GOP shifting to become the anti-trade party
DENVER (AP) — Donald Trump's break with conservative economic thinking on free trade comes as Republicans are increasingly relying on older, struggling white voters who are the most skeptical of trade deals and have lost out during an age of globalization.
Part of the divide may be Republican distrust of President Barack Obama, who has made cementing an Asian trade agreement a top priority.
On Tuesday, Trump gave a speech calling for the rejection of the Trans Pacific Partnership, the pending Asia-Pacific trade deal, and the reversal of NAFTA, the U.S-Mexico-Canada agreement signed by President George H. W. Bush and implemented by President Bill Clinton.
"The Democratic coalition is doing pretty well in the American economy and older white voters with lesser skills have an acute set of economic problems," said Simon Rosenberg, president of the New Democratic Network in Washington.
"The elites of the Democratic and Republican parties have had a consensus on so-called free trade and the base of both parties has not been happy," said Thea Lee, deputy chief of staff for the AFL-CIO.
Prior Republican presidential candidates, like former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, also questioned the value of trade deals and tried to shift the GOP toward blue-collar voters.
Consumers benefit from lower prices, but that's cold comfort for those unable to find work, as opposed to white-collar professionals whose jobs are not so easily shipped overseas.