Trump deserves a chance
Let him lead before bashing his policies
Of course, there is much speculation and concern around the United States and the world regarding what our president-elect will do about our economy and international politics when he takes office. But isn’t this true any time we have a new person in the White House?
The direction President Donald Trump takes our nation will unfold after he takes office. I would like to add to the speculations offered by Jerry Pacheco in his opinion column that appeared in the Dec. 19 Albuquerque Journal Business Outlook.
Because Trump has challenged various current and proposed free trade agreements does not mean he is anti-free trade. The way I read the president-elect’s comments are that he wants the United States to get a better deal from the agreements.
Many besides Trump believe the United States has given too many concessions and has received too many administrative and regulatory obligations. The “devil is in the details” fits most government actions.
Like the Affordable Care Act, proponents of the Trans Pacific Partnership want the U.S. to pass the treaty and then determine if they like it.
It is not going to work that way with our new president.
Furthermore, even Democrats and progressives cannot decide whether or not they support the TPP.
Americans have been asking for years why the U.S. pays the majority of the bills for NATO, the United Nations and other operations in the world. I hear this president pushing our partners to pick up more of their share of costs and be more unified in what are supposed to be our joint actions.
Sounds good to me and to a whole bunch of other Americans.
Trump has not even taken office yet and concerns about China making inroads in Latin America are being blamed on him.
The truth is, China’s inroads in Latin America and Africa and in the Pacific have been going on for years.
China has been working with Mexico to build deepwater ports on its Pacific side for the importation and transportation of goods through rail lines and the export of oil and gas through pipelines. China has even been working with Nicaragua to build a Panama Canal-style canal.
A major problem with U.S.-Pacific Rim trade can be traced directly to U.S. unions blocking work at our Pacific ports. Since current U.S. leadership refuses to address these issues, perhaps our new president will be able to move our ports forward again.
A real fear is our $20 trillion debt.
China holds a large portion of this debt, which means we’ll be re-paying China for their loans, plus interest, for years.
Now that is a threat to our national security.
China is moving to fill the voids in U.S. trade policies around the world. These are, however, not voids created by a man that has not even taken office yet, but these are due to the failures of current policies and lack of leadership of the past eight years.
President Trump’s America will impact the world because we’ll finally have an energy policy that really is “all of the above” as Americans have been asking for over the last eight years. This policy will be good for consumers, good for the state of New Mexico and will make America a world leader in energy, the fuel for the world’s economic growth.
The direction Trump takes our nation will unfold after he takes office. What has unfolded before then should not be blamed on him but should rest with current political leaders.
This is what I believe voters said in the last election.