President Trump’s fight for a better trade deal with China

President Donald J. Trump has been the subject of criticism recently because of some confusion about a recent agreement between China and the United States on trade. Although the media will not cut the president a break, as time has worn on, the agreement with China seems likely to be yet another trade victory for President Trump.

After much confusion about the existence of an informal deal, reports indicate both China and President Trump have confirmed that progress is being made. The Hill reported on December 5: “The president pointed to a Bloomberg News report that China agreed to begin implementing certain trade reforms and purchasing U.S. products, such as soybeans and liquified natural gas. Beijing also confirmed for the first time that there is a 90-day timeline for negotiations with Trump.” The stock market showed some jitters earlier this week but the new reporting confirms that President Trump is getting closer to a trade deal with China.{mosads}

The economy is strong, in no small part, because of the trade policies of the president. The Trump economy has not only created more than 4 million new jobs; the president’s policies also have lowered unemployment levels for every demographic to historic lows. Undeniably, more Americans are working today than ever — and a trade deal with China will help grow manufacturing jobs even faster than today, when they are growing at a rate not seen since the 1980s. While jobs are being created, workers are earning more money and the economy, as a whole, is growing at a staggering pace. The media does not talk about these winning strategies, because they prefer reporting gossip and “news” that does not impact any person living in middle America.

The booming Trump economy is one reason why President Trump will stroll right back into the White House in 2020, and another trade deal will drive the left crazy. The left is rooting for an economic recession, and they convert good news into bad. The new leadership of the Democratic Party spouts socialist theories that, somehow, a booming economy is hurting people because they are working more and don’t have enough free time to lose sleep over or protest against climate change.

With a potential China trade deal on the horizon, the list of recent trade victories is long. On Nov. 30, at the G-20 summit in Argentina, President Trump trashed the misnamed North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and replaced it with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). This agreement provides needed balance and helps to protect American workers, farmers and businesses. It tosses aside years of favoritism to workers and financial interests in Mexico and Canada, to the detriment of Americans.

According to the White House, the art of the trade deal includes incentives for “billions of dollars in additional vehicle and auto parts production in the United States” and “updated rules of origin that require 75 percent of auto content to be produced in North America.” These new rules will restore fairness in the auto industry and allow more cars bought by Americans to be built in the U.S. The deal also helps American autoworkers by establishing “rules that incentivize the use of high-wage manufacturing labor in the auto sector” and will help hike wages by including “a requirement that 40-45 percent of a vehicle consist of content manufactured by North American workers making at least $16 per hour.” This deal levels the playing field in the North American labor market and removes favoritism for Mexican and Canadian workers. This deal is a big win for Americans.{mossecondads}

The president kept a campaign promise when he withdrew the U.S. from the Obama administration-negotiated Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement. Trump tweeted in April of this year that there were “too many contingencies and no way to get out if it does not work” as two reasons why the deal was bad. According to a 2016 report from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), another problem was that the deal was loaded with exceptions and did not protect the United States’ position as the leader in services exports. Service-based exports include financial services, cloud computing and individuals with special training.

AEI reported that, “Taking services as a whole, America is the world’s most competitive exporter, for example running in 2015 a $260 billion services trade surplus. Truly reducing services trade barriers would make the TPP worthwhile. But the agreement contains hundreds of pages of ‘non-conforming measures’ countries can use to block American services exports.” In other words, the one area in which America has a trade surplus is the area where TPP created exceptions, so that participating nations could hammer these services with taxes, tariffs and discriminatory practices.

Over the next three months, expect the Trump administration to quietly move the ball down the field on a new deal with China. The media has bashed President Trump for the recent rumblings on Wall Street and a perception that there was no progress with China at the G-20 summit, yet don’t expect any applause from the chattering class if President Trump can cut a historic deal with China. Thankfully, Americans understand that the strong economy is a result of having a business-friendly president with strong trade deals, low taxes and lower regulations.

Corey R. Lewandowski (@CLewandowski_) served as a campaign manager to Donald J. Trump, the 45th president of the United States, and is a senior adviser to the Great America Committee, Vice President Mike Pence‘s political action committee. He is co-author with David Bossie of the new book, “Trump’s Enemies,” and of “Let Trump Be Trump: The Inside Story of his Rise to the Presidency.”