President Donald Trump’s recent decision to abruptly halt trade talks with Canada over an Ontario Government ad, one that cited Ronald Reagan’s 1987 anti-tariff speech, has fanned the flames of uncertainty in North American trade relations.
The president is in office to see to the best interests of Americans. Period.
NAFTA came AFTER Reagan, and is an ongoing disaster for Americans.
Far from having free trade, foreign nations have generally had higher tariffs on America than we have had on them. Trump is leveling the field, and doing the best he can against NAFTA.
Why do people delude themselves that everything was fine before Trump? America's balance of trade went negative in the 1980s. We were told that was nothing to worry about. Now, our government is 37 trillion in debt, which we pay the interest on. Our balance of trade is going increasingly negative. This all predates Trump by decades, yet people blame Trump. Trump is the one trying to stop this mess before we go over the cliff.
NAFTA didn’t just pop up after Reagan out of nowhere. Reagan was the one who pushed hard for free trade with Canada in the first place, which set up NAFTA later on. So, it’s not like he’d be against the idea. If anything, he laid the groundwork.
About tariffs, plenty of studies show the U.S. usually has super low tariffs compared to most countries, especially since WWII. It’s not true we’ve been massively ripped off on that front; the numbers don’t really back it up.
Trade deficit stuff goes way back to the ’70s, and there’s no magic fix. It’s not just about trade deals, but also big-picture stuff like the dollar being strong and the U.S. buying a ton from everywhere. Debt problems have more to do with spending and tax policy than NAFTA or free trade.
Finally, the thing with Trump’s tariffs is a mixed bag. They were supposed to help level things, but most experts found they ended up costing American businesses and regular people more. The pain didn’t really shift overseas.
Bottom line, Reagan saw tariffs as a last resort, not a cure-all. Trade’s complicated, and blaming one guy or one deal oversimplifies the mess the country’s been dealing with for decades.
Tariffs aren't just some afterthought in taxation. Tariffs are the only tax mentioned in the constitution. Initially, hey were the only source of income for the federal government.
I'm not sure what you're getting at when you acknowledge that the USA way under tariffed other countries, but that it makes little difference. If tariffs make little difference, then why all the noise about what Trump is doing?
If a household consistently spends more than it earns, and keeps going deeper and deeper into debt, nobody says there is no problem. So how is it not a problem when an entire country does this? We're looking more like Venezuela all the time.
The president is in office to see to the best interests of Americans. Period.
NAFTA came AFTER Reagan, and is an ongoing disaster for Americans.
Far from having free trade, foreign nations have generally had higher tariffs on America than we have had on them. Trump is leveling the field, and doing the best he can against NAFTA.
Why do people delude themselves that everything was fine before Trump? America's balance of trade went negative in the 1980s. We were told that was nothing to worry about. Now, our government is 37 trillion in debt, which we pay the interest on. Our balance of trade is going increasingly negative. This all predates Trump by decades, yet people blame Trump. Trump is the one trying to stop this mess before we go over the cliff.
Hey, just to clear a few things up.
NAFTA didn’t just pop up after Reagan out of nowhere. Reagan was the one who pushed hard for free trade with Canada in the first place, which set up NAFTA later on. So, it’s not like he’d be against the idea. If anything, he laid the groundwork.
About tariffs, plenty of studies show the U.S. usually has super low tariffs compared to most countries, especially since WWII. It’s not true we’ve been massively ripped off on that front; the numbers don’t really back it up.
Trade deficit stuff goes way back to the ’70s, and there’s no magic fix. It’s not just about trade deals, but also big-picture stuff like the dollar being strong and the U.S. buying a ton from everywhere. Debt problems have more to do with spending and tax policy than NAFTA or free trade.
Finally, the thing with Trump’s tariffs is a mixed bag. They were supposed to help level things, but most experts found they ended up costing American businesses and regular people more. The pain didn’t really shift overseas.
Bottom line, Reagan saw tariffs as a last resort, not a cure-all. Trade’s complicated, and blaming one guy or one deal oversimplifies the mess the country’s been dealing with for decades.
I mostly agree.
But here's a few other things:
Tariffs aren't just some afterthought in taxation. Tariffs are the only tax mentioned in the constitution. Initially, hey were the only source of income for the federal government.
I'm not sure what you're getting at when you acknowledge that the USA way under tariffed other countries, but that it makes little difference. If tariffs make little difference, then why all the noise about what Trump is doing?
If a household consistently spends more than it earns, and keeps going deeper and deeper into debt, nobody says there is no problem. So how is it not a problem when an entire country does this? We're looking more like Venezuela all the time.