Editorial roundup: Oct. 19, 2018

Recent editorials from South Carolina newspapers:

The Post and Courier

Oct. 16

Trade dispute with China affects S.C. manufacturing jobs

President Trump is right that China's unfair, unethical economic practices put the United States at a competitive disadvantage in many ways. He's right that trade deals can and should be renegotiated periodically.

But he is dangerously wrong that trade wars are a reasonable or effective way to help U.S. businesses win in the global marketplace. In fact, the opposite is often true.

On Tuesday, The Post and Courier's David Wren covered two recent reports that reveal just how harmful Mr. Trump's tariff wars could be for South Carolina businesses that employ thousands of people in good-paying jobs.

Volvo, which recently started production in Berkeley County, could shift some of its vehicle assembly to China, cutting back on the number of employees in the Charleston area and its planned economic investment here.

BMW, which operates a large facility in Greer, hasn't yet said it would move production elsewhere but is predicting losses of up to $500 million annually if Chinese tariffs on foreign automotive imports remain in place.

Tariffs aren't the only problem. The economic uncertainty created by Mr. Trump's unpredictable economic policy has already rocked manufacturing in South Carolina.

Of course, Mr. Trump has also had some notable successes. Earlier this month, he announced a new trade agreement with Mexico and Canada to replace NAFTA, for example. And earlier this summer he extracted some economic concessions from the European Union before a laundry list of tariffs went into effect.

But it's unclear that Mr. Trump's trade victories outweigh their costs, at least in the short term.

And China is a decidedly different trade war combatant compared to otherwise friendly partners like Canada, Mexico and the EU. Its economy is tremendous - the second or third largest in the world, depending on whether or not the EU is counted as a single economy - and its leaders are mostly not elected, making them less susceptible to public pressure.

In other words, bluster and bluffing are incredibly risky strategies in a trade dispute with China. And the stakes could not be higher for states like South Carolina that depend heavily on exports and imports to support a variety of growing industries.

As much as $3.9 billion in South Carolina exports to China are threatened by tariffs, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

In the short term, Mr. Trump's escalating trade war could mean higher prices for consumers. In the long term, it could mean lost jobs and investment.

The latter would be a particularly devastating outcome for South Carolina. The state's leaders must more forcefully push for Mr. Trump to reconsider his strategy. The risks are too great.

China needs to change its ways when it comes to international trade, but not at the expense of South Carolina's economy and the livelihoods of thousands of our state's workers.

The Times and Democrat

Oct. 14

Law enforcement faces extraordinary risks to keep us safe

The danger facing police again is front and center as Florence comes to grips with the death of a sergeant and the wounding of six other officers. On Monday, mourners gathered to celebrate the life of Sgt. Terrence Carraway. It's a ceremony of the type that is repeated far too often across our nation.

Since the start of 2018, nearly 70 law enforcement officers have died while on duty - with at least 40 of those deaths caused by gunfire.

Roughly 135 officers died in 2016, making it the deadliest in at least five years. In 2017, 129 officers died, 46 by gunfire.

It is Florence today, but 25 years ago in 1993, Orangeburg was the scene for mourning the loss of a police officer to an equally shocking crime.

It was Friday, Jan. 15. A bad check call to Prince of Orange Mall took Orangeburg police Sgt. Tommy Harrison there. What awaited was a bad man.

Community policing wasn't a buzz word then, but it was Harrison's way. He liked to talk to people. He was a young officer with an old approach, an effective manner.

That is what brought Harrison to encounter 18-year-old Thomas Ivey on that fateful day at the mall. He was finding out information, unaware of the true nature of the threat from the Alabama prison escapee.

Harrison became the first Orangeburg police officer to be killed in the line of duty when he was shot multiple times by Ivey.

The subsequent capture of Ivey ended a trail of terror that did not begin here.

Days before the encounter at the mall, Ivey and his traveling companion, another jail escapee, stopped a Columbia businessman going about his work one evening. They seized Robert Montgomery's SUV - forcing him to go along. The trip to a secluded spot near North would be Montgomery's last. Even though Ivey was well aware through talk with Montgomery that the man had a wife and small children, it didn't matter. He took Montgomery from the vehicle, walked him into the woods and shot him in the head.

Ivey was executed for his crimes in 2009. That may be justice, but it does little to soften the blow of the loss of Sgt. Harrison and Robert Montgomery. And prosecution and punishment of the shooter in Florence will not change the life-altering events for the family of Sgt. Carraway.

Perhaps police truly can accept that they put their lives on the line daily, understanding they will meet some very bad people in the course of doing their jobs. But the violence inflicted upon the people charged with serving and protecting makes understandable how they may be prone to overreaction in the face of threats - real or perceived. And the very real threat that officers face makes irrational and irresponsible behavior of people in the face of a police encounter hard to comprehend.

First Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe was the speaker at a 2007 memorial service for Harrison and Orangeburg Department of Public Safety Capt. James Myers (killed in an equally senseless crime in 2004). A decade later as we mourn the loss of yet another officer in South Carolina, his words about the risks and responsibilities remain poignant:

"In my years of prosecution experience, I have come to realize that our law enforcement officers are truly the unsung heroes of our society. Police live every day upon the front lines of the law. Because of these awesome responsibilities, we hold law enforcement officers to a higher standard - a standard they welcome."