Slams NAFTA and global trade deals in Monessen “jobs plan” speech

At a June 28, 2016 “jobs plan” speech at a recycling plant in Monessen, Pennsylvania, Trump laid out a trade agenda built on demonizing NAFTA and other agreements as disasters and portraying globalization as a betrayal by political and financial elites. He told the audience that NAFTA was “the worst trade deal in the history” of the United States and claimed that China’s entry into the World Trade Organization had enabled “the greatest job theft in the history of our country,” promising to rewrite or exit major trade deals and slap tariffs on partners. Fact-checks and contemporaneous coverage noted that he exaggerated manufacturing job losses and ignored more complex causes, but the speech taught supporters to see a “rigged” leadership class and Clinton-aligned global finance as solely responsible for their economic pain, foreshadowing his convention “American workers versus globalists” framing (see 2016-04-18_to_2016-04-24 and 2016-04-25_to_2016-05-01).

"NAFTA was the worst trade deal in the history of this country." — June 28, 2016 economic speech at a recycling plant in Monessen, Pennsylvania, where Trump blamed NAFTA and China’s entry into the WTO for “the greatest job theft in the history of our country” and promised to rip up or renegotiate trade agreements.