Page 197 - TrumpsEconEra_Flat

Trump’s Economic Era

The Global Trade Alert, a trade monitoring
service, counts nearly 350 regulations imposed on
companies globally since November of 2008 requiring
a larger degree of participation of the host country when
bidding for international contracts. As governments
have exercised a larger footprint in financial deals, the
service has mandated that conglomerates agree to buy
or build domestically in exchange for favorable
financing. Baked into the fabric of many international
business deals is the requirement that companies must
produce thirty to 70 percent of traded products
domestically. This trend toward economic
nationalization has spread production facilities hurting
international trade.

As the world becomes less predictable, the Trump
administration has jumped on board with this new trend
by requiring U.S. projects to buy U.S. made goods.
Thus we are witnessing a tug of war between competing
demands of national leaders to keep more control at
home.

The U.S. population is less than 5 percent of the
world’s population, yet Americans import most of the
world’s traded goods. Shirts come from Bangladesh,
Levi jeans from Mexico, Timberland shoes from
Thailand, coffee from Brazil and bananas from South
America. America’s top four trading partners are
Canada, China, Mexico, and Japan.

In tiny print on the back of an iPhone, it states that
Apple assembles the phone in China, but Apple does
not manufacture the phone in China. The American
Enterprise Institute notes that parts come from South
Korea, Japan, Italy, Taiwan, Germany, and the United
States. Components of Boeing aircraft wings come from

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