NeverTrumpers, Libertarians, and Trump's NAFTA Deal

by Rod D. Martin
October 1, 2018

Remember how many times NeverTrumpers and libertarians told us that Trump was going to blow up "free trade" (as if the deals he was criticizing actually constituted free trade), and plunge us into a depression (how's that working out?), because he was opposed to all trade deals, and was trying to take us back to isolationism and Smoot-Hawley?

I was there. There was nothing he actually said that could legitimately cause you to think any of that: he just didn't say things the way the Cato Institute, the Weekly Standard, the Koch brothers and Jeb! demanded he say them (or support the grossly lopsided "deals" they support). But little things like facts never got in their way (and still aren't).

Last week, President Trump announced a new trade deal with South Korea, vastly better than what his predecessor had negotiated or the awful TPP, and putting significant carrots -- and sticks -- before China, Japan, and everyone else in East Asia, most assuredly includin…