President Trump is putting trade tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China. Trump has rightfully declared an economic emergency placing duties of 10% on all imports from China and 25% on imports from Mexico and Canada. All of his executive actions on trade will be in full affect by Tuesday February 4. Some nations are threatening retaliation giving ammunition to those who oppose President Trump and his policies as they cry “Trump is starting a trade war!”
But smart people who follow history and go through life with their eyes open know this is a lie and, once again, these people are truly hysterical liars.
America’s trade problems began many years ago when China targeted certain industries of America and systematically took them over. Some of the first to go were the furniture and textile industries of America. Next it seemed that products of the electronics industry were all made “overseas” and not a single stereo or television was made in the United States any more. Soon small metal products such as those of the fastener industry were disappeared. The list went on and on. One time I was working on a construction project as a laborer building a new house and the foreman was telling me how most of the wood in the house was grown in Canada but shipped over to China to be processed as lumber and brought back here for construction. We were both scratching our heads like, “How can that be any cheaper?!”
Then we had two globalist presidents, Republican President George H.W. Bush, and Democrat William J. Clinton. They offered China “Most Favored Nation Trading Status” and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which eliminated most barriers to trade between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. President Trump has been a bigtime critic of NAFTA and rightfully so. It was a bad agreement it was tantamount to letting a child loose in a candy store with no adult. But if you opposed these policies you were labeled a “protectionist”.
What these agreements did was eliminate any semblance of parity or tit for tat and America’s trade deficit with these countries skyrocketed as more of their products were consumed by us than our products were imported and consumed by them. The reason why this is both offensive and obviously wrong is the fact that the populations of their 3 countries outnumber ours many times over:
- China 1,407,181,209
- United States 342,034,432
- Mexico 131,741,347
- Canada 41,042,563
Logically, these populations should be out consuming our own. Some will argue their personal incomes do not match ours and that is a valid point but then again President Trump has rightfully pointed out how they each have their own protective regulations to limit or eliminate American importing of goods.
Smart American people can rightfully answer the slower American people who say “Trump is getting us into a trade war,” with, “We are already in a trade war and we are losing, badly.”
For example, in 1976 the trade deficit began whereby we consumed more foreign products than what other countries consumed of our American made goods. Fast forward to 2019 and the trade deficit was $480.2 billion. In 2023 that number increased to $773 billion. Of course most of that deficit is directly attributable to China, with Mexico coming in second place, and Canada third.
CONCLUSION:
My grandfather was a machinist in Chicago during the Great Depression. He was so good in an occupation in demand he was one of the very few to keep his home on his block. Also in Illinois we have the smaller city of Rockford which was once nicknamed “The Screw Capitol of the World”. Also in Illinois we had “Sterling Wire and Nail” where most of America’s nails were once made to build our homes. Many of these industries of Illinois went to China now thanks to either very ignorant American political leaders or political leaders who are socialist globalists working from a scripted agenda to topple America.
Governor J.B. Pritzker (D) is one such failed leader. Just in the last 10 years his failed leadership is losing some of Illinois’ largest brand names such as Caterpillar, John Deere, Boeing, and Stellantis. This is a man whose ego is only matched by his waste size as he has presidential ambitions. He seemingly longs for Illinoisans to become socialist takers dependent on the state rather than independent makers making products for a capitalist society. Beware of those who badmouth President Trump crying “trade war”. They put a treasonous party over trade parity.
President Trump sees our nation in decline to the point of circling the toilet bowl. He is not wrong.
Because we have nothing to left to lose, this will result in several outcomes:
- American companies like Stellantis, Harley Davidson, and John Deere will be quick to return their offshore manufacturing processes back to America bringing back American jobs to keep products available.
- Americans will refuse to pay the higher prices on imported products such as coffee and avocados causing foreign markets to collapse with a glut of product as they shift their consumption habits elsewhere.
- Americans who have had a habit of buying big ticket foreign products like automobiles will change their buying habits as they realize America does not have trade parity with the countries that produce these automobiles and then buy American instead.
- Americans will organize to actively boycott foreign made goods that do not practice trade parity with America.
© 2025 by Mark S. Schwendau
