Latest news with #TheAmericaWeDeserve
AU Financial Review
3 days ago
- Politics
- AU Financial Review
Why Trump's corporate shakedowns are ‘deeply unhealthy for capitalism'
In 2000, when Donald Trump was weighing up a run for president on the Reform Party ticket, he published The America We Deserve as a manifesto of his policy beliefs. In the book, he espoused two principles of governing. 'First: Get government out of skating rinks and any other activities it can't do well. (A list … of things government doesn't do well is a very long list.) Second: Get government back in the business of providing for public convenience (transportation, public works) and safety (police and firefighters), and make sure that it does so efficiently.'
Time of India
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Melting pot bubbling
New polls show majority of Americans are now against harsh action on immigration. That's good news 'Our policy to people born elsewhere should be clear: Enter by the law, or leave,' Trump wrote in his 2000 book, The America We Deserve. He won his second term after promising voters 'the largest deportation programme in American history', and started his presidency by signing an executive order titled 'Protecting the American People Against Invasion'. Trump struck a chord because US does have a major illegal immigration problem. There were over 11mn unauthorised residents by 2022, and roughly 1 in every 15 was Indian. India got a taste of his crackdown in Feb when the first Globemaster with 104 deportees touched down in Amritsar. And such flights have continued, with an average of 14,700 deportations worldwide every month. The number sounds big, but Obama was deporting 36,000 a month in 2013. What's different about Trump, though, is the noise and severity – people shamed and transported in cuffs. And America is sick of it, new polls this month show. A Gallup survey found that only 38% of Americans now support deporting all illegal immigrants, down from 47% last year. In fact, 78% are all for letting them become citizens. Why? Because the ordinary American recognises that the vast majority of illegal immigrants, who have lived for years in America without causing trouble, are useful. Now, a CNN poll also shows the majority of Americans (55%) think Trump has gone too far on deportations. They don't want any more detention centres, and 59% are against detaining illegal immigrants who have lived in America for years. Trump should pay heed to these voices, especially when the mood against immigration in his own Republican camp is changing fast – only 48% now want less immigration, as against 88% last year. Throwing out millions of settled workers would be disruptive for the US economy, and also for their home countries. Indians who have invested their wealth and time to build a life in America, after entering without authorisation, may draw some hope from these developments. So can students and professionals who have been waiting to study and work in America legally. And if Trump relents, America can go back to being the land of opportunity. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump's Longtime Obsession With Trade Deficits Suggests His Tariffs Won't End Soon
The "reciprocal" tariffs that President Donald Trump announced this week are based on a flagrant fallacy: the idea that there is something inherently suspicious about trade deficits. Unlike many of the positions that Trump has adopted as a politician, this one seems heartfelt and long predates his presidential campaigns. His comments on the subject during the last four decades reflect an unshakable belief that international trade is "fair" only when the dollar value of imports from any given country happens to match the dollar value of U.S. exports to that country. Trump's long history of economic illiteracy suggests he is determined to pursue this trade war, which features import taxes that are much steeper and far broader than the ones he imposed during his first term, no matter how much pain it inflicts on American consumers and businesses. If there is any cause for hope on that score, it is Trump's similarly long-standing eagerness to look like a winner by making shrewd deals. The tension between those two instincts explains why Trump contradicts himself by presenting his tariffs as both a short-term bargaining tactic and a long-term strategy for raising revenue and boosting the U.S. economy. When Trump published his first book, The Art of the Deal, in 1987, he saw Japan as America's main economic nemesis. "For decades now," he complained, "they have become wealthier in large measure by screwing the United States with a self-serving trade policy that our political leaders have never been able to fully understand or counteract." Although China has replaced Japan as the primary threat, Trump is still believes that other countries "become wealthier" by "screwing the United States," the grievance at the heart of his new tariffs. Thirteen years later in The America We Deserve, Trump explained the logic underlying that conviction. "You only have to look at our trade deficit to see that we are being taken to the cleaners by our trading partners," he wrote. "We've fallen into the habit of mistaking the easy availability of cheap, sweatshop-produced product for solid and sustainable economic stability. America has been ripped off by virtually every country we do business with." Voluntary economic exchanges, whether or not they cross borders, manifestly benefit both parties; otherwise, they would not happen. But as Trump sees it, trade is a zero-sum game in which the rules are rigged against the United States. Although Trump presented trade deficits as conclusive evidence of chicanery in The America We Deserve, he did not offer tariffs as a solution. The word does not even appear in the book—a pretty striking omission for someone who would later describe himself as "Tariff Man" and declare that "tariffs are the greatest thing ever invented." Back then, Trump thought the best way to reduce "our trade deficit" was "tougher negotiations, not protectionist walls around America." Those negotiations, Trump said, would aim to eliminate trade barriers erected by foreign governments. "We need to ensure that foreign markets in Japan and France and Germany and Saudi Arabia are as open to our products as our country is to theirs," he wrote. "Our long-term interests require that we cut better deals with our world trading partners….We need to renegotiate fair trade agreements." As Trump saw it, this was his forté as a consummate dealmaker. "I would put the right people in charge of negotiation and would get involved myself," he said. "If President Trump does the negotiating, we'll get a better deal for American workers and their families, and our economy will not be as vulnerable to global pressures as it is today. Watch our trade deficit dwindle." If he were president, Trump said, "I would take personal charge of negotiations with the Japanese, the French, the Germans, and the Saudis. Our trading partners would have to sit across the table from Donald Trump, and I guarantee you the rip-off of the United States would end." Trump did mention tariffs in his 2011 book Time to Get Tough. "Either China plays by the rules or we slap tariffs on Chinese goods," he wrote. "End of story." As evidence that China was not playing by the rules, he cited its trade surplus, which to his mind meant "they are laughing at us." Trump complained about "China's currency manipulation and other unfair trade practices," including inadequate protection for intellectual property. But his beef was not limited to specific policies. "Right now, we are running a massive $300 billion trade deficit with China," he said. "That means every year China is making almost $300 billion off the United States." Since Trump refused to acknowledge the value that Americans got in exchange for that money, he saw that situation as intolerable. To back up that view, Trump cited Peter Navarro, a longtime proponent of "economic nationalism" who would later become his main trade adviser. "Peter Navarro points out that our trade deficit is costing us roughly 1 percent of GDP growth each year, which is a loss of almost 1 million jobs annually," Trump wrote. Even in the absence of identifiable "unfair trade practices," in other words, a gap between exports and imports is economically damaging. "I'm for free and fair trade," Trump wrote. "Open markets are the ideal, but if one guy is cheating the whole time, how is that free trade?…Free trade requires having fair rules that apply to everyone….Unfair trade is not free trade." But Trump's definition of fairness always came back to trade balances. As long as Chinese exports to the United States exceeded U.S. exports to China, he thought, China clearly was not playing fair. Or as Trump put it when he imposed tariffs on Chinese goods during his first term, "our trade imbalance is just not acceptable." The belief that trade deficits must reflect "cheating" is the explicit premise of the calculations underlying Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs. In setting those rates, a White House official told the New York Post this week, the administration assumed that "the trade deficit that we have with any given country is the sum of all unfair trade practices, the sum of all cheating." Trump's 2015 campaign book Great Again (originally titled Crippled America) featured more in the same vein. "Our trade deficit has been a dangerous drag on our economy," he averred. "We've seen the Chinese taking tremendous advantage of our trade policies." He said America needed "a fair balance of trade," which required "better trade agreements." During his first term, Trump was still claiming to favor free trade in theory even while rejecting it in practice. "I believe strongly in free trade, but it also has to be fair trade," he said in his first address to Congress. "It's been a long time since we had fair trade." That much was obvious, he thought, given that "our trade deficit in goods with the world last year was nearly $800 billion." In America, Trump told the U.N. General Assembly in 2017, "we seek stronger ties of business and trade with all nations of good will, but this trade must be fair and it must be reciprocal." He hit the same theme in a 2018 speech to the World Economic Forum: "We cannot have free and open trade if some countries exploit the system at the expense of others. We support free trade, but it needs to be fair and reciprocal." He added that "the United States is prepared to negotiate mutually beneficial, bilateral trade agreements with all countries." Speaking to the Veterans of Foreign Wars later that year, Trump clarified that he wanted "fair trade deals, not stupid trade deals." What does Trump mean by "fair trade"? In Great Again, he described Israel as "our best ally" and "a fair-trading partner." The Israeli government recently made its trade policy even fairer by eliminating all of its remaining tariffs on imports from the United States. But none of that stopped Trump from announcing a 17 percent tariff on all Israeli imports this week. As with his other "reciprocal" tariffs, the rate is based on the size of Israel's trade surplus with the United States. So according to Trump, trade can be "unfair" even when it's fair. In pursuit of "fair trade" during his first term, Trump imposed various tariffs, withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and renegotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement (now the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement). How did that work out? The overall U.S. trade deficit (including services as well as goods) rose from $503 billion in 2016 to $626 billion during his last year in office. So even measured by the standard that Trump prefers, his trade policies were a failure, leaving aside the costs they imposed on American businesses and consumers. Unfazed by that record, Trump is going bigger—a lot bigger. While Trump's first-term import taxes "roughly doubled the [average] tariff rate, to around 3 percent," University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers notes, "Trump's latest round pushes our current rate to around 15 times its 2016 level"—"higher than the infamous Smoot-Hawley tariffs," which aggravated the Great Depression. For Americans concerned about the impact this new, much bigger trade war will have on their household budgets and investments, the question is which Trump will prevail: the one who sees tariffs as a boon to the economy and a reliable source of easy revenue or the one who sees them as a bargaining tool that can be used to extract concessions from other countries, such as the elimination of trade barriers or assistance in border control and the war on drugs. Does Trump want to strike a deal, or is he determined to see this through in the hope that tariffs will ultimately boost domestic production and manufacturing jobs? "I think we're going to wait and see how this plays out," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said when asked whether the new tariffs will be permanent. Conservative journalist Tim Carney thought that was telling: "This is key. The tariffs cannot cultivate domestic manufacturing, because they were made to be contingent, temporary, negotiable—because for our Quid Pro Quo President, everything is always on the table." Still, given Trump's obsession with trade deficits, it is hard to imagine what sort of deal would satisfy him. If trade is "fair and reciprocal" only when imports equal exports, there is not much that a country like Israel can do to address Trump's grievance, short of blocking mutually beneficial trade. But if Trump is willing to declare victory without achieving his avowed goals (as he did during his first term), this trade war could end sooner than his rhetoric suggests. We have to hope that Trump's vanity prevails over his principles. The post Trump's Longtime Obsession With Trade Deficits Suggests His Tariffs Won't End Soon appeared first on
CNN
01-03-2025
- Business
- CNN
Trump's media company defends its ‘diversity and inclusion' policies as his administration dismantles DEI
CNN — Donald Trump has made purging the government of diversity, equity and inclusion programs a top priority of his new administration, calling them 'illegal' and 'immoral.' But throughout his career Trump has espoused the opposite view and has often highlighted the importance of such initiatives in business. Corporate governance documents of his media company, which owns the Truth Social platform, just last year pledged to foster a 'culture of diversity and inclusion' among a handful of guidelines adopted before the company went public. Trump's business books have also championed diversity in hiring, including his 2000 book, 'The America We Deserve,' in which he wrote that one of the president's most important jobs was to 'induce a greater tolerance for diversity.' Trump, who was considering a presidential run at the time, claimed in his book that through his friendship with Black celebrities such as rapper Sean 'Diddy' Combs and baseball player Sammy Sosa, he'd 'had the chance to learn firsthand about the diversity of American culture, and it has left me with little appetite for those who hate or preach intolerance.' 'Anyone who really knows me knows that I hate intolerance and bigotry,' Trump added. Donald Trump autographs copies of his new book, "The America We Deserve," at Trump Tower in January 2000. As a presidential candidate in 2024, Trump frequently railed against DEI initiatives and his campaign pledged to immediately terminate them if he was elected. 'We will not tolerate so-called equity policies that punish Americans based on race or gender,' Trump said at a campaign stop in September 2024. One of Trump's first acts in office was to sign an executive order eliminating DEI initiatives across the federal government. A federal judge this week temporarily blocked the administration from carrying out some of those directives. Still, Trump's anti-DEI push reflects a broader pullback on some of these initiatives, which critics have argued promote preferential treatment based on race and gender. A number of well-known companies have also stepped back from their own DEI commitments, including Amazon, McDonalds and Walmart. Supporters of DEI argue that dismantling these initiatives undermines efforts to promote equal opportunities in workplaces and organizations, particularly for underrepresented groups. And supporters have organized boycotts against several companies that rolled back diversity efforts since Trump took office. In response to CNN's reporting, a Trump Media & Technology Group spokesperson dismissed the significance of the diversity and inclusion statement in the company's corporate governance, implying that it was merely legal language to comply with anti-discrimination laws. 'CNN's focus on legal language that is obviously intended to ban discrimination and ensure compliance with all applicable regulations is a textbook example of CNN preferring frivolous, partisan 'gotcha' stories to meaningful news that affects people's lives,' the spokesperson said. The White House also weighed in, attacking DEI policies more broadly. 'The Left's divisive focus on DEI policies undermines decades of progress toward true equality. The Trump administration rejects this backward thinking and will pursue an agenda that lifts everyone up with the chance to achieve the American Dream,' said Harrison Fields, a White House spokesman. But legal experts CNN spoke with said that Trump Media's claim that the diversity statement is just boilerplate legal language doesn't hold up. CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said that while companies must comply with anti-discrimination laws, they are not required to make public statements affirming diversity commitments. 'There is no law requiring an affirmative public statement,' Honig said. New York University constitutional law professor Kenji Yoshino noted that the statement explicitly describes diversity as a factor in hiring and board nominations – something that goes beyond non-discrimination. 'The defense that this statement is only about a ban on discrimination and compliance with the law strains credulity,' Yoshino said. 'The 'commitment to diversity and inclusion' section states that this commitment 'is and will be a factor in identifying and nominating director candidates at both the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and Board levels.' This sounds less like non-discrimination and more like traditional affirmative action.' Trump Media included the commitment to diversity and inclusion as part of its corporate governance guidelines adopted by its board before going public in March 2024. The 5-page document includes a number of bullet points including guidelines on stock ownership and ethics and standards conduct for board directors. 'The Board is committed to creating and maintaining a culture of diversity and inclusion,' it reads. 'The Company will be better able to grow and improve with a diverse Board, management, and team of employees. Such commitment is and will be a factor in identifying and nominating director candidates at both the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and Board levels.' 'Additionally, the Board believes in and supports equal opportunity in employment to all persons and strongly encourages management to embrace the unique contributions an employee or candidate can bring to the Company and its culture in terms of their education, opinions, culture, ethnicity, race, sex, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, nationality, color, religion, veteran's status, disability and other life experiences,' it continues. Promoted diversity in his books and on 'The Apprentice' Trump's business writings have also emphasized the importance of diversity. In his 2006 book 'Trump 101: The Way to Success,' he wrote that businesses like the Trump Organization benefit from a mix of personalities and backgrounds. 'Such diversity can bring new, stimulating, and creative ideas to the business. In New York City, you have no choice; diversity comes with the terrain. You may end up working with people who are completely different than you, or who you don't understand. They may have different values, traits, and goals, but you have to get along,' he wrote. 'The best part is that you can usually learn from these people, if you just give them a chance, and the differences can enrich your life,' he added. 'When you work with others, look beyond the obvious and how they present themselves. People are not one-dimensional. Every individual has unique talents that may or may not be in the job description or listed on a resume.' Later, Trump writes to be grateful for being exposed to different backgrounds and beliefs. 'Never presume that your way is the only way, whether you're talking about work, ethics, or politics. Be tolerant of diverse opinions, practices, and views. Be grateful for the diversity in our lives and for the benefits of being exposed to so many different backgrounds and beliefs. Take the time to try to understand other viewpoints – how and why those people feel and act as they do. Gather information, get the whole story, and don't jump to conclusions or judge.' And while the host of the reality competition show 'The Apprentice,' Trump frequently praised the diverse group of competitors. In the season six premiere, Trump remarked, 'These 18 candidates are about to embark on the world's toughest job interview. They're the best and the brightest. Lawyers, business owners, internet executives, even an Olympic athlete. The candidates are a diverse and talented group, but they all have the same goal to win a yearlong apprenticeship in the Trump Organization. It's the dream job of a lifetime.'
CNN
28-02-2025
- Business
- CNN
Trump's media company defends its ‘diversity and inclusion' policies as his administration dismantles DEI
Donald Trump has made purging the government of diversity, equity and inclusion programs a top priority of his new administration, calling them 'illegal' and 'immoral.' But throughout his career Trump has espoused the opposite view and has often highlighted the importance of such initiatives in business. Corporate governance documents of his media company, which owns the Truth Social platform, just last year pledged to foster a 'culture of diversity and inclusion' among a handful of guidelines adopted before the company went public. Trump's business books have also championed diversity in hiring, including his 2000 book, 'The America We Deserve,' in which he wrote that one of the president's most important jobs was to 'induce a greater tolerance for diversity.' Trump, who was considering a presidential run at the time, claimed in his book that through his friendship with Black celebrities such as rapper Sean 'Diddy' Combs and baseball player Sammy Sosa, he'd 'had the chance to learn firsthand about the diversity of American culture, and it has left me with little appetite for those who hate or preach intolerance.' 'Anyone who really knows me knows that I hate intolerance and bigotry,' Trump added. As a presidential candidate in 2024, Trump frequently railed against DEI initiatives and his campaign pledged to immediately terminate them if he was elected. 'We will not tolerate so-called equity policies that punish Americans based on race or gender,' Trump said at a campaign stop in September 2024. One of Trump's first acts in office was to sign an executive order eliminating DEI initiatives across the federal government. A federal judge this week temporarily blocked the administration from carrying out some of those directives. Still, Trump's anti-DEI push reflects a broader pullback on some of these initiatives, which critics have argued promote preferential treatment based on race and gender. A number of well-known companies have also stepped back from their own DEI commitments, including Amazon, McDonalds and Walmart. Supporters of DEI argue that dismantling these initiatives undermines efforts to promote equal opportunities in workplaces and organizations, particularly for underrepresented groups. And supporters have organized boycotts against several companies that rolled back diversity efforts since Trump took office. In response to CNN's reporting, a Trump Media & Technology Group spokesperson dismissed the significance of the diversity and inclusion statement in the company's corporate governance, implying that it was merely legal language to comply with anti-discrimination laws. 'CNN's focus on legal language that is obviously intended to ban discrimination and ensure compliance with all applicable regulations is a textbook example of CNN preferring frivolous, partisan 'gotcha' stories to meaningful news that affects people's lives,' the spokesperson said. The White House also weighed in, attacking DEI policies more broadly. 'The Left's divisive focus on DEI policies undermines decades of progress toward true equality. The Trump administration rejects this backward thinking and will pursue an agenda that lifts everyone up with the chance to achieve the American Dream,' said Harrison Fields, a White House spokesman. But legal experts CNN spoke with said that Trump Media's claim that the diversity statement is just boilerplate legal language doesn't hold up. CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said that while companies must comply with anti-discrimination laws, they are not required to make public statements affirming diversity commitments. 'There is no law requiring an affirmative public statement,' Honig said. New York University constitutional law professor Kenji Yoshino noted that the statement explicitly describes diversity as a factor in hiring and board nominations – something that goes beyond non-discrimination. 'The defense that this statement is only about a ban on discrimination and compliance with the law strains credulity,' Yoshino said. 'The 'commitment to diversity and inclusion' section states that this commitment 'is and will be a factor in identifying and nominating director candidates at both the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and Board levels.' This sounds less like non-discrimination and more like traditional affirmative action.' Trump Media included the commitment to diversity and inclusion as part of its corporate governance guidelines adopted by its board before going public in March 2024. The 5-page document includes a number of bullet points including guidelines on stock ownership and ethics and standards conduct for board directors. 'The Board is committed to creating and maintaining a culture of diversity and inclusion,' it reads. 'The Company will be better able to grow and improve with a diverse Board, management, and team of employees. Such commitment is and will be a factor in identifying and nominating director candidates at both the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and Board levels.' 'Additionally, the Board believes in and supports equal opportunity in employment to all persons and strongly encourages management to embrace the unique contributions an employee or candidate can bring to the Company and its culture in terms of their education, opinions, culture, ethnicity, race, sex, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, nationality, color, religion, veteran's status, disability and other life experiences,' it continues. Trump's business writings have also emphasized the importance of diversity. In his 2006 book 'Trump 101: The Way to Success,' he wrote that businesses like the Trump Organization benefit from a mix of personalities and backgrounds. 'Such diversity can bring new, stimulating, and creative ideas to the business. In New York City, you have no choice; diversity comes with the terrain. You may end up working with people who are completely different than you, or who you don't understand. They may have different values, traits, and goals, but you have to get along,' he wrote. 'The best part is that you can usually learn from these people, if you just give them a chance, and the differences can enrich your life,' he added. 'When you work with others, look beyond the obvious and how they present themselves. People are not one-dimensional. Every individual has unique talents that may or may not be in the job description or listed on a resume.' Later, Trump writes to be grateful for being exposed to different backgrounds and beliefs. 'Never presume that your way is the only way, whether you're talking about work, ethics, or politics. Be tolerant of diverse opinions, practices, and views. Be grateful for the diversity in our lives and for the benefits of being exposed to so many different backgrounds and beliefs. Take the time to try to understand other viewpoints – how and why those people feel and act as they do. Gather information, get the whole story, and don't jump to conclusions or judge.' And while the host of the reality competition show 'The Apprentice,' Trump frequently praised the diverse group of competitors. In the season six premiere, Trump remarked, 'These 18 candidates are about to embark on the world's toughest job interview. They're the best and the brightest. Lawyers, business owners, internet executives, even an Olympic athlete. The candidates are a diverse and talented group, but they all have the same goal to win a yearlong apprenticeship in the Trump Organization. It's the dream job of a lifetime.'
