Trump on return from Asia: 'The days of the United States of America being taken advantage of are over'

I don't like protectionist trade policies, and when Donald Trump sounds like a protectionist, I feel least positive about having voted for him.

Pressure trading partners into tearing down barriers to our goods entering their countries

But knowing Trump and the way he approaches negotiations, I tend to think he talks that way to pressure trading partners into tearing down barriers to our goods entering their countries - not because he wants to erect our own barriers to theirs. It's a risky strategy because if other countries call his bluff and he does institute trade barriers in retaliation, it will close off markets and hamper the economic growth that has been Trump's best achievement so far as president. Trump's comments yesterday upon his return from the Asia trip seem to confirm what I think he's doing with this strategy, and seem to suggest it's working. Skip to around 7:30 for the start of Trump's remarks.

Despite what you've heard over the years from the likes of Lee Iacocca, Japan has always been more of a natural economic ally to the United States as opposed to an adversary. The trade imbalance between the two got bad a generation ago because Japan's products were much better than ours, but that's evened out in recent years and the commitment of Japanese automakers to build new factories in the United States is consistent with their economic best interests. Japanese automakers know that U.S. consumers want an alternative to the overpriced, poor-quality, union-made cars that come out of Detroit, and building plants in the U.S. to provide these cars is probably not something they needed Donald Trump to tell them to do. But give him credit for encouraging it and not acting as a stooge for labor unions who would stop the plants from being built. America's relations with Southeast Asia is more strategically vital than most Americans realize, and Trump has followed good business instincts in the way he's approached our dealings there. They need American goods and technological know-how, and they need unfettered access to American markets. U.S. consumers benefit when all this is in place. Trump seems to have gone into Asia with a good understanding of what his counterparts need, and he's using that as leverage to clean up some of the dumber aspects of recent trade agreements negotiated by the likes of Barack Obama and John Kerry - and does anyone need to have it explained to them what that means? "The days of the United States of America being taken advantage of are over." Sounds good if he can back it up. He seems to be taking the right approach to making that happen.

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