Trump Says His Position on Trade Is 'Very Close' to Bernie Sanders'

Adding to many comments which the political consultancy class would no doubt advise against, Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump recently cited a similarity between himself and Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders. From The Washington Times:

“I was watching [Sanders] and he talked about trade and he was talking about how we’re getting ripped off left and right on trade, and I [said], you know, I think I can take that paragraph and just use it in my speeches,” Mr. Trump said Monday via phone on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “It’s what I’m saying — it’s one of my big things.”

Both Mr. Trump, who has been leading recent polls on the 2016 GOP presidential field, and Mr. Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist who is contending for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, have come out against the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal being negotiated between the United States and 11 other countries including Japan, Australia and Canada.

“We’re getting killed by China, we’re getting killed — now here’s the difference between Bernie Sanders and myself: I negotiate. I will make great deals with China; he can’t do that,” Mr. Trump said. “In other words, he’s incapable of doing that. But he knows the problem, at least. He’s not going to be able to anything about it, but he does know the problem, and if you look at his words on trade and my words on trade, man — I was just looking at it yesterday, actually. I said, that’s pretty close, you know, so in terms of that, we’re very close.”

Notably, the distinction Trump draws between himself and Sanders isn’t one of policy, but capacity. In essence, Trump is saying he can do a better job of restricting trade than Bernie Sanders. So, he’s got that going for him.