Trump's Six-Point Plan for Making America Great Again
By Stephen HelgesenWhen it comes to the U.S. and its trade with foreign partners, we must first address what it means to put America first.
While that may sound exclusionary to some in the international community, it is simply an outgrowth of a long-standing and often unspoken belief that the only way to keep America strong is to keep America independent and protected from the vagaries of the international global marketplace.
Donald Trump is both a globalist and a nationalist, though it may not seem so when looking at America from here where I am in Europe.
Trump believes that the only way to ensure America's independence is to strengthen its manufacturing sector by producing more products at home, made by American workers in American factories using American raw materials and technology.
He also understands how important the services sector is to the country's ability to compete in global markets as well as perform domestically, and he is not willing to cede any single industry to any single country nor trading regime like that of the EU.
Trump is well aware of how vital the energy industry is to every other industry and is determined to use America's fossil fuels to give America a critical competitive initial advantage and increase U.S. world market share for products made by lower cost U.S. labor and cheaper energy prices. He is not an opponent of alternative energy research nor alternative energy use, but is a realist when it comes to investing in it from a government perspective. If private companies wish to do so, fine. That is their business, but do not expect huge tax breaks or incentives to tip the scales their way.
Therefore, in order to achieve important international trading success early on, he is willing to use America's oil and gas production quickly to secure the country's competitive advantage.
Then, I believe, he will be ready to take on the monumental task of re-building our energy grid and encouraging private industry to invest in adding alternative energy technologies to the mix.
In order to achieve his initial short term goals, it was necessary for him to give globalists and the Europeans a "wake up call" that while America is a team player, it is also a solo player in the international business arena.
America First, while not a new concept, is one that Trump believes will get him those early economic wins by doing several things, simultaneously.
First, there was his all-important warning shot to the EU that its days of protectionism are numbered. America wants better access to European markets and a more level playing field for many products which continue to be the subject of extremely high tariffs.
The U.S. also wants a more flexible EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) that will give U.S. agri-products better access to European markets.
Under a revised EU trading regime, Europe would not be able to hide behind the climate and/or sustainability fig leaf as a barrier to American products from their markets.
No longer would they be able to artificially suppress demand for American vehicles by keeping 10% tariffs on U.S. cars when the U.S. tariff is only 2.5%.
No longer would they be able to prevent global companies such as Amazon from competing in European markets by requiring the company to unionize their labor forces.
Many in the U.S. believe that workers have the right to work without being forced to unionize and that those rights should be protected in Europe as well by the American companies based there.
Second, Trump is intent on bringing back American investment from overseas. Though he knows that American footprint in the EU pales in comparison with that in China, he is not willing to take on China, head-on, right from the start.
Behind the scenes, however, he is encouraging many U.S. companies to "come home to the U.S.A." from China when their manufacturing contracts are up for renewal. He knows that China is the big drain on U.S. manufacturing investment, especially when it comes to short-run specialized manufacturing.
Europe is just a trial balloon for what comes later.
Third, Trump is actively engaged in making American government great again by eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in U.S. departments and agencies.
DOGE is an important tool and Elon Musk is the perfect man for the job because he is expendable when the job is done.
His entire raison d' être is to make himself redundant, and when he is finished, Trump will probably give him the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his efforts.
Admittedly, there are whole departments and agencies that are also ideological targets such as USAID and the Department of Education which Trump and many Americans believe have outlived their usefulness and have usurped a role that the states should have.
The Department of Education is a case in point. It was established as a cabinet level department by then President Jimmy Carter.
Since 1980 it has doubled its employee count to over 4,000 and its budget has skyrocketed from its establishment days of $14 billion to now over $268 billion.
All this, and student test scores keep falling.
Trump believes that of all the U.S. Departments this one can be totally eliminated and the responsibilities returned to the states.
Fourth, by making European products more expensive in the U.S., it is expected that American consumers will buy more American goods thereby reducing our trade imbalance.
However, it is most likely that consumers will buy more Chinese-made goods thereby worsening our trade imbalance with China.
Trump is willing to take that chance for the short-term in order to get concessions from Europe on trade while he continues to encourage American companies to reduce their investment there.
There is, in my opinion, another more human factor that is playing a part in Trump's tariff war on Europe. During his first presidency, Trump was continually humiliated and ridiculed by European leaders and their citizens. His memory of this ridicule has fueled his dislike for the exclusive club that never really wanted him and made it clear that he wasn't welcome. Add to this his firm belief that the EU's only reason for existence is to create a unified trading bloc to the U.S. and it's easy to understand why he has no hesitation in returning the favor.
Fifth, Trump is intent on pursuing a rebalancing of American business and popular culture, all with an aim to increase efficiency and productivity, as well as to ensure fairness and equality in the workplace. By eliminating DEI and CRT and stopping quota-based hiring practices and university admissions, he's counting on bringing back meritocracy as the foundation of American business which he feels will eventually lead to better outcomes, higher profits, and increased job satisfaction. Americans want equal opportunity, not unequal advantage. to be the bedrock of their culture, and Trump is intent on remaking the American workplace.
Sixth, Trump wants to use the elimination of government departments and savings from DOGE, lower energy prices achieved from new drilling and production of fossil fuels and the return of manufacturing jobs and investment to America as the basis for giving the American public tax cuts in his first year in office. By doing so, he believes he will assure his party of a mid-term election win so that he can make good on his promises to "Make America Great Again." While it is simple to state, it is going to be difficult to implement … as is always the case with good ideas whose time has come.
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