Trump was in Da Nang, Vietnam last week. He gave a speech there that was pretty ferocious, and I'm frankly not certain whether this is going to be a good thing or not for the United States. I'm very skeptical that it could be a good thing for us and there's a reason for this and let me tell you the reason after I tell you what's going on.

Trump was blaming predatory economic policies and accusing principally China but also the other Southeast Asian countries of stripping jobs, factories and industries out of the United States. Here's the quote...

"We can no longer tolerate these chronic trade abuses and we will not tolerate them. Despite years of broken promises, we were told that someday soon everybody would behave fairly and responsibly. People in America and throughout the Indo-Pacific region have awaited that day to come but it never has and that is why I am here today."

He said that the the other countries are not playing by the rules. He said...

"But while we lowered market barriers, other countries didn't open their markets to us."

The Guardian wrote...

"The US leader then went off-script to confront a man who was speaking audibly during the address and suggested he may be from a country that was cheating America.

'Funny, they must be from one of the beneficiaries,' Trump said, laughing. 'What country to do you come from, sir?'."

And then he says,

"The current trade imbalance is not acceptable... the United States will no longer turn a blind eye to violations, cheating, or economic aggression. Those days are over."

He said previous US administrations had not done anything about the trade deficit...

"But I will ... I am always going to put America first."

Okay. Nice rhetoric. I'm sure it plays well politically back here in the United States.

But here's the problem...

-Thom


(What do you think? Tell us here.)