Kim Strassel: ‘People Should Be Very Optimistic’ About Trump’s Trade Policies

EXCERPT:

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TRUMP: "The only thing I ask of Theresa is that we make sure we can trade, that we don’t have any restrictions, because we want to trade with the U.K. and the U.K. wants the trade with us. We’re by far their biggest trading partner and we have, you know, just a tremendous opportunity to double, triple, quadruple that. So if they go a slightly different route. And I know they do want independence. It's going to be independence, that's just definition. But if they go a certain route I just said that I hope you're going to be able to trade with the United States. I read reports where that won’t be possible. But I believe after speaking with the prime minister’s people and representatives and trade experts it will absolutely be possible."
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SMITH: "Well we’re left wondering what the outcome will be, Kimberly?"
STRASSEL: "Well I think people should be very optimistic about this. Remember when the president was up in Canada at the G-7 summit he surprised a lot of people by saying you know, this is how we should do trade deals. You get rid of your barriers and we’ll get rid of ours. Of course, no one took him up on the offer. But what it sounds we're seeing here is that perhaps in sitting down with Theresa May there was a willingness for them to get closer to that kind of a trade deal. That would be good news not just for the United States, but potentially for trade deals everywhere, because at the moment one legitimate criticism that Mr. Trump has is that a lot of these deals are just you protect your stuff, we’ll protect mine and we’ll negotiate somewhere in the middle. It is not really about truly fair and free trade."