Peter Baker

If you've got container ships that can bridge the oceans and you send factory production wherever it's cheapest or most efficient, then factory in Ohio is the functional equivalent of a factory in China.

If you've got container ships that can bridge the oceans and you send factory production wherever it's cheapest or most efficient, then factory in Ohio is the functional equivalent of a factory in China.

And whatever you think about these tariffs and how they're going to play and whether they're going to fix the problems that have popped up and emerged from trade policy, this is clearly taking direct aim at that sense of place isn't supposed to matter. That's right.

And whatever you think about these tariffs and how they're going to play and whether they're going to fix the problems that have popped up and emerged from trade policy, this is clearly taking direct aim at that sense of place isn't supposed to matter. That's right.

And where we essentially make policy on the strength of the argument that the consumer must be served and the consumer wants cheap stuff. And cheap stuff has, in the last few decades, come in from places like China, Mexico as well. And this is a reorientation of policy that at least, you know, on its face is about making We got to make stuff in the United States.

And where we essentially make policy on the strength of the argument that the consumer must be served and the consumer wants cheap stuff. And cheap stuff has, in the last few decades, come in from places like China, Mexico as well. And this is a reorientation of policy that at least, you know, on its face is about making We got to make stuff in the United States.

There are a lot of reasons to doubt whether it'll work, whether it will satisfy the people it's aimed at satisfying. But that, at least in broad strokes, is the policy. Globalization is bad. Making stuff at home is good.

There are a lot of reasons to doubt whether it'll work, whether it will satisfy the people it's aimed at satisfying. But that, at least in broad strokes, is the policy. Globalization is bad. Making stuff at home is good.

Look, it's always been about China, principally. And that's because China is the world's factory. It's the place where enormous amounts of investment went chasing cheaper wages. In the free trade era, yeah. In the free trade era, I mean. China has become the dominant purveyor of all kinds of things, from auto parts to chemicals to sneakers and clothing and exercise bikes.

Look, it's always been about China, principally. And that's because China is the world's factory. It's the place where enormous amounts of investment went chasing cheaper wages. In the free trade era, yeah. In the free trade era, I mean. China has become the dominant purveyor of all kinds of things, from auto parts to chemicals to sneakers and clothing and exercise bikes.

So if you come at things, as Trump does, from the standpoint that a bilateral trade deficit, which is a fancy way of saying we buy more stuff from you than you buy from us, if you come at it from the standpoint that that's bad and a sign that you're getting ripped off, which is a concept that economists take real issue with, then China stands out.

So if you come at things, as Trump does, from the standpoint that a bilateral trade deficit, which is a fancy way of saying we buy more stuff from you than you buy from us, if you come at it from the standpoint that that's bad and a sign that you're getting ripped off, which is a concept that economists take real issue with, then China stands out.

Well, Vietnam is effectively an extension of China.

Well, Vietnam is effectively an extension of China.

This is precisely because in the first Trump administration, when Trump unleashed these tariffs, a lot of big companies like Walmart, to pick an obvious example, but really every company that sells into North American markets, well, we don't want to pay all these tariffs to China. Seems like this U.S.-China divorce thing is real. We better go find another lower-wage country.

This is precisely because in the first Trump administration, when Trump unleashed these tariffs, a lot of big companies like Walmart, to pick an obvious example, but really every company that sells into North American markets, well, we don't want to pay all these tariffs to China. Seems like this U.S.-China divorce thing is real. We better go find another lower-wage country.

And moreover, Chinese companies moved a lot of investment into places like Vietnam and Cambodia, and they just exported their model to these other countries.

And moreover, Chinese companies moved a lot of investment into places like Vietnam and Cambodia, and they just exported their model to these other countries.

This is meant to catch that and divert production to friendlier places from the Trump administration standpoint.

This is meant to catch that and divert production to friendlier places from the Trump administration standpoint.