Tour d'horizon, tour de force - President Trump's speech to the U.N. General Assembly three weeks ago was both of those and more. It began with a boastful list of Administration accomplishments that would make Walt Whitman blush. That earned the President unexpected laughter from assembled leaders. We doubt, however, that there was too much laughter in New York or in world capitals as the entire speech was analyzed. Its content was a clear, cogent, and at times confrontational, and it set out the philosophy that guides American foreign policy today.
Mr. Trump hit most of the key region and issues - from the threat of nuclear weapons in North Korea and Iran, to Middle East terrorism, and the trade tensions with China, and all of it was tied together with a few short paragraphs:
America's policy of principled realism means we will not be held hostage to old dogmas, discredited ideologies, and so-called experts who have been proven wrong over the years, time and time again. This is true not only in matters of peace, but in matters of prosperity.
We believe that trade must be fair and reciprocal. The United States will not be taken advantage of any longer.
Our special concern, of course, is trade policy: America's regional and bilateral agreements and its relationship to the WTO. With respect to the former, the President told the General Assembly, "we are systematically renegotiating broken and bad trade deals." Shortly, thereafter, of course, he announced the conclusion of an agreement with Mexico and Canada, which is to take the place of NAFTA, having already renegotiated elements of the Korea-U.S. trade agreement.
And our focus today is the WTO. Last week, America's ambassador to the WTO assured a Washington audience that the United States is not on the brink of pulling out. That said, the President's determination to press ahead with a reform agenda for the world trade body was more than suggested by today's featured quote and forcefully amplified by what followed. He said:
Many nations in this hall will agree that the world trading system is in dire need of change. For example, countries were admitted to the World Trade Organization that violate every single principle on which the organization is based. While the United States and many other nations play by the rules, these countries use government-run industrial planning and state-owned enterprises to rig the system in their favor. They engage in relentless product dumping, forced technology transfer, and the theft of intellectual property.
The United States lost over 3 million manufacturing jobs, nearly a quarter of all steel jobs, and 60,000 factories after China joined the WTO. And we have racked up $13 trillion in trade deficits over the last two decades.
But those days are over. We will no longer tolerate such abuse. We will not allow our workers to be victimized, our companies to be cheated, and our wealth to be plundered and transferred. America will never apologize for protecting its citizens.
The United States has just announced tariffs on another $200 billion in Chinese-made goods for a total, so far, of $250 billion. I have great respect and affection for my friend, President Xi, but I have made clear our trade imbalance is just not acceptable. China's market distortions and the way they deal cannot be tolerated.
As my administration has demonstrated, America will always act in our national interest.
|
