Could Trump's tough talk on trade backfire on U.S. jobs? (Bergengruen/McClatchy)
January 18, 2017 6:15 PM
By Vera Bergengruen
vbergengruen@mcclatchydc.com
LinkedIn
Google+
Pinterest
Reddit
Print
Order Reprint of this Story
WASHINGTON
In some of the states where economic frustration propelled Donald Trump to the White House, the jobs he promised to bring back were already returning before he started making deals.
For the first time in decades, areas of the Carolinas that had been crippled by the loss of the textile industry are seeing some of those jobs return – thanks to the Chinese. Former mining towns in Pennsylvania have been revitalized thanks to jobs at Bimbo Bakeries USA, Wise and Mission foods, which are Mexican-owned companies.
In fact, 6.1 million Americans are directly employed by majority foreign-owned firms, and more than 12 million American jobs linked to foreign investment. These jobs pay a third more on average, and roughly 40 percent are in the manufacturing sector with significant job growth in Rust Belt states.
In other words, exactly the kinds of jobs the president-elect promised to bring back.
While Trump’s tough talk on jobs leaving the country may have helped him win the election, many worry that if those protectionist policies become a reality they could backfire on U.S. workers who rely on the growing number of jobs supported by foreign investment. Trump has also said he plans to renegotiate trade agreements like NAFTA, which he described as “the worst trade deal ever signed,” and impose steep tariffs on imported goods.
***
more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article127315074.html
Interesting POV from someone who knows a lot more about business than tRump. But she deserves to be smacked with a large mackerel for using the phrase "a populist candidate such as Trump or Bernie Sanders" -- as if the two were in any way comparable.
