OPINION:
As President Trump recently declared at the Oklahoma rally, “Biden supported every Globalist attack on the American worker.” In contrast, Mr. Trump has been working overtime for the American people, and we are excited to see him back on the road with the chance to offer his vision of restarting the world’s greatest economy to the workers most eager for America to thrive again.
In this election cycle, many globalist Democrats are supporting policies that push narrow corporate interests at the expense of American workers. The political fight that we are seeing is really a battle of two worldviews: Mr. Trump favors an America First trade policy that puts American workers first, while others support a globalist vision that ships American jobs overseas.
Under Mr. Trump’s leadership, we secured new trade deals and introduced the Section 232 steel and aluminum program to protect U.S. national security. But beyond national security, Mr. Trump has secured several America First trade victories intended to reverse decades of bad trade deals that shipped our manufacturing capabilities and good-paying jobs to other countries.
Having travelled across the nation with then-candidate Trump in 2016, I saw first-hand his determination to fix U.S. trade policy, defend American workers and protect critical industries.
When it comes to Mr. Trump’s aluminum tariffs, globalist elites continue to call on the president to lift tariffs on all countries, without recognizing the unfair trade practices these other countries engage in every day. During these uncertain times, it’s clear that our supply chains for critical industries need to be secure. American manufacturing of essential goods such as steel, aluminum and prescription drugs needs to once again become the pinnacle of the world, fully independent of raw materials or intermediate components from unreliable countries.
Millions of American manufacturing workers, including many Reagan Democrats, who stood with Donald J. Trump in 2016, will once again stand with our president in 2020 because he defends them from countries that lie, cheat and steal their way to global prominence.
In May last year, globalist Democrats insisted that Canada be granted an exemption to the Section 232 tariffs to ensure passage of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). As part of that agreement, Canada agreed that if their aluminum imports surged following their exemption, the United States could reimpose the tariffs. Since Canada was exempted, monthly imports of Canadian aluminum have surged by over 80% compared to the period before the tariffs were lifted. At a time when the U.S. industry is dealing with the effects of a global pandemic, this has had devastating effects on communities across the nation.
According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Canada handed out more than $850 million in subsidies to its aluminum industry between 2013 and 2017, which was not good for millions of American workers. And then, following its exemption from Mr. Trump’s Section 232 program, the Canadians stuffed their primary aluminum industry with an additional $100 million-plus in new subsidies. Now 700 American aluminum workers are being laid off in Washington state and the globalist Democratic congresswoman who represents these workers advocated for the tariffs on Canada to be lifted.
The surge of Canadian aluminum is now threatening thousands of direct and indirect jobs in Kentucky, New York, Missouri, South Carolina and other states. Special interest groups that claim the Canadian surge is not a problem are more interested in lining the pockets of their foreign members.
While these globalist elites claim to support America First, most of their members produce primary aluminum in China, the Middle East and Canada. Aside from their support for trade policies that ship jobs overseas, they attack Mr. Trump’s Section 232 tariffs and contribute heavily to Senate Democrats who oppose the reelection of Donald J. Trump.
To put American aluminum workers first, it is critical that the Trump administration reimpose tariffs on aluminum imports from countries that cheat, including 10% for Canada. Such an action would only be following through on the campaign promises of 2016 to protect the millions of American manufacturing workers from countries that do not play by the rules, such as Canada.
Mr. Trump has an intelligent trade policy, and broad-based tariffs that force others to play by the rules is the only way to protect domestic industries and to ensure that men and women in key 2020 states such as Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Missouri, Michigan and South Carolina know that their voices have been heard. That’s what candidate Trump promised — and that’s what President Trump has delivered.
The historic Trump-Pence election in 2016 was fueled by a mission to put American workers first. We will win in November by standing up for millions of American manufacturing workers, as we work together to rebuild the greatest economy in the world and Keep America Great.
• Corey R. Lewandowski is a senior adviser to Trump Pence 2020. He served as Donald Trump’s campaign manager for the 2016 presidential election and is the author of two New York Times bestselling books.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.