Quote:
Originally Posted by photon
"We share one heart, one home, and one glorious destiny." is a little bit chilling coming from an authoritarian.
No shying from the protectionist stance, even using the word. "Protection will lead to great prosperity and strength."
"We will seek friendship and goodwill with the nations of the world -- but we do so with the understanding that it is the right of all nations to put their own interests first." which every nation does of course, but to feel it important to emphasize that tells the rest of the world "America First" means just that.
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I guess the first one that you picked up is a bit too jingoistic for my tastes, and while I hate to Godwin any discussion, it does remind me of how Hitler and Stalin and Tojo and other dictators used to sprinkle their speeches with statements like destiny and glory and other things.
As for the protectionist leanings we knew he was going to go hard in that direction. Right now the other economies of the world that are heavily dependent on trade imbalances with the States or selling things into the States at a cheaper cost then America can build them are pooping their pants liberally.
I don't think the third statement that you put in was all that surprising either. Its a given that American sentiment in any negotiation should be America first, he's just making it extremely clear.
Basically I think that the viewpoint is that protectionism can be successful at least initially until the World Economy realizes that it can survive without you, then its doubly hard to get into other markets because they will probably protect their own markets a lot harder.
I'm actually on board with the concept of trade is trade but it has to be fair. China has pretty much closed their markets to goods and the ones that they allow are made artificially noncompetitive with Chinese goods in their markets. At the same time they flood the markets with their own stuff. They also work very hard to keep their currency devalued. I would expect that the proper thing to do is reciprocate in terms of protecting their own market. It makes sense and its smart in a way.
However on the other side, ripping up NAFTA I think is more political then it is smart, just because all three countries are so interlinked now, pulling apart or changing those threads is going to be incredibly destructive to Canada and Mexico.