In his latest statement on prospective policy if he returns to power, former US President Donald Trump said he would ban all imports of essential goods from China within four years.
His 2024 presidential campaign published a video on Tuesday announcing a plan it said “takes a sledgehammer to Globalism with America First trade platform for 2nd term.”
“The heart of my vision is a sweeping pro-American overhaul of our tax and trade policy to move from the Biden system that punishes domestic producers and rewards outsourcers, to a system that rewards domestic production and taxes foreign companies and those who export American jobs,” Trump said in the video.
Trump laid out four parts to his plan, the first of which is a system of universal tariffs on most foreign products, which would be tiered according to how much the country in question devalues its currency.
“As tariffs on foreign producers go up, taxes on American producers will go down and go down very substantially,” Trump said. “And that means a lot of jobs coming in.”
22 February 2023, 21:11 GMT
Trump also said he would revoke China’s Most Favored Nation trade status and adopt a four-year plan to phase out all Chinese imports of essential goods, “everything from electronics to steel to pharmaceuticals.”
“We will also adopt new rules to stop US companies from pouring investments into China and to stop China from buying up America, allowing all of those investments that clearly serve American interests,” the former president said. “We’re not going to allow bad things to happen to our country anymore. And we will eliminate federal contracts for any company that outsources to China.”
What he neglected to mention was that when he pursued a trade war with China during his first term, from 2017 to 2021, it did so much damage to American producers that his administration was repeatedly required to bail out American farmers.
A report by the Council on Foreign Relations think tank in late October 2020 noted that 92% of the proceeds from his tariffs on Chinese goods had gone to farmer bailouts, which had reached $61 billion by that time.
Trump’s first administration was characterized by an “America First’ policy based on economic protectionism and isolationism, which led to the shredding of numerous trade deals or talks on deals and saw Washington antagonize its allies and enemies alike. Trump waged a multi-year trade war on China aimed at decreasing the US’ negative trade balance with China that resulted in a new trade deal, but he also pressed Canada, Mexico, and many European nations to adopt trade policies more favorable to the United States as well.
Trump was voted out of office in November 2020, but has sought to return in the 2024 elections. He was the first Republican to declare his candidacy after the November 2022 midterms and has since been joined by Nikki Haley, a former governor of South Carolina and former US ambassador to the United Nations, and Vivek Ramaswamy, a New York businessman who has achieved acclaim in conservative circles in recent years with a series of books.
However, the man many believe poses the biggest challenge for Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, has yet to officially announce his candidacy. However, DeSantis has begun making more appearances at political events around the country, including meeting with local leaders in several northern states and launching a book tour. He does not plan to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland later this week, where both Trump and Haley will be.