It’s Groundhog Day all over again on free trade

It’s Groundhog Day, and just like in the eponymous 1993 movie, presidents are singing the same tune on trade, over and over.

“For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped, and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike,” President Donald Trump said last year.

Before Trump, President Joe Biden said, “Companies took their jobs overseas to get cheaper labor. Factories closed down. Manufacturing slowed. Entire communities became hollowed out as American workers lost their paychecks and sense of pride.”

And then there’s President Barack Obama, who declared in 2012, “Too many factories where people thought they’d retire have left town. Too many jobs that provided a decent living have been shipped overseas. And the hard truth is, a lot of those jobs aren’t coming back.”

This nearly apocalyptic view