The tangled politics of Trump's speech blasting "globalization"http://www.vox.com/2016/6/28/12054014/donald-trump-trade-speechOn Tuesday, Donald Trump gave a speech in which he blasted trade deals pushed by "elites," and rejected decades worth of conservative dogma on trade issues.
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"Our politicians have aggressively pursued a policy of globalization," Trump said, according to the prepared text of his speech. "Globalization has made the financial elite who donate to politicians very wealthy. But it has left millions of our workers with nothing but poverty and heartache."
As Trump continued, he vowed to withdraw the US from the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership and to renegotiate NAFTA (and to withdraw from that agreement if negotiations fail to produce a deal Trump deems good enough).
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And condemnations from the right rolled in on Twitter. "Trump mimics Clinton's protectionist and pro-tariff trade policies," conservative talk radio host Mark Levin wrote.
"Dear GOP delegates: You cannot nominate someone who endorses these positions,"
Tom Giovanetti, the president of a free market think tank, tweeted, adding, "Trump would turn the Republican Party into the party of economic know-nothings."........
Still, his speech repeatedly argued that "globalization" was an elite-driven set of policies that helped enrich the wealthiest and hurt American workers — exactly the sort of argument that most conservative thinkers have long derided as pandering protectionism.
One might think that the issue of trade would be a straightforward political winner for Trump, but that’s not entirely clear. Yes, it may help him brand himself as an anti-elite outsider. But as Jonathan Ladd wrote in a recent Mischiefs of Faction post, Trump has assured with this speech that he’ll receive another round of condemnations from conservatives, which will accordingly make it easier for the media to argue that politicians on "both sides" are rejecting Trump’s views.
The reaction of the US Chamber of Commerce (a group that typically backs Republicans over Democrats) to Trump’s speech reveals this dilemma:
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But it’s no accident that Trump, Sanders, and Clinton have all criticized new trade deals.
