I have several Whirlpool appliances throughout my home, some of which were new when my house was built back in 1995. That is a real testimony to Whirlpool quality.
President Trump knows that keeping American companies profitable is vital to America's prosperity. Whirlpool has invested $1.4 billion in domestic plants since 2010, which would not have happened had we not put a priority on protecting homegrown companies from predatory foreign competitors, of which there is never a shortage.
The message is clear. Manufacturing stimulates economic growth more than any other industry. China smartly focused on manufacturing to transform itself from a third-world nation to the world's second-largest economy.
The mass loss of manufacturing jobs is why we are on our way to going from the world's largest economy to the world's second-largest economy. This all didn't just happen out of the blue for no reason. It all happened because we practiced free trade with a protectionist China and lost our focus on manufacturing.
Fortunately, many Democrats agree we need to be more protective of our domestic industries. In March 2018, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said President Trump deserved "a big pat on the back" in a speech on the Senate floor regarding a White House plan to apply $50 billion in tariffs on China. Schumer also said Trump is "doing the right thing when it comes to China" as "we have watched China rapaciously take advantage of America: of American jobs, of American workers, and of American intellectual property."
On CNN's State of the Union with Jim Acosta in March 2018, Senator Elizabeth Warren had this to say on trade: "What I'd like to see us do is rethink all of our trade policy. And, I have to say, when President Trump says he's putting tariffs on the table, I think tariffs are one part of reworking our trade policy overall."
On June 1, 2018, Senator Bernie Sanders said, "I strongly support imposing stiff penalties on countries like China, Russia, South Korea, and Vietnam to prevent them from illegally dumping steel and aluminum into the U.S. and throughout the world."
The U.S. should not be seen as a place for China and other foreign countries to dump their cheap and state-subsidized products to maintain their desired market share here. America is not some playground for foreign producers eager to fulfill their predatory and injurious economic strategies.
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