Former President Donald Trump on Monday endorsed his America First trade plan as a cornerstone for his third run for the White House next year. The Republican policy would feature tariffs on most imported goods as a way to build U.S. companies.
In his Feb. 27 statement, Trump laid out his system for baseline tariffs that would reward U.S. domestic production. In his words, the sweeping measure would “tax China to build up America.”
Reminder: Biden said he was going to drop tariffs on China because they were bad.
That never happened
Biden agrees that Trump tariffs on China were the right decision and has kept them
— Johnny Lawrence, Jr 🇺🇸 (@AmericanGr8ness) February 27, 2023
Simply put, the policy would implement a series of universal, baseline tariffs on most foreign products. This would in turn reduce the tax burden on American companies, allowing them to grow and prosper.
Tariffs on imported goods would increase incrementally if other countries engage in unfair business practices such as manipulating their currency.
The former president accused current President Joe Biden of promoting “the same pro-China globalist agenda that ripped the industrial heart out of our country.”
He criticized Biden’s economic program as putting the U.S. last and “killing our country.” Trump said “my cutting-edge trade agenda will revitalize our economy by once again putting America first. He pledged the nation will soon be “a manufacturing powerhouse like the world has never seen.”
Trump further asserted that his plan would enhance the nation’s economic and national security and would end the country’s dependence on China “in all critical areas.” No longer would outsourcers be rewarded and domestic producers punished.
Specifics of Trump’s agenda include ridding China of its most favored nation trading status and implementing a four-year process to decrease and then eliminate all imports of essential goods from Beijing.
The former president would also ban federal contracts being signed with any company that outsources to China.
While Trump took a hard line on the communist regime, the same can hardly be said for his successor. The Biden White House saw the U.S.-China trade deficit balloon by almost 10% to $382.9 billion in just 2022.
To make matters worse, the administration proposed a nearly $2 trillion tax increase on working Americans.
Trump further declared he would build on his success in ending the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Calling that a “tremendous” achievement of his time in office, the Republican looks to have the same effect on unbalanced trade with communist China.
