-—”I think Trump is doing nothing more than telling the rest of the world that America is no longer the patsy when it comes to negotiating trade deals.”
Nope, he’s doing more than that. Yes, he’s correct to “tell the rest of the world that America is no longer the patsy when it comes to negotiating trade deals.”
But he’s committing gaffes because he’s unable to be DIPLOMATICALLY ARTICULATE (and note I’m not asking for him to be PC).
What he meant by his phrase “Japan and China are taking our money” is that “Japan & China are taking our jobs because we are non-competitive.”
Both you and I can make that translation from Trump-speak to what he meant.
However he said something different (”Japan & China are taking our money”).
He’s just not sophisticated in Diplomacy and has a lot to learn once he becomes president. Along the way he will alienate allies, like he’s alienated the vast majority of Japanese people.
| You're right. Japan and China are not taking our money. In fact, they are loaning us all kinds of money. More truthfully Japan and China are taking our jobs. The long term effect of our current policy is to hollow out the market for high skilled, high pay American workers. The greatest book I ever read on economics was Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt. In that book, Hazlitt makes a strong case for free trade. However, Hazlitt also said the best economic policies are "those that deliver the greatest economic benefit in the long run and not the short run." Trying to take back clothing manufacturing from Asia is not going to work. If we did that, retail stores couldn't operate because they need the high profit margins from the clothing to make up for the cost of workers at their stores. But in auto manufacturing and other high end industries, I think we need to stop the "sucking sound" that Ross Perot once warned us about. I think we need a whole series of trade discussions on FR. It's a huge -- and complex -- issue. |