Trump CLEARLY LOST the Debate: REASON #3 – Trump LOST on Trade & Economic Growth
WHERE WE ARE
The FIRST REASON why Donald Trump LOST the debate was that he lost the debate on the single most important question of the debate (see my post “TRUMP’S LIES and the LYING LIARS Who Tell Them“):
Who was the worst president in the history of our nation?
The SECOND REASON why Donald Trump LOST the debate was because he LOST the debate on an issue that Trump believes (or pretends to believe) is one of the most important issues that our country faces: IMMIGRATION. Trump LOST the debate on IMMIGRATION because:
Nearly every comment by Trump about IMMIGRATION was either a LIE or was BULLSHIT.
For details on this point, see my post “Trump CLEARLY LOST the Debate“.
The THIRD REASON why Donald Trump LOST the debate with Joe Biden, was that Trump LOST the debate on the issues that most Americans believe to be the most important issues that our country faces: issues about the health of our ECONOMY (i.e. Jobs, Taxes, Inflation, Trade, and Economic Growth).
In a previous post I showed that Trump LOST the debate on JOBS and on TAXES. In my most recent post I showed that Trump LOST the debate on INFLATION. There are two other issues that were covered in the debate that are also relevant to the health of our ECONOMY:
- TRADE
- ECONOMIC GROWTH
I will now argue that Trump LOST on these other issues as well.
TRUMP LOST THE DEBATE ON TRADE
Trump criticized Biden on trade with China, but he shot himself in the foot, because the criticism applied to TRUMP’s administration and NOT to Biden’s administration:
Trump…added some new false claims, such as his assertions that the US currently has its biggest budget deficit and its biggest trade deficit with China. Both records actually occurred under Trump.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/27/politics/fact-checking-the-cnn-presidential-debate/index.html
Trump claimed that the US currently has its largest trade deficit with China.
This is false. Even if you only count trade in goods and ignore the services trade – in which the US traditionally runs a surplus with China – the deficit with China fell to about $279 billion in 2023, the lowest since 2010.
In 2018, under Trump, the goods deficit with China hit a new record of about $418 billion before falling back under $400 billion in subsequent years.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/27/politics/fact-checking-the-cnn-presidential-debate/index.html
“We have the largest deficit with China.”
— Former President Donald J. Trump
False.
The U.S. trade deficit with China in goods and services was $252 billion last year, the lowest level since 2009.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/06/27/us/biden-trump-debate-fact-check
Biden objected to Trump’s proposal to create a 10% tariff on imported goods:
Biden: “Economists say (Trump’s proposed tariffs are) going to cost the average American $2,500 a year or more.”
Mostly True. Most economists expect that Trump’s proposed 10% across-the-board tariff on foreign products will force consumers to pay more.
https://www.politifact.com/article/2024/jun/28/2024-presidential-debate-fact-check-biden-trump
Estimates of the impact of an overall 10 percent tariff vary, but one recent analysis by the right-leaning American Action Forum estimated that a 10 percent tariff could impose additional annual costs of up to $2,350 per American household.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/06/27/us/biden-trump-debate-fact-check
Trump lied in response to Biden’s legitimate objection:
“Not going to drive them higher.”
— Former President Donald J. Trump on whether tariffs would increase pricesThis is false.
Tariffs are designed to protect domestic industries by raising the price of foreign products, and economists anticipate that any increase in tariffs would result in some increase in prices.Economic studies found that the tariffs that Mr. Trump imposed on Chinese goods during his first term were largely paid by American consumers, rather than Chinese companies. In a recent letter,16 Nobel Prize-winning economists wrote that there was concern that Trump’s policies, including his plan to impose blanket tariffs on most imports, would reignite inflation.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/06/27/us/biden-trump-debate-fact-check
Trump claimed he had made great trade deals with the European Union, but the deal was small and did not improve our trade with the EU:
“I made great trade deals with the European nations.”
— Former President Donald J. Trump
This is exaggerated.
Mr. Trump engaged in trade negotiations with the European Union during his presidency and the talks culminated in a limited agreement in August 2020. That deal was much smaller than what people typically refer to as a trade deal, and it did not shift the balance of trade in the United States’ favor. The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services with the European Union grew steadily over Mr. Trump’s term to $146 billion in 2021 when he left office, up from $89 billion in 2017.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/06/27/us/biden-trump-debate-fact-check
Trump also asserted false claims about American trade with Europe, indicating either that he is IGNORANT about this important aspect of American trade or that he was lying during the debate in order to deceive and manipulate American voters:
Trump, complaining about the European Union’s trade practices, claimed that the EU doesn’t accept US products, including American cars. “They don’t want anything that we have,” Trump said Thursday. “But we’re supposed to take their cars, their food, their everything, their agriculture.”
Facts First: It’s not true that the European Union won’t take American products, including American cars…
The US exported about $368 billion in goods to the European Union in 2023 (while importing about $576 billion from the EU that year), federal figures show. According to a December 2023 report from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, the EU is the second-largest market for US vehicle exports — importing 271,476 US vehicles in 2022, valued at nearly 9 billion euro. …
https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/27/politics/fact-checking-the-cnn-presidential-debate/index.html
So, either Trump is IGNORANT about American trade with European countries, or else he was, once again, LYING during the debate in order to deceive American voters.
Everything Trump said about trade was either FALSE or MISLEADING. Trump’s big criticism of Biden about our trade deficit with China is clearly FALSE, and it actually applies to Trump’s administration, so Trump shot himself in the foot with that point!
Biden’s criticism of Trump’s proposal for a 10% Tariff on imports was a legitimate objection, supported by expert economists, and Trump’s claim that such a Tariff would have no impact on prices consumers would pay is clearly FALSE, indicating that Trump was either IGNORANT about economics or that he was LYING in order to deceive American voters.
Trump’s comments about American trade with European countries demonstrate either that Trump is IGNORANT about this important aspect of our economy, or else that Trump was LYING in order to deceive American voters. Furthermore, our trade deficit with Europe grew steadily over Trump’s term as president.
Trump clearly lost the debate on TRADE.
TRUMP LOST THE DEBATE ON ECONOMIC GROWTH
Trump, of course, LIED about the strength of our economy during his presidency:
“We have the greatest economy in the history of our country and we have never done so well.”
—Trump…By just about any important measure, the economy under Trump has not done as well as it did under Presidents Harry S. Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson and Bill Clinton.
The gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 2.3 percent in 2019, slipping from 2.9 percent in 2018 and 2.4 percent in 2017. But in 1997, 1998 and 1999, GDP grew 4.5 percent, 4.5 percent and 4.7 percent, respectively. Yet even that period paled incomparison with the 1950s and 60s. Growth between 1962 and 1966 ranged from 4.4 percent to 6.6 percent. In postwar 1950 and1951, it was 8.7 percent and 8 percent, respectively. …
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/28/fact-check-presidential-debate
TRUMP: “We had the greatest economy in history.”
…First of all, the pandemic triggered a massive
recession during his presidency. The government borrowed $3.1 trillion in 2020 to stabilize the economy. Trump had the ignominy of leaving the White House with fewer jobs than when he entered.But even if you take out issues caused by the pandemic, economic growth averaged 2.67% during Trump’s first three years. That’s pretty solid. But it’s nowhere near the 4% averaged during Bill Clinton’s two terms from 1993 to 2001, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In fact, growth has been stronger so far under Biden than under Trump.
There was a massive recession under Trump’s presidency, and the government borrowed 3.1 trillion dollars to stabilize the economy during his presidency, and there were fewer jobs when he left office than when he became president. The growth of the economy before the Pandemic was good but was not as good as under Lyndon Johnson or Bill Clinton. The growth of the economy has been stronger under Biden than it was under Trump.
Clearly, Trump lost the debate on ECONOMIC GROWTH.
CONCLUSION: TRUMP LOST THE DEBATE
Trump LOST the debate on the single most important issue of the debate: Who was the WORST PRESIDENT in the history of our country?
Trump LOST the debate on issues the issues that Trump believes (or pretends to believe) are the most important issues that we face: Issues about IMMIGRATION.
Trump LOST the debate on the issues that most American voters believe to be the most important issues of our time: Issues concerning the HEALTH of our ECONOMY:
- Trump LOST the debate on JOBS
- Trump LOST the debate on TAXES
- Trump LOST the debate on INFLATION
- Trump LOST the debate on TRADE
- Trump LOST the debate on ECONOMIC GROWTH
Therefore, it is CLEAR that Trump LOST the debate.