Trump breaks with party on trade, threatens tariffs
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump spoke during a campaign stop in Monessen, Pa.
MONESSEN, Pa. >> Republican Donald Trump vowed to tear up the nation’s trade deals, threatened new tariffs and called for a new era of economic “Americanism” in a speech that underscored just how far removed he is from typical GOP orthodoxy.
The speech, delivered on a factory floor in western Pennsylvania today, outlined Trump’s promise to restore millions of lost factory jobs by backing away from decades of U.S. trade policy. The approach, which represents a significant break from years of Republican Party advocacy for unencumbered trade between nations, drew immediate condemnation from Democrats as well as GOP business leaders, who questioned the impact on the price of consumer goods, as well as the country’s place in the global economy
In his 35-minute speech, Trump directly targeted Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton, blaming her and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, for the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs. And he threatened to exit the more than 2-decade-old North American Free Trade Agreement and vowed to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an agreement among 12 Pacific Rim nations that has yet to take effect.
“This wave of globalization has wiped out totally, totally our middle class,” Trump said, standing in front of pallets of recycled aluminum cans on a factory floor. “It doesn’t have to be this way. We can turn it around, and we can turn it around fast.”
At a rally later today, Trump declared that TPP had been “done and pushed by special interests who want to rape our country.”
In the speech, he pointed to China as a source of many of America’s economic woes, promising to label that country a currency manipulator and slap new tariffs on America’s leading source of imports, a decision with the potential to dramatically increase the cost of consumer goods. Trump has argued previously that that the higher prices would be compensated by more jobs.
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Delivered in a hard-hit Pennsylvania steel town, the speech underscored the central message of Trump’s campaign: that policies aimed at boosting international trade have badly damaged workers and gutted manufacturing towns.
It’s an argument that found support among Republican primary voters, especially white, working class Americans whose wages have stagnated in recent years.
But the speech drew a quick and scathing response from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a traditional Republican ally and leading business lobby.
“Under Trump’s trade plans, we would see higher prices, fewer jobs, a weaker economy,” the Chamber said on its Twitter feed, directing readers to a blog post that said Trump’s policies would lead to millions of job losses and a recession.
Many economists have dismissed Trump’s promise to immediately restore manufacturing jobs as dubious at best, given the impact of automation and the many years it typically takes to negotiate trade agreements.
While renegotiating tougher deals with America’s foreign trading partners might help some businesses, manufacturing as a share of total U.S. jobs has been slipping for several decades. The number of such jobs has risen slightly since the end of the Great Recession, but the introduction of robotics and access to cheaper foreign markets has reduced U.S. factory employment to a total last seen around 1941.
Indeed, the National Association of Manufacturers slammed Trump’s logic on Tuesday, with the organization’s president, Jay Timmons, writing on Twitter: “realDonaldTrump you have it backward. Trade is GOOD for #mfg workers & #jobs. Let’s #MakeAmericaTradeAgain.”
Trump’s speech also took aim at Clinton, blaming her husband’s administration for the negative impacts of globalization. He cited Bill Clinton’s support of NAFTA, which aimed to reduce barriers to trade between the U.S., Canada and Mexico, and China’s entry into the World Trade Organization.
“Throughout her career — her whole career — she has betrayed the American worker. Never forget that,” Trump said.
Clinton’s positon on trade has been a frequent attack line for Trump. She has supported some agreements, opposed others and flipped on both NAFTA and TPP, which she promoted dozens of times as secretary of state.
She now says she will back trade deals only if they fulfill a three-pronged test of creating “good jobs,” raising wages and improving national security.
But Trump, too, has evolved on the issue. In a 2005 blog post on a website affiliated with his now-defunct Trump University, the billionaire mogul argued that outsourcing isn’t always a bad thing, citing a study that found it “actually creates more jobs and increases wages, at least for IT workers.”
“We hear terrible things about outsourcing jobs, how sending work outside of our companies is contributing to the demise of American businesses. But in this instance I have to take the unpopular stance that it is not always a terrible thing,” he wrote.
Tuesday’s speech came as Trump, facing sliding poll numbers and a far larger Clinton campaign operation, is working to re-tool his message for the general election. In addition to a slew of new hires, he has been delivering prepared speeches aimed at calming the nerves of GOP donors and others concerned about his often combative style.
But his toned-down rhetoric didn’t last long. At a rally Tuesday evening in St. Clairsville, Ohio, in addition to comparing the TPP to rape, Trump reiterated his call for the return of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques in the fight against Islamic State militant. “You have to fight fire with fire,” he declared.
The comment drew cheers and chants of “USA! USA!” from the crowd.
29 responses to “Trump breaks with party on trade, threatens tariffs”
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At least Mr. Trump is learning to learn to read from a Teleprompter. His own words are radioactive, so his handlers are finally having him read other people’s words.
He learned from Hillary.
hiLAIRy learned from O…the community organiser.
Yesterday Bill and Loretta met on the Tarmac in Phoenix Sky Harbor. They discussed the grandkids for 30 minutes in 105 degree weather. Unauthorized use of government assets. Send her the bill.
Two people meet by chance at an airport. Quick! Put on the tinfoil hats! It’s a conspiracy!
And how much stress and misery did Trump cause during the construction of his Trump Taj casino in Atlantic City? I believe those contractors, subcontractors, and workers were decent hard-working middle class folks too. See the article on how he stiffed the people working for him on that project.
Doing business in Jersey 25 years ago was reserved for the big boys. Nothing got built unless you were connected.
They put the squeeze on Trump. Just remember, this was a failed project that Trump took over.
As a result of slipshod workmanship the opening was delayed and bond payments missed which ultimately resulted in a pre packaged bankruptcy. Happens almost everyday.
Just another attempt by the Dems to deflect the attention away from their highly degraded candidate. I can’t mention her name it’s that bad.
If this attack on Trump was true Trump would be buried in concrete and at the bottom of the Hudson River.
Hey, it could still happen….
Trump bought an unfinished casino and promised regulators that he would finance the purchase with prime rate loans, not junk bonds, because he was Donald Trump. Banks wouldn’t loan to him (and major banks still don’t), so he had to turn to junk bonds to finance the purchase. Within 6 months of opening, he defaulted. In a shaky economy, he had taken extreme financial risks and failed spectacularly. Blaming “slipshod” workmanship is nonsense. It was Trump’s terrible business sense that led to this disaster. As he continues to do today, he vastly overstated his personal worth, and at one point in the collapse of his casino empire accountants estimated his debt to be $295M more than the combined value of all of his casinos, his office buildings, his real estate, his airline, etc.
So what?
“Clinton Cash” Read it and weep. Lying crooked HiLIARy. Benghazi Four men died and Hillary lied. How much stress and misery did the Clintons cause during their lifetime??
Does this woman have no shame?
No…she has American BLOOD on her hands and she thinks nothing of it.
IRT sarge22: And how much unrevealed misery has Trump caused over HIS lifetime? Oh, and read it and weep about the Benghazi investigation reports. No smoking gun. Even the Republicans found no real and direct culpability. It’s so much easier playing Monday-morning quarterback; woulda’, shoulda’, coulda’. If everyone played that game, there’d be NO politicians. They’d ALL be hung (not that it would be such a bad thing).
Direct or indirect she was still culpable. Who was the Secretary of State again? Where was Obama? Where were you on 9/11/2012?
Why does everyone bring up Trump when Hillary’s feet gets toasted?
kauai…at least the “contractors, subcontractors, and workers” are alive and well.
Amb, Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods &Glen Doherty are dead because of your O & hiLIARy who let them die a horrible, tortured murderous deaths. Get your priorities in order.
btw…you related to Klastri aka Kurt on Kauai?
Cousins?
What a foolish assumption. “O” is not my “your”, and the other candidate is not my ideal choice. Trump, on the other hand is a total waste of time and a menace and danger to our country. Do you seriously want Trump to have the ability to launch nukes? Trump would probably take out a lot more than just adversaries with his inflammatory attitude translated into real weapon launches. I suggest you get YOUR priorities in order on that topic. And no, I’m not related to “Klastri aka Kurt on Kauai”. I don’t know who the devil is Klastri nor Kurt on any island.
Paul Ryan, Darrell Issa and other House Republicans voted for an amendment in 2009 to cut $1.2 billion from State operations, including funds for 300 more diplomatic security positions. House Republicans cut the administration’s request for embassy security funding by $128 million in fiscal 2011 and $331 million in fiscal 2012. (Negotiations with the Democrat-controlled Senate restored about $88 million of the administration’s request.) Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that Republicans’ proposed cuts to her department would be “detrimental to America’s national security” — a charge Republicans rejected.
Nobody thought Hillary would overthrow ghaddafi and “liberate” Libya either.
“You have to fight fire with fire”. Indeed Donald! Fighting ISIS with compassion and understanding will only separate yourself from your head! These guys have just one agenda,to kill as much Americans or innocent people as possible.This is their Jihad.
I agree with Donald when it comes to trade. Why? Just Look at the Import and Export trade, we take in more than we export.It’s Backwards! How is that good for us…..It’s NOT! The USA has been shafted so many times and we need to change that attitude and wake up! Yes as NAM’s Jay Timmons tweeted, that “Trade is Good”,not if you’re getting the short end of the stick bro. NAM can do so much better,especially when it comes to manufacturing our own Steel! “Well informed people” know that most of the Steel are coming from where? China! Hellooooo. As The Donald has stated we have to level the playing field when it comes to TRADE.Gosh he nailed that One! Go Donald Trump! 1st things first. let’s find Hillary’s Broom and send her packing! And then,only then can we Make America great Again! IMUA
The Ultimate Demagogue strikes again !! Feed the masses what they want to hear.
Blame the loss of assembly line jobs to robotics. The simple days when one would stand in an assembly line, putting widjets into boxes are long gone. Folks have to learn new skills that are applicable or forever be dependent on minimal wage employment. Even the technical professionals must keep up with the latest or else find themselves obsolete and replaced by younger, more knowledgeable employees. It’s a tough world out there.
Read NY Times coverage of Trump Institute –– a scam that was even worse than Trump University.
What about Laureate University?
The Laureate University shibai is another fact-free, conservative conspiracy theory, which the Washington Post fact-checked and awarded four Pinocchios. See https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/06/27/trump-campaigns-unsupported-claim-that-state-department-gave-55-million-to-laureate-universities-which-hired-bill-clinton/
Critics of the Clintons have conflated IYF and Laureate because of Doug Becker, Laureate’s founder and chief executive. He also is the chairman of IYF’s 14-member volunteer board of directors — but Becker’s role is unpaid, and the two organizations are independent of each other. (Schweizer notes in his book that the two organizations once launched a youth program together that Bill Clinton supported.)
Closer to the finish lines of the Presidential race, the promises from the candidates seem to be getting better than in fairytales. We all know there are no Princes or Princesses in America to rescue us from any of the big bad wolves! Or is there?