Donald Trump talked tough on trade Tuesday afternoon, in a speech at a steel plant in Democratic-leaning western Pennsylvania.
Vowing to rip up and renegotiate all of the United States’s trade deals, he doubled down on his commitment to fight globalization on behalf of the American worker, a campaign theme that resonated for Trump in Rust Belt states like Pennsylvania early on.
Unlike his early speeches, though, this one wasn’t off the cuff. Trump read from prepared remarks that were also distributed to reporters, with nearly every line footnoted or marked with resources backing up Trump’s claim. The speech was meant to be a decisive statement against Hillary Clinton on the subject of foreign and domestic policy—and Trump wanted the speech to stick.
Here are some of the key notes about Trump’s trade speech:
1. Trump wants to turn the page. The last few weeks have been difficult on the Trump campaign as it struggles with allegations that it lacks seriousness and is in financial trouble. Today’s speech is an effort to right the “Trump train,” and re-engage in presidential politics. All of the speech’s surrounding pomp and circumstance was tailored to that end: he was sharply dressed, plain-spoken but professional, and speaking to a carefully selected crowd in an important swing-state demographic.
2. Trump attempted to draw key differences between himself and Hillary Clinton. Calling Clinton a member of a “class that worships globalism,” he hit Hillary on everything from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement to the North American Free Trade Agreement, calling her support for free trade a betrayal and warning that Clinton would “betray” the mostly white working class crowd again as president.
3. Trump really doesn’t like the Chinese. A large part of Trump’s trade agenda involves detaching American trade from its dependence on Asian markets, specifically the Chinese. Right out of the gate, Trump assailed what he calls Chinese economic practices and vowed to renegotiate trade deals with the superpower—and if he can’t, he says he’ll use executive power to withdraw from them and impose tariffs on Chinese imports. He also claimed that he would instruct the US Trade Rep to bring a case against China in the WTO.
4. Trump focused his appeal to the working class. Trump’s trade agenda is heavily protectionist, and he presents it as a response to what he terms “globalization.” Today, he spoke out against foreign steel, the trade deficit and outsourcing (especially overseas), aligning these ills with an “elitist” mindset that drives Washington politicians.
Trump closed his speech with this appeal: “I want you to imagine how much better your life can be if we start believing in America again. I want you to imagine how much better our future can be if we declare independence from the elites who’ve led us to one financial and foreign policy disaster after another.”
5. His speech wasn’t well-received by some Republicans. The Chamber of Commerce has, traditionally, been a big supporter of Republican candidates and causes, largely because Republicans push freer trade agendas. Today’s speech made them so angry they fact-checked it in real time. They also issued a post-speech counterpoint.
Trump will continue his Rust Belt tour with more stops in Pennsylvania and Ohio this week. Polls show that, in both states, Trump and Clinton are within 3.5 points of each other.
