My only serious caveat with Trump, is that I wish he’d talk less about punitive protectionism, and more about free markets—lifting regulations and better enabling Americans to compete both domestically and abroad. Basically, more carrot and less stick.
He also needs to clarify that these ‘free trade’ agreements really have nothing to do with actual free trade, but are basically insider arrangements for connected cronies.
This will require firing a few hundred thousand useless eaters in the Washington DC Federal bureaucracy. These parasites constantly promulgate new regs in order to keep their jobs and to expand burecratic empires at the EPA-OSHA etc
Bingo! Free trade is when an pig farmer in Iowa can sell pork bellies to a supermarket chain in China. What we have is as you said, deals that narrow markets, make trade more cumbersome, and give advantage to a select few.
Exactly!
I agree. Trade deals are one thing. Tariffs have their place, but if too elevated, they allow for soft, non-competitive behavior on the part of the workers and companies that are protected. It's a balancing act, although Trump is correct that we've let the balance go pretty far in the direction of our competitors, allowing them to restrict access to their markets while ours remain open.