As for all those factories shutting down, Mr. Buchanan’s ideology has blinded him to the big picture. American manufacturing is thriving today in a more open global economy. Since 1992, manufacturing output in the United States is up by more than 40 percent, with domestic output of cars and light trucks at record highs. The $2 billion a year we invest in Mexican factories is a tiny fraction of the $200 billion a year we invest in domestic manufacturing. In fact, foreign companies invest more each year in American manufacturing than Americans invest abroad, which is why today one in eight U.S. manufacturing workers is employed by a foreign-owned affiliate.
Pat Buchanan’s message of economic “independence” through government-imposed trade barriers is a recipe for national decline and waning U.S. influence in the world. Judging by the latest polls, most Americans agree.