Why we need to care about international trade

No matter what news outlet you’ve turned onto in the past few months, it was plastered with coverage of President Trump’s first actions in office. Most people know the basics: the travel ban, foreign trips, speculation about the wall. Despite how informed the constituency is on these highly publicized issues, there is one important issue no one is talking about: trade.

The American public has never been interested in trade. 67% of Americans say they “don’t care” about trade, making it, by far, the least cared about issue. The shocking thing is how unwilling Americans are to question the international trade policy of politicians on the campaign trail.

Voters are impressed by the “America first” rhetoric given by most politicians, but they don’t really know how detrimental it can be. Trump claims that jobs are being lost to China and, as President, he is going to bring those jobs back, but since 2000, 88% of jobs in the US haven’t gone overseas; they’ve been eliminated by technological developments. Economists have predicted if politicians follow through on their “America first” policies, costs of production will increase drastically, eliminating even more US jobs.

And this issue doesn’t end with Trump. Since the 60s, only one candidate has ever run on a pro-trade platform- and he lost. Why are these politicians running on an anti-trade platform if it’ll ultimately take American jobs?

First, it is easier to band people together against a direct enemy. Telling voters that China is taking our jobs provides a cause and reasonable course of action whereas blaming job loss on technology points leads to no simple solution. What are people going to do? Revert to an antiquated, less efficient way of working?

Second, Trump isn’t entirely wrong. China is the beneficiary when trading with the US- but only when it comes to goods. In terms of services, the US has the upper hand. This means that only 8% of Americans (those who work in manufacturing and production) are harmed by foreign trade. Ultimately, politicians are pandering for only 8% of the vote, neglecting the 92% of Americans who benefit from international trade.

To be fair, very few presidents actually attempt to limit international trade after they are elected. For example, Obama negotiated one of the largest trade deals in history, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), despite running on an “America first” platform. The issue is, Trump may actually follow through on his campaign promises and the public generally isn’t informed enough to know what is in their best interest. Americans need to start paying attention to, and trying to understand, international trade relationships because Trump’s decisions now will affect our economy for decades to come.