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| Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign stop, Tuesday, June 28, 2016, at Alumisource, a metals recycling facility in Monessen, Pa. |
MONESSEN, Pa.
(AP) -- Donald Trump called for a new era of economic
"Americanism" Tuesday, promising to restore millions of lost factory
jobs by backing away from decades of U.S. policy that encouraged trade
with other nations - a move that could undermine the country's place as
the dominant player in the global economy.
The
speech marked a significant break from years of Republican Party
advocacy for unencumbered trade between nations, and drew immediate
condemnation from GOP business leaders.
In his
35-minute speech, Trump blamed former President Bill Clinton and his
wife, Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton for the loss of
millions of manufacturing jobs.
He threatened
to exit the more than two-decade-old North American Free Trade Agreement
and vowed to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an agreement
among 12 Pacific Rim nations that has yet to take effect.
He
pointed to China as a source of many of America's economic woes,
promising to label that country a currency manipulator and slap new
tariffs on America's leading source of imports, a decision with the
potential to dramatically increase the cost of consumer goods.
"This
wave of globalization has wiped out totally, totally our middle class,"
Trump said, standing in front of pallets of recycled aluminum cans on a
factory floor. "It doesn't have to be this way. We can turn it around,
and we can turn it around fast."
Delivered in a
hard-hit Pennsylvania steel town, the speech underscored the central
message of Trump's campaign: that policies aimed at boosting
international trade - and America's intervention in wars and disputes
abroad - have weakened the country.
It's an
argument that found support among Republican primary voters, especially
white, working class Americans whose wages have stagnated in recent
years. Trump hopes it will yield similar success among the wider
electorate that will decide the general election.
"I
promise you, if I become president, we're going to be working again.
We're going to have great jobs again," he said. "You're going to be so
happy."
But he drew a quick and scathing
response from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a traditional Republican
ally and leading business lobby.
"Under
Trump's trade plans, we would see higher prices, fewer jobs, a weaker
economy," the Chamber said on its Twitter feed, directing readers to a
blog post that said Trump's policies would lead to millions of job
losses and a recession.
Many economists have
dismissed Trump's promise to immediately restore manufacturing jobs as
dubious at best, given the impact of automation and the many years it
typically takes to negotiate trade agreements.
While
renegotiating tougher deals with America's foreign trading partners
might help some businesses, manufacturing as a share of total U.S. jobs
has been slipping for several decades. The number of such jobs has risen
slightly since the end of the Great Recession, but the introduction of
robotics and access to cheaper foreign markets has reduced U.S. factory
employment to a total last seen around 1941.
Indeed,
the National Association of Manufacturers slammed Trump's logic on
Tuesday, with the organization's president, Jay Timmons, writing on
Twitter: "@realDonaldTrump you have it backward. Trade is GOOD for #mfg
workers & #jobs. Let's #MakeAmericaTradeAgain."
In
making his case for a new approach to trade, Trump recounted economic
policies in place at the founding of the country - a time when goods
traveled by horseback and schooner, the invention of the telegraph was
still decades away and the advances of the Internet and broadband
communication hardly imaginable.
The
billionaire real estate mogul then skipped ahead to the 1990s, blaming
the Clinton administration for negative impacts of globalization. He
cited Bill Clinton's support of NAFTA, which aimed to reduce barriers to
trade between the U.S., Canada and Mexico, and China's entry into the
World Trade Organization.
He challenged
reporters to ask Hillary Clinton if she would be willing to denounce the
Trans-Pacific Partnership on her first day in office and
unconditionally rule out its passage in any form.
"Throughout her career - her whole career - she has betrayed the American worker. Never forget that," Trump said.
Clinton's
positon on trade has been a frequent attack line for Trump. She has
supported some agreements, opposed others and flipped on both NAFTA and
TPP, which she promoted dozens of times as secretary of state.
She
now says she will back trade deals only if they fulfill a three-pronged
test of creating "good jobs," raising wages and improving national
security.
The speech came as Trump, facing
sliding poll numbers and a far larger Clinton campaign operation, is
working to re-tool his message for the general election. In addition to a
slew of new hires, he has been delivering prepared speeches aimed at
calming the nerves of GOP donors and others concerned about his often
combative style.
Democrats didn't wait for
Trump to start talking before they jumped in to slam his ideas,
detailing all the products his companies make overseas in a conference
call with reporters.
"I'll give Donald Trump
this. On trade, with all of his personal experience profiting from
making products overseas, he's the perfect expert to talk about
outsourcing," said Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Clinton supporter. "Trump
doesn't make things in America."
