By Count Friedrich von Olsen
I am in the me mood. I mean that quite literally, in fact alphabetically, as in words beginning with m as the first letter and e as the second letter. Translation: I feel I must now provide a mea culpa and will then follow that up with a memo…
First the mea culpa…
Readers of this column will, no doubt, have noted that over the last few weeks I lost faith. Indeed, I was driven into a deep and soul-consuming depression, driven to the brink, more accurately actually into the abyss, of despair over what was looking to me like the inevitable prospect that we were to have Hillary Clinton as our next president. I can say nothing in my defense. I allowed myself to be hypnotized, convinced, bamboozled, outright fooled into thinking that the Republican standard bearer, Donald Trump, had shot himself in the foot, obliterating his pedestal so badly that he stood no chance. All who know me recognize I am a Republican tried and true, a Tory, a Bonapartist, a practitioner of realpolitik. My favorite quote is that of General George Patton, who famously said, “Politicians are the lowest form of human life. Democrats are the lowest form of politician.” I am a strict adherent of the 11th Commandment, which forbids a Republican to speak ill of a fellow Republican. Yet, I slipped. I failed, miserably. I allowed myself to become a victim of the mass delusion that a Donald Trump defeat was inevitable. I lost my way….
But on Tuesday evening my faith was restored…
As one who doubted and fell short, I perhaps have no right now to offer Mr. Trump counsel. Yet I shall sally forth, for, despite my momentary stumble, I believe what I am about to offer is too important for me to keep it to myself…
Hereafter is my memo to President-elect Donald Trump…
I applaud you for your vision, seeing opportunity where too many others are blinded by trepidation. I wholeheartedly agree that our great nation is in need of international trade reform…
My perspective is generally in accordance, I think, with yours. I do believe, however, that as far as trade adjustment goes, quite likely I lean harder to redefining our relations to the Orient than in burning our bridges in Occident…
Let me explain: While it is true that NAFTA – the North American Free Trade Agreement – has proven a bane to our economy, I believe this is a reflection of our having it to be misapplied rather than an inherent flaw in the agreement itself or its intent or potential. That is, Canada and Mexico, both right now and well into the future, perhaps even forever, are our natural and geographical economic and trading allies. To the extent that there is global trade competition, our adversaries are not Mexico or Canada or Central or South America. Our greatest competition today and into the future lies across the Pacific…
It is in our interest to forge and strengthen the alliance laid out in NAFTA. If rather than misapplying NAFTA we were to employ it as we should, it would prove to our benefit, not our detriment…
Consider how one of our most powerful and successful international competitors has bettered its global economic and trading position. Two generations ago, the United States was the undisputed leader in the manufacture of trucks, cars, tractors, bulldozers, fork lift trucks, earthmovers and the like, television sets, high fidelity sound recording and playing equipment and radios. A generation ago, we led the world in the production of computers and computer components. Yet Japan, first, and subsequently Korea and now China have made inroads on all of that. With its success, Japan saw its standard of living increase, causing wages to skyrocket and its costs of production to similarly increase. But it overcame that. How? By cleverly farming out to its neighbors the production of a large number of the components that go into its finished goods. It allowed other countries within easy importation distance from its shores to take up the fabrication of smaller components and subcomponents it utilizes in its goods. In places such as Singapore, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Guam and Okinawa, and in some instances the Philippines and Formosa, where the cost of labor remains low, workers toil to make products designed by Japanese engineers. Adroitly, Japanese corporation have insisted on applying the same standardization procedures and quality control strategies in those foreign foundries as they apply domestically, maintaining the quality of the final product but holding the line on costs. This has allowed Japan and Japanese finished products to remain competitive in the global marketplace…
I believe the United States should take a leaf out of Japan’s book and apply the same game plan here on this side of the Pacific. We should not fear nor resent Mexico for the lower wages its workers will accept but rather see that as an opportunity. If we facilitate the establishment of new factories and foundries in Mexico or actively encourage the conversion of existing ones there to construct the components and subcomponents utilized in the goods American companies produce, we can increase our manufacturing volume while reducing the wholesale and retail cost of our goods. Perhaps in this way we can reestablish American – that is North American – leadership in the manufacturing of vehicles, machinery, televisions, monitors, and computers…
Let us be realistic. Think not in terms of the next six months, or the four years of a single presidential term or a decade. Think in terms of a century ahead, or two centuries into the future. In one hundred years, will the United States and Mexico and Canada still remain as wholly distinct and separate political entities? Perhaps, but even that is not a certainty. Undeniably, in terms of our economies, collectively we are stronger together than separately…
Let us no longer think of our relationship with Mexico in the terms of a wall, but rather making it so our manufacturing capabilities mesh…
My advice to you, President-elect Trump, is that you should not kill NAFTA, but use as it has not yet been used and as the tool it is, one that will allow us to harness our strength and advantages to empower the entire continent…