National Review Online
Monday, June 11, 2018
President Trump exited the G-7 summit like no president
before him, blasting an allied head of state and torpedoing a joint communiqué.
This is not the end of the Western alliance, as some
heavy-breathing commentators have declared. The alliance is firmly ensconced in
a network of common interests, values, and history — it would take much more
than trade disputes and a bad meeting to scuttle it. But Trump’s shots at
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and his general churlishness served no
useful end.
We have very little use for Trudeau, that avatar of chic
progressivism, or for Trump’s other foil, Angela Merkel, the very embodiment of
the short-sighted and high-handed European establishment.
Neither of them have grounds to present themselves as
purist defenders of free trade. It’s not just Canada’s protection of its dairy
industry, which has gotten attention in recent days, but its subsidies for its
aerospace company Bombardier and its drug pricing and patent policies — all of
which are significant distortions of the market to suit the country’s perceived
economic interests.
For her part, Merkel is running, via the EU, a zollverein, or a customs union with a
common tariff against countries outside the charmed circle (especially on
agriculture). Germany makes sure that the arrangement serves its particular
trade and financial interests, which is one reason that the EU is in a constant
state of crisis — it doesn’t serve the interests of other European countries
nearly as well, and occasionally their electorates notice.
We also don’t have any problem with a U.S. president
running against the tide of polite international opinion. Indeed, we consider
it part of the job description. Trump is to be commended for pulling out of the
Paris Accords and the Iran deal, both decisions that our allies opposed. But
none of this justifies needless acrimony.
First, trade disputes with our allies distract attention
from the main challenge to the international trading order, which is China. The
Information Technology and Innovation Foundation ranks countries on their
mercantilism. China is far and away the worst offender — Canada and Germany are
pikers by comparison. If we are truly going to get China to abandon its most
objectionable practices, we will need the allies we are now alienating with
steel and aluminum tariffs to help us pressure Beijing, which, by the way, is
using its wealth to try to expel us from East Asia.
Second, if we are going to get our allies to open up more
on trade, we need to make the argument. The administration has invested very
little effort in highlighting trade barriers we’d like to see eliminated in
places such as Canada and Germany. In fact, our steel and aluminum tariffs have
branded us as the protectionists. Unfortunately, no one believes in the
sincerity of Trump’s suggestion that the G-7 adopt a “no tariff” policy, and
his team has no strategy to follow through, even if this really is the
president’s goal.
Third, other countries have their pride. Insulting an
allied leader will naturally get his back up and those of his countrymen. It’s
also perverse to slap around Justin Trudeau and never say a discouraging word
about President Xi or President Putin. (Trump’s off-hand suggestion that
Russia, fresh off an attempted assassination on British soil, rejoin the G-7
was equally perverse.)
Trump has been, as the cliché goes, a diplomatic
disrupter. Some of this is welcome. Our NATO allies should spend more on
defense. The U.S. government shouldn’t be reflexively supportive of the E.U.
project, as it has been to this point. But there’s a difference between a
well-thought-out challenge to unsatisfactory aspects of the status quo and
sheer pique.
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