Donald Trump has a sophisticated and nuanced take on the MFN principle as applied in trade negotiations. Ha ha, just kidding. Here's what he said a couple weeks ago:
"I want one-on-one: If somebody treats us well, we make a trade agreement, and I'll have the best negotiators in the world make a fair agreement. Okay?" Trump said. "I don't want to be tied up: If 'Country A' does this and if 'Country C' does that, then 'Country D' will be able to come to -- nobody knows what the hell is going on. And the bad countries, countries that haven't treated us well, benefit because they get the benefit of what the good countries are getting. So everybody is taking advantage. It's a disaster."
I suppose there is a case for bilateral rather than multilateral trade negotiations, although I don't think it's a very good case, and nobody who supported it would want Trump making it for them.
