As we watch the new Donald Trump Administration defy accepted norms for behavior and implement what look like extreme measures and chaos, it does not serve us to spend our time insulting fellow Americans who have different views, when there is so much research to be done in understanding which actions will actually benefit us as a country and which will not. If we don’t start communicating with respect and pulling in the same direction, we could, well, “lose our country,” to use the undefined phrase that was so often invoked last year.
Let’s look first at the tariff war. I will be the first to admit my pleasure at seeing more equitable tariffs on Chinese goods. I was repeatedly shocked, especially in 1989, when after horrendous human rights abuses they were granted “most favorited nation” trading status again and again, with a sizable trade imbalance and tariffs that primarily benefitted China. So it makes me glad to see that corrected.
Also, I have long been an advocate of American-made goods and would love to see more industries keep operations here. Part of the blame for that, however, is with consumers who continue to choose cheap (especially Chinese) goods over American products, as well as companies such as JP Morgan Chase using bailout money back in 2008 when there was almost no oversight for where money was being spent, to move jobs overseas. But that’s a story for another day.
The current chaos method of threatening large tariffs, rescinding them, threatening even bigger ones, and keeping our allies and the stock market guessing, is not good for anyone. Our traditional allies don’t trust us. We are hurting our own economy while deeply damaging Canada’s (not to mention insulting them with the constant taunt of becoming our 51st state) and probably Mexico’s as well. There is no recognition that pieces of these relationships are connected. For example, if we don’t want people coming over the southern border for jobs, perhaps we should leave some jobs for them in Mexico? And if we insult our allies enough, will they come to our aid of we were attacked? Probably not if we leave NATO, use tariffs as a weapon against them, and demean them by threatening annexation!
We need to recognize that all Americans want security and prosperity, we simply disagree on the path to get there. If we are to arrive at those goals, we need to work together, not spend our time trying to outmaneuver and demonize friends and family the other side of the political divide. The enemies of America are division, isolation, and threats from dictators bent on world domination, like Putin and Xi Jinping. It’s time we remind our elected officials and stop letting them divide us. We all know what happens to a house divided against itself.