From the last part of my appearance yesterday on Dialogue.
US TARIFFS A PRELUDE TO A TRADE WAR
President Trump seeks to renegotiate NAFTAYANG: President Trump accused his predecessors of making stupid mistakes, as a result Americans have suffered $800 billion of trade deficits almost annually. So what do you think of his negotiation ploy to use the issue of a trade imbalance for renegotiating NAFTA with Canada and Mexico? The Minister of International Trade in Canada and politicians in Mexico both made it very clear that they would not allow the U.S. government to hurt their respective economies. What do you think of this war of attrition?
VOX: I think the Trump administration’s long term goal is to get rid of NAFTA altogether. NAFTA is extremely unpopular in the United States, the negative effects of it have actually been worse than its enemies predicted, and none of the benefits that were promised to Americans have been delivered to them. And so, I think that the threats and the posturing of the Mexican and Canadian governments is almost completely irrelevant. Trump has made it very clear that he understands. His focus is on the American working class and finding jobs, finding manufacturing jobs.
That’s why the services perspective that you mentioned with regards to China is really just a tactical measure. It wouldn’t solve… it may solve the issue from the economists’ point of view, but it doesn’t solve it from President Trump’s point of view or from the point of view of the American people. And so I agree with the gentleman who said that’s not a long-term solution. It’s not, because it doesn’t meet the goals that have been expressed by the President.
YANG: We’ll see what happens next. I thank you so much for being with us.
It appears to have been received rather well, so there is a reasonable chance that I will do this again. It’s rather fascinating to observe, as one reader noted, that the Chinese state-owned media is demonstrably more free and open to genuine discussion of the relevant issues than the US media that is owned by no one in particular and certainly isn’t owned by anyone who should be criticized or even identified.