Before he was for the wall and against free trade agreements, Donald Trump was encouraging Americans to go global and “leave borders behind.”
In a not-so-long-ago but newly unearthed 2013 CNN op-ed, Trump wrote that the future of both Europe and the U.S. “depends on a cohesive global economy,” adding that “all of us must work together toward that very significant common goal.”
“The near meltdown we experienced a few years ago made it clear that our economic health depended on dependence on each other to do the right thing,” Trump said referring to the 2008 global recession.
“We are now closer to having an economic community in the best sense of the term — we work with each other for the benefit of all,” he added.
Trump the 2016 candidate strikes a sharp contrast with Trump the 2013 businessman.
Since entering the race, the New York real-estate mogul has clawed his way to the top of the Republican ticket by decrying international trade agreements and increased immigration. In his marquee June 28 economics speech in Monessen, Pa., Trump laid out an aggressive “America first” economic policy.
The candidate slammed politicians for “betraying” American workers and “aggressively pursuing a policy of globalization — moving our jobs, our wealth, and our factories to Mexico and overseas.”
Two years earlier, Trump had rejected his current zero-sum economic analysis.
“There won’t be any winners or losers as this is not a competition,” Trump wrote in the CNN op-ed. “It’s time for working together for the best of all involved. Never before has the phrase ‘we’re all in this together’ had more resonance or relevance.”
Trump’s campaign has been dogged by accusations of hypocrisy because many products sold under his name brand are manufactured overseas. Certainly, his practice as a businessman is not much like the protectionist ideology he now preaches as politician.
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
