This is from a CNN Town Hall last week:
GARRY HARTMAN, BUSINESSMAN:
Vice President Biden, Cheetah Chassis is located in Berwick, Pennsylvania, where we produce intermodal container chassis. We're a small family-owned business that is facing unfair trade container chassis imports from, we'll call, a massive state-owned entity in China.
The products are under - currently under Section 301, but the Chinese have found a way to undermine the relief of the tariff. So, as President, how would you address China's unfair trade policies?
BIDEN:I would make it clear, just so we did in our Administration, that when they use state - state-owned enterprises, which is what they're doing, state-owned enterprises, to undercut the price that they can charge, to be able to come and compete with American manufacturing, that they in fact would be denied that opportunity.
I would also make it clear that when you, in fact, it's got to be - if any of that is being purchased by any government agency, that it will not - we will not purchase anything that is not made in America, including - including the downriver line of what has to be done, all the parts.
You can't do what he's doing now. You can't do where he's given a tax break to companies that, in fact, go overseas, bring their - and then import the product back into the United States of America, even though their headquarters is here, the chain, though, you go overseas, and they bring it back in cheaper, than you being able to produce it.
And so, I'm going to make sure that it's made in America. I believe and I mean that. We all - we've been talking about this policy for a 100 years. We've never fully done it. We can and must do it now.
That answer doesn't explain things very clearly. Most readers of this blog can guess what he meant, but would the average voter watching the town hall understand it? Do they understand Trump's statements on these issues any better? Should politicians try to explain AD/CVD, safeguards, China-specific safeguards, Section 337, Section 301, WTO complaints, etc. when answering these questions from the public? They would have to learn the distinctions themselves first, of course.
