Trump Tears Down Free Trade Orthodoxy

Emma Connors

Globalization,

When it comes to matters of trade, he speaks succinctly and with conviction.

The photos of Xi and Obama meeting in Washington last week reminded the world that, in nine months' time, there will be a new face sitting down with China's president for such tête-à-têtes. And what if that new face is Donald Trump?

This week, while ruminating on what a Trump administration might look like, Associated Press correspondent Nancy Benac suggested the White House could well be transformed “into the world's highest-profile improv club.”

But while many of Trump’s policy views appear to be spontaneous creations, when it comes to matters of trade, he speaks succinctly and with conviction.

“Look, we are losing $500 billion a year on trade deficits with China. Okay? We’ve been for a long time, from 200 to 500. We are losing hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars a year on trade.”

That quote is taken from the transcript of the Washington Post interview with Trump, posted over the weekend. This illuminating document shows just how hard it is to pin down the frontrunner for the GOP nomination. Except, that is, when it comes to money. Trump is a businessman first and foremost and when he talks about dollars, he tends to finish his sentences.

It is clear he hates trade deals, and he especially loathes the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He’s not alone there. Plenty have queried how much such deals actually deliver (or, in the case of TPP, will deliver). Where Trump sails away from economic orthodoxy is in his proposals to impose tariffs (he has suggested a 45 percent tax Chinese goods) and other trade barriers that most economic textbooks will tell you create an economic burden by imposing costs that stifle competition.