Posted on 11/21/2016 10:29:25 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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US President Barack Obama on Sunday defended free trade as fellow Asia-Pacific leaders vowed to fight protectionism after Donald Trump's shock election victory sparked fears for the future of global commerce.
Trump's triumph in this month's US presidential poll has raised concerns that years of rolling back trade barriers could be reversed after the populist billionaire vowed to tear up a series of key deals.
His victory overshadowed a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group held in Peru this week where leaders, including Obama, China's Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin, found themselves under fierce pressure to defend free trade.
Globalization and trade deals have been increasingly blamed in Europe and America for sending jobs abroad and eroding living standards, concerns reflected in both the election of Trump and Britain's "Brexit" vote in June to leave the European Union.
At the APEC gathering there was particular concern about the future of a major US-backed accord -- the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which Trump has vowed to kill off -- and that China was positioning itself to forge ahead with its own trade deals and fill a vacuum left by any American withdrawal.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Obama is lying his a** off. Schumer said last week.....TPP is dead, dead, dead.....really, really, really dead.
Free trade or equitable trade? They should be one in the same but not in the lib’s lexicon.
Quite ironic that the democrats now.embrace free trade to push globalism whereas 25 years ago the dems opposed free trade.
Get over it, China, Korea and Japan!
We are in a new era of America First and Protectionism and our Tariffs on your goods are going to teach the world a lesson. Trump will bring our jobs back and we will begin to make cars again in America and jobs at the TV factories, radio factories, iPhone factories, VCR factories and computer factories will come home.
Clown Prince nobama doesn’t understand...YOU LOST, MORON! Go Trump1 MAGA!!!
If the world is rattled that is good. That means they know they’re taking America to the cleaners and are worried about losing their goodies.
Say good bye to the goodies, world, you will now only get your “fair share”.
Obama is lying his a** off. Schumer said last week.....TPP is dead, dead, dead.....really, really, really dead.
So is the Paris Climate Agreement which was never agreed to by the U.S., although Obama is pretending it was.
And Trump also needs to repudiate the illegal Iran Treaty, although we will never get back all the billions that Obama shipped to Iran.
TPP is nothing more than a surrender to to Global Government ,why else would Obama want it
I guess that “protectionism,” in the mouths of the forces of evil, means protecting the US from getting shafted by decidedly unfree trade agreements.
They think this is a bad thing.
The Paris Climate Agreement WAS agreed to by the US.
The Paris Climate Agreement WAS agreed to by the US.
No it wasn’t. The initial 1992 climate accord that is the basis for all subsequent “agreements” was only agreed to by Congress with the proviso that all substantive further agreements had to be confirmed by the Senate as a treaty.
Obama just signed this latest agreement, pretending it had been agreed to by the U.S. It was never confirmed by the Senate, so it is not valid and is a fraud.
A similar thing happened with Kyoto, it was signed but never agreed to as a treaty. But, again, this time Obama is simply pretending it is valid.
It can be repudiated by President Trump on Day 1. But he doesn’t have to do anything because the U.S. is not legally a party to it.
I believe we should abandon (officially denounce) trade treaties and go to a duty scheme which is updated from time to time by the Congress.
We just aren’t very good at negotiating trade treaties.
Congress should try to steer global trade into a generally financially balanced system.
There should be some exemptions for producers that produce low-priced goods and services so low-income countries can earn US dollars to pay for American drugs and other necessities.
In brief:
1. financially balanced trade in motor vehicles and their parts, with cheap electric car exemptions until January 2024
2. US-only for building supplies, except lumber, plywood and natural stone
3. consumer electronics with exemptions effectively slashing duty on lower cost items
4. low-cost garments duty-free
5. free trade in software, aircraft, many services
6. energy, industrial chemicals and solar stuff duty-free
The Paris Agreement is unlawful and the U.S. is not a party to it, only Obama:
BASIC 40% TARIFF except on CERTAIN LOW-COST CONSUMER ITEMS [wherein the benefits of low foreign labor costs are passed on to US consumers]
A 40% federal import duty shall be applied on or after January 1, 2020 to [imported retail store type] items, except the following items made available to consumers at low-cost:
a. pairs of shoes:
I. sold to the ultimate retailer for under $3
II. sold to the ultimate retailer for under $.90 per inch of length of a shoe
III. with (mostly) leather uppers sold to the ultimate retailer for under $1.50 per inch of length of a shoe
b. underwear
I. sold to the ultimate retailer for under $1 per unit
II. sold to the ultimate retailer for less than 6 cents per inch of waist area diameter + material cost allowance
III. sold to the ultimate retailer for less than 6 cents per inch of breast area diameter + material cost allowance
c. shirts, skirts:
I. sold to the ultimate retailer for under $3
II. sold to the ultimate retailer for less than 40 cents per inch of waist area diameter + material cost allowance
III. sold to the ultimate retailer for less than 40 cents per inch of breast area diameter + material cost allowance
d. pants
I. sold to the ultimate retailer for under $4
II. sold to the ultimate retailer for less than 50 cents per inch of waist area diameter + material cost allowance
e. dresses sold to the ultimate retailer for less than 85 cents per inch of waist area diameter + material cost allowance
f. suits sold to the ultimate retailer for less than $2 per inch of waist area diameter + 125% of the standard material cost allowance
g. sweaters...
h. jackets and coats...
i. (mainly) stainless steel cookware without parts that will rust/corrode/melt/normally fail in ten years of appropriate US consumer use sold to the ultimate retailer for less than:
I. $5/pound of stainless steel
II. $1/pound of glass in the lids
III. 150% of the manufacturer’s wholesale cost of the plastic
j. books (except textbooks) printed on glossy paper with at least 20% of page area covered with multi-color images sold to the ultimate retailer for less than one cent for each 40 square inches of printed area (plus one penny per square inch of hard cover).
k. textbooks selling for less than one cent per printed page larger than 5x7 inches, but no more than $5 each
l. CFL/LCD lightbulbs
m. upper dentures sold to the ultimate consumer for a total cost of less than $150
n. lower dentures sold to the ultimate consumer for a total cost of less than $150
o. computer prescription glasses sold to the ultimate consumer for less than $40 for single vision or $50 for progressive lenses
The material cost allowance shall be:
1. $4/pound of wool
2. $2/pound of fabric other than wool, excluding the fabric of a zipper
3. $5/pound for buttons/garment hardware, excluding zippers, up to 1% of the weight of the fabric of the garment
4. 15 cents plus 3 cents per inch for a zipper on a garment
....
[The material cost allowance should be set to cover the appropriate manufacturing cost and to allow/encourage the supply to the US consumer of higher quality items without inappropriate add-ons.]
The same exemptions shall apply if the item(s) is/are:
A. sold directly to the ultimate consumer at prices not exceeding 140% of those listed or
B. held for future sale to independent retailers at no more than the listed maximum
Items in this section imported as exempt but sold to the ultimate consumer at more than 140% of the maximum listed price shall have the 40% duty payable by the retailer within 7 days of sale or if not paid within 30 day then by the importer upon US government (authorized) request.
BUILDING INDUSTRY ITEMS
Any item historically/typically used by contractors for new construction (prior to receiving a certificate of occupancy) incorporated into a US building on or after December 31, 2019
or offered for sale in the USA after that date shall have US manufacture except for:
a. ore extraction and transport
b. wood for exposed use with no readily available US harvested equivalent
c. imported softwood lumber costing more than $1/board foot
d. imported hardwood lumber costing more than $2.50/board foot
e. wood harvested (and processed into lumber/plywood) with due respect for the environment (and nearby people) from private land or from public land upon which a fiduciarily reasonable or multi-bidder competitive auction royalty has been paid
f. natural stone for exposed use
g. essential items not available in a reasonable timeframe at typical cost from any US source due to US domestic industrial labor action
h. items upon which a 40% or greater duty has been paid to the US government
In the event that 40% or greater duty has not already been paid to the US government, a 100% duty shall be due and payable to the building inspector for his/her use and the building inspector may lien the property at the contractor’s cost until paid.
Obama might like my proposal for this:
CERTAIN DRUG PRESCRIPTIONS
There shall be no duty levied on drug prescriptions costing at least $50 of a drug approved by Health Canada/European Union and not considered by US federal law to be addictive or rejected by the FDA filled:
I. at any hospital in the UK, Canada, France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Scandinavia or Germany
or
in a foreign hospital participating an FDA regulated US patient supply experimental program and
II. in the hospital’s (main) local patient customer business work area and
III. from a source of the prescribed drug the hospital habitually uses to supply inpatient customers with the prescribed drug and
provided that the prescription is not marked up by more than 20% by the hospital.
You have been doing some serious thinking!
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