Jobs

In 1978 China opened the door to free markets. The country had suffered from economic stagnation since the 1949 revolution and the new premier Deng Xiaoping started reforms that led China away from a central planning economy and opened the door to foreign investments and technology. In 2002 China joined the WTO which was a watershed change and led to unprecedented growth. For many years the West felt that if China were opened to a free market economy that political freedom would follow. This belief was the primary reason for allowing China's entry into the WTO. The plan did not work as China refused to follow the rules dictated by membership in the WTO. They used industrial policies like subsidies, force foreign companies to transfer technology, added import taxes to reduce foreign competition and manipulated their currency. Over a 20 plus year period China experienced explosive economic growth causing the loss of jobs in Western countries including 6 million manufacturing jobs in the USA. Trump was the first national figure to recognize this and ran for president with a promise to reign in China's stealing of American jobs. He called his plan make America great again. This was the reason why middle income workers voted for Trump. They knew he understood their plight and was trying to help. This would end the gravy train of huge profits that US companies had become used to and they with their partners in congress fought against the changes that Trump proposed. It was also the main reason that the income gap widened to such an extreme. While Trump was looked upon favorably by the middle income people he was seen as the enemy with the establishment which wanted to maintain the status quo. Even today most of these groups want to keep global trade economy but the tide has turned and most people now see how the job losses were caused by globalization.