Krugman: Trump On Trade
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/09/27/trump-on-trade/
Even so, it seems to be conventional wisdom that Trump did well in the first 15 minutes. And I guess he did if you are impressed by someone talking loudly and confidently about a subject he really doesnt understand. But really: Trump on trade was ignorance all the way.
There were specifics: China is devaluing (not so it was holding down the yuan five years ago, but these days its intervening to keep the yuan up, not down.) There was this, on Mexico:
Let me give you the example of Mexico. They have a VAT tax. Were on a different system. When we sell into Mexico, theres a tax. When they sell in automatic, 16 percent, approximately. When they sell into us, theres no tax. Its a defective agreement. Its been defective for a long time, many years, but the politicians havent done anything about it.
Gah. A VAT is basically a sales tax. It is levied on both domestic and imported goods, so that it doesnt protect against imports which is why its allowed under international trade rules, and not considered a protectionist trade policy. I get that Trump is not an economist hoo boy, is he not an economist but this is one of his signature issues, so you might have expected him to learn a few facts.