2020 election from a Washington perspective: The international businessman in Trump's corner

As the 2020 election approaches, KUOW is asking Washington voters to sound off on the candidates and the issues important to them.

KUOW is presenting these voices as the opinions and the perspectives which inform people's votes in 2020.

Peter Gigante: A businessman based in Washington state who deals with international trade, often with China.

Issues/perspective: Trade with China needs to be addressed to achieve parity. Democrats are abusing the issue of race after Trump helped lower Black unemployment and raise opportunity. He says that Democrats divide through policies such as affirmative action and school selection.

Peter Gigante spoke with KUOW early in Trump's presidency and commented on trade, a top issue for him. He is also passionate about a variety of issues, which he is not afraid to speak about in wonky, complex terms.

Trade

Gigante says that trade tensions with China make doing business more challenging for everyone, in both countries.

"I’ve been doing business with China for 26 years and during that entire time U.S. trade policy has had the effect of subsidizing the economic success of China’s authoritative system at the expense of the U.S. working class -- lower wages and fewer jobs and even fewer career opportunities," he said.

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Gigante argues that the trade system allows United States companies to cheaply manufacture products in China, and that accounts for a large quantities of imports into the US. Gigante says it adds up to profits for S&P 500 companies while widening the wealth gap in America.

"For 30 years, China has been taxing U.S. imports 30%, versus zero import taxes in the U.S. on Chinese goods. This was intentional on the part of the U.S. because it was believed a capitalistic China would become a democratic China. This has not materialized and likely never will. We’ve created a monster."

Gigante says he appreciates Trump's approach to trade with China. He says it's not a trade war, rather, an "attempt to achieve parity for fair, free trade."

"China is at the heart of many of our problems," he said.

Twisting Trump

While discussing a range of other issues (also on the minds of voters ahead of the November election) Gigante expresses a common complaint among many Trump supporters -- that the president's words and actions are twisted by his opposition.

For example, Gigante argues that Trump never wanted to deport DACA recipients (also known as "Dreamers"). The program allows people who were brought into the country as undocumented children to stay in the United States.

"That would not be practical or desirable, humane or reasonable," Gigante says.

"The reason he wanted to rescind DACA is that unless DACA is rescinded we will continue to get tens of thousands new DACA people coming in illegally every month, incentivized by DACA itself. It’s another reason so many children are kidnapped or otherwise exploited and trafficked .... until the wall is completed and illegal immigration otherwise controlled, we will face a brand new batch of 1 million new DACA people every few years."

Gigante says that -- before the Covid-19 pandemic -- Black unemployment was brought to its lowest point under the Trump administration. He argues that this was aided through corporate tax breaks that brought manufacturing back to the United States.

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He also points to opportunity zones that were started under the Trump administration and "funneled billions of investment dollars to the poorer areas of the country. Trump prioritized creating opportunity for blacks that previously had been elusive."

Gigante adds that many policies promoted by Democrats, such as affirmative action and "handouts" only increase the divide among voters. He argues that racism has been on a "steady and steep decline over the last 60 years." With that in mind, he brings up school choice.

"If the left truly wants equality and racial integration, it needs to start by favoring school choice and let Black students attend any school of their choosing, something overwhelmingly favored by Blacks but is denied them by the hypocritical liberal white establishment.

"Treating all Americans the same regardless of skin color, and adopting policies that create economic opportunity for all is what Trump stands for.

"He treats law-abiding Black Americans with the same dignity as other law abiding Americans. All Americans are equal to Trump. No group is special; all Americans are special. Where he comes down hard is on crime. Peaceful protests are great, but they cannot be permitted to cause destruction. Laws must be followed."