José Daniel Salinardi for Poder & Dinero and FinGurú
It has been difficult to keep track of all the recent tariff threats and the current state of trade policy, but the Trump administration is marking a clearer direction. It’s a dual objective, declared Secretary of State Marco Rubio on CBS's Face the Nation program, stating that the recent measures are not specifically targeted at Canada, Mexico, and the EU, but at "everyone." Below are his most notable remarks.1) "There are critical industries like aluminum, steel, semiconductors, and automotive manufacturing that [President Trump] believes, rightly, that the United States needs to have domestic capacity, and the way to protect and develop that capacity is by guaranteeing economic incentives to produce in the country. We have deindustrialized the United States. There are things we can no longer manufacture to maintain national security and to have jobs. That’s why we had a Rust Belt and suffered the loss of all these important jobs that used to sustain entire communities, annihilated by trade that essentially sent these factories, jobs, and industrial capacity elsewhere. This cannot continue and it will not continue. This is going to happen now."
2) "The President [Trump] believes, rightly, that the global trade balance is completely unbalanced. For 30 or 40 years, we have allowed countries to treat us unfairly in global trade, largely during the Cold War, because we wanted them to be rich and prosperous for being our allies, but now that has to change... I understand why these countries do not like it. The trade status quo benefits them; they like the status quo. We do not like the status quo. We are going to impose tariffs on the reciprocal countries that they impose on us. And then, from that new starting point of fairness and reciprocity, we will potentially engage in bilateral negotiations with countries around the world about new trade agreements that make sense for both parties."
There is no doubt that there has been a hollowing out of the industrial base of the United States towards manufacturing, which has moved abroad. This issue has been explored by successive U.S. administrations, although it has not been a priority in the economic platform due to stances such as transitioning to a more service-oriented economy, prioritizing environmental regulations, billions of dollars in subsidies, and the tangible benefits of cheaper goods derived from globalization. All of this changed following the disruptions observed during the pandemic and the sanctions related to the war in Ukraine, giving Trump the opportunity to apply his principles more firmly and forcefully than during his first term.
The art of negotiation: While there are significant disagreements on how to bolster American industry and manufacturing, much of Trump’s strategy has shifted from real estate to international trade. This includes his negotiating style of "aiming very high and then pushing relentlessly to get what I’m after" and "sometimes, part of closing a deal is denigrating the competition." It also involves getting publicity by doing things "a little outrageous, bold, or controversial," but above all, making sure to have influence. "The worst thing you can do in a deal is to seem desperate to close it. That makes the other side smell blood, and then you’re dead."
José Daniel Salinardi is a National Public Accountant graduated from the Faculty of Economic Sciences of the University of Buenos Aires. He has been a producer of the program "Poder & Dinero," a streaming show that aired on the Americano Media channel in Miami, from April 2022 to June 2023, hosted by Sergio Berensztein, Fabián Calle, and Santiago Montoya. He is currently continuing to produce content for the "Poder & Dinero" networks and also for the program "Panorama 360," which airs through UCL Televisión from Uruguay, for Latin America, the United States, and Europe, and is hosted by Leo Moumdjian. In Argentina, you can watch it every Friday at 7 PM on channel 567 of Flow. He is a member of the Editorial Council of the geopolitics magazine published by Radix Intelligentia, a non-profit non-governmental organization dedicated to disseminating international politics, defense, and security issues, among others, through an agreement with the University of Alicante, Spain.
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