Donald Trump has proposed a 25% tariff on imported steel and a 10% tariff on aluminum imports. Those on the left and some Republicans are, as usual, resisting the President. The argument being that it would start a trade war, or make other countries angry. The problem here is that you have politicians trying to tell a world-renowned businessman how to better conduct a deal. The same inept politicians that have made the lopsided arrangements that keep this country beholden to the rest of the world, especially when it comes to trade deals. Just as you wouldn’t have a baker fix your car, you don’t have lawyers make business decisions, or in this case, trade deals. Lawyers, i.e. politicians can draw up contracts and provide legal representations of all sorts, but make deals, not so much. Way too much reliance has been placed in the hands of these politicians to conduct these activities for the federal government.
Our country has been in a trade war for decades with many countries that we get our imported goods from. We are not winning that trade war. The fact is we are losing badly.
The love affair from the left with the ideal of globalism has put our country in this bind that is bankrupting our manufacturing sector, and leaving us too reliant on imports. The cumulative trade deficits are a huge factor in the massive national debt we have accumulated. If we remain reliant on these other countries for our domestic products, we will never make good on our credit rating, and be forced into more and more concessions with these other countries. This is another huge concern, because the media, driven by the left, has managed to keep Americans in the dark about this.
Donald Trump is doing absolutely the right thing here, and should expand the scope of these tariffs dramatically. Yes, there will be a pain at the checkout counter, but that is the result of years of degradation to our manufacturing sector sacrificed for cheaper inferior products made in China and other countries. It is time to “pay the piper” for our foolish trade policies. You can thank Bill Clinton for the initial “sell out” by instituting N.A.F.T.A.
This agreement started the downward spiral, first by importing cheap labor, then dissecting the manufacturing and other industries, by creating the reliance on cheap goods, like getting America hooked on a cheap drug. Selling out America has made the Clintons very wealthy. The problem now is the pain of weaning our dependency from the cheap imports. Like all addicts, there are those politicians who will try to think of every reason in the world to keep us dependent. These politicians get suitcases of money from these other countries lobbying to keep us hooked on these lousy trade deals.
Another unspoken factor is new businesses will emerge in the steel and aluminum industry because of the favorable tax climate and the incentives created by these tariffs. This will establish competition, which will normalize pricing and availability for consumers.
Millennials don’t recognize the enormous benefits to our country because they have never witnessed a time where most manufacturing occurred in the United States. I can remember when the United States was the manufacturing giant of the world.
Only a businessman like Donald Trump, who has lived in that great era, can recognize were we went off the rails, and figure out the best formula to fix it. Wilbur Ross and Steve Mnuchin are some of the smartest people in the world when it comes to this topic, and to watch these talking heads in the media criticize them about economics, tariffs, and trade is hilarious.
We have nearly become energy independent, and soon with the guidance of Trump and these brilliant men on his economic team, we may actually no longer be manufacturing dependent.