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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2018
editor@dailyastorian.com
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Publisher
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Editor
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Business Manager
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Systems Manager
OUR VIEW
Trump has torn down trade deals, but hasn’t rebuilt
P
resident Trump has been busy in
recent months fulfilling campaign
promises on trade, with mixed
results for farmers, ranchers, loggers
and others, including the newspaper
business.
One of Trump’s favorite campaign
riffs was on trade, or more specifi-
cally how the United States in general
and American workers and businesses
in particular were being beat up by our
trading partners.
“We don’t make good deals anymore.
I say it all the time in speeches. We don’t
make good deals anymore; we make bad
deals. Our trade deals are a disaster.”
As a candidate, Trump said Mexico
and Canada were getting much more
from the U.S. under the North American
Free Trade Agreement than they were
giving. He promised to reopen negotia-
tions and make a better deal.
He reopened talks on NAFTA. So
far there’s no new deal, better or worse.
Canada and Mexico are, respectively,
the second- and third-largest importers
of U.S. agricultural goods. They account
for about $41 billion in ag exports.
In the meantime, new Trump tar-
iffs on softwood lumber and the North
American paper supply are playing
out with consequences for U.S. indus-
tries that depend in part on Canadian
suppliers.
U.S. industries are understandably
nervous. Do they want a better deal?
Yeah. Can they afford to have no deal?
No.
As a candidate, Trump liked to talk
about how foreign steel and alumi-
num makers were unfairly dumping
under-priced goods in the U.S., hurt-
ing American steelworkers. Earlier this
month he threatened to increase tar-
iffs on foreign steel and aluminum. That
made steelworkers happy, but farmers
are left worried that their products will
bear the brunt of any retaliatory mea-
sures steel-exporting countries place on
the U.S.
Then there’s the Trans-Pacific
Partnership. U.S. farmers had a big
stake in the multilateral trade pact with
Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan,
Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru,
Singapore and Vietnam. But it wasn’t
very popular during the campaign.
Bernie Sanders said TPP was a
“global race to the bottom” to boost
corporate profits. As secretary of state,
Hillary Clinton called TPP the “gold
standard” of trade pacts, but candidate
Clinton said that when she read the final
text she couldn’t support it. Trump said
the deal undercut American workers and
companies.
All three said they’d walk away from
the deal. Trump won, walked away from
the deal and said he’d negotiate better
bilateral treaties with our biggest trading
partners.
Last week the remaining 11 part-
ners signed the TPP, sans many of the
provisions insisted upon by U.S. nego-
tiators and the U.S. itself. Trump just
announced a new trade pact with South
AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein
A woman wearing a uniform with the logo of an American produce company helps a
customer shop for apples at a supermarket in Beijing. China announced a $3 billion list
of U.S. goods including pork, apples and steel pipe that it said may be hit with higher
tariffs in a spiraling trade dispute with President Donald Trump.
Korea, but there still are no new bilat-
eral agreements with the countries that
buy the bulk of farm exports from the
Pacific Northwest. U.S. farmers export
$135 billion in products each year. They
have a lot riding on trade.
So do struggling newspaper pub-
lishers. On March 13 the Department
of Commerce ordered new duties up
to 22.16 percent on Canadian news-
print production, adding to January
assessments of 4.4 to 9 percent. Some
newspapers — especially those that
don’t buy their newsprint here in the
Pacific Northwest — won’t survive
this price hike on our essential phys-
ical ingredient. There’s no indication
Trump officials understand the broader
consequences of this and other tariff
decisions.
Having walked away from “bad”
trade deals, it’s time for Trump to ful-
fill the other half of his promises and
replace them with treaties that serve the
interests of a broad cross-section of U.S.
industries, not just a chosen few.
school bond issues presently being proposed
by local agencies.
JOHN DUNZER
Seaside
LETTERS WELCOME
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Scorecard helps voters decide
umerous candidates are vying for votes in
the May 15 primary election. Fortunately,
voters will have newspaper articles, websites,
and the official voters’ pamphlet to help us
decide which candidates to vote for.
This year, there’s an additional resource: a
Candidates Scorecard developed by Indivisi-
ble North Coast Oregon (INCO). Our purpose
is to inform voters of candidates’ positions on
issues that affect our state and region. INCO is
not fielding or endorsing candidates in the May
election.
INCO’s Candidates Scorecard features
responses from candidates to policy statements
written by our members. All candidates run-
ning for the Oregon House District 32, Senate
District 16, and Clatsop County Commissioner,
Districts 1, 3, and 5, were invited to participate.
INCO members will be distributing the
Candidates Scorecard to homes and busi-
nesses starting in April. The scorecards, with
the additional comments submitted by some
candidates, will be posted at incovotethefuture.
org, starting Tuesday. We hope it will help you
identify which candidates you want to vote for.
INCO is one of more than 5,000 grass-
roots Indivisible groups around the country.
Our mission is to defend democracy by oppos-
ing authoritarianism, bigotry, and corruption.
INCO encourages civic engagement by all its
members, including running for office and cam-
paigning for candidates of their choice. Contact
incoregon@gmail.com for more information.
DEB VANASSE
LAURIE CAPLAN
Co-chairwomen, Indivisible North Coast
Oregon
N
Vote Orr for state
representative
ho will represent us in Salem, now that
Deborah Boone is retiring after 16 years?
There are three candidates, but only one who is
independent and environmentally proven.
John Orr was among the first businessmen
to publicly declare his opposition to Liquefied
Natural Gas (LNG) and proudly display the red
NO LNG sign in his Astoria law office win-
dow. John testified for healthy rivers and safe
communities, and against LNG, in many state
and local hearings. For six years, Orr served as
president of North Coast Land Conservancy.
John Orr is the only independent candidate
for Oregon House District 32. The first oppo-
nent is a longtime politician financed by the
timber industry, who never met a clear-cut he
didn’t like. The other opponent filed at the last
hour and has a paid, professional campaign
manager provided by Portland-based unions
and organizations. Orr’s campaign consists of
local volunteers like me, and small financial
contributions.
I invite you to meet John Orr on Wednes-
day, April 4, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Warrenton
Community Center, 170 S.W. Third St. John
Orr is the only candidate with a smart, sustain-
able vision for Oregon, and the experience and
W
maturity to serve North Coast residents in the
legislature.
I will vote for John Orr in the May primary.
I hope you do, too.
CHERYL JOHNSON
Astoria
Special Easter blessings to you
his Easter could be entitled “the rest of the
story.”
Would the creator of the universe, the cre-
ator of cattle on a thousand hills, the creator of
all the fish in the sea, and yes, the creator of
you and me, the one that wrote the very story
of life, leave us guessing about how the story
ends? I think not!
The message of Easter is a message of love
and forgiveness, a message of victory over
all our human errors — yes, even a message
of victory over death! It is a message of hope,
which includes you and me and the opportu-
nity for a new beginning, a new direction for
our lives.
Folks, this is not fiction, but a true story
with a very exciting and happy ending.
Special Easter blessings to you.
JIM BERNARD
Warrenton
T
Jail bond wouldn’t be
guaranteed
es, Clatsop County needs better jail facil-
ities. The county plans to seek voter
approval to issue bonds for new jail facilities
that will be repaid by future property tax reve-
nues. It all sounds pretty normal, right?
Nestled behind their podium up in Astoria,
our county’s elected leaders and paid staff are
hoping that this time jail improvements will be
successful. They really don’t want to acknowl-
edge that the investment community rates
bonds for buyers by the risk that they will not
be repaid.
Property taxes are based on property val-
uation, and Clatsop County has just over $6
billion of property that is taxed. The narrow
Pacific coastal strip of the county from Arch
Cape to the mouth of the Columbia River con-
tains 70 percent of this property valuation.
Using state-issued tsunami inundation
maps, about 80 percent of the value of these
properties will be destroyed by a mid-size Cas-
cadia event. Even Astoria, with about 13 per-
cent of the county’s assessed valuation, will be
hard hit by the earthquake portion of a Cas-
cadia event because of the age of its down-
town structures. The state puts the probabil-
ity of such a Cascadia event as 1 in 3 over the
next 50 years. As an investor, would you want
to fund your children’s education and your
retirement on a “junk bond” like this?
But wait, didn’t Seaside School District
just successfully issue $100 million in school
bonds? Yes, but under duress from Sen. Betsy
Johnson, the state treasurer guaranteed these
bonds. There is no one to guarantee these jail
bonds, nor many of these other proposed non-
Y
Don’t miss ‘Noises Off’
at Coaster Theatre
ecently I attended a performance of
“Noises Off” at the Coaster Theatre in
Cannon Beach. “A grand time was had by all”
is a severe understatement.
The superior cast provided us a raucous eve-
ning of surprises, laughter and guffaws. Their
timing was spot on — not one hint of arti-
fice. The actors are obviously enjoying them-
selves and enjoying entertaining those attend-
ing. And, the set is fabulous.
By the end of the evening, I knew I had to
spread the mirth. The play runs through April
21; if you want rollicking laughter, along with
top notch acting, don’t miss seeing “Noises
Off.” Don’t forget the sardines.
TITA MONTERO
Seaside
R
Applaud effort for change
he young adults participating in the recent
marches and protests are learning great
political science lessons and procedures in their
efforts to curb the trend of tragedies we have
experienced in our schools, theaters, malls and
concert venues.
They will need to make this a movement
and not just a moment. I think they are more
than beginning to see how our democracy
works by realizing that their vote does count,
and the power of numbers those votes can cre-
ate. It reminds me of some past generations
attempting to change the direction of a country.
This will be an uphill battle, obviously, as
all the past revolutions have been, and I urge
them to persevere because it can slip away
quickly. The great thing is a worldwide belief
that is growing for their cause.
Used to be you could walk through a high
T
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All letters are subject to editing
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Letters written in response to
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school parking lot in small towns across Amer-
ica, and see numerous vehicles with a gun rack
in the window holding more than one weapon
for hunting. I don’t think these are the types of
guns these youth are focused on, but I may be
wrong on that.
The frustration of not being heard may make
that a false thought. Their voices are gaining
volume for the cause they deeply believe in.
Applaud their effort for change.
PAT WILSON
Astoria