Messaging Guidance:
Trump’s Trade Policies Failed to Hold China Accountable or Grow the American Economy
April 2024
Background:
Donald Trump always said he would negotiate a “better deal” for Americans – but all he delivered were failed policies that ballooned trade deficits, cost Americans billions of dollars, and lost hundreds of thousands of good-paying American jobs. Worse yet, none of his actions had any real effect on China’s unfair trade policies, which have been harming American families for decades.
Instead of learning his lesson, Trump is doubling down by promising even more aggressive measures in 2024, including an across-the-board 10 percent tax on all imports – a policy that would amount to a roughly $1,500 annual tax increase for the typical household.
Talking Points:
Donald Trump always said that he would negotiate a better deal for the American people on trade. But in the end, that was just more bluster.
Trump claimed he would get tough on China – but he was all talk and no action. His policies failed to change China’s trade practices in any meaningful way. In fact, while Trump was in office, the U.S. trade deficit ballooned by more than $100 billion in just one year, and Chinese exports to the U.S. grew by a whopping 20%.
Worse yet, Trump’s approach to trade was a disaster for the American people. His policies cost the U.S. economy hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs, shrunk our growth by nearly $200 billion in just a single year, and undermined years of job growth in the American manufacturing industry.
After two years of escalating tensions and disastrous American job losses, Trump cut a deal to end the trade war he’d started. But his face-saving agreement failed to live up to the hype – with China buying none of the additional $200 billion of exports that the deal claimed to deliver.
But instead of learning his lesson, he’s doubling down – by proposing a ten percent tax on all imports if he’s elected to a second term, which would amount to a roughly $1,500 annual tax increase for the typical U.S. household.
Trump tried to play hardball to bring our competitors to the negotiating table. But in the end, his failed policies left us weaker, poorer and less equipped to compete with our adversaries.
Fortunately, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have been working tirelessly to clean up Trump’s mess and turn things around for the American people. Trump proved that going it alone doesn’t work. That’s why the Biden-Harris Administration rebuilt critical relationships with our allies – so that we can work together to confront illegal and unfair trade practices by China and other bad actors.
Most important of all, the Biden-Harris Administration has focused its entire trade policy around the American worker. President Biden and Vice President Harris have advocated for U.S. businesses and workers so that they can compete and thrive in the 21st century global economy, defended American workers against unfair trade practices, made significant investments in emerging industries that are critical to America’s future, and launched trade agreements with our friends and partners across the globe.
This is working. The U.S. trade deficit with China is nearly 10% lower than it was during Trump's last year in office – its lowest point in more than a decade. And as a result of the administration’s policies, there is a manufacturing boom taking place across America – with 642,000 jobs created in less than two years of his leadership, and investment in the industries America will need to compete with China.