Trump: Make America mercantilist again

 

Politicians choose words carefully. Even Trump, when his speechwriters write then down for him.

So what does he mean in yesterday’s economics speech by what he chose to call his “American System”?

The words echo, no doubt intentionally, Henry Clay’s “American System” promoted at a time when laissez-faire was king, Clay’s programme promoting instead a three-legged statist mongrel:

This envisioned a protective tariff, a national bank jointly owned by private stockholders and the federal government, and federal subsidies for transportation projects ('internal improvements').

More government and more protectionism. This gives you a starting point to understand what Trump means when he declares he would “replace the present policy of globalism … and replace it with a new policy of Americanism.”

This is “America First” meant in precisely the same sense as Winston‘s “NZ First,” with no understanding of that single essential ingredient that did make America great: liberty, and an understanding of what made it and what it meant.

Sure, he talks (this week) about removing destructive regulations and lowering taxes – complete with supply-side voodoo avoiding the need to mention what commensurate spending cuts he would make – something no serious candidate could do when debt is at the moon and back -- and all in the same breath as he talks about “renegotiating” trade deals, which means in Trump-speak precisely what the less mealy-mouthed Henry Clay was pleased to simply call protectionism.

And you can tell by the time spent in the speech about tariffs and walls, about NAFTA and Mexico, about China and the WTO, and about trade deficits and “jobs going offshore” that this is where is heart truly lies: He would make America mercantilist again.

Just as he’s always said he would. That much, you can believe.

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