Columns

America is on a trade winning streak.

Over the past five months, President Trump closed the deal on major trade agreements with our four largest trading partners – Canada, Mexico, Japan and China. These four countries alone make up half of America’s total trade, at nearly $2 trillion.

As a political junkie, I get lots of email pleas from politicians and political advocacy groups. Today, I got one from US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). Well, not exactly. That’s what the “from” header said, but the message was signed “Team AOC” and delivered via Daily Kos.

What does Team AOC want me to know? That “Donald Trump is robbing the working and middle class to give huge tax breaks to the wealthiest among us.” His latest budget proposal, they say, “is a classic right-wing plan that would gut our most critical social programs.”

Speaking at the United Nations in December, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi drew cheers by saying the United States was “still in” the Paris Climate Agreement.

Green activists applauded Pelosi’s defense of the international climate accord, which President Trump has vowed to exit. They claim remaining in the Paris Agreement will help reduce global emissions. But they’re wrong.