Remaining in the political character he has had for at least five years, Donald Trump's acceptance speech to the Republican National Convention reiterated his determination to walk away from America's current policy of free trade. The relevant sections are below:
"Household incomes are down more than $4,000 since the year 2000. Our trade deficit in goods -- think of this -- our trade deficit reached nearly $800 billion last year alone. We're going to fix that...
"Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it. I have seen firsthand how the system is rigged against our citizens, just like it was rigged against Bernie Sanders - he never had a chance. But his supporters will join our movement, because we will fix his biggest single issue: trade deals that strip our country of our jobs and strip us of our wealth as a country...
"I have a different vision for our workers. It begins with a new, fair trade policy that protects our jobs and stands up to countries that cheat of which there are many.
It's been a signature message of my campaign from day one, and it will be a signature feature of my presidency from the moment I take the oath of office.
I have made billions of dollars in business making deals - now I'm going to make our country rich again. Using the richest people in the world, which our country has, I am going to turn our bad trade agreements into great trade agreements. America has lost nearly-one third of its manufacturing jobs since 1997, following the enactment of disastrous trade deals supported by Bill and Hillary Clinton. Remember, it was Bill Clinton who signed NAFTA, one of the worst economic deals ever made by our country -- or, frankly, any other country. Never again. I am going to bring our jobs back to Ohio and Pennsylvania and New York and Michigan and all of America - and I am not going to let companies move to other countries, firing their employees along the way, without consequences. Not going to happen anymore.
My opponent, on the other hand, has supported virtually every trade agreement that has been destroying our middle class. She supported NAFTA, and she supported China's entrance into the World Trade Organization - another one of her husband's colossal mistakes and disasters. She supported the job- killing trade deal with South Korea. She has supported the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The TPP will not only destroy our manufacturing, but it will make America subject to the rulings of foreign governments and it's not going to happen.
I pledge to never sign any trade agreement that hurts our workers, or that diminishes our freedom and independence. I will never, ever sign bad trade deals. America fist, again! America first! Instead, I will make individual deals with individual countries. No longer will we enter into these massive transactions, with many countries, that are thousands of pages long - and which no one from our country even reads or understands.
We are going to enforce all trade violations against any country that cheats. This includes stopping China's outrageous theft of intellectual property, along with their illegal product dumping, and their devastating currency manipulation. They are the greatest that ever came about; they are the greatest currency manipulators ever! Our horrible trade agreements with China and many others, will be totally renegotiated. That includes renegotiating NAFTA to get a much better deal for America - and we'll walk away if we don't get that kind of a deal. We are going to start building and making things again.
There's nothing new here, policy-wise, but it further confirms Trump's apparently sincere determination to fix America's trade crisis. Like it or not, he's the only candidate in the race offering this.