Trade: The Trump Administration has been particularly effective in its formulation and pursuit of a comprehensive global trade strategy and has been extremely effective in using foreign trade as a tool to conduct foreign policy. Trump has long been critical of the trade imbalances plaguing our trade relationships, their drag on the economy, and the detrimental effect on the American worker. The Administration immediately went about the business of eliminating trade imbalances and pursuing more equitable trade relationships. For example: (1) Steel and aluminum production are an integral part of our national security. The industry was plagued by unfair trade practices and global excess capacity. President Trump promised to and has taken important steps to protect America’s critical steel and aluminum industries including: the imposition of a 25 percent global tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent global tariff on aluminum imports reducing reliance on foreign producers of cheap steel; and the renegotiation of trade deals that were harming US steel workers and contributing to the trade deficit imbalance; (2) withdrawal from TPP; (3) walk away from the Obama Administration's bad Cuba deal benefitting the Cuban regime and harming the Cuban people, through the imposition of strategic sanctions to shift economic activity from the Cuban government (military),to benefit the Cuban people; (4) the USMCA*; (5) prioritizing the enforcement of US trade law; (6) imposing safeguard tariffs to protect certain industries from unfair trade practices; (7) aggressive and successful litigation of trade disputes through the World Trade Organization (“WTO”) against China (poultry), Indonesia (agriculture), US tuna labeling rules, EU (Boeing); and (8) launching a Section 301 Trade Act of 1974 investigation against China regarding technology transfer practices, policies, and conduct.
The Administration’s pursuit of more equitable trading partnerships and enforcement of trade laws and accepted trade practices are part of an overall foreign policy strategy to restore ally confidence and respect, and America’s global economic and diplomatic prominence. The President has taken historic tours throughout Asia to bolster trade, affirm alliance commitments, and seek the sale of advanced military equipment resulting in significant relational strides in the co-operative efforts between the Quad countries … the US, Japan, India and Australia … and the Philippines. The President has travelled to the Middle East and Europe to solidify relations with our allies in both regions and to push for greater commitments and cooperation. While visiting Saudi Arabia, President Trump pushed for the formation of a coalition to confront Iran while attending the opening of the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology, convincing allies to develop plans to increase defense spending up to two percent of GDP by 2024, and for NATO to join the coalition to defeat ISIS at the 2017 NATO Leaders’ meeting.
The Trump Administration promised and has purposed to renegotiate our positions with our trading partners to level the playing field and put an end to the economic hemorrhaging caused by badly negotiated trade agreements which largely laid American economic interests bare to foreign actors. The President and Administration have been extraordinarily effective.
The Democrats say that the President only seeks to profit himself. That is a lie. The President’s policies created millions of jobs and prosperity for the American worker.
#beingfrank #BlueInTheFace #FMG #trump2020 #trumpublicans #vote2020 #democratdelusions ___ *This post has been prepared from a variety of source materials. Footnotes available on request. ___ www.frankcastingmediagroup.com www.frankmulhall.com
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