The Rage Against Trade
This opinion piece written by the New York Times editorial board analyzes the two major presidential candidates positions on international trade deals, primarily President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed isolationist policies. The article examines the increasingly common perception among the American public that trade agreements such as NAFTA and the TPP are responsible for causing economic hardships due to prioritizing global interests over American interests. The writers of this article oppose this view and present evidence to refute it. The authors have a liberal viewpoint on this issue and are pro-free trade, however they do concede that there are certain issues that need to be resolved as a result of these trade agreements. They disagree with Trump, viewing his statements as “nothing more than hot air”. The article sets out to dispel some common myths about international free trade deals and also takes a look at the development of the anti-free trade sentiment in the United States over the years. Clinton currently opposes the TPP, however in the past she has praised it and called it the “gold standard” of international trade deals (Memoli). She seems to have shifted her views during the Democratic primaries against Bernie Sanders, who opposed the TPP his entire campaign, putting into question her true viewpoint. Meanwhile, Trump has consistently railed against international trade deals since the 1980s, when he criticized the US for importing
The international trade sector of the U.S. economy continues to draw attention in economic and political circles. It is true that, the international market has become increasingly important as a source of demand for U.S. production and a source of supply for U.S. consumption. Indeed, it is substantially more important than is implied by the usual measures that relate the size of the international sector to the overall economy. This paper explores the role international trade now plays in the U.S. economy and answers the important questions for economic policy: How does international trade affect economic well-being? Who gains and who loses from free
Trade is an important transfer that is vital to the abundance of a country. International trade allows countries to exchange their goods and can improve their economies. Many businesses within the United States dislike international imports because they reduce their business within the U.S. Some people believe business can be improved within the United States by imposing tariffs on imports. Tariffs are taxes on imported goods from other countries. Others who favor international trade believe it’s beneficial to establish trade agreements. One trade agreement is NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, which President George H.W. Bush signed on December 8th, 1993. The treaty included the countries Canada, Mexico, and the United States, and intertwined all of their economies. It eliminated most of the tariffs between the three countries and installed a supply chain, which is a network where different countries make specific parts of a product. Recently, President Trump has proposed that NAFTA be abolished, to promote products manufactured in the United States. This recent situation relates to the issue of the tariffs at the Philadelphia Convention. At the time of the convention, the Northern states’ economy was based on manufacturing, so they wanted to impose tariffs to promote American products. The South’s economy was agricultural based, and exported many goods to Great Britain. So Southerners feared that if tariffs were imposed on Britain’s goods, then Britain would do the same on products from the South, which would negatively affect the South’s economy. Trade can be very beneficial to a country, but states can have different opinions on whether tariffs are necessary, depending
The article entitled “The Tide That Sinks All Boats” by Chris Matthews discusses how feelings of protectionism and nationalism are making it difficult for President Obama to pass the Trans-pacific partnership (TPP) through Congress. The implication in this article is that the campaigns of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump during this presidential election stirred these feelings amongst Americans. Thus, members of Congress fear that passing the free trade agreement will make them a “traitor to the American Worker”. The article also mentions how free trade agreements often take the brunt of people’s fears regarding global trade and its impact on domestic job security referencing NAFTA (Matthews, 2016).
With all the research and reviews on Trade Agreements, it has been interesting to read that the U.S. President, Donald Trump continues to baffle the world including the Republican Party, over how he plans to honor his campaign elected political agenda, which vowed to scrap away years of American Trade Policies, with hopes of reestablishing domestic manufacturing jobs. Subsequently, Allegations streamed from the president’s cabinet that provided insights on his the plans not to go forth with renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), yet in March, 2017, the president changes directions to revamp the so called “job-killing disaster” policy for a more favorable US deal instead – this on-again, off-again, flip-flop behavior appears uneventful, to say the least.
In the beginning of the speech, Donald trump talks negative about the U.S Trade Policies. Donald Trump mentions that it would wipe out American manufacturing jobs. Throughout the speech, he tells the audience that Clinton supports free trade agreements. Trump argues that nothing is to change under Clinton presidency. He is arguing that the U.S is suffering from this trade. He wants to raise certain tariffs on China and Mexico up to 35%.
With the United States under Trump, there has been renegotiating of NAFTA, an agreement that allows free trade between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. In the opinion article, “NAFTA talks should stick to helping consumers and taxpayers, not pet clauses,” economist, Mark Milke, attempts to persuade his audience to share his views on changing NAFTA and its free trade policies, as well as to explain what he believes should be considered when redrafting these policies. Milke comments on the three principles that he believes are most important when redrafting NAFTA using quantitative and statistical data, as well as his personal observations on situations to support his thesis that free trade should remain
While globalization profits the manufacturing industry at large by providing cheaper labor, many—including Trump—argue that it takes jobs away from Americans. In Trump’s “7 Point Plan to Rebuild the American Economy by Fighting for Free Trade,” he stated that he would withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)—which he has now done—because it would “undermine our independence” (Trump). I rationalized that Trump’s stance of the TPP—and globalization in general—could lead individuals working in manufacturing to prefer Trump over Clinton, whose position on the TPP fluctuated throughout the campaign. However, this causal logic for explaining vote distribution depends on the assumption that for individuals in the manufacturing industry, Trump’s position on this topic was their primary concern.
1. In the past year, we have seen a militant brand of populism take hold in the American political conversation. Nominees from the two major political parties sung, to varying degrees, the glories of economic protectionism. Trade agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Trans-Pacitic Partnership came under universal attack throughout the election season. Such assaults vilify the progress of globalism. In the Journal of International Business and
Trade policies are a particularly controversial area of debate between the two major party nominees, Secretary Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump. Mr. Trump believes that the country’s current trade policies need reform in order to keep jobs in the country, help the environment, and improve working conditions for people in all nations. In particular, Donald Trump lays out a seven point trade plan that he will enforce if he is elected. The first point of the plan is to withdraw from
As we learn more about Donald Trump, we begin to realize that he is against many natural rights in which everyone should be able to have. When he speaks, he often does not watch what he says. Although he may have some good ideas, he does not portray them to the media very well. Furthermore, the ideas that he has in order to "improve" the country, are often seen as offensive and unacceptable. Some of the things discussed in the 2016 article penned by Yglesias are policy trade and Trump's ideas. He doesn't know anything about the trade policy and is not able to provide the people with real ideas with facts supporting them. When he is asked about specific situations in which problems in America have occurred, he either states something that has
On January 1st, 1994 the North American Free Trade Agreement, commonly referred to as NAFTA, went into effect after years of contentious battle and debate amongst those drafting it and viewing it from afar. In fact, it took three U.S. Presidents to finally complete the deal: Reagan, Bush Sr., and ultimately, Clinton. Those who opposed it warned of vanishing industries, skyrocketing unemployment, and of unfair consequences to those that were less educated. Ross Perot famously stated, “ giant sucking sound” of jobs leaving the United States would be heard. On the other hand, those in favor argued for that there would be an increase in global competitiveness, export revenue, and plenty of new jobs created. Twenty years later, it is important
Hilary Clinton’s main key quote on trade is “Any trade deal has to produce jobs and raise wages and increase prosperity and protect our security.” In this quote she is talking about trade deals like Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump do not support the TPP or the CAFTA trade agreement. But Hilary Clinton wants the renegotiate NAFTA while Donald Trump says that we need to either renegotiate or get rid of the trade agreement.
One of the greatest international economic debates of all time has been the issue of free trade versus protectionism. Proponents of free trade believe in opening the global market, with as few restrictions on trade as possible. Proponents of protectionism believe in concentrating on the welfare of the domestic economy by limiting the open-market policy of the United States. However, what effects does this policy have for the international market and the other respective countries in this market? The question is not as complex as it may seem. Both sides have strong opinions representing their respective viewpoints, and even the population of the United States is divided when it comes to taking a stand in
Realism, liberalism, and Marxism are all different perspectives that can be used to analyze situations and aid government officials to understandings and agreements in relation to trade. Lawrence Herman 's article focusses on the potential destruction of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) caused by the disturbing and unacceptable proposals by the United States president, Donald Trump. There are many different views on Free trade but three main perspectives are the realist views, which claim that all nation-states have to rely upon their own resources and security and act in pursuit of their struggle for power and self-interest, liberal views, which approve of free trade, and lastly, through Karl Marx’s theory of Marxism.
Contradicting views of the most senior economists is what first ignited my desire to understand and interpret vast global problems like that of the EU Referendum. A section of Macroeconomics that I find particularly fascinating is protectionism and, more so, how it has been able to reverberate globally; leading to a surge of Western economies readopting similar protectionist stances. China for example, one of the world’s fastest growing economies, has been purchasing one-billion dollars a day with Chinese Yuan to artificially weaken their own currency- leading to huge net export imbalances in the US. It seems no coincidence therefore that President Elect Donald Trump’s protectionist policies proved to be so favoured that he won the election.