Good trade policy starts with free flow of goods
IN 2016, Hillary Clinton’s plan to woo coal state voters was to pump $30 billion of taxpayer money to bail out an industry that was suffering in no small part due to Democratic Party environmental policies.
Donald Trump, on the other hand, said federal policy should help put the coal industry back on its feet the old-fashioned way — letting the miners dig. Trump won votes in key states that otherwise might have gone to Clinton.
Two years on, Trump seems to be following Clinton’s lead instead of his own. His plan to help farmers and ranchers is to pump billions of dollars of taxpayer money to aid an industry that is suffering in no small part due to the president’s own trade policies.
Like the miners, most farmers and ranchers would rather work than get a handout. Free trade would go a long way toward making that happen. As reported this week in The Oklahoman, more than 2,000 farmers and ranchers in this state received payments totaling nearly $2 million in September and October. The 2,169 payments represent only a fraction of funds flowing from the government's Market Facilitation Program.
Trump felt the pain of farmers hurt by his boisterous trade disputes. Instead of getting out of the way (as he urged Washington to do vis a vis coal mining), he ponied up government cash.
Rodd Moesel, president of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau, said farmers appreciate the help. Still, Moesel said, “Our folks don’t really want this program, they want free and open trade.”
A glimmer of hope emerged from last weekend’s announcement regarding negotiations with China, which has been the most visible target of Trump’s wrath over trade. The White House said China will start buying U.S. farm goods immediately; nonfarm products exported from America will also go to the Chinese.
In an editorial, The Wall Street Journal hailed the announcement but correctly expressed scorn over Trump’s pronouncements regarding trade closer to home. While a thaw in the China trade and tariff dispute would be good news for the U.S. economy and American workers, the Journal said, Trump has “threatened to blow up his presidency” by terminating the North American Free Trade Agreement before Congress passes a replacement.
To sum up, what the White House gives with one hand it may take with another. The real loser may be the president himself. “As a political matter,” the Journal said, “it amounts to Mr. Trump holding a gun to his own re-election chances and daring Democrat Nancy Pelosi to let him pull the trigger.”
Loose lips can sink container ships. Clinton’s 2016 rhetoric cost her votes. And see the stock market’s strong negative reaction to Trump’s “I’m a Tariff Man” tweet on Tuesday.
The United States should never roll over for a trading partner, but Trump’s approach has been to steamroll existing trade policy rather than significantly improve it. Let’s allow miners to mine and farmers to farm. It starts with trade policy, and good trade policy starts with the free flow of goods.