Mike teased Trump’s realignment at the G7 Summit here which the media has (naturally) decided to sell it as a G6 versus the Trump Ogre. The world aligning against their oafish nemesis. That tells us a lot about the media and their abhorrence of the Make America Great Again Culture that put Trump in Office.
They can’t imagine it going any other way, but it has and it will and Don Surber, in an article titled “G7 is Donald Trump and the Six Dwarfs,” adds a bit of math to help clarify the relationship.
But before we get to those what’s the 30,000-foot view?
That’s the narrative they are pushing but it couldn’t be (as usual) further from the truth.
Mr. Trump has asked for a fair shake. What does that mean? Our trading partners have been screwing us for decades, and in keeping with his campaign promises, he’s looking for a better deal for American workers. So, while the Media is pimping that photo of G7 leaders on one side of a table and Trump on another, Trump is inserting a narrative that explains the actual problem.
PM Justin Trudeau of Canada acted so meek and mild during our @G7 meetings only to give a news conference after I left saying that, “US Tariffs were kind of insulting” and he “will not be pushed around.” Very dishonest & weak. Our Tariffs are in response to his of 270% on dairy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2018
Why are we paying a 270% Tariff to sell US dairy products in Canada? To be fair, Canada has dialed back more than a few tariffs in recent years but that one’s still very real. And that’s not the only example. But is a great example.
It defines the reality of the relationship.
Merkel and company aren’t telling Trump how it is. They’re pissed because it’s the other way around.
This President isn’t taking it anymore. They open their markets up to more US products (free of tariffs or subsidies used to make foreign products cheaper) or he matches their restrictions with Tariffs on their products.
Mr. Trump also has confidence in the American people and the growing economy that it can shoulder past any trade war and thrive without the “benefit” of foreign trade. Can the rest of the G7 do the same? Look at the picture again and I think you can see the answer. No.
For the sake of clarity, I’m a free trade guy at heart. I think open trade benefits quality, cost, and consumers by allowing them to have more choices about how they spend their dollars. And as Mr. Trump exited the G7 on the way to his meeting with Kim Jong Un in Singapore, he suggested the G7 have an actual free trade agreement.
Essentially, President Trump simply wants the same fairness. In fact, he even offered a “no tariff” deal on his way out the door to his Singapore meeting with Kim Jong Un of North Korea, leaving the remaining 67 leaders scrambling on how to respond to his America First platform.
“No tariffs, no barriers. That’s the way it should be. And no subsidies. I even said, ‘no tariffs,’” Trump insisted.
“We had extremely productive discussions on the need to have fair and reciprocal” trade, he said.
“We want and expect other nations to provide fair market access to American exports and that we will take whatever steps are necessary to [protect] industry and workers from unfair practices, of which there are many. But we’re getting them worked out, slowly but surely.”
Trump has both seized and defined the narrative. We’re getting screwed. Here’s how. We’re in favor of free trade. What say you?
Mr. Trudeau’s response was to get catty, which is his purview, although Trump is making him pay publicly and having already offered to push for a trade agreement free of tariffs or subsidies, Trudeau’s whining only delays the inevitable.
Why won’t you say yes?
It might have somethng to do with those numbers from Don Surber I teased a few paragraphs ago. Here they are.
The annual GDPs by country are Canada ($1.8 trillion), France ($2.9 trillion), Germany ($4.2 trillion), Italy ($2.2 trillion), Japan ($5.2 trillion), the United Kingdom ($2.9 trillion), and the United States ($20.4 trillion).
The other six have a combined annual economic output of $19.2 trillion.
The United States alone is $20.4 trillion.
Their combined populations are 439 million people.
Ours is 326 million.
We do more with three-fourths the population.
Trump is operating from a position of strength to help American workers and their employers. He’s also got this (also from Surber).
We defend Europe through NATO, and Germany and others do not have the common decency to fulfill their promises to build their own defenses. The Cold War ended 27 years ago. We do not need to be in NATO. None.
Trump has considered tying tariffs to NATO funding, which makes for a nice followup to his pushing NATO members to own up to funding commitments last year. Twenty-five countries promised to spend more which would not have happened without Trump.
No President has shown so much commitment to getting our allies to pay their fair share (I think I’ve heard a few Democrats use those words in other contexts) a philosophy he has been using to force our so-called friends on the world stage to find ways to end the subsidy and tariff abuse that we endure. To get them to just do what they said they’d do, in the case of NATO.
He went to Canada to throw down a trade gauntlet.
Stop using policy through subsidies and tariffs to punish the US market or the US takes the same position they have taken. Or, take us up on the free trade deal.
The snowflakes are melting. The Never-Trumpers are pounding their keyboards. And the world’s economic leaders have been told that America wants a fair deal even if that means we ramp up tariffs to make it ‘fair.’
Trump, as always, is willing to negotiate. He has done so from a position of strength. And he’ll keep defining the narrative by doing Twitter end-arounds on the media to make sure Americans understand.
No more “leading from behind.”
We’ve not had a fair shake in too many ways for far too long. No one bothered to tell you that. We’ve got plenty of leverage. We can do a lot better and that is good for American workers and families.
That’s how you Make America Great Again.
