Donald Trump vows to rip up trade deals and confront China
Donald J Trump vowed on Tuesday to rip up international trade deals and start an unrelenting offensive against Chinese economic practices, framing his contest with Hillary Clinton as a choice between hard-edge nationalism and the policies of "a leadership class that worships globalism."
Speaking in western Pennsylvania, Trump sought to turn the page on weeks of campaign turmoil by returning to a core set of economic grievances that have animated his candidacy from the start. He threatened to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement and pledged to label China a currency manipulator and impose punitive tariffs on Chinese goods.
He attacked Clinton on her past support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade pact negotiated by the Obama administration, and challenged her to pledge that she would void the agreement in its entirety. Noting that Clinton had backed free-trade agreements like Nafta in the past, Trump warned, "She will betray you again."
At a rally later in the day in eastern Ohio, Trump attacked the Trans-Pacific Partnership in more provocative terms, saying it was a "rape of our country."
As a policy manifesto, Trump's Pennsylvania speech was an attack on the economic orthodoxy that has dominated the Republican Party since World War II. It is an article of faith among establishment Republicans and allied groups like the US Chamber of Commerce, which represents the interests of large corporations, that trade is good and more trade is better.
Trump, by contrast, has made blistering attacks on trade his primary economic theme. In his address he rejected the standard view that countries benefit by importing goods, arguing that globalisation helped "the financial elite," while leaving "millions of our workers with nothing but poverty and heartache."
It is a critique that has been leveled for years, mainly by a small group of liberal economists who have gained little traction even on the Democratic side. On Tuesday, Trump not only embraced their views, but also cited the work of the liberal Economic Policy Institute by name.
Trump, as president, would have significant authority to raise trade barriers, and his speech Tuesday included his most detailed account to date of his plans to do so, saying that he would pull the United States from Nafta if Mexico and Canada did not agree to renegotiate it.
But it is far from clear that any president has the power to reverse globalisation. Under existing law, Trump could impose tariffs only on specific imports. The most likely effect would be to shift production to other low-cost nations.
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