Judging by his recent political rhetoric, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump would put and end to the US outsourcing trend if elected, but a blog post he wrote for his Trump University in 2005 says otherwise.
In the article, uncovered by NBC’s Alex Seitz-Wald, the Republican leader opines that a firm will have to “farm jobs outside its walls” if such an action helps to avoid going out of business.
Citing a study, co-authored by Nobel Prize-winning economist Dr. Lawrence R. Klein, Trump writes that global outsourcing actually “creates more jobs and increases wages, at least for IT workers.”
“The study found that outsourcing helped companies be more competitive and more productive. That means they make more money, which means they funnel more into the economy, thereby, creating more jobs,” Trump wrote.
Considering the blog, it seems he is comfortable with IT firms sending jobs overseas, but not manufacturers. His Democratic Party rival Hillary Clinton has described his rhetoric against outsourcing as hypocrisy, saying “for decades, Trump has hired foreign workers instead of Americans to save himself money.”
According to The Washington Post, Donald J. Trump Collection shirts — as well as eyeglasses, perfume, cuff links and suits — are made in low-wage countries such as Bangladesh, China and Honduras.
It seems Trump’s rhetoric against outsourcing, including the threat that he would impose 35% tax on vehicles brought from Mexico, has come back to haunt him. But it is too late, because he has already dragged outsourcing to the center stage in this presidential election.
It all began when he slammed Ford Motors for its plans to set up a manufacturing plant in Mexico. But people started taking his words seriously when he wrote on Facebook, “We cannot allow this to keep happening. It will NOT happen under my watch,” referring to Carrier’s plan to move 1,400 jobs from Indiana to Mexico.
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