Both presidential candidates are trying to out-tough each other on China. Both have ‘Buy American’ proposals, and agree somewhat on ‘Buy American’ and trade policy.

My new book UNCONSTITUTIONAL: Our Founding Fathers Rejected FREE TRADE And So Should We shows how important it is to get these important issues right or risk losing our nation as we know it to China worldwide dominance. The candidate who wins must be tougher on China than we have been or America loses.

My book UNCONSTITUTIONAL strongly makes the case that:

• Free trade is unconstitutional. Our U.S. Constitution makes no mention of free trade or free markets in any sense of those terms because our Founding Fathers never intended them for our economy.
• We should apply ‘equalizing tariffs’ on all imports, as Teddy Roosevelt said: tariffs must never be reduced below the point that will cover the difference between the labor cost here and abroad. Today, we would call this equalizing tariffs.
• We should ‘discontinue’ imports if we have a domestic alternative available, as Abraham Lincoln said: ..would continue (trade) where it is necessary, and discontinue it, where it is not.
• Import tariffs protect American jobs, encourage companies to bring jobs home from overseas, and generate revenue to help America pay its bills.
• And most importantly, America is in danger of losing its place as the world’s number one economic, technological, and military superpower to China.

Some Americans oppose import tariffs since foreign nations might retaliate and cause job losses in other areas. However, refusing to stand up for victims of free trade because other countries might retaliate is like refusing to stand up for your son, who is being bullied in school because the bully might retaliate and bully your daughter. What parent would allow this fear of retaliation by the bully? Refusing to stand up for what is right never because there are consequences shows weakness.

It follows then that we need to stand up for every American worker who loses their job due to free trade by applying Constitutional tariffs to make trade fair. And if foreign countries decide to retaliate, we will deal with it. Anything less is throwing American workers victimized by free trade under the bus.

The U.S. Constitution also says that all laws are to be applied uniformly and equally. It leaves no room for any legislator to misapply or circumvent our laws in a manner that would inflict injury on any industry, segment, or individual within our society for the benefit of others. Few would suggest our laws should be applied unequally.

Any trade policy, whether based on unconstitutional free trade or Constitutional protective tariffs, will result in job losses somewhere. Here’s the difference: With free trade, the losers are created because they are unfairly forced to compete directly against foreign, lower-cost producers on an unlevel playing field. At least with a trade policy that utilizes protective constitutional tariffs, losers are created through fair competition. The rules for access to the U.S. market are the same for foreign and domestic producers).

Surely a Constitutional trade policy of advocating import tariffs to level the playing field will not result in 3.4 million lost U.S. jobs over fifteen years, as free trade policies have. However, we will gain far more jobs and lose far fewer of them with a constitutional protectionist trade policy than with an unconstitutional free trade policy.

As I have written four books about Buy American (including three editions of How Americans Can Buy American), it is not inconsistent that I write my fifth book about trade policy. ‘Buy American’ and trade policy are essentially the same issues. How so? When you consider buying American, you are considering imports and exports, and are, by default, should have an opinion about trade policy. Any ‘Buy American’ advocate should be equally concerned about trade. Trade policy determines whether American-made products will be competitively priced with foreign-made products.

You won’t find my new book UNCONSTITUTIONAL: Our Founding Fathers Rejected FREE TRADE And So Should We on Amazon. Amazon’s policies are a wash for small publishers like me. Plus, Amazon is often bad for small businesses for other reasons. A July 2020 Wall Street Journal article titled Amazon reportedly invested in startups and gained proprietary information before launching competitors, often crushing the smaller companies in the process says a lot about Amazon’s integrity. The famous ‘Small Business Saturday’ should be emphasized every day – not just one day a year.

You can read samples of all the chapters in my new book, which retails for $12.95, for free at www.rejectfreetrade.com. We need to reject free trade because the Founding Fathers never intended it, and it doesn’t work for America today. Even the most ardent free traders admit that trade does not inevitably promote prosperity and freedom worldwide. Many free traders now see and understand that American jobs and wage gains are threatened by the unfair practices of other countries like China. My new book UNCONSTITUTIONAL makes that abundantly clear in ways you won’t read or hear anywhere else. It is incredibly eye-opening.

If we were ever to lose our status as the world’s number one superpower to China, we would no longer be in the best position to spread our version of democracy and worldviews around the globe. Instead of exporting democracy, we would be exporting hypocrisy as no nation would follow or listen to a world power that is not number one.

We cannot let China surpass us to become the world’s number one superpower economically, technologically, and/or militarily. If we do, will Americans take to the streets chanting, “We’re number two, we’re number two!”? I doubt it. Second place means second tier and second rate. That’s not America.

A trade policy with adequate, equalizing tariffs as advocated by our Founding Fathers that goes hand-in-hand with a strong Buy American policy is a must in keeping America number one. Without both, we lose, and China wins. UNCONSTITUTIONAL: Our Founding Fathers Rejected FREE TRADE And So Should We explains how we can keep that from happening.

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