<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><a href="https://ourfuture.org/20170331/trumps-biggest-promise-becomes-biggest-broken-promise" class="">https://ourfuture.org/20170331/trumps-biggest-promise-becomes-biggest-broken-promise</a><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><header class=" entry-header post" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.46em; padding: 0.69em 2.3em 0.7659em; border: 0px; font-family: ClassicGrotesque; font-size: 16px; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: relative; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);"><h2 class="entry-title" itemprop="name headline" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.28em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Museo700; font-size: 5rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 5.5rem; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); text-shadow: rgb(238, 238, 238) 0px 1px 0px;">Trade Is Trump’s Biggest Broken Promise</h2><time class="date updated blog-date" datetime="2017-03-31T13:20:36+00:00" itemprop="datePublished" title="March 31, 2017" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 6px 0px 0px 2px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: ClassicGrotesqueSemiBold; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 2.52rem; vertical-align: baseline; display: block; color: rgb(158, 77, 165); text-transform: uppercase;">MARCH 31, 2017 </time><div class="author_link post-format-icon" data-author-page="https://ourfuture.org/author/davejohnson" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: absolute; top: 15px; width: 60px; height: 60px; background-color: rgb(248, 248, 248); cursor: pointer; background-size: 64%; left: -60px; background-position: 50% 50% !important; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat !important;"><img alt="Dave Johnson" class="avatar avatar-60 photo" id="pagespeed_img_CbZzXcYNGl1" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;" apple-inline="yes" height="60" width="60" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:14FF5C61-E60E-4AA4-AD5A-D18D1A533CEB@hsd1.pa.comcast.net."></div><div itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;" class=""><div class="author_link author-thing" data-author-page="https://plus.google.com/u/0/106299990318494374095" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://ourfuture.org/" title="Visit Dave Johnson’s website" rel="author external" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(27, 82, 136); text-decoration: none; outline: 0px;" class="">Dave Johnson</a></div></div></header><div class="entry-content" itemprop="articleBody" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: ClassicGrotesque; font-size: 1.54rem; line-height: 2.31rem; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); padding: 1em 0.65em 0.3em !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15.404761904761905px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 25.41785714285714px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">Say anything – literally anything – to sway working-class voters. Get elected, then loot the country. Hey, it worked for this guy.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15.404761904761905px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 25.41785714285714px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">If there was a primary issue Trump campaigned on, it was trade. Everywhere he went, Trump swore the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was “<a href="http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/27/news/economy/donald-trump-nafta-hillary-clinton-debate/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(27, 82, 136); text-decoration: none; outline: 0px;" class="">the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere</a>” and “<a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/donald-trump-trans-pacific-partnership-22491" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(27, 82, 136); text-decoration: none; outline: 0px;" class="">a rape of our country</a>” – and whatever else he needed to say to sway working-class voters who felt betrayed by our economy and our trade deals.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15.404761904761905px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 25.41785714285714px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">Like other candidates before him, Trump wanted to win votes in places like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and other states devastated by the loss of manufacturing jobs to “trade.”</p><div class="youtube fve-video-wrapper fve-image-embed fve-thumbnail-image" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 485.03125px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; overflow: hidden; height: 0px;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PF9gpvI2UfU?wmode=transparent&modestbranding=1&autohide=1&showinfo=0&rel=0" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen="" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: absolute; display: block; top: 0px; left: 0px; width: 646.71875px; height: 485.03125px;" class=""></iframe></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15.404761904761905px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 25.41785714285714px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">Oops, that was the wrong video… Try this one:</p><div class="youtube fve-video-wrapper fve-image-embed fve-thumbnail-image" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 363.765625px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; overflow: hidden; height: 0px;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/COF98BXrftI?wmode=transparent&modestbranding=1&autohide=1&showinfo=0&rel=0" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen="" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: absolute; display: block; top: 0px; left: 0px; width: 646.71875px; height: 363.765625px;" class=""></iframe></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15.404761904761905px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 25.41785714285714px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">In <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/full-transcript-trump-job-plan-speech-224891" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(27, 82, 136); text-decoration: none; outline: 0px;" class="">his speeches</a> he complained that candidate Hillary Clinton had aligned herself with a”financial elite” to “betray” working people.</p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 3px 20px 0px 19px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 1px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: none;" class=""><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.452380952380953px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 23.84642857142857px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">“Globalization has made the financial elite who donate to politicians very wealthy. But it has left millions of our workers with nothing but poverty and heartache.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.452380952380953px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 23.84642857142857px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">[. . .] Hillary Clinton and her friends in global finance want to scare America into thinking small – and they want to scare the American people out of voting for a better future.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.452380952380953px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 23.84642857142857px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">My campaign has the opposite message.</p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15.404761904761905px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 25.41785714285714px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">Later, he outlined specific complaints about the content of trade agreements, referring to Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) signed by President Obama, but clearly he meant multilateral trade deals in general. He said these trade deals had left decision-making to “an international commission” and that they do nothing about “currency cheaters.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15.404761904761905px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 25.41785714285714px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">The “international commission” he refers to is a provision in trade agreements knowns as Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), more commonly known as “<a href="https://www.google.com/webhp?&ie=UTF-8#q=dave+johnson+corporate+courts+isds&*" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(27, 82, 136); text-decoration: none; outline: 0px;" class="">Corporate Courts</a>.”</p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 3px 20px 0px 19px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 1px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: none;" class=""><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.452380952380953px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 23.84642857142857px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">It would give up all of our economic leverage to an international commission that would put the interests of foreign countries above our own.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.452380952380953px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 23.84642857142857px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">It would further open our markets to aggressive currency cheaters.</p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15.404761904761905px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 25.41785714285714px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">Specifically about ISDS provisions,</p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 3px 20px 0px 19px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 1px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: none;" class=""><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.452380952380953px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 23.84642857142857px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">The TPP creates a new international commission that makes decisions the American people can’t veto.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.452380952380953px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 23.84642857142857px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">These commissions are great Hillary Clinton’s Wall Street funders who can spend vast amounts of money to influence the outcomes.</p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15.404761904761905px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 25.41785714285714px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">Of course, that was then.</p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Museo700; font-size: 2rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 3rem; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); text-shadow: rgb(238, 238, 238) 0px 1px 0px;" class="">Never Mind</h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15.404761904761905px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 25.41785714285714px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">Trump, who campaigned promising to “drain the swamp” in Washington, has filled his administration with the very swamp creatures his voters hated. Billionaires, Goldman Sachs executives, lobbyists, and so on.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15.404761904761905px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 25.41785714285714px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">Now the very “financial elite” he railed about during the campaign appears to be having its way with him on trade. If the details in a draft letter circulated to members of Congress this week are true, Trump is not scrapping NAFTA after all.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15.404761904761905px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 25.41785714285714px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">In fact, he’s not even addressing what he had said were his biggest concerns in the trade agreement. A <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/30/business/nafta-trade-deal-trump.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20170331" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(27, 82, 136); text-decoration: none; outline: 0px;" class="">NY Times report</a> explains,</p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 3px 20px 0px 19px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 1px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: none;" class=""><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.452380952380953px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 23.84642857142857px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">Rather than scrap NAFTA’s arbitration tribunals, regarded by some free-trade critics as secretive bodies that give private corporations unbridled power to challenge foreign governments outside the court system, the letter proposed to “maintain and seek to improve procedures” for settling disputes.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.452380952380953px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 23.84642857142857px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">It made no mention of currency policy, an issue many trade experts had thought might be on the table.</p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15.404761904761905px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 25.41785714285714px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">Trump wants minor tweaks to the agreement. ISDS still there. Nothing about currency. Too bad. Sad!</p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Museo700; font-size: 2rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 3rem; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); text-shadow: rgb(238, 238, 238) 0px 1px 0px;" class="">“The Same Corporate Wish List”</h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15.404761904761905px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 25.41785714285714px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">There were a number of reactions to Trump’s NAFTA reversal.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15.404761904761905px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 25.41785714285714px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">“Mostly what I see here is the same corporate wish list and a set of international rules that work quite well for global corporations,” said the AFL-CIO’s trade policy specialist, Celeste Drake, to <a href="http://xn--http-996a//www.politico.com/story/2017/03/donald-trump-nafta-changes-reality-236712" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(27, 82, 136); text-decoration: none; outline: 0px;" class="">Politico</a>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15.404761904761905px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 25.41785714285714px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka weighed in as well:</p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 3px 20px 0px 19px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 1px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: none;" class=""><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.452380952380953px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 23.84642857142857px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">This draft leaves standing the worst and most oppressive parts of NAFTA. It leaves in place the right of foreign investors to sue the U.S. in private tribunals in order to skirt health, safety and environmental laws. On other important issues, including rules of origin for automobiles, labor and environmental standards, currency misalignment and procurement, the draft plan is either silent or so vague that it could be describing the now defunct Trans-Pacific Partnership – an agreement working people wholeheartedly opposed.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.452380952380953px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 23.84642857142857px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">Rewriting the rules of our economy, and specifically changing the way we do trade, was one of the most important issues that voters went to the polls on. If the president wants to keep his promises, he needs to bring that same tough stance he had on the campaign trail to renegotiating America’s trade deals.</p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15.404761904761905px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 25.41785714285714px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">Politico’s <a href="http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-trade/2017/03/trump-to-put-two-trade-executive-orders-on-the-books-219534" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(27, 82, 136); text-decoration: none; outline: 0px;" class="">Morning Trade</a> carried reactions from Democrats in Congress:</p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 3px 20px 0px 19px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 1px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: none;" class=""><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14.452380952380953px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 23.84642857142857px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">Rep. Bill Pascrell, the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, called it “baffling” that the draft left out currency manipulation, which Trump had made a signature campaign issue – “let alone call for strong and enforceable commitments.” “And I do not get the sense that the administration yet understands the importance of ensuring full implementation of international labor standards in Mexico to ensure the competitiveness of U.S. workers in the North American market,” the New Jersey lawmaker added in a statement.</p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15.404761904761905px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 25.41785714285714px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">So there it is. The guy who set up Trump University has now set up the Trump administration. It is staffed by family members, Breitbart editors, kooks, and, of course, the upper crust of the very “financial elite” he supposedly ran against.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15.404761904761905px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 25.41785714285714px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">After scarcely two months in office, the new administration is under investigation for violations ranging from breaking ethics rules to corruption and espionage. Trump has spent roughly a third of his time as president vacationing at his Mar-a-Lago golf resort in Florida and other Trump properties, with the government paying a huge tab – to him – for Secret Service, staffers and others who are along for the ride.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15.404761904761905px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 25.41785714285714px; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-hyphens: auto;" class="">He said what he had to say to win. Now we’re stuck.</p><div class=""><br class=""></div></div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div></body></html>