People packed a room at the Mercer Island Community and Event Center for former Washington state governor Gary Locke’s presentation regarding “The Impact of Trade Disputes on U.S. and China Relations” on June 3 at the Rotary Club of Mercer Island’s meeting.

He not only delved into that topic, but touched upon myriad matters going on throughout the world.

Here’s a few bullet points from his appearance:

• “In a trade war, there are no winners, only losers: The consumers and the workers in both countries. The tariffs on Chinese goods will simply raise the price of components used by American manufacturers. That makes them less competitive because then that American product now costs more and you’re trying to compete against the German good or the French good. Whether in the United States or elsewhere around the world, they’re put at a competitive disadvantage.”

• “It’s all political, and so the only way that we can perhaps try to reach some sort of bipartisan agreement is to change the makeup of the House and the Senate. Maybe a divided government is a good thing, bring both views into account. I really hope that the courts will step in.”

• “We’ve got to treat people as people. We can disagree. In my own family, most of them are Republicans, many of them are Trump supporters,” but when they gather around the dinner table, they try to talk in a very respectful fashion. “That’s the type of dialogue that we need here in America.”