about is we have a big trade deficit with the rest of the world. our accumulative deficit equals the accumulative surplus of the rest of the world. they have much more at risk in a trade war than we do. that what i believe he was meaning to say. we have some democrats that are applauding this move by president trump. what do you make of that? certainly the steel unions and unions representing people that will benefit workers that will benefit from this are happy about it. president obama imposing a tariff on rubber, tires. there is a constituency that is pleased with this. and overall, larger issue remains that it shows how erratic donald trump is. he did this as direct response to hearing all of this going on with his administration. all this chaos and division and negativity and negative stories
and producers and workers of america. all right, joining our panel now, matt welch, editor at large at reason magazine. i want to start with a sound bite from wilbur ross this morning on meet the press and then we ll talk. i think what he s talking about is we have a big trade deficit with the rest of the world. our cumulative deficit equals the cumulative surplus of the rest of the world. they, therefore, have much more at risk in a trade war than we do. that s what i believe he was meaning to say. all right, i m going to start with you on this. give me your reaction to wilbur ross. that s what i believe he was meaning to say. this is how we talk about trump now. my reaction is, this is a remarkable transformation that the republican party has gone through. they used to be the party that said trade deficits don t matter, but government deficits do matter. they have no switch. we re going to get a trillion
fundamentally over the issue of free trade. so i think you will continue to see pushback from people like lindsey graham. in addition to the u.s. ale lies that have already been mentio d mentioned, the european union, canada, and other countries around the world. this is not only an area of disagreement, but an area that it wills individual economies be it here in the united states, individual workers, or those of the economies and workers of our allies abroad. seema, do you think this has more to do with fulfilling a campaign promise to those specific american manufacturers that will benefit from this because not everybody will. this is something that certainly animated president trump on the campaign trail in 2016. he frequently talked about how he thought other countries were basically screwing us over in terms of the trade practices. and that was something that really his crowds really, really ate big. they applauded those remarks. they felt deeply that this was something that
has said. if he says something different, it will be something different. i have no reason to think he s going to change. what does this mean? you just said, well, he may say this and he may say that. no, i didn t say that. i said he is the one who makes the decision. he has made a decision at this point, 25 and 10. if he for some reason should change his mind, then it will change. i have no reason to believe he s going to change his mind. he said trade wars are good. they re easy to win. give me an example. i think what he s talking about is we have a big trade deficit with the rest of the world. our cumulative deficit equals the cumulative surplus of the rest of the world. they, therefore, have much more at risk in a trade war than we do. that s what i believe he was meaning to say. but is that the case? you slap this on steel, there are more jobs in this country based on using steel to make a product versus the number of jobs you may save in the steel industry itself.
promise, a view that he s held for a couple of decades. it shouldn t be a shock to anybody that donald trump wants to impose tariffs on countries like china that have been trade predators in the united states. second, i think this will be good to our economy. we have an enormous imbalance. we have a big trade deficit. we haven t pushed back for a couple of decades. it s hollowed out our manufacturing base. we lost a third of all manufacturing jobs. they say it s because of automation and computerization. they should visit those towns in ohio and pennsylvania, those steel mill towns and talk to those workers and look at the products stamped made in china. japan, korea, turkey, but