Posted on 03/05/2018 3:22:35 PM PST by mandaladon
President Trump’s proposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports horrify Republican leaders in Congress — but they could yet pay political dividends.
Trump’s move, cast by the White House as an effort to protect American manufacturing, has significant appeal in the Rust Belt states that were pivotal to his shock 2016 election win.
Some Democrats in the region worry that senior figures in their party, especially those whose bases are in affluent coastal cities, are underestimating the political potency of Trump’s announcement.
“It worries me as a Democrat that the national Democrats don’t see that Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Iowa and Wisconsin were hurt badly by trade deals,” said David Betras, chairman of the Mahoning County Democratic Party in Ohio.
Betras, whose county includes Youngstown, lamented that “national Democrats have the audacity to give the president shit on that, and they think it’s going to resonate.”
Trump’s victory came in large part because he demolished the “blue wall” comprised of three states — Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin — that had not backed a Republican for president since the 1980s.
Trump won Ohio, traditionally a closely fought battleground and a state President Obama carried twice, by 9 percentage points.
Some prominent Democrats from industrial states have backed Trump on the tariffs, including Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (Pa.) and Reps. Tim Ryan and Marcy Kaptur, both of Ohio.
The nation’s largest federation of unions, the AFL-CIO, also welcomed Trump’s proposal. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka praised the tariffs on Twitter as “good steps towards fixing predatory practices that hurt workers & cheat companies that produce in US.”
Especially idiot Republicans more in love with the globalist CoC than with forgotten Americans.
The President gets no thanks from them for trying to save them from themselves.
Especially idiot Republicans more in love with the globalist CoC than with forgotten Americans.
The President gets no thanks from them for trying to save them from themselves.
This can and should be done; damn the torpedoes.
Stay the course, Mr. President.
David, if Trump hadn't won you would have went right on continuing your party's disastrous identity and race-baiting politics, all the while rubbing shoulders with the elite.
The tariffs flip five blue states and keep 'em flipped -- that includes Ohio. Of course, that means that Governor John "Dip****" Kasich will oppose the tariffs and advocate for the TPP... Thanks mandaladon.
“I’m not well schooled on world trade so I can’t be sure that DJT’s idea is a good one.”
It’s really very simple. Any time Ellerbe Becket, Kohn Pedersen Fox, Loebl Schlossman & Hackl, César Pelli & Associates Architects, RTKL Associates, RW Armstrong, Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, or a number of other designers want to build a building here in the US, since the cost will exceed their capacity by using foreign steel, then they will use American made steel, made by American workers, on American soil. The workers will have a job, it will create further jobs for American workers, and the economy will flourish. And the main thing that all these names have in common is that they are American companies, every one.
And that’s how you bring the business back to the US. And that’s how you make America strong. No real science. Just take it to them.
rwood
The tariff’s could also be a bargaining tool for trade agreements.
Yes, steel and aluminum are not only strategic to our national defense, they also drag other jobs with them, as you said in construction, also iron ore mining and lots of transporation.
The tariffs chosen make a big difference. Note that Trump is not pushing tariffs in clothing because Asian clothing is far cheaper. Plus if you tariffed the imports of Chinese or Malaysian clothing, retail stores would go out of business -- they need the high mark-up to save enough money to afford people staffing their stores.
With Asian suppliers they can get a mark up 10 times their cost.
Trump is splitting the Democrat Union vote.
All though Democrats are too stupid to choose prosperity.
You just have to laugh at the beltway scum dancing for their K Street masters.
“Especially idiot Republicans more in love with the globalist CoC than with forgotten Americans...The President gets no thanks from them for trying to save them from themselves.”
Actually the Midwest was historically the territory of the Democrats, while the Republicans could fight, somewhat in the Northeast and California.
The Dems then left the Midwest to fend for themselves, while chasing their special interests on the coasts...and they figured that the Republicans were TOO STUPID to understand that the Midwest could be brought into play. And the Dems were right, for 24 years...until Trump.
As for Ryan and others...unbelievable. They have a GOLD MINE of electoral votes sitting there in the Midwest, but they still think they’ll come out ahead pushing Amnesty and Globalism.
One of my thoughts was that the increase in economy could also help the employees in getting a bigger piece through their wages that will dispel this insane blind raise to a national $15 an hour wage the libs are trying to pander to their constituents. (And you notice I said a piece) Arbitrarily Driving up a single entity of a system of budget without trending or actual liquid capital for businesses is a prescription for chapter 11. But as long as the owner is willing to take his cut first and increase the size of the pie on the ladder, everyone wins.
What libs do not understand about business is the followup. The more spending cash that’s out there, the more the holder spends. Better cars, homes, clothing, trips....people reward themselves for success. It also can make it profitable to understand that the truck driver that you paid to deliver your widget, with more money in his pocket, can finally afford your widget.
Am I describing trickle down? Damn right. And it is the only self sustaining economy that will evolve by itself. What we have now is an artificially induced, low wage, high cost economy. Trump know that. And he took a page out of Reagan’s book to fix it. And he’s already started.
And all it took was putting the money back into the hands of the public by giving them back their money and their say in their economy. For 240 years this country has independently worked on a free enterprise system that the world is jealous of and has tried and failed to copy, change, and make work. It was the change part that has them starving. Is it perfect, nothing is except God. But if it wasn’t the closest thing to Heaven out there, why are so many people trying to get here and maybe die trying? And you’ll notice the operative words is “their.”
rwood
Agreed. Said another way: the more public taxes eat into private paychecks, the less efficient and effective the economy is.
The Soviet Union and Euro-viet Union way is a kind of brute force economics -- the same for all. Trickle down (or you get to choose how to spend your money) automatically takes out of circulation weak products that nobody wants. And it encourages innovation, better manufacturing techniques, and better soaps because there's an incentive.
The results? The Soviets get a boring bar of soap. The trickle-downers get a wide variety of soaps that please many different tastes.
Isn’t it now commonly believed that Trump floated the tariffs in order to get NAFTA reform?
“Isn’t it now commonly believed that Trump floated the tariffs in order to get NAFTA reform?”
May not be. NAFTA is a trade agreement between Canada, Mexico and the United States that went into effect in 1994 under President Bill Clinton. NAFTA essentially eliminated almost all tariffs among the three nations, allowing for the seamless flow of goods and supplies across borders. Today, approximately $1.4 billion in goods cross the U.S.-Mexico border every day. Unfortunately it is not an even flow as goods go south but not quite as many north. U.S. exports to Mexico last year were up nearly 470% compared to 1993.
And many jobs have been taken to Mexico to take advantage of cheap labor and questionable cheap goods and NAFTA also makes it easy for companies to move operations from the U.S. to Mexico. That they know of, The Economic Policy Institute estimates that about 800,000 jobs were lost to Mexico between 1997 and 2013.
Additionally, more major companies have been saying they are going to go down there to take advantage of that cheap labor. Ford and GM (GM) have major operations in Mexico. Ford has announced that it will move more of its production from Michigan to Mexico. It currently employs 8,800 people in Mexico, and the new plant will create 2,800 additional jobs there. Ford’s labor costs in Mexico are roughly 40% less than they are at U.S. plants, which are all unionized. Ford is saying they are down there to be competitive using that cheap labor. So they are going to create more cheap labor jobs there than jobs in the US which is a major problem with both parties.
The President has the authority to withdraw from NAFTA under the rules of the agreement. He just has to give Canada and Mexico six months notice.
rwood
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.