US Vice President JD Vance now defends Trump administration’s tariffs
Washington, DC: CNN stated that US Vice President JD Vance, who had previously criticized tariffs and questioned if they would restore manufacturing jobs, is now publicly supporting the Trump administration’s protectionist trade strategy.
As President Donald Trump declared a wide new set of tariffs aimed at revitalizing US industry on Wednesday, Vance cheered in the Rose Garden, referring to it as a proclamation of “economic independence.”
“It’s our declaration of economic independence,” Trump said on the Wednesday. “Jobs and factories will come roaring back into our country, and you see it happening already.”
However, from 2016 to 2019, Vance made it clear that trade policy was not the main cause of the loss of American manufacturing employment, but rather automation and technological advancement, and that “protectionist” measures would not restore those jobs.
“A large number of the jobs that have vanished from these regions just aren’t returning.” Globalization and shipping them overseas haven’t really caused them to vanish,” Vance said in an interview with Education Week in January 2017. “They’ve largely disappeared because of automation and because of new technological change.”
Vance sided with Republicans who were skeptical of Trump’s first-term trade plan in a number of public remarks, interviews, and social media postings during that period. Vance wrote, “Can’t be repeated enough: if you’re worried about America’s economic interest, focus more on automation/education than trade protectionism.” This was in response to Trump’s February 2017 meeting with manufacturing CEOs and his criticism of US trade imbalances.
Vance liked a tweet from Republican Sen. Ben Sasse in December 2016 after Trump pushed a deal at an Indiana Carrier factory to prevent jobs from going to Mexico: “Automation—even more than trade—will continue to shrink the number of manufacturing jobs.” There is no turning back this tendency. Prior to the social networking site X making likes private, CNN captured that.
Vance cautioned against making drastic changes to US trade policy while acknowledging the detrimental consequences of globalization in certain areas.
Does it imply that we need to approach commerce with extreme protection? “I would argue no,” Vance said at a gathering in April 2017. However, we should be aware that, even if trade may have some beneficial effects, it often hurts or at least has some negative effects on certain of the populations who are most exposed to it. I believe we must.
“I do believe that many of these communities have not always benefited from commerce. He said, “Now, the question of whether you can go backwards in time, I think the answer is no,” according to CNN, during a rally held in February 2017 at the University of Chicago.
By 2019, Vance’s position started to change.
Taylor Van Kirk, the vice president’s press secretary, said, “Vice President Vance has been crystal clear in his unwavering support for revitalizing the American economy by bringing back manufacturing jobs and sticking up for middle-class workers and families since before he launched his US Senate race, and that is a large part of why he was elected to public office in the first place.”
Trump’s economic message and the additional tariffs the government announced on what it called “Liberation Day” are now mostly promoted by Vance.
