McCain warns Trump against recreating ‘Fortress America’

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is urging President-elect Donald Trump not to withdraw from international alliances and trade deals, warning against recreating a “Fortress America.”

“It is a fool’s errand to try to recreate a mythical time when Fortress America was impregnable, unaffected by the world’s troubles,” the senator wrote in a Financial Times op-ed Tuesday. “Instead, we should have faith in American leadership and the power of our values, including the advocacy of free trade, which have made the world and us safer, freer and richer.”

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McCain highlighted the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and said withdrawing from the trade deal would only benefit China.

“It would strengthen US alliances there and build new relationships based on mutual economic interests and increasingly shared geopolitical ones,” McCain wrote about the trade pact. “Its collapse will benefit China.” 

Trump railed against trade deals like TPP and the North American Free Trade Agreement on the campaign trail, arguing such deals take manufacturing jobs away from Americans to the benefit of China.

Last month, Trump announced his plan to withdraw from TPP on his first day in the Oval Office. The deal is a centerpiece of President Obama’s trade agenda.

McCain, who pushed for the trade deal in Congress, said the global economy will grow regardless of America’s opposition to the trade deal.

“The global economy will become more accessible and competitive, whether we try to remove trade barriers or impose them,” he said. “That is why withdrawing from TPP will hurt our ability to compete.”