Americans Now Overwhelmingly Support Free Trade

[Frodo]

Trump gave us a taste of what a protectionist future looks like, and it seems few of us wish to leap into the abyss:

Support for free trade reaches new high in NBC/WSJ poll
Amid the ongoing trade war with China, nearly two-thirds of Americans say they support free trade in the latest NBC News/WSJ poll.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Well yah given just those two choices , obviously people will choose Free Trade . What we had with China WAS NOT Free Trade so yes its time for the US to take action and I would argue that Trump should go even further than he has. Mark Cuban suggested banning Chinese IPO's from being traded, we should threaten that at the very least .


Time for talks is over, China are 100% bad faith actors so it should be made clear that their will be no deal unless they agree to strict enforcement provisions.

[darklordoftech]

Were there significant pro-NAFTA voting blocs in 1992 or pro-WTO voting blocs in 2000?

[Landslide Lyndon]

That was always the case but both parties got bullied to their current position by Trump, Sanders, and those WWC in Kentucky diners.

[lfromnj]

Yet it looks like if Warren's the nominee we have 2 protectionist nominees.

[The Free North]

Fantastic news!

[OSR stands with Israel]

Yet it looks like if Warren's the nominee we have 2 protectionist nominees.

Being protectionist with China is self defense , because what we had with China is not Free Trade . NAFTA is Free Trade, TPP would have been Free Trade but our trade relationship with China was anything but free

[PragmaticPopulist]

Yet it looks like if Warren's the nominee we have 2 protectionist nominees.

Being protectionist with China is self defense , because what we had with China is not Free Trade . NAFTA is Free Trade, TPP would have been Free Trade but our trade relationship with China was anything but free

This. What China has been doing is not "free trade". Nor is defending against China's trade practices "protectionism".

[NOVA Green]

Yet it looks like if Warren's the nominee we have 2 protectionist nominees.

Being protectionist with China is self defense , because what we had with China is not Free Trade . NAFTA is Free Trade, TPP would have been Free Trade but our trade relationship with China was anything but free

Well....  although I agree with your basic gist in that MFN was an extremely bad idea, especially right after Tiananmen Square, where both Free-Trade Republicans and Democrats were chasing the $$$ after the tails of their MNC Corporate Donors, I do support Fair Trade with Labor and Environmental protections involved.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Tiananmen_Square_protests

NAFTA was not the glorious thing you make it out to be, mainly because of how it shifted American Auto Mfg and other sectors down to Mexico in the Maquiladoras, while Americans get cheaper agricultural products....

Interestingly enough, the whole "Free Trade" gig didn't work out very well for Mexico, because Mexican Mfg was undercut a few years after NAFTA by the growing impacts of MFN with China....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maquiladora

The only reason why support for "Free Trade" is surging is because Americans are now becoming wise to how reckless economic protectionist arguments and positions, such as Tariffs and Trade Wars, hit directly at their pocketbooks.

I do not subscribe the current World Order and "Race to the Bottom" economy, and will still stand 100% against "Free Trade" agreements that sell out American Workers in MFG and beyond, to pump up the bottom line of publicly traded stocks on Wall Street, where all of the profits go the wealthy, while in my sector we are starting workers at $11.50/Hr in jobs that used to pay $15.00 /Hr without even adjustment for inflation over the past 15 Years.....

I am completely against the way in which Trump has approached trade policies with China, and although I recognize sometimes what is done cannot be undone, we still need to find some sort of balance that can protect workers throughout the world against the "race to the bottom".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_to_the_bottom

https://www.amazon.com/Race-Bottom-Worldwide-Uncontrolled-Standards/dp/0813340241

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/race-bottom.asp

[Goldwater]

Fantastic news!

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Free trade means low wages and killing off jobs.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Trump has helped Americans to retroactively realize a lot of things. It's one of the few benefits to having him as President. People are finally paying attention or waking up.

Of course, free trade still needs to be done carefully. I mostly support it, but it does have its downsides that no one should deny.

[darklordoftech]

I wonder how Hispanics and blacks felt about trade before Trump’s campaign.

[junior chįmp]

No one must question free trade. It is good for us as determined by ''experts'' who never get it right.

[Insomnian]

No. Public polling always moves against the president in power even if underlying public opinion doesn't change. This fact pretty much deluded various Republicans from 2008-2016 into thinking that laizzes-faire capitalism was actually popular.

https://themonkeycage.org/2010/06/the_public_is_a_thermostat/

What we clearly have is a lot of liberals who also oppose "free trade" and largely agree with people like Senator Warren, but who say they like it in polls just to spite Trump. Presumably, opinion will line up behind Warren et. al. once Trump is out of office.

[Old Man Willow]

Yet it looks like if Warren's the nominee we have 2 protectionist nominees.

Trump if a fake protectionist. He is Thatcherite trash.

[Grassroots]

They suffered for basically the entire 21st century under free trade and now a little bit of brash policy and they just forget all that?

[NOVA Green]

They suffered for basically the entire 21st century under free trade and now a little bit of brash policy and they just forget all that?

Sorry sunshine.... you seem to forget that Progressive DEMs and Greens led the charge in places like like the "Battle of Seattle" against massive global outsourcing that causes massive loss of American jobs as part of the "race to the bottom".

Your hero Trump is yet another robber baron capitalist doing the same old, same old crap that we marched in the streets against from our Union Halls to our Campus Dorms....

Grassr00ts, as I have posted consistently and frequently, the selling out of the American Working Class goes back for decades, with political leaders of both parties....

Trump is simply a phony scheister, who pretends to support whatever position might be conveniently available at any given time, but he is solidly in the pockets of the bosses and MNCs that have been selling our country down the river for decades....

It's okay, smoke a joint, drink a beer, stare at the fading Trump posters on the ceiling of your room in your parent's house in Illinois.

I'm with you man.... I have seen the consequences of Free Trade run amok in my own communities in Oregon and the economic impacts involved.

I support Free and Fair Trade with Labor and Environmental Rights, but I also know the slippery snakes of "Free Trade" capitalists that simply are creating a race to the bottom while they shut down our Union Plants, ship our jobs overseas, and then claim that "Wall Street is Doing Well"....

That's why I support Bernie for President in 2020, and despite your Republican Midwest roots, he's not doing anything to deal with the issue other than create hatred and trade wars....

The only reason why 60+% of Americans now support "Free Trade" is because of your President that has gone completely in the wrong direction on trade policy, especially regarding Tariffs against China...

BTW: you say "they just forgot all that", like you are speaking in a different voice. I would prefer you say "We suffered under Free Trade Deals from 1990 > 2010"....

WE don't forget from the Union Movements of the late '80s / early '90s to the Present Day....

[Grassroots]

They suffered for basically the entire 21st century under free trade and now a little bit of brash policy and they just forget all that?

Sorry sunshine.... you seem to forget that Progressive DEMs and Greens led the charge in places like like the "Battle of Seattle" against massive global outsourcing that causes massive loss of American jobs as part of the "race to the bottom".

Your hero Trump is yet another robber baron capitalist doing the same old, same old crap that we marched in the streets against from our Union Halls to our Campus Dorms....

Grassr00ts, as I have posted consistently and frequently, the selling out of the American Working Class goes back for decades, with political leaders of both parties....

Trump is simply a phony scheister, who pretends to support whatever position might be conveniently available at any given time, but he is solidly in the pockets of the bosses and MNCs that have been selling our country down the river for decades....

It's okay, smoke a joint, drink a beer, stare at the fading Trump posters on the ceiling of your room in your parent's house in Illinois.

I'm with you man.... I have seen the consequences of Free Trade run amok in my own communities in Oregon and the economic impacts involved.

I support Free and Fair Trade with Labor and Environmental Rights, but I also know the slippery snakes of "Free Trade" capitalists that simply are creating a race to the bottom while they shut down our Union Plants, ship our jobs overseas, and then claim that "Wall Street is Doing Well"....

That's why I support Bernie for President in 2020, and despite your Republican Midwest roots, he's not doing anything to deal with the issue other than create hatred and trade wars....

The only reason why 60+% of Americans now support "Free Trade" is because of your President that has gone completely in the wrong direction on trade policy, especially regarding Tariffs against China...

BTW: you say "they just forgot all that", like you are speaking in a different voice. I would prefer you say "We suffered under Free Trade Deals from 1990 > 2010"....

WE don't forget from the Union Movements of the late '80s / early '90s to the Present Day....

This would be a nice little tirade, but i'm not a Trump supporter in any way.

[Indy Texas]

They suffered for basically the entire 21st century under free trade and now a little bit of brash policy and they just forget all that?

The only reason anyone suffered under free trade was the refusal of Republicans to do anything to redistribute any of the enormous benefits away from wealthy business owners to those directly impacted by job losses and local industry decline.

[Frodo]

And just to keep things under perspective, here is a graph from Gallup showing how Americans have viewed free trade over a 25-year period from 1992 to 2016:

[OSR stands with Israel]

And just to keep things under perspective, here is a graph from Gallup showing how Americans have viewed free trade over a 25-year period from 1992 to 2016:

Actually, that may very correlate to the state of the economy (With the exception of 2013/14) . When the economy is doing well people are in support of Free Trade, when it isnt more people oppose it.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I would just strongly urge caution when looking at these numbers. Remember we had similar numbers in favor of Comprehensive Immigration Reform in 2013 and look who we ended up with in 2016.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Yeah, buying Chinese economics: TV's, Cars(Japan) Cell phones and Nike and Sports athletic wear has done wonders for American jobs. As well as outsourcing telecommunications jobs to India and Singapore.

Need  American jobs

[Gracile]

Free trade as an abstract concept is popular, but if one were to get into the particulars of certain trade deals then I think these numbers would not hold up.