CGTN Europe spoke to James P. Moore, Founder and CEO of the Washington Institute for Business, Government, and Society.
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00:00Well, let's talk to James Moore, the founder and CEO of the Washington Institute for Business,
00:05Government and Society. James, welcome. So President Trump pushing ahead to increase
00:09U.S. manufacturing through tariffs. Give us a snapshot, if you would. How's it all going so far?
00:16Well, it's been rather chaotic and quixotic in the sense that President Trump has announced
00:22tariffs on one day, but then takes another day and the next day. And so there's a little bit
00:27of confusion as to what is going on and exactly what will happen on April the 2nd.
00:33Are all the commentators missing the point here that U.S. tariffs are not about the economic
00:40bottom line? They are political and they can't be measured in terms of financial performance.
00:46Trump supporters will say they're about something else. They are, aren't they?
00:51They certainly are. If you take into consideration what's going on right here
00:55in the Western Hemisphere, Canada is being levied because of fentanyl and 40 pounds of it,
01:03which is not terribly significant compared to where fentanyl is coming from elsewhere.
01:09In the case of Mexico, it's an issue over immigration. And, you know, it's interesting
01:14for me. I once served as U.S. assistant secretary of commerce and I was responsible for overseeing
01:20U.S. industry at home and abroad. And early on, I was asked to go up to Ottawa, Canada,
01:26and to meet with parliamentarians to talk about the creation of a U.S.-Canada free trade agreement,
01:32which we were able to put into place. The idea was that we could begin to create a European union
01:38here in North America. After we concluded that, we then turned to Mexico and we created the North
01:44Atlantic free trade agreement. And the sense was, well, you could have an automobile company,
01:51for example, make certain parts in Mexico, making it cheaper for them to make them there,
01:55and do the same with Canada, and then assemble them right here in the United States.
02:00And so what we're doing is we're really doing a 180 reversal in regards to the way that that
02:06had been put together many years ago. Look, you're a veteran observer of these matters.
02:12Given your experience, what's your outlook on U.S. tariffs and global trade? Where's all this
02:18going to go? I think this is going to be a very tough period all the way around. I think that
02:26not only is this a matter of economics, but also geopolitics. Right now, the relationship
02:32between the United States and Europe is as bad as it's ever been. It's terrible to all of a sudden
02:37see that in Canada with the hockey games, that when the Star-Spangled Banner is being played,
02:43that there's booing going on by Canadians. So I think we really have never experienced anything
02:50quite like this in the past. And it's almost like whitewater rafting. You better hold on for dear
02:56life. How long might it take to boost competitiveness of American manufacturers in the
03:04global market? You know, it's important to realize that 80 percent of the current GDP of the United
03:12States is due to services. It's not due to manufacturing. And certainly manufacturing
03:16needs a good boost in the arm. But the fact is, is that it takes years upon years to be able to set
03:22up a brand new factory and to be able to bring together jobs and manufacturing back to some kind
03:27of semblance of equality between services and manufacturing. But this is going to take a long,
03:36long time. And I don't think that people fully appreciate how long and what it's going to take.
03:42James, good to see you. James B. Moore, founder and CEO of the Washington
03:45Institute for Business, Government and Society.