Made in America: Trade policy in the Trump era
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An exploration of the ways the U.S. uses international trade to influence other countries and promote stability, and how it balances domestic economic interests with our foreign policy interests.
Upon returning from his trip to Asia, President Trump says he will make a major announcement about trade on Wednesday.
During his trip, the president said, "we've made some very big steps with respect to trade, far bigger than anything you know." He also said U.S. trade deficits are going to be "cut very quickly and very substantially."
"You could make an argument that trade was the biggest issue that put Donald Trump in the oval office," said Edward Alden, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
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States that Trump won the election in are the same states that lost the highest percentage of jobs to import competition over the past 15 years, Alden said.
It's true that the U.S. has a massive trade deficit with China, but that is in large part due to how U.S. consumers shop.
Simply put, we buy more than we sell. Products are made more cheaply in China, which allows us to get products at much lower prices.
This program — "Made in America: Trade Policy in the Trump Era" — comes from PRI's America Abroad series.
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