In his speech Tuesday announcing that he was running for President, Donald Trump named three countries that have been stealing our jobs, two of which (Japan and Mexico) are included in the Trans Pacific Partnership that President Obama is negotiating.  Trump said:

Our country is in serious trouble. We don't have victories anymore. We used to have victories, but we don't have them. When was the last time anybody saw us beating, let's say, China in a trade deal? They kill us. I beat China all the time. All the time.

When did we beat Japan at anything? They send their cars over by the millions, and what do we do? When was the last time you saw a Chevrolet in Tokyo? It doesn't exist, folks. They beat us all the time.

When do we beat Mexico at the border? They're laughing at us, at our stupidity. And now they are beating us economically. They are not our friend, believe me. But they're killing us economically.

Later in his speech, he explained how these countries take our money through trade surpluses and then lend it back to us to keep the dollar high and their currencies low:

I'll bring back our jobs from China, from Mexico, from Japan, from so many places. I'll bring back our jobs, and I'll bring back our money.

Right now, think of this: We owe China $1.3 trillion. We owe Japan more than that. So they come in, they take our jobs, they take our money, and then they loan us back the money, and we pay them in interest, and then the dollar goes up so their deal's even better.

How stupid are our leaders? How stupid are these politicians to allow this to happen? How stupid are they?

Trump is correct about Japan and Mexico.  Like China, they have been lending massive amounts of money to the United States as a byproduct of their currency manipulations:

·      Japan. The Japanese government has its government pension investment fund sell massive amounts of Japanese bonds, using the proceeds to buy foreign stocks and bonds. Through such means, it brought the exchange rate of the yen down from 1.02 U.S. cents per yen in October 2013 to 0.81 cents today. 

·      Mexico. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke reported in a November 2010 speech (see Figure 8) that between September 2009 and September 2010, the Mexican government loaned foreign countries 3.64% of Mexico's GDP.

As president, Trump would use the threat of tariffs to negotiate trade agreements that would benefit the United States.  In contrast, President Obama weakly buckled to Japan’s demand that the Trans Pacific Partnership permit currency manipulation.