Letter: We should concentrate on reasonably good trade deals

President Donald Trump cannot return business the United States has sent to other countries. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says the unemployment rate in December 2016 was 4.7 percent, but 5 percent unemployment is considered “full employment.” Therefore, we would need to move employees from outside the country, giving the United States more business than it could support. The unemployed could not provide substantial blocks to any one business at a time since they are scattered about the country.

As an example, the Boeing 777 airliner is built in pieces in many countries around the world. If we were to return that business to the United States, we would need large blocks of highly trained people in few locations. Since the available educated and willing workers are distributed around the country, Boeing would need to bring them from other industries — or move others from foreign countries.

Giving this business to other countries keeps those countries peaceful. It is a good substitute for defense needs.

In summary, the unemployed workers cannot provide the labor necessary to service the manufacturing President Trump intends to “bring back” to the United States. We should concentrate on reasonably good trade deals instead.

This story was originally published February 12, 2017 at 4:03 AM with the headline "Letter: We should concentrate on reasonably good trade deals."