VOA常速英语:特朗普总统的决定引起农民、工人共鸣

American farmers like Wendell Shauman back the Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement during the 2016 presidential campaign.

“When trade works, the world wins.”

But what if President Trump’s first moves after taking office was to withdraw the US from the TPP, making good on a campaign promise.

“Any time you back out of a trade deal, it’s not a precedent I like to see set.”

The result, a lots of new markets and price increases for US farm products, like corn and soybeans.

“We would have gained tremendous access to Japan’s beef and pork markets through this agreement.And I think we were looking at between 10 and 35 cents a bushel on corn - the impact of TPP once it was signed and implemented.”

While that means a direct hit on Wendell Shauman’s pocketbook, he is not disappointed.

“You’re a farmer, you have a PhD, you’re well-traveled,you understand how trade agreements and international trade works, and you voted for Trump.”

“Um...it was, yes.”

Shauman says his support for Trump went beyond profits.

“We’re conservative people, we think government is too big, we’ve got too many regulations.We could only see more of them coming from Hillary.We could see a more liberal Supreme Court which is already giving us trouble,lot of rules and regulations as we fighting up going to Supreme Court.”

Not far from Shauman’s farm is the former site of the Maytag appliance factory.George Carney worked there for more than two decades until the factory moved to Mexico and his job disappeared.Carney blames the North American Free Trade Agreement, also known as NAFTA.

He struggled to find steady work since, and was strongly opposed to the TPP.

“Just the bad experience of the NAFTA left a bad taste in my mouth, so I was against it just because of being a trading agreement.”

But Trump’s opposition to TPP was not enough to gain Carney’s vote in November.

“He comes off like a babbling buffoon, but I think he’s doing his job right, I like what he is doing.”

Which is why Carney, who has never voted for a Republican for President before, is looking ahead to the next election.

“I could see myself vote for Trump next time.”

Although Wendell Shauman is on the opposite side of Trump regarding TPP, he, too, says he could vote for Trump again,depending on how he handles any changes to the NAFTA agreement, and how he continues to conduct himself while President.

“Yeah, sometimes it’s frustrating, sometimes it’s embarrassing, sometimes it’s... I literally said, ‘why don’t you just grow up.’But he’s the president and we’re going to live with him for four years, and we’ll see where this ride goes.”

Kane Farabaugh, VOA news, Galesburg Illinois.