Trump: U.S. ‘Cannot Outsource Our Independence’ to Foreign Countries

President Trump says the United States must no longer outsource its economic independence to foreign countries.

During his daily press briefing, Trump said the Chinese coronavirus crisis has confirmed his long-held economic nationalist viewpoint that outsourcing and offshoring the nation’s critical industries, manufacturing, and supply chains is detrimental to the American people.

“This pandemic has reaffirmed keeping vital supply chains at home. We cannot outsource our independence, we cannot be reliant on foreign nations,” Trump said. “I’ve been saying this a long time.”

“If we’ve learned one thing, let’s build it here, let’s make it here, we’ve got the greatest country in the world,” Trump continued. “We’ve got to start bringing our supply chains back … I like making it right here in the U.S.A.”

Indeed, the coronavirus crisis has greatly exposed the nation’s deep reliance on China, Malaysia, Thailand, Canada, India, and Mexico for basic necessities, pharmaceuticals, and medical supplies. As Breitbart News has chronicled, the U.S. is suffering from a shortage of vital drugs, rubber gloves, and plastic bottles due to decades-long free trade policies.

The results of U.S. free trade with China have meant the U.S. currently depends on China to produce an estimated 97 percent of all antibiotics and 80 percent of the active pharmaceutical ingredients that are needed to manufacture drugs in the U.S.

Since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was enacted and China entered the World Trade Organization (WTO), nearly five million American manufacturing jobs have been eliminated from the American economy — 3.4 million of which are due to U.S. free trade with China. The mass elimination of working- and middle-class jobs and depressed U.S. wages due to NAFTA and China’s entering the WTO have coincided with a 600 percent increase in trade deficits.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.