I have been seeing a lot of arguments bashing Trump’s stance on trade. In this post I will explain the realities of trade not just theoretical mumbo jumbo. via /r/The_Donald

Most of us know that our manufacturing jobs are being shipped overseas due to cheap labor/currency manipulation abroad. That means the average joe who worked in manufacturing will not have a job in the future. Expecting him to transition into the service sector when he has worked his entire life digging up coal or making steel is naive.

Secondly, I hope you guys do know that the cheap products you can afford is due to terrible work conditions and child labor abroad. Are you morally okay with children being forced to work so you can afford an Iphone? In Foxconn workers having to take permission to piss from their supervisors. There is a good chance the cloth you wear was made by a kid in Bangladesh. Are you okay with wearing those clothes?

Coming to the service sector and what free movement does. Let me take the example of India. The wage in India is 20$/day. Say, a software worker(American) is making 20$/hour. An Indian comes in from abroad and is willing to work 15$/hour(120$ a day, 6 times what he earns in India). Why would he do this when he has to live in America? Because he can struggle for 5-6 years, save up enough money and then return to his home effectively having earned 6 times what he would have earned in India in those 5-6 years. Thus, he can take a pay cut here and return to his homeland and live like a king.

The same luxury is not available to the American worker. He has no country to escape to if he lives on 15$/hour. He has to live in America(or he could go an live in India but that is unreasonable). If we had a common currency and the whole world had living standards equal to our own, then by logic would be false. But we live in a world where there are disparities – in terms of currency and in terms of living standards. Until that is the reality, we have to be smart with our trade deals.

Trade deals sound good in theory but if you account for reality, they haven't benefited Americans nor will they in the long run. We have to be smart with our trade deals like Trump proposes.