Speaker 1: Sety five KRC, the talk station six oh five on
Speaker 1: this Wednesday morning. I'm Dan Carroll. Brian Thomas taking the
Speaker 1: week off, so it's my pleasure to be here for him.
Speaker 1: I get to do it one more day tomorrow, so
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to that and also looking forward to
Speaker 1: speaking with our next guest, and our first guest in
Speaker 1: the morning is Charlton Allen. Charlton Allen is an attorney.
Speaker 1: He is the former chief executive officer of the North
Speaker 1: Carolina Industrial Commission, the founder of the Madison Center for
Speaker 1: Law and Liberty, and the host of the Modern Federalist podcast.
Speaker 1: And he also is a regular contributor to American Thinker,
Speaker 1: which is a great website where that I look at
Speaker 1: just about every single day. And it is because of
Speaker 1: a piece that he wrote there that I reached out
Speaker 1: to him and asked him to be on the show
Speaker 1: this morning. And here he is, and Charlton Allen, thank
Speaker 1: you so much for being here, and good morning. It's
Speaker 1: great to have you on fifty five KRC. How are
Speaker 1: you today.
Speaker 2: I'm doing well, Dan, thanks for having me well.
Speaker 1: Thank you for being here. This piece that you wrote
Speaker 1: that really got my attention A few days ago. The
Speaker 1: headline is we didn't start the trade war, We've just
Speaker 1: finally joined it, and you make the case. First of all,
Speaker 1: the first thing you talk about is how the media
Speaker 1: really fails to deliver any context as it relates to tariffs.
Speaker 1: Do you believe that this is because they're pursuing an
Speaker 1: agenda that they don't want to provide real context. I
Speaker 1: think they have the ability to provide context, but they
Speaker 1: simply choose not to provide context and really wind up
Speaker 1: just parroting the talking points that come from the DNC
Speaker 1: and other organizations who were opposed to this administration.
Speaker 2: I think this is a heavy part of it.
Speaker 3: I don't necessarily believe that's all of it, And let
Speaker 3: me explain long. I think we have reached a point
Speaker 3: in our nation, and particularly in terms of the legacy media.
Speaker 3: They are very much coastal enclosed, and they have for
Speaker 3: generations ignored the flight of states like your state, Ohio,
Speaker 3: my state North Carolina, and all the states in between
Speaker 3: the two coasts. And as a consequence, Yeah, I have
Speaker 3: come to conclude unfortunately a lot of the legacy media
Speaker 3: sees there themselves as having more in common with Europe,
Speaker 3: for example, than the rest of America. And I think
Speaker 3: there is a deep philosophical and cultural divide that you know,
Speaker 3: is a chism between those media elites and the rest
Speaker 3: of us in this country.
Speaker 2: And I think as a major factor as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I think most Americans have an idea
Speaker 1: that that we have a very large trade imbalance when
Speaker 1: it comes to dealing with China. I think a lot
Speaker 1: of Americans might have been surprised though, to recognize the
Speaker 1: amount of tariffs that and and really how unlevel the
Speaker 1: playing field is when it when you talk about the
Speaker 1: rest of the world, when you when you look at
Speaker 1: all the other tariffs that all these countries impose on
Speaker 1: the United States, and the United States for so long
Speaker 1: essentially had had little or no tariffs on many of
Speaker 1: these other countries. And I think when you when you
Speaker 1: look at a guy like Trump, it is that sort
Speaker 1: of imbalance that that really bothers him more than anything else.
Speaker 1: That you know, we have all this access for all
Speaker 1: these other countries into our markets, but yet we don't
Speaker 1: have the same access to theirs.
Speaker 3: That's exactly the point. And you know, in terms of
Speaker 3: approaching it, I think you have to one hand, take
Speaker 3: China in China is a unique and over arching problem
Speaker 3: that's separate and apart from the rest of the world.
Speaker 3: And the reason why I say that is because China is,
Speaker 3: you know, buy and large, one of our largest trading partners,
Speaker 3: and they manipulate the markets, They manipulate trade.
Speaker 2: They have barriers upon barriers to trade in China.
Speaker 3: They have things such as Golden chairs, which give the
Speaker 3: Chinese Communist Party control over entities in China into corporations
Speaker 3: that you know, frankly did the fact that that is
Speaker 3: the case and those companies are dealing in securities in
Speaker 3: the United States is long overdue for the sec to
Speaker 3: be involved.
Speaker 2: But China is a problem in and of itself.
Speaker 3: Europe is another problem, and you know, I would take
Speaker 3: it a step further, not just Europe, but also Canada.
Speaker 3: We have significant trade imbalances Europe in particular in Canada
Speaker 3: as well, rely on the United States for national security.
Speaker 3: There is no way in the world that the Canadian
Speaker 3: Armed Forces can protect the one hundred and fifty one
Speaker 3: thousand miles of coastline in Canada or the four million
Speaker 3: square miles of aerospace in Canada. There's no way they
Speaker 3: rely on us to provide security. Same with Europe, and
Speaker 3: yet there are barriers to our penetration of both of
Speaker 3: those markets, in particular Europe, where if a United States
Speaker 3: company wants to sell a car, they're slapped with a
Speaker 3: ten percent tariffon on our cars, and then Europe cries
Speaker 3: foul when we demand reciprocity. For decades since World War Two,
Speaker 3: we have subsidized European comfort with American sacrifice. And that
Speaker 3: era is over.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you wrote a piece that appeared to an American
Speaker 1: thinker yesterday talking about Canada's free ride is finally over.
Speaker 1: I want to ask you a couple more questions about that.
Speaker 1: But just getting back to China for a moment, I
Speaker 1: guess the latest move was by China talking about how
Speaker 1: they're going to put a pause or a hold on
Speaker 1: China shipping out these rare earth minerals. And I was
Speaker 1: I was reading about this that the United States actually
Speaker 1: is a major producer of rare earth minerals. It's just
Speaker 1: that the refining process is shipped overseas, shipped over to
Speaker 1: China where those minerals are refined, and then they are
Speaker 1: sent back to the United States and to other parts
Speaker 1: of the world as well. And I think I think
Speaker 1: Trump has a pretty good handle on this. And so
Speaker 1: when you look at, or at least when I look
Speaker 1: at what I perceive to be the bargaining position that
Speaker 1: Trump wants to put this country into when it comes
Speaker 1: to tariffs, it's not only to level the playing field,
Speaker 1: but to reinvigorate these manufacturing processes, and so we are
Speaker 1: able to self sustain ourselves here in the United States
Speaker 1: and no longer be reliant on places like China for pharmaceuticals,
Speaker 1: for rare earth, for things like this that American consumers
Speaker 1: need on a daily basis.
Speaker 2: Exactly.
Speaker 3: The twentieth century was one by tanks and oil. The
Speaker 3: twenty first century will be one by chips, energy and
Speaker 3: who controls the tech stack. China knows this, and they
Speaker 3: have tried to corner the market not just on rare
Speaker 3: earth production, but rare earth refinery refineries such as what
Speaker 3: you discussed. And we need to cut through the barriers
Speaker 3: here in our own country so that we cannot only
Speaker 3: mine rare earth minerals that we need in just about
Speaker 3: every facet and modern electric and electronic compute and AI.
Speaker 3: We need to cut those barriers down so that we
Speaker 3: are not only competitive that we are surpassing China in
Speaker 3: those key factors because if we do not have control
Speaker 3: of pharmaceuticals, we do not control our own energy future,
Speaker 3: we do not control our access to rare earth minerals.
Speaker 3: We will not be an independent nation much longer. You know,
Speaker 3: China is, you know, And this is something I think
Speaker 3: is one of the greatest failures of American policy makers
Speaker 3: over the past fifty years. Despite its deep market penetration
Speaker 3: in the United States, China has remained a one party state,
Speaker 3: and that party is the Chinese Communist Party. And one
Speaker 3: of those great failures of our policymakers and politicians was
Speaker 3: they misread China's economic opening in the nineteen seventies as
Speaker 3: a repudiation or rejection of Marxism.
Speaker 2: It wasn't.
Speaker 3: It was a rebranding. At its core, Marxism is about
Speaker 3: wealth redistribution from the economically successful to the unsuccessful, from
Speaker 3: the havels to the have nots, and for the last
Speaker 3: several generations, accelerating dramatically. After China's admission to the WTO
Speaker 3: and the granting of Most Favored Nation status, we've watched
Speaker 3: that redistribution play out in a global scale. What China
Speaker 3: has executed is a wholesale transfer of wealth from the
Speaker 3: United States to the People's Republic. It's been wrapped into
Speaker 3: seductive packaging of cheap consumer goods, but the core transaction
Speaker 3: is unmistakable. We sent them our industries or supply chains
Speaker 3: and our leverage, and in return we've got plastic trinkets
Speaker 3: and mounting death.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And I think if China sees that the United States
Speaker 1: is serious about taking up this manufacturing process that we
Speaker 1: have the we have seeded to them, then I think
Speaker 1: I think that'll be even more leverage that'll get that'll
Speaker 1: get the Chinese to the bargaining table and and be
Speaker 1: something that will work in the favor of the United States.
Speaker 1: Charlton Allen, we get we have to get to a
Speaker 1: quick break here, so let me ask you to hold
Speaker 1: on right there. We'll do a quick little traffic in
Speaker 1: weather and then we'll continue on with Charlton Allen from
Speaker 1: the great state of North Carolina. So we appreciate him
Speaker 1: being here on fifty five KRC the Talk station.
Speaker 3: This is fifty five KRC and iHeartRadio station or your
Speaker 3: money steels total.
Speaker 1: Fifty five KRC the Talk station six nineteen. On this Wednesday, morning,
Speaker 1: Dan Carroll for Brian Thomas, continuing our conversation with Attorney
Speaker 1: Charlton Allen, and mister Allen, let me ask you this
Speaker 1: when it comes to when it comes to the criticism
Speaker 1: that has been brought against President Trump and the and
Speaker 1: the way he's going about I don't think that. I
Speaker 1: don't think that this whole uh, this whole trade war
Speaker 1: if you want to call it that, or the tariffs
Speaker 1: that Trump has been using for leverage, is as haphazard
Speaker 1: as the media would have you believe. But I think
Speaker 1: there's I think there's some legitimate criticism and especially when
Speaker 1: people look at their savings, when they look at their
Speaker 1: four oh one k's, when they look at their retirement accounts,
Speaker 1: their stock market investment portfolios, things like that, that that
Speaker 1: there has been a lot of volatility there. There's been
Speaker 1: you know, so at least some some temporary damage done
Speaker 1: to these to these things, and I think people have
Speaker 1: genuine concerns about that. When when you get asked or
Speaker 1: people want to talk about that, what is your response
Speaker 1: to them about the game, the pain that is associated
Speaker 1: with the with the policies and and what what Trump
Speaker 1: is trying to accomplish.
Speaker 3: Here approssire from several angles. First of all, we cannot
Speaker 3: be dissuaded from what I believe is the right course
Speaker 3: of action based upon short term results and pain.
Speaker 2: There was always.
Speaker 3: Going to be no matter how the President tried to
Speaker 3: implement tariffs, whether he did it in the manner he
Speaker 3: has done, or if he took a more longer term
Speaker 3: approach and phased it in more gradually, there was going
Speaker 3: to be uncertainty. And the market reacts to uncertainty, and
Speaker 3: the market's job is to react. The President's job is
Speaker 3: to act. And I think President Trump's doctrine may rattle
Speaker 3: some of the hitgebunge managers, but it reassures the factory floors,
Speaker 3: and that's where the real strength of this country's always been.
Speaker 3: And I will also say that a lot of the
Speaker 3: companies that are traded on the public exchanges, the equities,
Speaker 3: they are very much leveraged into trade with China. And
Speaker 3: I will also point I've discussed this in an article
Speaker 3: last week. Uh you know, our Treasury Secretary has made
Speaker 3: a very strong point of this, just how much of
Speaker 3: a schism there is within the United States the people
Speaker 3: who actually.
Speaker 2: Participate in Wall Street.
Speaker 3: I believe it is something along the lines of twelve
Speaker 3: percent of Americans own eighty percent of stock. That is
Speaker 3: a you know that gives you an idea of just how.
Speaker 2: Much you know.
Speaker 3: There is a dichotomy between those who are participating in
Speaker 3: the market and those are not. The long term play
Speaker 3: I think is going to be following the approach the
Speaker 3: approach to precedent is going to follow. China is going
Speaker 3: to require some suiction eificant sacrifice to decouple from the
Speaker 3: Chinese Communist Party because it is more than just a
Speaker 3: trade issue.
Speaker 2: They have They have.
Speaker 3: Infiltrated our economy in a very parasitic manner. One of
Speaker 3: the largest employers in North Carolina is Smith Pille Foods,
Speaker 3: which is owned by China. Uh They have purchased a
Speaker 3: lot of agribusiness. They are heavily leveraged in the pharmaceutical industry,
Speaker 3: which is another big employer in the state of North Carolina.
Speaker 3: Uh So, decoupling from China is going to be a
Speaker 3: very long term process, but it is going to be
Speaker 3: necessary for our sovereignty because if China controls through Rare
Speaker 3: Earth and other technology or National Security Center, if they
Speaker 3: control our pharmaceutical center, if they control consumer and you know,
Speaker 3: listen to electronics and then they're making a strong play
Speaker 3: in AI. Where is our future not just in terms
Speaker 3: of our economy, but our national security. It's very much
Speaker 3: in doubt when you have a geopolitical adversary controlling all
Speaker 3: the key sectors of the economy and they want to
Speaker 3: subdue the United States.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Uh. And then and then getting back to Canada
Speaker 1: here as we as we wrap this up, you talked,
Speaker 1: you talk about Canada and the United States and Canada
Speaker 1: are are the our big trading partners, but China is
Speaker 1: is intertwined quite deeply into Canada as well. Is that
Speaker 1: is that a hindrance moving forward with Canada? Does Does
Speaker 1: Canada have to be concerned about, you know, any repercussions
Speaker 1: from China as it seeks to uh, you know, mend
Speaker 1: fences with the United States, Yes.
Speaker 2: They do.
Speaker 3: They have to be a very significant erms considered in
Speaker 3: my view, not just with China but also with Russia
Speaker 3: and incursions within Canada's shipping lanes and access to the
Speaker 3: Arctic Ocean and the Northern Pacific and the Northern Atlantic oceans.
Speaker 3: They're going to have very significant concerns in Canada really
Speaker 3: needs to step up to the plate and get involved
Speaker 3: in the Indo Pacific in a way that they have
Speaker 3: not been, get invested in their national security, which they
Speaker 3: have not been.
Speaker 2: They are won the.
Speaker 3: Worst performing nations in NATO and have been for generations,
Speaker 3: and they have not taken their obligations under NATO seriously.
Speaker 3: They are stuck at about one point three percent of
Speaker 3: their GDP contributing to their own national security when NATO
Speaker 3: has set a goal, and it's not an unreasonable goal
Speaker 3: two percent. But it's not just Canada that we have
Speaker 3: to watch. In terms of China, Mexico is a very
Speaker 3: big deal as well. Mexico has been used as a
Speaker 3: basically a trojan horse for China to get their goods
Speaker 3: assembled in Mexico and then entered the United States care free,
Speaker 3: and that has caused a spike in the Mexican trade
Speaker 3: surplus with the United States. Last year tween twenty four
Speaker 3: it soord to nearly one hundred and seventy two billion dollars,
Speaker 3: and a big reason for that was Chinese goods assembled
Speaker 3: in Mexico and then shipped to the United States.
Speaker 1: Well, Charlton Allen, I'll tell you what. You make some
Speaker 1: great points in the commentaries that I find on American Thinker.
Speaker 1: And you know, when I look at this, I look
Speaker 1: at a situation that, you know, so many of these
Speaker 1: situations have gone unaddressed for so long in any sort
Speaker 1: of meaningful way, that when it does come time to
Speaker 1: deal with it, which I think we're just you know,
Speaker 1: dipping our toe into the water here on this, that
Speaker 1: there's going to be some there. You know, Ripping that
Speaker 1: band aid office doesn't come without any consequences. So I
Speaker 1: think it's something that needs to be done, and you know,
Speaker 1: long term, I think it's going to be wind up
Speaker 1: being a good thing for the United States. But Charleston Allen,
Speaker 1: we have to run. I want to thank you for
Speaker 1: the time today and the Madison Center for Law and
Speaker 1: Liberty and the Modern Federalist podcast. Where can people find
Speaker 1: that podcast? The Modern Federalist?
Speaker 3: You could find it on all the major podcast providers,
Speaker 3: Apple Podcasts for example, your Podbeans, Spotify, so forth. So on,
Speaker 3: We're out there and seasons two stop the launch.
Speaker 1: All right, well, Charlton Allen, great having you on the
Speaker 1: show today. I look forward to future conversations and with
Speaker 1: your permission, we'll be calling on you again before too long.
Speaker 2: That'd be great, Thank you.
Speaker 1: All right, there you go Charlton Allen and look up
Speaker 1: his writings on American Thinker.
Speaker 2: You will be glad that you did.
Speaker 1: It is six twenty eight, little late for a break
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