free trade

Yesterday, President Trump announced that in the interest of national security he was imposing tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. Conservative -- Populist candidates in hotly contested races in Indiana and Pennsylvania quickly embraced the President's move.

In 1991 Chinese Communist leaders declared, "The new Cold War between China and America has begun.” China has been at war with us ever since.  And when your enemy says you are at war, then you are at war, whether you want to be or not.

Politically, Washington should treat the PRC as a serious competitor. Depending on the issue, China may be adversary or friend. The U.S. should emphasize areas where the two nations’ interests coincide and look for compromises where interests diverge. Washington cannot dictate: negotiation over contested issues is inevitable.

Unlike Obama, whose trade policies exported American jobs, not American goods, President Trump is conducting himself as the salesman in chief for American jobs and American products.

The rest of the world, accustomed to American presidents with a thicker patina of diplomatic manners, is getting used to the Donald’s brash and undiplomatic ways, and they might as well learn to regard them as entertainment. President Trump may be taking the sage advice of the philosopher Yogi Berra, who famously observed that “you can see a lot by watching.” The president has looked at America’s trade agreements and sees what everybody can see by watching. It’s not a pretty sight.

When one sifts through all of the evidence and clues as to why the President’s economic and domestic policy agenda remain not only unfulfilled, but unarticulated, one problem keeps coming to the fore: The appointment of former Goldman Sachs President and Chief Operating Officer Gary Cohn to head the President’s National Economic Council.

Like President Obama, Speaker Paul Ryan has made increasing Muslim immigration to America his special project and has steadfastly fought any attempts by conservatives to slow or stop what a large majority of American believe is an existential threat to constitutional liberty.

The economic nationalism and protectionism of Hamilton, Madison, Jackson, and Henry Clay, and the Party of Lincoln, McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt, and Coolidge, of all four presidents on Mount Rushmore, made America the greatest and most self-sufficient republic in history.

CHQ reader and author Larry A. Craig says bringing Muslims into our country could be the single worst mistake in our nation’s history. Our nation will bend to their will, first through polite accommodation, then through demands for equality and fairness, and then frankly you will be afraid not to give them everything they want because, frankly, you will be afraid of what will happen if you don’t. Bad laws can be undone.  Bad taxes and bad trade policies can be undone.  Bad immigration cannot. Donald Trump is the only candidate for president who has talked about stopping, even if only temporarily, Muslim immigration to America.

Larry Craig says our elected officials seem to have forgotten the purpose of government in our country.  One thing that it is not for is for the government to do something and then tell the American people to like it.  Our government officials and elected representatives need to have a copy of the beginning of our Constitution printed out and mounted on their desks.  It provides a 6-point checklist for everything they do, and allowing unlimited immigration is contrary to almost every point.

Larry Craig says, "For me there are five issues that are the iceberg sinking the ship.  And if the ship sinks, nothing else is going to matter.  In each case, Donald Trump is either the only one who understands the problem, has the right solution to fix the problem, or is the only one I believe will actually do what is needed to fix the problem."

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, predicting a “strong bipartisan vote” for “fast track” legislation. But liberal Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a fierce opponent of the trade legislation, invoked a Senate scheduling rule to delay the committee’s actions. “This job-killing trade deal has been negotiated in secret,” said Sanders, who made a lengthy Senate speech denouncing the legislation. “It was drafted with input by special interests and corporate lobbyists, but not from the elected representatives of the American people.”

Absent an inclusive political process, Egypt likely faces an unstable and violent future.  However, economic reform also is necessary.  That is unlikely to come from lectures and money from foreign governments, including the USA.

Obama wants to 'fast track' (read: ram through Congress) authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a sweeping job-killing, sovereignty-threatening plan disguised as a free-trade agreement.