Trade was one of the dominant themes in Donald Trump's election campaign.

He often focused on particular US trade partners. Mexico and China were most frequently in his sights.

And one of his first actions as president was to withdraw the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a regional trade deal, agreed by his predecessor but which had not come into force.

So what are President Trump's priorities for trade? What does he hope to achieve?

He often focuses on trade imbalances: the US deficit in trade with the rest of the world and bilateral deficits too.

Here are some figures. Last year the US had a deficit of half a trillion dollars in trade in goods and services with the rest of the world. For China, the bilateral deficit was close to $350bn (£280bn). For Japan, Germany and Mexico, the figures were in the range of $60-70bn.

President Trump considers these figures to be evidence that the US has done badly, that it has been treated unfairly.

Mexico, he has said, is "killing us on jobs and trade".
- BBC -