Democrats will not fight Trump’s tariff policies. On trade, Trump is a democratic.

President Donald Trump began to throw commercial bombs recently, and announced the definitions of Canada, Mexico and China. It imposes a tariff on steel and aluminum imports. But he just started with more customs tariffs on the way against products such as car imports.

What can we expect the Democrats in Congress in response to Trump, to go cow sponsors in trade? Not much, based on how they interact with Trump’s commercial policy in his first term.

Although Democrats have taken control of the House of Representatives over the past two years of the first Trump administration, for example, they have not taken any serious measures to reflect the tariff of steel and aluminum at that time.

Why? Because although Democrats in Congress condemn Trump on many things, they agree with his trade policy. They have a soft spot for a tariff man. This is because Trump has always been more compatible with Democrats than Republicans in Trade.

Consider the presidential elementary elementary 2015-2016, which was crowded with 17 candidates. But one of the only candidates has emerged because he said that the North American Free Trade Agreement should be implemented. Trump was. While others of hope in the Republican Free Trade Orthodox, Trump directed the progressive Democrats to attack NAFTA.

Democrats with left -wing NAFTA have criticized years after implementation in 1994, on the pretext that they influenced the majestic executives, pushed an exit from American companies to Mexico, and the fastest decline in American manufacturing. Trump presented the same arguments with Gusto, which led to NAFTA as “the worst commercial deal in history.”

Trump’s sudden victory in the elections in 2016 provided an extraordinary possibility of the progressive Democrats in the House of Representatives on commercial policy: Trump’s trade policy was more coinciding with them than former presidents Bill Clinton or Barack Obama. MP Rosa Deloro (D-CONN), when Trump’s commercial advisor Robert Litizer praised in 2019, “Bill Clinton called the thugs when we originally opposed NAFTA. Barack Obama said that we do not know what we were talking about with a partnership across the Pacific Ocean. .

This story about Bedfellows Strange that was shown slightly more than five years ago in December 2019. Democrats in the House of Representatives voted to rewrite Trump on NAFTA, where the United States and Mexico agreement was passed to pass it by a huge majority of 385-41.

A total of 193 democratic votes in favor of (more than 80 percent of the assembly). This wonderful level of democratic support for an unprecedented trade agreement.

It was more amazing the day before, Democrats in the House of Representatives voted near the lock to dismiss Trump, 230-197. It was destroyed on Wednesday and embraced it on Thursday.

When USMCA is reviewed next year, Trump will demand changes to make it difficult to export cars from Mexico to American Democrats.

Among the Republican presidential candidates in the 2015-2016 period, Trump was the candidate who opposes the partnership through the Pacific, a huge trade deal covering the Asia and Pacific region. He attacked the deal routinely.

This was another blatant example of how Trump was declining in the wrong presidential primaries about trade. During the 2016 Democratic National Congress, delegates held signs to read “La TPP” periodically, they will explode in chanting “TPP stop, stop TPP,” disrupt speeches. Trump could have led this chanting.

To the joy of Democrats in the House of Representatives, on his first full day in his post in 2017, Trump pulled the plug on TPP. President Joe Biden has established a new forum for Asia Pacific as an attempt to replace TPP. But Trump said he would kill her. Although it was the Biden initiative, the Democrats do not come to save it.

So with regard to commercial policy, Democrats will be happy to communicate with Trump 2.0. Some moderate Democrats in the House of Representatives may lead symbolic charges against Trump. But these Democrats have almost become extinct, as they are now dominated by the gathering of progressive people who are approaching organized work. Organized work is a great fan of Trump’s commercial policy.

In addition to agreeing with Trump’s economic nationalism, Democrats are fighting Republicans to appeal the group that supports Trump’s commercial policy: voters from the working class. Democrats will hate to attack Trump’s commercial policy, because this will not attract these voters – a group that Democrats strongly want.

Something operating voters will fight such foreign trade partners and take them to the mission for their bad deeds, whether real or perceived. Of course, the increasing definitions will bite their jeep books. But as we learned, “What is the matter with Kansas” years ago, voters often ignore voting in their economic interests. Instead, emotion guides their hands while filling the oval circles in the form of their polls.

This is how Trump’s era begins with definitions, do not expect Democrats to be connected with a lot of fighting. It is simple – in trade, Trump is a democratic.

David Pauling works in the Eurasia Group, a political risk consultant, and previously served as a trade negotiator in Obama, Trump and Biden departments.