Brexit

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Victorlink87 said:

JRPGfan said:

Trump isnt against unfair trade,.... he just wants all trade to be unfair towards the other parties.
Thats basially what "america first" means. He is unwilling to deal, without there being huge gains for the US.

Also yes, divide and conquer, is probably what he is thinking, and what the russians/chinese want too.
But why would the US want a weak ally they can take advantage of? instead of a strong partner?

Ever heard the expression "with friends like you, who needs enemies?"
Basically trump doesnt set out to make friends, in his world view, screwing everyone over, even friends for profits, is the way of things.

In this way, he differs quite alot compaired to most past US presidents.

I would have to disagree to an extent. The US has been absolutely taken advantage of in the area of trade for decades. Tariffs have been imposed upon the US, but the US imposes no or much smaller tariffs resulting in massive trade deficits, half a trillion to a trillion dollars. Trump has helped level that playing field quite a bit. The main culprits of the unfair and lopsided deals for the US were the EU and China.

That's mostly a myth. For instance, he was riling against EU tariffs for agrarian products. The EU does have tariffs there, with a mean value of 4%... but the US mean tariffs for agrarian products before Trump was 7%, so higher as the European tariffs.

The trade deficit mostly comes from the fact that most manufacturing wandered off to countries like China, where the workers only get paid a small part of what they would have needed to pay an american worker, not from any unfair trade