Paula Dwyer , Columnist

Trump Offers Magic, Not Answers, in Rust Belt

Protectionism in Pennsylvania would not be pretty.

June 29, 2016 at 12:00 PM UTC

Paula Dwyer is a senior editor with the New York editing hub, focusing on daily and long-form enterprise. She was London bureau chief for Businessweek and Washington economics editor for the New York Times, and is a co-author of “Take on the Street: How to Fight for Your Financial Future.

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Photographer: Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

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Donald Trump traveled to Pennsylvania steel country on Tuesday to make his case against globalism. Hollywood couldn't have provided a better backdrop. And, fittingly, the story he told was pure fantasy.

In an address at the site of a long-closed steel mill in the town of Monessen, the presumptive Republican nominee pledged to withdraw the U.S. from the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement and label China a currency manipulator. "Trade reform and renegotiation of trade deals is the quickest way to bring jobs back to our country," Trump declared.