Trump In 2005: Outsourcing Jobs ‘Not Always A Terrible Thing’

Donald Trump may have built his presidential campaign on a promise to “be the greatest jobs President that God ever created,” but he was not always so stridently opposed to sending American jobs abroad.

In a 2005 blog post resurfaced by Buzzfeed on Wednesday, Trump writes that outsourcing jobs to foreign countries “is not always a terrible thing.”

The post, which was published on the blog for the now-defunct Trump University and titled “Outsourcing Creates Jobs in the Long Run,” argues that outsourcing ultimately makes companies more competitive and productive, allowing them to “funnel more into the economy” and create more jobs. Trump acknowledges that American workers may lose employment opportunities, but argues that sometimes outsourcing is “a necessary step.”

This language diverges sharply from the rhetoric the GOP candidate has used on the campaign trail in recent months. Trump routinely promises to “bring American jobs back” and rails against U.S. companies that build factories in China and Mexico.

He also has faced criticism for hiring foreign workers for his construction projects through the H2-B temporary visa program rather than using American labor.

Read the full text of his blog post below:

We hear terrible things about outsourcing jobs—how sending work outside of our companies is contributing to the demise of American businesses. But in this instance I have to take the unpopular stance that it is not always a terrible thing.

I understand that outsourcing means that employees lose jobs. Because work is often outsourced to other countries, it means Americans lose jobs. In other cases, nonunion employees get the work. Losing jobs is never a good thing, but we have to look at the bigger picture.

Last year, Nobel Prize-winning economist Dr. Lawrence R. Klein, the founder of Wharton Econometric Forecasting Associates, co-authored a study that showed how global outsourcing actually creates more jobs and increases wages, at least for IT workers. The study found that outsourcing helped companies be more competitive and more productive. That means they make more money, which means they funnel more into the economy, thereby, creating more jobs.

I know that doesn’t make it any easier for people whose jobs have been outsourced overseas, but if a company’s only means of survival is by farming jobs outside its walls, then sometimes it’s a necessary step. The other option might be to close its doors for good.