President Trump began his first day in Singapore with a series of tweets in defense of his trade policies, criticizing Canada and the European Union over trade surpluses and saying the Europeans should be spending more on defense.
Why should I, as President of the United States, allow countries to continue to make Massive Trade Surpluses, as they have for decades, while our Farmers, Workers & Taxpayers have such a big and unfair price to pay? Not fair to the PEOPLE of America! $800 Billion Trade Deficit ...
.... And add to that the fact that the U.S. pays close to the entire cost of NATO – protecting many of these same countries that rip us off on Trade (they pay only a fraction of the cost – and laugh!). The European Union had a $151 Billion Surplus – should pay much more for Military!
...Germany pays 1% (slowly) of GDP towards NATO, while we pay 4% of a MUCH larger GDP. Does anybody believe that makes sense? We protect Europe (which is good) at great financial loss, and then get unfairly clobbered on Trade. Change is coming!
Sorry, we cannot let our friends, or enemies, take advantage of us on Trade anymore. We must put the American worker first!......To Read More....My Take - As you read this article please understand this isn't really about trade. It's about continued U.S. military involvement in the world's affairs as we've known it since the end of WWII. There's going to be a military contraction in our involvement to our core interests. Germany is talking to other EU nations about creating their own separate military force but they can't even agree if it's to be separate from the EU structure or part of it. Good luck with that.
But make no mistake about this. Europe is going to be on it's own, and it's about time for the umbilical cord to be cut. Helping someone is intrinsic to America's character, but at some point you're no longer helping them up, they're dragging you down.
One of the things I think was made clear at the G-7 meeting is we don't need them - they need us - and Trump wasn't going to budge from that position.
Since it's obvious to me the EU is doomed and Europe is an empty shell, it will be interesting to see just how well they do, or don't do. But either way - we need to cut that umbilical cord and let them sink or swim on their own. And if they go down the tubes we won't have to listen to their incessant critique about what's wrong with Americans.
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