Trade Simplified

Lets play a game.

I’m country #1 and I make cars and SUVs. You are country #2 and you also make cars and SUVs.

I allow you to import your cars and SUVs into my country and, for years, have been charging you a ‘tax’ (or tariff) of 3% for the privilege of importing your vehicles into my country.

You, on the other hand, have been charging a tariff of 20% on the cars you import from me.  

When they were negotiated many years ago these agreements may have made sense. Perhaps my country wanted to help build your country’s economy or support you in another way that benefitted us both.  

But today, this agreement may no longer make sense. Maybe your economy no longer needs to be subsidized by mine … at the expense of my taxpayers, workers, or businesses. So while it may still be very beneficial to your country and to your economy, the agreement no longer works for my country. As a matter of fact, it hurts my economy by taking away high paying jobs, hurting businesses and reducing tax revenues from products made in my country.

But since you wish to maintain the benefit to your country, and don’t care about the costs to mine, you refuse to re-negotiate the current unfair agreement. In fact, you decree that I am bullying you by insisting we renegotiate the original deal.

You scream bloody murder. A news media that is largely unfavorable to my country because it’s so successful only prints your side of the argument. Other countries take your side and refuse to negotiate. After all they too benefit from long ago trade arrangements. And now, everyone declares that my losing $800 billion each year is a perfectly good and fair arrangement.

So my only resort for your refusal to negotiate a fair agreement is to impose additional tariffs on other items my country imports from your’s.  

And now you really start crying. You claim I’m starting an import/export war. And instead of doing the logical thing and reducing the taxes on cars I import to your country to the same rate you’re paying, you instead ramp up this so-called war and raise taxes on other items I import.

This, my fellow patriots is the crux of what is going on with the G-6. They have no interest in fair and balanced trade. They want a continuing trade arrangement that totally favors them no matter how much it hurts our workers, businesses, and taxpayers.  

Donald Trump is the first president in memory who is actually trying to do something about the problem. And for that, those who benefit from the current unfair arrangement are screaming like stuck pigs — and they’re being aided by liberals who never miss an opportunity to score political points no matter what the issue.

But in the end, Trump is doing nothing more than than looking out for American companies and American workers. It’s about time we had a president who did so.