A good week for the POTUS.....
Trump's trade trifecta
They say that good things come in threes, and last week President Trump hit the trifecta on trade.
First, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took a brief break from the partisan process aimed at removing Trump from office and agreed to pass the USMCA, the newly negotiated replacement for NAFTA. This deal will guarantee the continued relatively free flow of goods across the Mexican and Canadian borders.
Second, the United States and China reached a trade deal that will at least modestly deescalate the trade war raging between the world’s two largest economies. For now, tariffs will remain in place, but the U.S. will not be imposing new ones this weekend as it had threatened. The two sides are moving closer to a real, lasting deal that will remove tariffs currently in place and restore free trade.
And then third came the massive and encouraging election result across the Atlantic. Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party just won a massive, landslide victory over the far-left socialist Labour Party of Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn, arguably the most anti-American party leader to contest for Britain’s top post, placed anti-American scaremongering at the center of his campaign.
Corbyn explicitly and somewhat bizarrely argued that if Johnson won, he would enter a trade deal with the U.S. that would somehow absorb Britain’s government healthcare system. The charge was a complete fabrication, and even then, it never really made any sense. But the kernel of truth to it is that yes, now the United Kingdom will be freed from the shackles of the European Union and free to make its own big and mutually beneficial trade deal with its natural partner, the U.S.
The U.K. and the U.S. have well-developed economies, similar common law legal systems, and common international interests all around. Already, the U.S. is the second-largest source of U.K. imports after Germany and the largest destination by far for its exports. Britain, though small and distant, is also one of America's leading trade partners. The two nations, already best friends in world security matters, will make natural partners in trade under a much freer framework and to the great benefit of both nations.
This is one area where the U.S. is fortunate to have Trump as president. Recall that President Barack Obama threatened the British people over Brexit, warning that they would be relegated to the "back of the queue" on trade matters if they voted to leave the European Union.
Already, Trump and Johnson are aware of this magnificent opportunity, which Brexit has made possible. Their teams have already met to discuss the possibilities— and no, for the record, there was no discussion of Americans taking over the British National Health Service, whatever that would mean. But the bottom line is that Johnson’s victory removes the final obstacle to Brexit, which means that Britain is open for business.
There would be some irony if Trump, who ran for president on a protectionist platform, were to create a lasting legacy of prosperity through international free trade. But this is precisely where his administration seems to be heading, if haltingly. It is a welcome development.
And with Democrats dead-set on shooting themselves in the head with impeachment, it might just boost an already healthy economy at just the right moment to get him reelected.
Trump's trade trifecta
They say that good things come in threes, and last week President Trump hit the trifecta on trade.
First, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took a brief break from the partisan process aimed at removing Trump from office and agreed to pass the USMCA, the newly negotiated replacement for NAFTA. This deal will guarantee the continued relatively free flow of goods across the Mexican and Canadian borders.
Second, the United States and China reached a trade deal that will at least modestly deescalate the trade war raging between the world’s two largest economies. For now, tariffs will remain in place, but the U.S. will not be imposing new ones this weekend as it had threatened. The two sides are moving closer to a real, lasting deal that will remove tariffs currently in place and restore free trade.
And then third came the massive and encouraging election result across the Atlantic. Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party just won a massive, landslide victory over the far-left socialist Labour Party of Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn, arguably the most anti-American party leader to contest for Britain’s top post, placed anti-American scaremongering at the center of his campaign.
Corbyn explicitly and somewhat bizarrely argued that if Johnson won, he would enter a trade deal with the U.S. that would somehow absorb Britain’s government healthcare system. The charge was a complete fabrication, and even then, it never really made any sense. But the kernel of truth to it is that yes, now the United Kingdom will be freed from the shackles of the European Union and free to make its own big and mutually beneficial trade deal with its natural partner, the U.S.
The U.K. and the U.S. have well-developed economies, similar common law legal systems, and common international interests all around. Already, the U.S. is the second-largest source of U.K. imports after Germany and the largest destination by far for its exports. Britain, though small and distant, is also one of America's leading trade partners. The two nations, already best friends in world security matters, will make natural partners in trade under a much freer framework and to the great benefit of both nations.
This is one area where the U.S. is fortunate to have Trump as president. Recall that President Barack Obama threatened the British people over Brexit, warning that they would be relegated to the "back of the queue" on trade matters if they voted to leave the European Union.
Already, Trump and Johnson are aware of this magnificent opportunity, which Brexit has made possible. Their teams have already met to discuss the possibilities— and no, for the record, there was no discussion of Americans taking over the British National Health Service, whatever that would mean. But the bottom line is that Johnson’s victory removes the final obstacle to Brexit, which means that Britain is open for business.
There would be some irony if Trump, who ran for president on a protectionist platform, were to create a lasting legacy of prosperity through international free trade. But this is precisely where his administration seems to be heading, if haltingly. It is a welcome development.
And with Democrats dead-set on shooting themselves in the head with impeachment, it might just boost an already healthy economy at just the right moment to get him reelected.
