John Bolton - Donald Trump vs Ronald Reagan on tariffs - Fascinating!

00:00:00.040 Hi, it's John, and welcome to the channel. It is still March the 14th. It is 1246 p.m.

00:00:05.600 I do have my big blue mug of coffee right now. I want to do a quick video here. I think this will

00:00:10.380 be rather educational, and I want to play a couple of videos for you. Donald Trump versus Ronald

00:00:17.200 Reagan when it comes to tariffs. If you're a Canadian, you know we're dealing with the turmoil

00:00:22.060 of Trump tariffs right now. The Europeans are going to be dealing with this as well. The Chinese

00:00:26.700 are dealing with this as well, but I thought it'd be rather educational to see the difference

00:00:31.500 between Donald Trump and Ronald Reagan, who they called the great communicator. Now, Donald

00:00:37.100 Trump has been very one-note on this, the same message over and over and over again, so it's

00:00:42.520 nothing you haven't heard recently. But we're going to go back to 1987. Now, a lot of Republicans

00:00:48.420 in the United States, a lot of conservatives, see Ronald Reagan as the ideal president. Now,

00:00:53.380 whether you agree with that or not is not important for this, but you're going to get a real indication

00:00:58.040 of the difference between Donald Trump and what Ronald Reagan believed when it came to

00:01:03.040 tariffs. So I hope you enjoy this. It's not a long video, but I think it's rather educational.

00:01:07.220 Thanks for watching. If you liked the video, by the way, give it a thumbs up, and please

00:01:10.880 subscribe to the channel. We're over 13,000, and I appreciate you being here.

00:01:15.460 I know many people from Canada that are good friends of mine, but, you know, the United States

00:01:21.920 can't subsidize a country for $200 billion a year. We don't need their cars. We don't

00:01:28.760 need their energy. We don't need their lumber. We don't need anything that they get. We do

00:01:36.440 it because we want to be helpful, but it comes a point when you just can't do that. You have

00:01:40.920 to run your own country. And to be honest with you, Canada only works as a state. We don't

00:01:46.620 need anything they have. As a state, it would be one of the great states anyway. This would

00:01:52.000 be the most incredible country. Visually, if you look at a map, they drew an artificial

00:01:57.000 line right through it between Canada and the U.S., just a straight artificial line. Somebody

00:02:02.500 did it a long time ago, many, many decades ago, and makes no sense. It's so perfect as a great

00:02:13.200 and cherished state. Keeping, oh, Canada, the national anthem. I love it. I think it's

00:02:19.820 great. Keep it. But it'll be for the state, one of our greatest states, maybe our greatest

00:02:25.260 state. But why should we subsidize another country for $200 billion? Of course, it's $200 billion

00:02:32.280 a year. And again, we don't need their lumber. We don't need their energy. We have more than

00:02:37.380 they do. We don't need anything. We don't need the cars. I'd much rather make the cars

00:02:41.100 here. And there's not a thing that we need. Now, there'll be a little disruption, but it

00:02:47.600 won't be very long. But they need us. We really don't need them.

00:02:52.780 Now, that message of free trade is one I conveyed to Canada's leaders a few weeks ago, and it

00:02:58.760 was warmly received there. Indeed, throughout the world, there's a growing realization that

00:03:04.600 the way to prosperity for all nations is rejecting protectionist legislation and promoting fair

00:03:10.740 and free competition. Now, there are sound historical reasons for this. For those of us who lived

00:03:16.700 through the Great Depression, the memory of the suffering it caused is deep and searing.

00:03:21.920 And today, many economic analysts and historians argue that high-tariff legislation passed back

00:03:27.760 in that period, called the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, greatly deepened the Depression and prevented

00:03:33.400 economic recovery. You see, at first, when someone says, let's impose tariffs on foreign

00:03:38.980 imports, it looks like they're doing the patriotic thing by protecting American products and jobs.

00:03:45.760 And sometimes for a short while it works, but only for a short time. What eventually occurs

00:03:51.540 is, first, homegrown industries start relying on government protection in the form of high tariffs,

00:03:57.100 they stop competing, and stop making the innovative management and technological changes they need

00:04:03.180 to succeed in world markets. And then, while all this is going on, something even worse occurs.

00:04:09.680 High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce

00:04:15.040 trade wars. The result is more and more tariffs, higher and higher trade barriers, and less and less

00:04:20.820 competition. So, soon, because of the prices made artificially high by tariffs that subsidize

00:04:26.800 inefficiency and poor management, people stop buying. Then the worst happens. Markets shrink

00:04:32.480 and collapse, businesses and industries shut down, and millions of people lose their jobs.

00:04:38.080 The memory of all this occurring back in the 30s made me determined when I came to Washington

00:04:42.560 to spare the American people the protectionist legislation that destroys prosperity. I'll keep

00:04:49.460 you informed on this dangerous legislation because it's just another form of protectionism,

00:04:54.120 and I may need your help to stop it. Remember, America's jobs and

00:04:59.800 growth are at stake. Until next week, thanks for listening, and God bless you.

John Bolton - March 14, 2025

Donald Trump vs Ronald Reagan on tariffs - Fascinating!

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