Trade is good for America. This from the Trump administration’s Office of the US Trade Representative sums up the benefits well: “The United States is the world’s largest economy and the largest exporter and importer of goods and services. Trade is critical to America’s prosperity — fueling economic growth, supporting good jobs at home, raising living standards and helping Americans provide for their families with affordable goods and services.”
With apologies to Han Solo in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, “Crazy thing is, it’s true. The faster growth, the higher living standards — all of it. It’s all true.”
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The new thinking on the populist right is that US economic policy has long focused far too much on consumption vs. production. Making stuff is important, too! But what does a change in emphasis look like in the real world?
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President Trump’s idea to turn the G7 into a free trade zone strikes one as a bit impulsive and underthought. After all, the Trump trade record this year seems to suggest a different direction, from solar panel and washing machine tariffs back in January to the steel and aluminum tariffs in March to China tariffs perhaps coming up.