From his emergence on the political scene to his occupancy of the White House, Donald Trump has projected the image of a populist aligned with the interests of ordinary Americans.
This image is not reconcilable with the reality of Mr. Trump’s actions in the Oval Office.
His ongoing efforts to do away with regulations that protect the health and safety of ordinary Americans; his attacks on the Affordable Care Act which ordinary Americans rely upon for their medical care; and his euphemistically-titled tax reform act which bestowed unprecedented tax cuts on the wealthy and corporations while leaving bread crumbs for the rest of us are the bitter fruit of Mr. Trump’s first year.
And those bread crumbs in tax savings for ordinary Americans are scheduled to disappear, while the tax cuts for the plutocrats and corporations will remain.
The latest evidence of Mr. Trump’s disconnect with the average citizen is the imposition of import tariffs on solar panels and washing machines.
Raising tariffs on foreign imports has always been a populist rallying cry. So, let’s consider the rationale for the solar energy tariffs.
They’re supposed to discourage importing and lead to more manufacturing jobs here in America.
In reality, as the solar energy industry has pointed out, the tariffs are too low to offset the lower production costs in Asian countries.
So the imports will keep on coming, only at a higher cost to Americans. To compete, American factories will have to be highly automated and require fewer workers.
In the end, the higher costs will increase prices and reduce demand for solar energy, setting back American businesses that install solar panels and produce equipment used in solar energy systems.
The Solar Energy Industries Association estimates that the Trump tariffs could cost 23,000 American jobs.
So much for job creation. So much for populism.
As for the tariffs on washing machines, Whirlpool, which sought the higher tariffs, sells more of them than anyone else in the United States.
Meanwhile, foreign manufacturers, such as Samsung and LG, have built or are building factories here. So the tariffs aren’t about to protect Whirlpool from foreign competition. Foreign manufacturers are already here.
Moreover, the likely effect of these tariffs is that they will be challenged at the World Trade Organization and that other countries will impose retaliatory tariffs on American exports.
And foreign companies don’t have to look to international bodies to push back on the Trump administration’s protectionism.
Last week, the United States International Trade Commission struck down a Commerce Department recommendation to place steep duties on imported Canadian jets which had been sought by Boeing.
We’ve been down the protectionist road before and it did not work out well.
That won’t stop Mr. Trump from claiming that he’s providing jobs and protecting Americans.
Then, again, there has never been an occupant of the Oval Office as truth-challenged as Donald Trump.
So much for job creation. So much for populism.
“America First” has been another populist theme for Mr. Trump.
Last week, he traveled to Davos for the World Economic Forum to explain his “America First” approach only to find that the rest of the world is doing business without us and that the United States is no longer the center of the universe.
As the global economy strengthens, European countries, China and Japan are embarking on deals that do not include the United States.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership, which was conceived and put together by the United States but abandoned by Mr. Trump, was finalized by 11 other nations and will be signed in March.
Like the little boy with his nose pressed to the window of the candy store, Mr. Trump was left mumbling about wanting to get back into the TPP.
Thirty-five new bilateral and regional trade pacts are currently under consideration, but the United States is a party to only one, with the European Union, and that negotiation is dormant.
As a former White House economist in the George W. Bush administration said, “Maybe there was some sort of presumption on the part of the president and his team that if the U.S. said stop, this process would come to a halt.
What this shows is that’s not true. The world just moves on without us.”
As Evan Osnos of The New Yorker has written of Mr. Trump’s leadership style, he isn’t leading from behind, he’s “retreating from the front.”
So much for American leadership.
So much for Mr. Trump’s version of America First.
So much for Mr. Trump’s populism.
Jay N. Feldman
Port Washington
