The second Republican presidential primary debate is tomorrow. It would be great if there were some questions about trade policy, and maybe because Fox Business is one of the hosts, economic issues such as trade will be on the agenda. In the meantime, here are a few more details on GOP presidential candidate Tim Scott's trade policy views, from his recently released economic plan:
- "I’ll stop China from buying up our farmland"
- "I will take back our vital supply chains from China and the six-figure jobs they’ll bring with them.
o Our nation has lost millions of manufacturing jobs and closed almost 100,000 plants and factories in just the last quarter-century.
o I will work with Congress to further expand “Made in America” requirements in targeted sectors that are crucial for our national security, and where government has a thumb on the scale anyway.
▪ Medical
▪ Microchips
▪ Minerals
▪ Military technologies and defense-industrial base"
- "I will avoid blunt trade wars with our friends and allies that hurt consumers and set us back in the mission of isolating China. If we want to isolate China, we need to hold our friends close and have free and fair trade with our allies that protects both our American jobs and our alliances at the
same time."
There was also this from an interview with the Washington Examiner:
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) said China should be stripped of its “developing nation” status, an international designation that grants it special privileges and flexibility over the United States, as a means of ensuring the U.S. is not put at a disadvantage in trade.
Scott, who is vying for the Republican nomination for president, outlined some of his economic vision during an interview this week with the Washington Examiner. In response to a question about what the trade and tariff policy of a Scott administration would look like, he noted that China is able to receive perks in the international economic system because it is still designated as a developing country.
“Their developing nation status allows them to have an unfair advantage over our economy,” the 57-year-old South Carolina senator said.
...
For instance, the WTO provides countries with the status longer periods of time to meet certain financial and trade obligations. Additionally, because of the designation, the World Bank gives Beijing billions of dollars’ worth of loans despite the country’s income level otherwise making it ineligible for such funds, according to the Wilson Center.
Scott mentioned stripping China's developing nation status as an alternative to 10% across-the-board tariffs, which former President Donald Trump has floated recently. Scott said to impose such a regime “is to actually tax the American people and increase the prices of everything that we need.”
...
Scott noted that targeted tariffs — that is, imposing tariffs strategically and not in the blanket sense like Trump has proposed — have been effective in the past.
