Thread by @JewhadiTM

Landmark Trade Deal With China; New York Times Hardest Hit powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/… via @powerlineUS

At the New York Times there was wailing and gnashing of teeth:

“President Trump signed an initial trade deal with China on Wednesday, bringing the first chapter of a protracted and economically damaging fight with one of the world’s largest economies to a close.”

Has the trade conflict with China damaged the U.S. economy? To some degree it has, although it has certainly hurt China’s economy more. This is the kind of short-term pain that Barack Obama, for example, was unwilling to accept.

And yet economic growth under President Trump has been considerably better than under Obama.

Phase One reduces or eliminates some tariffs and leaves others in place for Phase Two. This isn’t really all that complicated, but the Times wants its readers to think that Trump’s approach represents a departure from an imagined, purist practice of the past.

“Instead, like the presidents who preceded him, Mr. Trump plans to rely on allies and the World Trade Organization to try to push China to change its ways.”

I suppose it would be churlish to ask what Barack Obama, the Times’s favorite president, accomplished on these fronts.

Absurdly, the Times turns the floor over to the shameless @SenSchumer:

“This Phase 1 deal is an extreme disappointment to me and to millions and millions of Americans who want to see us make China play fair,” Mr. Schumer said on the Senate floor.

“President Trump’s Phase 1 trade deal with China is a historic blunder.”

Right, Chuckie. Now let’s hear your critique of Obama’s 8-year-long, supine kowtowing to the Chinese.

The only thing Schumer is actually disappointed in is that with a successful completion of Phase One, Trump is marching toward re-election.