Sunday shows preview: Trade talks, Cohen sentencing memo take center stage

President Trump’s trade negotiations with North American countries and his tariff truce with the China will be the focus of Sunday’s news shows, as members of the White House economic team join the networks to discuss the president’s discussions with China and replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow will appear on “Fox News Sunday,” where he will likely face questions about Thursday’s stock market slide largely attributed to fears about economic growth and Trump’s trade war with China.

{mosads}The slide was largely erased Thursday afternoon following news that the Federal Reserve may soon implement a pause in planned interest rate hikes, but fears about the future of the president’s trade negotiations with China remain. The two countries agreed upon a 90-day pause in tariff hikes last week, with the understanding that hikes would continue if a deal was not reached within that time period.

U.S. trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will also appear on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” and is expected along with Kudlow to discuss the White House’s efforts to lobby Congress on behalf of the USMCA, the NAFTA replacement signed by Trump and the leaders of Canada and Mexico.

The treaty, which requires Senate approval, is unlikely to make it to a Senate vote until next year, according to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), but the White House is pushing lawmakers to move on that issue and others before December’s end.

Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who sit on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will also likely discuss the trade deal from the Senate’s perspective, while International Monetary Fund director Christine Lagarde will make a rare appearance on CBS to discuss trade reform.

Another top issue in this week’s headlines was the Friday filing of a sentencing memo for Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime lawyer and fixer, on behalf of prosecutors from the Southern District of New York, who wrote that Cohen and the president were involved in an illegal hush money scheme during the later days of the 2016 election to pay off women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump.

Top Democrats from the Oversight and Intelligence committees in the House will appear on CBS and CNN, while Maine Sen. Angus King (I) of the Senate Intelligence Committee will appear on Fox News and NBC.

Here’s the full lineup:

ABC’s “This Week”: Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).

NBC’s “Meet the Press”: Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Angus King (I-Maine), Gov.-elect Tony Evers (D-Wis.).

CBS’s “Face the Nation”: Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde.

CNN’s “State of the Union”: Rubio, Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.).

“Fox News Sunday”: Cheney, Baker.