Tag: Trump trade policies

As trade deficit explodes, Trump finds he can’t escape the laws of economics

Credit: Andy Wong, AP

The Commerce Department said Wednesday that the United States last year posted an $891.2 billion trade deficit in merchandise, the largest in the nation’s 243-year history despite more than two years of President Trump’s “America First” policies.

The results were a sobering reminder that the laws of economics still apply to a president who had promised to supercharge economic growth while simultaneously shrinking the chronic U.S. trade deficit.

Those twin promises proved incompatible, as economists had predicted.

View the complete March 6 article by David J. Lynch on The Washington Post website here.

GM WORKERS SPEAK OUT: ‘I can’t believe our president would allow this to happen’

Trump’s broken promises have devastated autoworkers and their communities in the wake of the latest announcement of layoffs and plant closures from General Motors. As one autoworker said, “I can’t believe our president would allow this to happen.”

Here are real stories of autoworkers and communities hurt by Trump’s broken promises:

“You are going right into Christmas, you are looking for celebration, and that’s not there now. So what do you do? Do you still continue to buy gifts?” – UAW member

“I can’t believe our president would allow this to happen.” – GM Lordstown worker

“This is devastating…Without GM, this area would be a ghost town.” – Previously laid off GM worker

Continue reading “GM WORKERS SPEAK OUT: ‘I can’t believe our president would allow this to happen’”

White House Admits China Has Yet to Budge on ‘Unfair Trade’

The following article by John T. Bennett was posted on the Roll Call website August 23, 2018:

Trump gives himself an ‘A-plus,’ but leaves Beijing’s trade tactics off achievement list

China and U.S. flags were displayed in front of the portrait of China’s late Communist leader Mao Zedong during President Trump’s 2017 visit there. Credit: Lintao Zhang, Getty Images file photo

The White House has tried threats and bluster, then imposed controversial tariffs. Congress even did something rare, passing a bipartisan bill. But despite President Donald Trump’s and lawmakers’ efforts, China has yet to so much as blink on what Republicans and Democrats agree are its unjust trade practices, administration officials said Thursday.

The two U.S. political parties and Trump rarely find themselves in near-unanimous agreement. But when it comes to what they all see as China’s habit of stealing American technology and intellectual properties, playing games with its market and currency, and otherwise tipping the global trade scene to benefit its companies and economy, Washington is mostly unified.

The two parties and the president agree that legislation is needed to update the country’s immigration laws, but they have been unable to agree on the specifics of an overhaul bill. The same is true of other issues, with agreement that changes are needed but wide chasms on the specific remedies.