Sen. Charles Schumer, Democratic minority leader, said Donald Trump “sold out” in the Phase 1 trade deal with China. To his credit, Schumer came out very late in the negotiating process with one comment in support of the president for taking a hard line in the China negotiations comment. That’s not exactly something the Chinese would be too concerned about. But where were Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and the rest of our New Hampshire congressional delegation with their support as the president tried to stop the theft of our intellectual property and the exporting of fentanyl to New Hampshire. They were nowhere to be heard or found.
What Sen. Schumer failed to consider is that there was a price for Americans to pay to get China to stop treating American workers, particularly American farmers, so unfairly. Since there was no bipartisan support for the president’s efforts, the Chinese were emboldened not to agree to the all-encompassing trade deal the president was trying to achieve.
So, Trump felt it best to get his total deal done in phases. This Phase 1 deal, which stops fentanyl from coming to New Hampshire, is what Schumer publicly criticized the president for. This Democratic response is what encourages the hard-line communists not to agree to a fair deal for our working people.
LOUISE ANDRUS
Salisbury