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Trump vows to end trade, confront ChinaBy NICK CORASANITI and ALEXANDER BURKSAssociated PressMONESSEN — Donald ]. Trump vowed on Tuesday to rip up international trade deals and start an unrelenting offensive against Chinese economic practices, framing his contest with Hillary Clinton as a choice between hard-edge nationalism and the policies of “a leadership class that worships globalism.”Trump sought to turn the page on weeks of campaign turmoil by returning to a core set of economic grievances that have animated his candidacy from the start. He threatened to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement and pledged to label China a currency manipulator and impose punitive tariffs on Chinese goods.He attacked Clinton on her past support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade pact negotiatedby the Obama administration, and challenged her to pledge that she would void the agreement in its entirety. Noting that Clinton had backed free-trade agreements like NAFTA in the past, Trump warned, She will betray you again.At a rally later in the day in eastern Ohio, Trump attacked the Trans-Pacific Partnership in more provocative terms, saying it was a “rape of our country.”As a policy manifesto, Trump's Pennsylvania speech was an attack on the economic orthodoxy that has dominated the Republican Party since World War II. It is an article of faith among establishment Republicans and allied groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which represents the interests of large corporations, that trade is good and more trade is better.Trump, by contrast, has made blistering attacks on trade his primary economic theme. In his address he rejected the standard view that countries benefit by importing goods, arguing that globalization helped “the financial elite,” while loa„inlt;y “millions nf ourKEITH SRAKDCIC/Associated PressREPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL candidate Donald Trump spoke during a campaign stop Tuesday at Aiumisource, a metals recycling facility in Monessen.workers with nothing but poverty and heartache.It is a critique that has been leveled for years, mainly by a small group of liberal economists who have gained little traction even on the Democratic side. On Tuesday, Trump not only embraced their views, but also cited the work of the liberal Economic Policy Institute by name.Trump, as president, would have significant authority to raise trade barriers, and his speech Tuesday included his most detailed account to date ofhis plans to do so, saying that he would pull the United States from NAFTA if Mexico and Canada did not agree to renegotiate it.But it is far from clear that any president has the power to reverse globalization. Under existing law, Trump could impose tariffs only on specific imports. The most likely effect would be to shift production to other low-cost nations.Trump's address opened his first swing-state tour of the general election race. After he muddled around the political map since his last Republican rivals withdrew. and veered awayfrom the campaign last week for a trip to Scotland, Trump's tour this week through Pennsylvania and Ohio was the start of a concerted effort to carve a path to 270 electoral votes on daunting political terrain.The language and location of Trump's speech encapsulated his aspirational strategy for the general election: His greatestsource of support has been white working-class men, and his campaign hopes to compete in traditionally Democratic-leaning states, like Pennsylvania and Michigan, to offset his deep unpopularity with Hispanic voters and women, which may put swing states like Florida and Colorado out of reach.TED MOREAUTrump delivered his address at a steel plant in the heart of coal country, on a stage flanked by blocks of compressed steel wiring, aluminum cans and othermetals. And for the second time in two weeks, he spoke carefully from a script. Aides to Trump, who has faced criticism throughout the race for factual exaggerations and outright falsehoods, circulated a copy of the speech with 128 footnotes documenting its claims.Still, Trump could not resist the occasional ad-libbed line to skewer Clinton or boast of his own achievements. He said, for example, that he had forced her to use the term “radical Islamic terrorism.”And he took credit for pressuring Clinton to oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, though at the time she faced far greater pressure from a primary challenge on the left, from Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.Trump's speech drew rebukes from two sides: The Clinton campaign attacked his credibility as a critic of free trade, and deployed Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, a populist Democrat who is viewed as a potential running mate for Clinton,to accuse Trump of hypocrisy.“With all of his personal experience profiting from making products overseas, Trump's the perfect expert to talk about outsourcing, Brown said, reciting a list of Trump products, from suits to picture frames, that he said were made in other countries. “We know just in my state alone where Donald Trump could have gone to make these things, he added.Trump also drew a cold response from traditionally Republican-leaning interests for his heated attacks on international trade agreements. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which spends millions of dollars in federal elections, almost entirely in support of Republican candidates, criticized Trump's speech on Twitter and claimed that his policies would hurt the economy.“Even under best-case scenario, Trump's tariffs would strip us of at least 3.5 million jobs,” the group wrote in one Twitter mes-Garage Door Sales ServiceResidential I Commercial* PM! Haas Doors Local Authorized Genie Dealer* Clopay Lift-Master •Gate Openers* Parts724-349-6141• all the cars• all the jobs• all the homesall the moviesall the menusall the sportsall the newsall the timeindiancK®'£f|nfrtana (gazettegazette Qn print daily 1 online always
Newspaper Details
Indiana Gazette
Indiana, Pennsylvania, US
Wed, Jun 29, 2016
Page 24
Full Page
Clipped by
State L.
PA, USA 16 Oct 2023
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