Ever since Bush went to war in Iraq I have been trying to follow my Bye American idea. ‘Bye’ being give American goods a pass whenever I could. Sometimes it is difficult with fresh veggies in winter but I tried. Then when the current occupant of the White House arrived on the scene, I redoubled my efforts. The Don tried his version of Buy American by using tariffs and calling us a threat to national security, which speaks volumes about him. Anyway, I hope you don’t follow his example by punishing your few remaining friends.
What I think you need to do, Uncle Joe, (I’m trying to let you into our family here) is to promote the idea to people around the world to Buy American. If you can increase your export sales you will get more of your people back to work. You may have to buy some goods from other countries in reciprocation but that can be a good thing since most of us have a weaker currency than you have. Maybe you could get Walmart and Amazon to ease off a little because we have some people up here that not happy with those dominant companies.
You may have to mend some fences before your Buy American plan works since there are a number of countries who are using my version of giving your country a Bye. Not all of this was your problem although to hear The Don tweet you were in the government business for 47 years and must have had some input. We’ll forget about the aluminum tariffs for now but the first thing you can do is keep that oil flowing from Alberta. It is likely not creating any more greenhouse gases than the other oil you import. Moreover, forget about drilling and fracking in the Arctic as The Don wanted US companies to do.
Your neighbour(s) to the south are really not as dangerous as you think and should be good trading partners. It is time to forget about Batista and the Bay of Pigs and those ex-pats in Miami – the Cubans are actually pretty decent people. The Mexicans are likewise decent although they do have a drug dealer problem, as that country seems to be the gateway to your drug market. You could work on that too.
You will really have to do some work to get the people in El Salvador to Buy American, as the memories of what you and your CIA did there are still fresh wounds. Columbia likewise. Chile ditto. Maybe Venezuela too. Oh and don’t forget Nicaragua and Guatemala as I think your country meddled there in the last century.
Southeast Asia might be problematic as that whole mess in Vietnam and its bordering countries certainly strained relations. Maybe could use Please Buy American . . .
The Don is good friends with Russia, North Korea, and Turkey but those Strong Men in charge might be open to a little quid pro quo trading. You could even appoint The Don (if he ever leaves the WH) as ambassador to North Korea. Could he screw things up any more than he has already? The South Koreans are training some great golfers – maybe Don could build a golf course north of the 38th parallel. Just forget about China.
I really have no suggestions as to what you can do about Buy American in Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Afghanistan. Likewise, I am unsure about Buy American in Africa. Worldwide television has not portrayed your country too kindly in the Black Lives Matter movement. Perhaps you could just put that on the back burner until Kamala tales over.
Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving. It’s going to be difficult to eat turkey wearing those Covid masks but do your best. By the way, if you run out of turkeys, we have some up here. Heck, you don’t even have to Buy Canadian – we’ll ship them to you free.
