TRUMP AGENDA - 'New' NAFTA?

"Analyzing the tentative U.S.-Mexico trade deal, and the outlook for Canada to sign on" PBS NewsHour 8/28/2018

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SUMMARY:  President Trump has long criticized NAFTA, so it’s little surprise that he is pursuing an alternative trade deal with Mexico.  The tentative agreement reached this week contains provisions for keeping auto manufacturing in North America, ensures workers earn higher wages and addresses new industries.  But where do talks stand with Canada?  Judy Woodruff speaks with Greg Ip of the Wall Street Journal.

"U.S. and Canada will keep talking after missing a trade deal deadline" PBS NewsHour 8/31/2018

aka "Canada Tells Trump FU to Trump Bulling"

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SUMMARY:  The United States and Canada failed to reach a new free trade agreement by a self-imposed deadline Friday.  Instead, President Trump announced he will sign a pact with Mexico in 90 days, and that Canada could still join it.  The Canadian foreign minister said she's confident they can get a deal.  Judy Woodruff learns more from Yamiche Alcindor.

TRADE WAR - China vs U.S.

"The trade battle with China keeps escalating.  What’s at stake for the U.S.?" PBS NewsHour 6/19/2018

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SUMMARY:  For months, the U.S. and China have traded tit-for-tat trade threats, but the battle between the world's two largest economies escalated to new levels Tuesday.  Most recently, President Trump warned that he may impose tariffs on 90 percent of everything China exports to the U.S.  Nick Schifrin examines the potential consequences with Edward Alden from the Council on Foreign Relations.

"This Koch-funded advocacy group wants Trump to embrace free trade" PBS NewsHour 6/19/2018

WOW!  I can actually agree with Koch brothers on this!  It can snow in hell.

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SUMMARY:  The conservative, libertarian political advocacy group [Americans for Prosperity] funded by David and Charles Koch is undertaking a multi-million dollar campaign opposing President Trump's trade policies.  John Yang talks with Tim Phillips, President of Americans for Prosperity, who says the President deserves a lot of credit for the current economy, but that the recent trade tariffs risk undermining those gains.

TRUMP AGENDA - Kiss a Dictator's Ass, Trash Our Allies

While Trump bows and scrapes to Dictator Kim Jong Un, at home he......

"Trump steps up attacks on Canada, key ally and largest U.S. export market" PBS NewsHour 6/11/2018

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SUMMARY:  After leaving the G-7 summit in Quebec early, President Trump withdrew from the group's joint statement on trade and blasted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as "dishonest" for criticizing the U.S. tariffs and moving to retaliate.  As Lisa Desjardins reports, a key relationship for both sides is at risk.

"White House: Trump frustrated with lack of NAFTA progress with Canada" PBS NewsHour 6/11/2018

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SUMMARY:  President Trump has grown frustrated with Canada on a lack of progress in crafting a new NAFTA agreement, says Marc Short, director of legislative affairs for the Trump administration.  Short sits down with Judy Woodruff to discuss reactions to the G-7 summit, the President’s focus on Canada and more.

"Trump cherry-picking tariff fights and uniting allies against U.S., analyst says" PBS NewsHour 6/11/2018

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SUMMARY:  President Trump came into office insisting that the U.S. wouldn't be taken advantage of, by allies or adversaries.  What do we learn from the most recent rancor at the G-7?  Judy Woodruff gets analysis on Trump’s trade complaints from Ian Bremmer of the Eurasia Group.

TRUMP AGENDA - Mexico/Amazon/Putin/Syria

#OurFakePresident

"Analyzing Trump’s statements on Mexico, Amazon, and Putin" PBS NewsHour 4/3/2018

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SUMMARY:  The U.S. military may soon be guarding the nation's border with Mexico.  That's according to President Trump, who also warned he could tear up the North American Free Trade Agreement if the Mexican government doesn't cooperate.  Lisa Desjardins joins Judy Woodruff to discuss revelations and questions that came out of the President’s news conference.

"Trump, top U.S. general strike different tones on stabilizing post-ISIS Syria" PBS NewsHour 4/3/2018

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SUMMARY:  President Trump said Tuesday that the end is in sight for the U.S. military mission in Syria, yet military leaders have said the U.S. should remain until the Islamic State is wiped out.  American reinforcements have arrived in Manbij in recent days, a sign that they will remain a counterweight in the conflict.  John Yang talks to former USAID official Mona Yacoubian, and Amberin Zaman of Al Monitor.

TRUMP AGENDA - NAFTA; Farmers, Ranchers and Livelihood

"What the end of NAFTA would mean for farmers and ranchers" PBS NewsHour 3/26/2018

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SUMMARY:  President Trump's efforts to change the terms of NAFTA have divided farmers and ranchers, who depend, in different ways, on global trade.  Special correspondent Grant Gerlock of NET traveled around the state to hear their perspective on the ways the trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada affects their income and livelihoods.

OPINION - Shields and Brooks 4/17/2015

"Shields and Brooks on Pacific trade deal politics, Clinton and Rubio on the trail" PBS NewsHour 4/17/2015

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SUMMARY:  Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss this week’s news, including the potential domestic and global effects of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, defining the role of Congress in the Iran nuclear deal, Hillary Clinton’s campaign rollout and Sen. Marco Rubio’s potential in the Republican party.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  So, Mark, let’s talk about something not very exciting, but it’s really important.  It’s that Trans-Pacific Partnership that now we know the White House, the administration, a few Democrats, a lot of Republicans, have come together around, apparently.

Is this a good deal, based on what we know about it?

MARK SHIELDS, Syndicated columnist:  Well, supporters of trade agreements, including the President, would argue, with logic, that elevated — these trade agreements have raised the standard of living across the globe.  They have lifted people out of poverty and led to greater economic activity.

They have been a disaster for American workers, a total disaster, beginning with NAFTA.  They have put all the power in the hands of the employer.  The employer threatens, if you don’t go along, if you don’t surrender your bargaining rights, if you don’t surrender your health and pension benefits, if you don’t surrender collective union membership, we will move your job overseas.

And as consequence of NAFTA some 22 years ago, documented by our own government, 755,000 jobs lost immediately…

JUDY WOODRUFF:  North American Trade Agreement.

MARK SHIELDS:  … five million fewer American — five million fewer American manufacturing jobs than there were.

And I just think the pattern, Judy, has been established in our society.  We see it where all — the trade agreements, the investor class capital is protected, whether it’s copyrights or whatever, intellectual property, their investments.  And they just pay lip service to workers’ rights.  And I just — I think it’s one more example.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  And the President defended it again today, David, so that means he is siding the investor class?

DAVID BROOKS, New York Times:  Yes, I don’t think so.

I agree with Mark’s first point.  The greatest reduction in human poverty — in human history of poverty has taken place because of this era of free trade.  And it’s been around the globe.  As for the domestic workers, it’s complicated.  It has hurt some people in some of the unions.  There’s no question about it.

The unions were dominant in the 1950s, when Europe was collapsed, when we had basically global dominance, 50 percent productivity gains.  And as the world has globalized, the unions have weakened.  And there have been some worker rights that have been sacrificed.  There’s no question about that.

It’s hurt people with fungible skills that can be replicated by those in China and India and elsewhere.  On the other hand, it has created many new jobs.  The vast field of research on this, on trade research, there are economists who are skeptics, who cite some of Mark’s numbers.

There are some, and I would say the majority are slightly pro-trade, are more pro-trade and think that, net-net, we have had a growth in jobs and there are certain industries devastated, but other industries created.

Finally, costs.  All of us rely and buy goods that come from Asia, from Africa, from Europe.  And those goods are much, much cheaper and our standard of living is much, much better because of these cheap goods that we benefit from and that people with lower incomes benefit from.

So, are there losers?  We are more acutely aware of the losers than we were.  And there are more losers than there were.  But are there winners?  There are a ton of winners.

MARK SHIELDS:  Median household income in the United States was lower in 2012 than it was in 1989.  I’m not saying solely because of this, but largely because of this.

Judy, if you want to see the dominance of capital that I think these trade agreements exemplify and embody, all you have to see is the 2008 crisis, economic crisis in this country.  Millions of ordinary Americans saw their futures, their savings, their homes wiped out.  And they got nothing in the way of relief.

Those who had caused it, who had brought the country to its knees, the big banks and the investment houses of Wall Street, were bailed out by people.  They were made whole.  So, you had a choice.  Who are you going to help and who you going to leave to make out for their own?

We have capitalism for the rich and we have free enterprise, high risk for workers.  And I just think this is what it exemplifies.  That’s what the resistance is about.  Will they defeat the President?  Probably not, because I think Republicans will be with him.  And I think the opposition has been weakened ever since NAFTA, over 22 years.

American workers have lost their clout politically.

DAVID BROOKS:  Global finance — the 2008 crash wasn’t a matter of trade.

MARK SHIELDS:  No.

DAVID BROOKS:  It was mostly a matter of the interlocking financial network, and which wasn’t about trading goods and services, sort of thing that’s involved in this.

And so I just — I don’t think that’s why the wages have been flat.  Secondly, on why the wages have been flat has not to do with trade.  It has to do with technology.  Trade is a small, small piece of this.  If we were closed in, and you were in a steel factory in Pittsburgh, and they invented all this new technology to forge steel with a fraction of the workers, it wouldn’t matter if we had global trade or not.  The technology was there and the technology was a lot cheaper.  So, technological advance is the lion’s share of why these wages have been flat.

MARK SHIELDS:  I’m not saying that 2008 was caused by trade.  I’m saying the template of the trade agreement of 1993, of — where capital was emphasized and deferred to, and workers were really basically left at the back of the bus, became the dominant model for our economy.

And it is to this day.  It is our politics.  And it was in 2008 on the bailouts.

AMERICA - 20th Year of NAFTA

"20 years on, debating whether NAFTA is success story or damaging policy" PBS Newshour 2/20/2014

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JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour):  The prospect of reaching new cross-border trade deals was very much on the mind of President Obama during his trip to Mexico this week.  But a trade agreement that’s now two decades old and still the subject of strong debate is casting a long shadow over the president’s plans.

Jeffrey Brown has the story.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:  Canada and Mexico are two of our largest trading partners, with trade that supports millions of American jobs.

JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour):  President Obama’s one-day summit with his Mexican and Canadian counterparts marked 20 years of the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:  American exports to Canada and Mexico continue to grow faster than our exports to the rest of the world.  Together, our countries have strength to give North America a tremendous competitive advantage, the skills of our workers, manufacturing that’s growing, and new sources of energy.

JEFFREY BROWN:  NAFTA was originally spearheaded by the first President (H.W.) Bush, in a bid to eliminate cross-border trade duties and other barriers.  It got the backing and was eventually signed into law by President Clinton.

Supporters argued it would spur growth.  But in a CNN debate with Vice President Gore, billionaire businessman Ross Perot famously argued it would send thousands of jobs to lower-paying, less-regulated Mexico.