LETTER TO PRESIDENT GRANGER, APNU/AFC & PPP/C

Oct 04, 2018 Letters

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Dear Editor,
In his address to the United Nations on Tuesday September 25, 2018, President Trump thrust his commitment to an “American First” foreign policy back onto the United Nations General Assembly. In his address, Mr. Trump lavished praise on his efforts to shake up the established order, pointing to his withdrawal from TRADE DEALS and INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS, among other things.
According to the New York Times, Mr. Trump’s speech showed a president at once fickle and set in his ways. His emphasis on sovereignty was a repeat of the big theme of 2017’s General Assembly address, and it showed that on the core principles of his “America First” foreign policy, Mr. Trump is not budging.
As he did last year, Mr. Trump relies on his senior domestic advisor, Stephen Miller, for much of his speech writing. Mr. Miller has spearheaded the White House’s immigration policy and its recent decision to cut significantly the number of refugees that the United States will accept.
The President expressed resentment towards a familiar array of perceived malefactors: allies, who he said did not pay their fair share for military defence; trading partners, who he said exploited unfair agreements that harmed American workers; and oil producers, who he accused of ‘Gouging the United States and other customers.’
“OPEC and OPEC nations are as usual, ripping off the rest of the world, and I don’t like it,” Mr. Trump said. “Nobody should like it.”
Mr. Trump also assailed countries like China, that use industrial planning in their economies to undercut competitors on trade. The United States, he said, was systematically renegotiating what he called unfair trade deals and striking back against China’s theft of intellectual property, predatory licensing agreements and dumping of goods in the American market under President Xi Jinping.
“Those days are over. We will no longer tolerate such abuse, we will not allow our workers to be victimized, our companies to be cheated and our wealth to be plundered and transferred. ”
Venezuela also drew Mr. Trump’s hardest critique. He described the political tumult roiling the country as a “human tragedy” and said that the United States would impose new sanctions on the government of Nicholas Maduro.
On immigration, Mr. Trump spoke about the strengthening of borders, and the reduction of Public Assistance, like Food Assistance, Section 8 Housing Vouchers and Low Cost Prescription Drugs through the Medicare Part D Program; as all measures that the administration deems as a drain on the economy, hence, his policies to “Make America Great Again.”
On this note, Mr. Trump implied that all countries should also take steps to implement immigration and trade policies of their own that would make “their respective countries great.”
President Granger, I am aware that whatever deals that were agreed to in the contract with Exxon Mobil, had nothing to do with your government, and, it is not wise to be casting blame, as this will not do any good for Guyana.
What I am asking, is for a delegation to be formed as soon as possible to meet with Mr. Trump personally on the above stated policies, which he defended at the United Nations Meeting, specifically, as it relates to the following:
1. Renegotiating the Exxon Mobil Deal for a “fair deal” that would not allow our workers to be victimized, or country to be cheated and our wealth to be plundered and transferred.
2. The possibility of setting up of the refinery in Guyana which will see the production of “Value Added Products” such as gasoline, diesel, kerosene, aviation fuel, natural gas etc, which will bring in a significant amount of revenue to Guyana’s economy, rather than enriching Trinidad and Tobago’s or some other country while our country is paid little or nothing for the raw materials such as the crude oil.
The main aim of this approach is for Guyana and America to benefit from a “win-win deal” that would benefit the two countries economically, hence, in Guyana’s case, and to the latter extent the United States will benefit from the following positive results: Increase income and revenues for both countries; reduce unemployment rates in Guyana; reduce poverty and crime in Guyana; lower costs of living in Guyana due to a cheaper and abundant supply of fuel, resulting in a lower cost of production.
Higher standard of living in Guyana, hence, all the above factors and many more than your team can add, will result in a reduction in the migration and brain drain especially to the United States, thereby significantly reducing the number of Guyanese adding to the immigrant population depending upon the Public Assistance System of the United States.
As it relates to the new sanctions on Venezuela, this would flood our country with refugees that cannot be controlled or accounted for because of our country’s weak and open borders, and create an economic crisis that we did not create in the first case.
Renegotiating this deal can put our country in a better economic position to address these issues and make our country great.
B. A. Munro
Major. (Ret’d)

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