Donald Trump is not backing down from his assertion that "our wages are too high" during the most recent Republican presidential debate. Here's how he explains it:
“Let me just explain. That was on minimum wage and it was how we're going to compete with other countries," Trump told "Fox and Friends" in a telephone interview. "They were talking about increasing the minimum wage. And whether it's taxes or minimum wages, if they’re too high, we’re not going to be able to compete with other countries."
Exactly which other countries does Trump think we need to compete with by keeping the minimum wage low? Because if you’re looking at other advanced countries, the United States lags behind Australia, Luxembourg, France, Belgium, Ireland, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Austria. But I doubt Trump is even talking about Israel, Slovenia, Spain, and Greece, which are just behind the U.S. when it comes to minimum wage.
No, this is a guy who talks an awful lot about how America is losing to China. That’s the main country he worries about competing with economically. He’s definitely not talking about competing with the countries that pay their workers more than the poverty wage of $7.25 an hour that’s currently the federal minimum wage. He’s saying the U.S. is not doing enough to compete in the race to the bottom.