Documentary podcast Red Pilled America host Patrick Courrielche says the United States must change its “mindset” on free trade and instead return to policies that boost American manufacturing rather than enabling the outsourcing of U.S. jobs.
During an interview with SiriusXM Patriot’s Breitbart News Tonight, Courrielche said the U.S. has traded in manufacturing products for cheaper foreign goods, a move that should be reversed.
Courrielche said, “Our mindset has to change about this. Our complete mindset has to change because we don’t value manufacturing in the United States, here, anymore. We don’t have shop, we don’t have woodshop in high schools anymore, we don’t have sewing classes in high schools anymore. We basically said, ‘You know what, China’s going to be our default creator of this stuff. That’s dirty work. We don’t need that here in the United States.'” [Emphasis added]
He went on to say, “And we lose so much because of the fact that we have given up this vital, vital part of our American workforce overseas. Bangladesh … they don’t start by making a stealth bomber. They start by first making towels, then making socks, then making t-shirts, then making baseball caps, then making smartphones, then putting together our computers, and you build up. Once you take away the bottom part of the manufacturing side of an economy, you lose the ability to innovate … and to build one technology on top of the other.” [Emphasis added]
Courrielche specifically noted the baseball cap maker New Era Cap, which is set to close one of its last factories in upstate New York, laying off hundreds of Americans, to ship their production overseas. The conversation on free trade must change, Courrielche said, to build a national campaign that demands American-made products, high paying manufacturing jobs, and less outsourcing.
“Without that mindset shift, none of the rest of it makes any difference,” Courrielche said. “You don’t get the policy that you want out of future presidents, you don’t get the workforce that you want, you don’t get the people pushing for certain changes and demanding for American made.”
“They don’t understand the security issues of only being able to purchase Chinese components for your military equipment,” Courrielche continued. “People aren’t understanding the issue because everyone you speak to on this is like ‘Free trade, free trade, free trade. Yes, of course, we have to send this stuff overseas, we want cheaper products.’ Cheaper products are great, but at the same time, if you don’t have a job, you can’t even afford cheap.”
Since China entered the World Trade Organization (WTO), the U.S. trade deficit with China has eliminated at least 3.5 million American jobs from the American economy. Millions of American workers in all 50 states have been displaced from their jobs, which have been lost due to U.S.-China trade relations.
American manufacturing is vital to the U.S. economy, as every one manufacturing job supports an additional 7.4 American jobs in other industries. Decades of free trade, with deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), have devastated American manufacturing and U.S. workers’ job prospects, as well as suppressed their wages.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
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