You can't have trade deals and subsidize industries like that. Won't work with USMC and probably not with EU etc.. So it's complicated, even thought it's probably the right thing to do in certain areas.
Oh, it's hard work, but you can totally have trade deals and subsidize industries - you "just need to" get your trade partners to agree - Canada still has its dairy management system more or less intact for example.
Like ya, it'd be a lot of work (probably take years!) to get these deals going, but let's not lie to ourselves about what these subsidies are about - they're about trying to setup a more or less sustainable system in important industries that is supposed to last for decades. After years of "paperwork" it'll take years (maybe over a decade!) to actually come up to steam in production.
At least for the USMCA and EU, I think a lot of American interests are more or less aligned with partner interests. The obvious common ground is "let's work out ways to reduce our reliance in certain strategic areas from sources concentrated in China's sphere of influence". I think there's sufficient political AND popular backing of that that something could probably be figured out. Notably this might require that America itself "settle" for bringing back "western manufacturing" not "American manufacturing". That might be the hardest sell in this whole deal.
Would a USMCA/EU/JP/SK/AUS manufacturing partnership be that difficult politically? naively it seems that all parties have rough parity in standard of living, and each has leadership in a few industries and all share roughly the same environmental regulations/strategies.
The only rough patch that I could see would be in autos
and aircraft which are both relatively stable industries with a history of comebacks. I would imagine that there would need to be provisions for national protection of these types of industries.
Donald Trump put Bombardier basically out of business with the stroke of the pen.
The EU is trying hard to legislate FAANGS for anti-competitive issues and more money.
I don't see a lot of goodwill on these things.
Unless there is a clear and obvious path for some specific kind of industry ... I can see everyone getting along on a specific issue, but I don't see what that is.
Like ya, it'd be a lot of work (probably take years!) to get these deals going, but let's not lie to ourselves about what these subsidies are about - they're about trying to setup a more or less sustainable system in important industries that is supposed to last for decades. After years of "paperwork" it'll take years (maybe over a decade!) to actually come up to steam in production.
At least for the USMCA and EU, I think a lot of American interests are more or less aligned with partner interests. The obvious common ground is "let's work out ways to reduce our reliance in certain strategic areas from sources concentrated in China's sphere of influence". I think there's sufficient political AND popular backing of that that something could probably be figured out. Notably this might require that America itself "settle" for bringing back "western manufacturing" not "American manufacturing". That might be the hardest sell in this whole deal.