The island of America

 

October 31, 2019



To The Eagle:

Many are concerned about our President’s unilateral trade policy decisions. There’s an old saying that trust is “gained in drops and lost in buckets.” On an almost daily basis, we see our government undermine years of hard work and the goodwill shared with our allies to placate a few voter blocks. Our current administration’s trade stance looks like the makings of the “Smoot Hawley Act,” which started the trade war in 1930, and intensified the Great Depression. Whether by design or default, it’s clear to anyone paying attention that we have an out of control, rudderless ship in Washington that’s affecting millions of lives, and trillions of dollars in international commerce. As an example, we recently made a supposedly great trade agreement with Japan. Later, found out it’s not even as good for the US as staying in the original Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) that the US had a leading role in creating. Most Japanese quotas against US exports will remain. Not so with original TPP members. “Make America Great” is not a trade policy, but rather a misnomer.

The same can be said for our foreign policy. One man alone disregards input from his administration and military leaders to make huge decisions. He turns his back on our allies, and backs away from international commitments. He unsettles and turns countries that are both direct and collateral damage upside down, and then wonders why our trading partners and allies (customers and suppliers in commercial terms) don’t trust us. Do you think, that just maybe .... (?).

Daily, we see that we have zero trade or foreign policy. As an analogy regarding both, “I’d rather have a dog that obeyed me because he liked me, rather than because he was afraid of me.”

Whether Democratic or Republican, voters need to pay attention to this self inflicted damage we’re doing on the international stage. If you listen to something enough times, you’ll start to believe it. We need to stop watching “biased only” news, stop considering tweets as truthful and gospel, and start having morning coffee. There’s too much at stake for all of us otherwise.

Bill Wainwright

Cathlamet

 

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