Manning: Trump Keeps Coming Through for American Workers

President Donald Trump has time and time again delivered for American workers.

Just this month, it was announced that the U.S. unemployment rate has fallen to 3.8 percent, an 18-year low – and per Vice President Mike Pence, the rate “… hasn’t been lower since 1969.” Astoundingly, in just a single month, the unemployment rate among African Americans dropped from 6.6 percent to 5.9 percent.

The historic tax cuts pushed by the Trump administration have helped to fuel an American job revolution. Americans for Tax Reform has compiled a list of “601 examples of pay raises, bonuses, 401(k) match increases, expansions, and utility rate reductions” owing to President Trump’s tax cuts. Per its data, “4 million Americans and counting will receive Trump Tax Reform bonuses”. These are some incredible data points that include some of the largest employers in America.

Tax reform hasn’t been President Trump’s only major win for American workers, though. One area of American industry that has been hit especially hard by decades of outsourcing and infrastructure decline is manufacturing. Since the beginning of the Trump administration, 304,000 manufacturing jobs have been added to the American job market per the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Terence P. Jeffrey at CNS News notes: “The last time there were more than 12,655,000 manufacturing jobs in the United States was December 2008, when there were 12,850,000. That was the month before President Barack Obama was inaugurated.”

As of April 2018, the U.S. was above 12,655,000 manufacturing jobs.

American aviation transcends multiple industrial sectors, including the service industry and manufacturing. For decades, U.S. airlines and workers have been attacked by foreign competitors that skirt fair competition provisions in our aviation trade deals, known as Open Skies agreements.

By providing massive subsidies to their state-owned airlines, the governments of the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have violated these agreements and destabilized the marketplace for American competitors. The Trump administration, as it has on other key fronts, including tax reform, took decisive action and brought both Gulf states to the negotiating table. It extracted promises of financial transparency and an end to mass subsidization, putting a stop to the “capacity dumping” that Qatar Airways, Emirates, and Etihad Airways have used to push U.S. domestic airlines and other foreign competitors out of air travel markets.

It is astounding that previous administrations failed to stand up for American workers and ensure a level and fair playing field. The failure to enforce our Open Skies agreements with these two countries put 1.2 million American jobs at risk. President Trump has thankfully shown that he understands the stakes. But that hasn’t stopped special interests, operating on behalf of the Gulf state airlines, from trying to muddy the water with misinformation and political brinkmanship. They’ve used shady tactics for years to try to prevent the U.S. government from taking any action.

The Gulf carriers are backed by K Street fronts that have been accused of carrying water for foreign interests. As the Associated Press and others have reported, the U.S. Travel Association (which has led the opposition) is “funded by the Emirati airlines.” Breitbart News has exposed the foreign ties of U.S. Travel land its cohorts, many of whom – including public relations flak Jonathan Grella – have also been outspoken critics of President Trump. Grella, per Breitbart, has referred to President Trump as a “nasty bully.” The Air Line Pilots Association has requested that the Department of Justice investigate U.S. Travel for its failure to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act due to its ties to the United Arab Emirates.

Thankfully, the White House and lawmakers on Capitol Hill have seen through this hackneyed ruse. Over 300 lawmakers called for enforcing our Open Skies agreements with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. At the end of the day, President Trump has proven that he is a staunch ally of American workers – unwavering in his commitment to ensure free and fair competition and to put our economy in the best position possible. It is doubtful that any amount of mudslinging and misinformation peddled by foreign interests and opponents of President Trump’s agenda will change that.

Richard Manning is president of Americans for Limited Government.