Donald Trump’s campaign has been surrounded by his idea of “Making America Great Again” that he prides himself on every chance that he gets. He blames a great amount of why America isn’t as great as it could be, on trade with China. The record of U.S. free trade policies for working and middle-class America reveals havoc, not benefit. For example, total U.S. employment since NAFTA and China trade the past two decades has witnessed a loss of more than 6 million U.S. manufacturing jobs. This in fact has a lot to do with the working class, because Trump has argued that he has plans to bring jobs back to the states. It is very clear that Trump has won over many of the hearts of the working class that includes a high concentration of white, male, middle aged, non-college edu
cated, working class voters, by attacking current U.S. trade policies.
The issue here is whether or not Trump is truly serious about making changes to the U.S. free trade policies. He’s been using the symbolic world view as a rhetorical strategy when discussing policies especially ones connected with China. This is a great tactic in his defense to gather voters in the manufacturing field because of his advocation of trying to implement harsh trade restrictions on China. However, his businessman persona contradicts his current rhetoric against trade because so many of his Trump products are produced in many other countries, including China. In order to be effective, however, Trump must demonstrate that he has a realistic and effective plan to actually see all of his ideas through, not just making empty promises. Although, his rhetorical strategy may have won over the hearts of some, but not all of America agrees with his plan here.