President Donald Trump recently declared “Liberation Day” for America in the White House Rose Garden. He outlined a plan for reciprocal tariffs with foreign nations and presided over an executive order signing ceremony in front of his cabinet and various guests.
Trump gave remarks, which for him were actually brief; but this portion of his speech stood out.
Trump acknowledged that there would likely be criticism from globalists, outsourcers, special interests, and the Fake News. He pointed out that over the past three decades, every trade prediction made by opponents has been proven wrong. Instances such as NAFTA, China, and the Trans Pacific Partnership were cited as examples where his actions had a positive impact. Terminating the Trans Pacific Partnership, in particular, was credited with saving jobs in the United States.
WATCH:
Despite initial concerns that tariffs would harm the economy, Trump highlighted the success of his economic policies in creating what he described as the greatest economy in history. While expressing respect for President Xi of China, Trump emphasized that the country had been taking advantage of the United States, a situation he sought to address. He urged leaders to prioritize their own countries’ interests while emphasizing the need for the U.S. to protect its own economy moving forward.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 2, 2025
Trump pretty much outlined what I have observed my entire adult life. America is supposed to be this premiere economic superpower that somehow gets the short end of the stick—or at least our people do, while foreign nations get incentives, aid and things handed to them without giving anything in return. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is the most well-documented example of this.
From the Economic Policy Institute in 2003:
[…]NAFTA tilted the economic playing field in favor of investors, and against workers and the environment, resulting in a hemispheric “race to the bottom” in wages and environmental quality.
This race to the bottom was engineered by then-President George H.W. Bush, and co-signed by every Republican and Democrat president from Clinton, who signed it into law, to G.W. Bush, to Obama. Ten years later, a NAFTA post-mortem by the Council on Hemispheric Affairs made the failure and the cost even more clear:
If Trump’s whole tariff policy can be boiled down to one concept, it is: “Not this way. Not any more.” Trump is intent on doing things differently, restoring a model that once built the nation, before taxation and a bloated and regulatory-ridden government tore it down.
What most of these so-called experts who were the brain trusts behind NAFTA and the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) really feel is not shame at their failure and America’s demise, but resentment that Trump is attempting a old/new strategy and in some ways, swinging for the fences, while all they did was sell out America’s sweat equity, ingenuity and might, while setting us up for bankruptcy.
