The U.S. was a trade pirate

Greetings, I'm Andy Browne, Editorial Director of the Bloomberg New Economy. Critics of the Trump administration’s hard line on trade with China are right to point out U.S. hypocrisy. America was once a pirate, too.

The mechanized cotton looms of Lowell, Massachusetts were built from designs stolen from Britain, then the world's leading technology power. Just like China today, the early U.S. republic ran controversial talent programs, luring British scientists and engineers with financial incentives to lead its industrial revolution.