Trump and Trade
The Briefing Room
BBC
4.8 • 731 Ratings
🗓️ 9 February 2017
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Can President Trump deliver on his pre-election promise to bring back outsourced manufacturing jobs, and end the 'bad deals' that have outsourced labour to countries like Mexico?
This message was particularly powerful in America's Midwest - often referred to as the rust belt - where voters supported him in droves and helped him secure his narrow victory.
But how can he deliver on his promise, and what does putting 'America First' mean for the rest of the world - including Britain?
In the second part of The Briefing Room's two-part series on Trump's economy, David Aaronovitch explores what the President's trade policies might mean in practice.
CONTRIBUTORS
David Smith, economics editor for The Sunday Times
Arthur Laffer, economist and former advisor to President Ronald Reagan
Diane Furchgott-Roth, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and previously worked on Donald Trump’s campaign and transition team
Prof Ted Malloch, Henley Business School of the University of Reading
Monique Ebell, economist at the National Institute for Economic and Social Research, London
Researcher: Samuel Bright Producer: China Collins
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the BBC. |
| 0:02.6 | Welcome to the briefing room with me, David Aronovich. |
| 0:06.2 | In our last podcast, I talked to economists, some of whom think that Donald Trump has got the right idea |
| 0:12.2 | when it comes to his policies on tax, job creation and investment. |
| 0:17.3 | But it turned out that even Trump's supporters are worried about one aspect of his economic policy, trade. |
| 0:25.4 | So it's to that subject that this episode is devoted. |
| 0:28.5 | I hope you enjoy it. |
| 0:30.4 | We will never, ever sign bad trade deals. |
| 0:35.2 | America first again. America first. During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump |
| 0:42.6 | made trade the centerpiece. We've made other countries rich, while the wealth, strength, |
| 0:50.1 | and confidence of our country has dissipated over the horizon. |
| 0:57.0 | One by one, the factory shuttered and left our shores, with not even a thought about the |
| 1:05.0 | millions and millions of American workers that were left behind. |
| 1:10.0 | He's promised to protect American workers from bad trade deals that mean previously American |
| 1:16.5 | made goods being manufactured in countries like Mexico where labor is cheap. |
| 1:21.4 | We must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries, making our products, stealing our companies and destroying our jobs. |
| 1:32.3 | He says his policies will reopen factories, bring jobs back to the United States, |
| 1:38.3 | and lead to great prosperity and strength. |
| 1:41.3 | On polling day, millions of voters, particularly in America's Midwest, |
| 1:46.2 | where manufacturing jobs have been in steady decline, went for it. But can President Trump deliver |
| 1:52.5 | on his promise to use trade deals to bring back American jobs from overseas? And what will |
| 1:58.4 | America first mean for the rest of the world, including Britain? |
... |
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