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Politics : Help Donald Trump create an America Both SAFE and GREAT!
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To: Joe Btfsplk who wrote (17)5/29/2016 2:08:43 PM
From: Solon  Read Replies (1) of 193
 
"With enough good advice and Thorazine he might be a man for the time."

I like your humour!

Here is what I think about free trade. I love it! But do you remember NAFTA 20 odd years ago? It was very controversial and a lot of thought went into it. Here is the preamble and the link to the entire text follows. Note I have bolded just 3 points for emphasis. But what is my point? Well--just this: Trading between nations is a complicated affair--especially when those nations play by different rules and interfere in the domestic market with subsidies, etc. to varying degrees. And Canada and the United States are very similar nations when we look at the big picture. Now the Canada/U.S. agreement was complicated because the goal on both sides was FAIRNESS--even though the countries are so close in terms of human rights and economic policies. It is easy for things to be unfair whenever there exists competing interests.

Now Trump will obviously need a lot of good advice, but I think he is starting with 2 very sound ideas: America must come first. And America must recognise how terribly unlevel the playing field is in countries where labor is subsidised and everything is artificial.

He is approaching the problem with what he knows in 70 years of playing with the big boys: Negotiate a better deal! That is what he knows. He will learn more because he is a smart man. And I believe he loves his country.

I love the Ayn Rand version of value for value and uncoerced trade. But I cannot live in an idealised (and gated) mountain community protected from thugs and looters!

Later...

PreambleThe Government of Canada, the Government of the United Mexican States and the Government of the United States of America, resolved to:

Strengthen the special bonds of friendship and cooperation among their nations;

Contribute to the harmonious development and expansion of world trade and provide a catalyst to broader international cooperation;

Create an expanded and secure market for the goods and services produced in their territories;

Reduce distortions to trade;

Establish clear and mutually advantageous rules governing their trade;

Ensure a predictable commercial framework for business planning and investment;

Build on their respective rights and obligations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and other multilateral and bilateral instruments of cooperation;

Enhance the competitiveness of their firms in global markets;

Foster creativity and innovation, and promote trade in goods and services that are the subject of intellectual property rights;

Create new employment opportunities and improve working conditions and living standards in their respective territories;

Undertake each of the preceding in a manner consistent with environmental protection and conservation;

Preserve their flexibility to safeguard the public welfare;

Promote sustainable development;

Strengthen the development and enforcement of environmental laws and regulations; and

Protect, enhance and enforce basic workers' rights;

Have agreed as follows:

international.gc.ca
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