-looking. Nevertheless, the fiery campaigner who once proclaimed the world was driving the United States into third-world status is now building a case for how his America-first policies fit into a global trading system.

“America first does not mean America alone,” Mr. Trump told foreign leaders and business executives at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Friday. He opened the door to bilateral and even regional trade negotiations with nations in the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade pact he officially killed in