US President Donald Trump told a joint session of Congress on Tuesday that US trade policy needs to change to make it harder for companies to export jobs overseas.
“Tonight, as I outline the next steps we must take as a country, we must honestly acknowledge the circumstances we inherited.
“Ninety-four million Americans are out of the labor force. Over 43 million people are now living in poverty, and over 43 million Americans are on food stamps. More than 1 in 5 people in their prime working years are not working. We have the worst financial recovery in 65 years.
“In the last 8 years, the past Administration has put on more new debt than nearly all other Presidents combined.
“We’ve lost more than one-fourth of our manufacturing jobs since NAFTA was approved, and we’ve lost 60,000 factories since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.
“Our trade deficit in goods with the world last year was nearly $800 billion dollars.
“And overseas, we have inherited a series of tragic foreign policy disasters.
“Solving these, and so many other pressing problems, will require us to work past the differences of party. It will require us to tap into the American spirit that has overcome every challenge throughout our long and storied history.
“But to accomplish our goals at home and abroad, we must restart the engine of the American economy—making it easier for companies to do business in the United States, and much harder for companies to leave.”
(AP)
