Inside Out | Don’t listen to Trump, the US has persistently and ferociously defended its trade interests
Trump’s claims that the US is uniquely open and liberal are as untrue as his claims of victimhood
As someone who has for more than 30 years tried to understand the practical development of international trade and investment – and the benefits these have brought to most people worldwide – I have of course found Donald Trump’s thoughts and actions on trade extremely challenging.
But nothing has stuck in my craw more irritatingly than Trump’s persistent sense of victimhood. And I mean persistent. Take this Trump comment: “I am tired of watching other countries ripping off the US.” Not from campaign rallies, his presidential inauguration, or on abandoning the Trans-Pacific Partnership. But in a Larry King Live interview more than 30 years ago.
Now jump forward to his presidential inauguration speech, in which he resurrected the depression era slogan of “America First”: “One by one, (US) factories shuttered and left our shores, with not even a thought about the millions and millions of American workers that were left behind. The wealth of our middle class has been ripped from their homes and then redistributed all across the world.”
And a little later: “We have been disrespected, mocked and ripped off for many, many years by people that were smarter, shrewder, tougher.
“We’re going to stop the ridiculous trade deals that have taken everybody out of our country and taken companies out of our country … I like China very much, I like Chinese people. I respect the Chinese leaders, but you know China’s been taking advantage of us for many, many years and we can’t allow it to go on.”