{"id":16100,"date":"2025-04-03T08:15:09","date_gmt":"2025-04-03T08:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=16100"},"modified":"2025-04-06T16:03:41","modified_gmt":"2025-04-06T16:03:41","slug":"trump-details-fair-trade-era-with-sweeping-new-tariffs-now-its-our-turn-to-prosper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=16100","title":{"rendered":"Trump Details \u2018Fair Trade\u2019 Era with Sweeping New Tariffs: \u2018Now It\u2019s Our Turn to Prosper\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This post originally appeared at <a href=\"https:\/\/thestarnewsnetwork.com\/2025\/04\/03\/trump-details-fair-trade-era-with-sweeping-new-tariffs-now-its-our-turn-to-prosper\/\">https:\/\/thestarnewsnetwork.com\/2025\/04\/03\/trump-details-fair-trade-era-with-sweeping-new-tariffs-now-its-our-turn-to-prosper\/<\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<h5>by John Solomon<\/h5>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>What happened in the White House Rose Garden on Wednesday afternoon can\u2019t be underestimated, an undeniable shot heard throughout the world of global trade. President Donald Trump imposed a nearly universal 10% tax on most foreign products entering the United States, and in so doing ended the era of free trade.<\/p>\n<p>The legacy of Trump\u2019s gamble won\u2019t be written in the first few weeks after the imposition of these new and historic tariffs \u2013 though legacy news media will try to gauge it through the certain volatility of investment markets in the next few weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Rather, the verdict will be cemented by the answers to three questions that should clearly be answered by the time the 47th president leaves office in 2028:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Will tariffs force allies and foes to drop their protectionism and treat U.S. products more fairly?<\/li>\n<li>Will they generate tens of trillions of dollars in new investment from companies seeking to escape the pain of tariffs by moving manufacturing and jobs back to America?<\/li>\n<li>And will those who keep unfair trade barriers to America generate enough new tax revenue to balance America\u2019s budget and reduce the national debt?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In his announcement Wednesday afternoon, Trump made clear he had no qualms ending the era of free trade and replacing it with an era of fair trade \u2013 fair to America that is.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow it\u2019s our turn to prosper, and in so doing, use trillions and trillions of dollars to reduce our taxes and pay down our national debt,\u201d Trump declared.<\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s gambit closely mirrors Ronald Reagan\u2019s bet on national security a half century ago when the 40th president used a military buildup and assertive foreign policy to economically and politically bankrupt the Soviet Union and end the Cold War.<\/p>\n<p>That strategy became known as \u201cpeace through strength.\u201d Trump\u2019s plan \u2013 validated in advance by the Americans who voted for him in November, knowing he would impose tariffs \u2013 aims to prove that prosperity can be achieved through similar aggression, toughness and strength.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat we are seeing here is Trump, the negotiator-in-chief that we\u2019ve all come to know and love, is finally tackling decades and decades of countries who are willing to take our money but not our goods,\u201d Heritage Foundation expert Richard Stern told the\u00a0<em>Just the News, No Noise<\/em>\u00a0television show.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd so we\u2019re finally holding them accountable and saying, look, what we want is freer and fairer trade. This is what\u2019s required to get there, drop your own trade barriers and actually play ball,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Almost immediately, there were signs of early wins. More than $3 trillion in new projects and investment were secured inside the United States from foreign companies agreeing to move operations to America to free themselves from the tariffs. Trump predicted it would reach $5 trillion by his 100th day in office in April. Household names like Honda, Hyundai, Soft Bank and Taiwan Semiconductor were among the first to acquiesce.<\/p>\n<p>Hours before Trump\u2019s imposition, two American allies who have pursued protectionist policies that punish American exports immediately dropped or lowered their tariffs. The moves by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/02\/us\/politics\/israel-tariffs-us-imports-trump.html\">Israel<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.channelnewsasia.com\/asia\/vietnam-slashes-duties-imports-us-trump-tariffs-5036561\">Vietnam<\/a>\u00a0were surprising even to economists.<\/p>\n<p>Canada sounded a month ago like it was ready to engage in a reciprocal trade war. But on Wednesday, its prime minister acknowledged his country would be harmed by such a battle with America and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/americas\/canada-open-reduce-its-tariff-retaliation-if-us-offers-more-exemptions-source-2025-03-06\/\">already signaled along with other leaders they\u2019d like to reach a deal<\/a>. Mexico also announced\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/americas\/mexico-will-not-enter-tariff-tit-for-tat-with-us-president-says-2025-04-02\/\">it didn\u2019t plan retaliatory tariffs<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Those early signs, however, can\u2019t hide a short-term difficult road. Trump admits some prices could go up, while others worry the big dog on the bloc \u2013 China \u2013 could escalate to a full trade war. Four GOP senators joined with Democrats Wednesday night to pass a bill rebuking Trump on Canadian tariffs. And markets will sour on the tariffs short term until reasons otherwise \u2013 like declining inflation \u2013 emerge.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., predicted Wednesday night that middle America voters will stick with Trump short term even if prices go up temporarily because they understand the harm three decades of growing trade imbalances have had at their own kitchen table.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not about raising prices. It\u2019s actually about supporting the American farmer and the American producer to actually have a level playing field,\u201d he told Just the News.<\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s next mission will be to relentlessly educate the public on what \u201cfree trade\u201d did to America.<\/p>\n<p>Free trade was a globalist dream cemented during Bill Clinton\u2019s presidency with the NAFTA deal and conducted for more than two decades under Republican and Democrat presidents alike. And in fairness, free trade was just that \u2013 for most of the rest of world who wanted to access America\u2019s lucrative markets.<\/p>\n<p>But for the world\u2019s most free and open market, it proved to be anything but. The free trade agreements of the 1990s and early 2000s unleashed an era of outsourcing, offshoring and record trade imbalances that grew astronomically and with grave consequence for America\u2019s working and middle classes who found free trade to be personally unfair to their bottom lines.<\/p>\n<p>The political elitists and economic 1-percenters who championed the free trade mantra reveled in the wealth they could achieve and did not feel much pain in the experiment they unleashed, until the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the horror of the world\u2019s economic superpower being unable to secure medicines and medical supplies like masks and ventilators that used to be a staple of the U.S. health care system.<\/p>\n<p>What ensued was a classic Washington response: there were investigations and hearings and much handwringing. But such lip service only deflected from the harsh reality that America\u2019s trade deficit exploded even more dramatically under Joe Biden\u2019s presidency, alongside inflation.<\/p>\n<p>For the first time, the U.S. trade deficit on goods\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/05\/business\/economy\/us-trade-deficit-2024-record.html\">reached $1.2 trillion and on goods and services it topped more than $900 billion<\/a>. The biggest beneficiary was America\u2019s most vexing adversary, China, at $295.4 billion. The next four beneficiaries were supposed allies: the European Union, Mexico, Vietnam and Ireland.<\/p>\n<p>Remarkably, when the era of free trade was launched with the NAFTA deal in 1994, America\u2019s total goods and services deficit was just $166.6 billion. Three decades later it had ballooned nearly 10 times larger. China\u2019s beneficial trade surplus with America in 2024 was nearly double the entire trade gap the day Clinton got NAFTA elected.<\/p>\n<p>Trump is betting while everyday Americans might not know those numbers, they have felt the impact of the era in real wages and prosperity. That is why he was unapologetic Wednesday, making clear his economic strike wasn\u2019t designed to appease allies or adversaries abroad or globalist elites at home, but rather to reverse a three-decade decline for everyday workers in the American marketplace.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAmerican steel workers, auto workers, farmers and skilled craftsmen, we have a lot of them here with us today. They really suffered, gravely,\u201d he noted in the Rose Garden. \u201cThey watched in anguish as foreign leaders have stolen our jobs, foreign cheaters have ransacked our factories, and foreign scavengers have torn apart our once-beautiful American dream.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith today\u2019s action, we are finally going to be able to make America great again, greater than ever before,\u201d he added. \u201cJobs and factories will come roaring back into our country, and you see it happening already. We will supercharge our domestic industrial base.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 \u2013 \u2013<\/p>\n<p><em>John Solomon is an award-winning investigative journalist, author and digital media entrepreneur who serves as Chief Executive Officer and Editor in Chief of Just the News. Before founding Just the News, Solomon played key reporting and executive roles at some of America\u2019s most important journalism institutions, such as The Associated Press, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, Newsweek, The Daily Beast and The Hill.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<hr style=\"height: 1px;border: none;color: #000;background-color: #aaa\" \/>\n<div style=\"line-height: 1.1;color: #aaa\"><span style=\"font-size: 11px\">Reprinted with permission from <a href=\"https:\/\/justthenews.com\/politics-policy\/all-things-trump\/reagan-secured-peace-through-strength-trump-betting-he-can-achieve\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Just the News<\/a>.<\/span><\/div>\n<hr style=\"height: 1px;border: none;color: #000;background-color: #aaa\" \/>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/thestarnewsnetwork.com\/2025\/04\/03\/trump-details-fair-trade-era-with-sweeping-new-tariffs-now-its-our-turn-to-prosper\/\">Trump Details \u2018Fair Trade\u2019 Era with Sweeping New Tariffs: \u2018Now It\u2019s Our Turn to Prosper\u2019<\/a> first appeared on <a href=\"https:\/\/thestarnewsnetwork.com\">The Star News Network<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This post originally appeared at https:\/\/thestarnewsnetwork.com\/2025\/04\/03\/trump-details-fair-trade-era-with-sweeping-new-tariffs-now-its-our-turn-to-prosper\/ by John Solomon \u00a0 What happened in the White&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":16046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wi-daily-star"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16100"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16101,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16100\/revisions\/16101"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}