Friday, March 20, 2020

Trump Takes ACTION, not Meetings

POST-GAZETTE - Res Publica
Trump Takes ACTION, not Meetings
by David Trumbull -- February 20, 2020

"To build on our incredible economic success, one priority is paramount -- reversing decades of calamitous trade policies." -- President Donald J. Trump

President Trump is turning back the failed trade policies of past administrations that closed more than 60,000 American factories and shipped millions of jobs overseas. In the decades following NAFTA's implementation and China's accession to the WTO, America lost 1 in 4 manufacturing jobs.

No longer is America turning a blind eye towards the unfair trade policies that have harmed American companies and workers for far too long. President Trump has delivered for the American people -- negotiating new trade deals that put Americans first.

President Trump signed USMCA into law, making good on his promise to terminate NAFTA, and replace it with a much better deal for the American people.

The President confronted China's unfair trade policies head-on and imposed historic tariffs, resulting in a groundbreaking phase one trade agreement with China. This agreement will begin rebalancing our trade relations, protect American intellectual property, combat counterfeit trafficking, and expand markets for American businesses. In the administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama I used to attend quarterly briefings in Washington on developments in trade. Each time, someone from the administration would present a fairly detailed report on all the illegal trade practices of China. We'd ask the administration spokesperson, "What are you doing about this?" The answer was always the same, "We had a meeting with the Chinese recently and we are planning for another meeting soon." Meetings, meetings, meetings -- that all. Trump takes action!

Almost all my clients are getting hit by Trump's 25% tariff on Chinese goods. They can't easily move their sourcing out of China, because the unfair and illegal trade practices of China have destroyed entire industries in the U.S. and elsewhere. China is now the sole source for certain raw materials and intermediate goods needed by U.S. manufacturers. New factories could be built outside of China, but that will take years. So, these U.S. manufacturers are stuck with China and a 25% tariff as the only way to operate. And you know what? Almost every one of them says that Trump took the right action. Just as China put out of business all other sources for these U.S. manufacturers to buy from, they see that they could be the next ones put out of business by China if the U.S. does not act as Trump has.

Thanks to the President’s efforts, we have signed two new trade agreements with Japan that will benefit American agricultural exports and grow our digital trade for the future. Japan will open its market to approximately $7 billion in American agricultural exports. The President’s efforts will help boost the already approximately $40 billion worth of digital trade between our two countries.

The President has renegotiated our trade deal with South Korea, providing a boost to America’s auto industry.

The President is working to negotiate even more new trade deals in the coming year.

Manufacturers around the country are adding thousands of new, high-paying jobs for American workers. Since the President’s election, more than 500,000 manufacturing jobs have been added to the American economy. Comparatively, 20,000 manufacturing jobs were lost in the 12 months prior to the election. Blue collar workers, on average, are on track to see almost $2,500 more in annual wages.

No comments: