Posted on 03/15/2017 1:56:55 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
BEIJING — China’s premier told the United States on Wednesday: We don’t want a trade war with you, but if one breaks out, your companies would bear the brunt.
Yet despite tensions over jobs, currency rates and “security matters,” Premier Li Keqiang told a news conference in Beijing ahead of the first visit by the new U.S. secretary of state that he remained optimistic about the future of China’s relationship with the United States.
“Our hope on the Chinese side is that, no matter what bumps this relationship may run into, it will continue to move forward in a positive direction,” he said.
The two countries share extensive common interests and should “sit down to talk to each other” to build trust and narrow differences, Li told journalists at the end of China’s annual parliamentary session. He added that diplomats were working toward a face-to-face meeting between President Xi Jinping and President Trump.
Experts say China has been pushing hard to arrange such a meeting, realizing how important personal chemistry between the two leaders could be in maintaining stable ties. U.S. news media have reported that a meeting has been tentatively scheduled for April 6-7 at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived in Tokyo late Wednesday for his first Asia trip since taking office, and he will visit Beijing later in the week.
Li said China’s trade and investment ties with the United States created up to 1 million American jobs last year.
“Recently I came across an article from an authoritative international think tank. It says that should a trade war break out between China and the United States, it would be foreign-invested companies, in particular U.S. firms, that would bear the brunt of it,” he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
That’s a laugh.
Like expecting high quality products from China...
I love it when life-long true believer commies tell capitalists how the marketplace works.
...the American consumer would pay for the 100% tariff/tax.
they could do what - raise theirs to 1000%...
...and the Chinese consumer would pay for the 1000% tariff/tax.
Each shooting themselves in the foot. Exercise in futility.
Not necessarily
Part of the problem with Chinas growth is they have been sucking jobs away form the US, while keeping their own wages down, so a tiny minority of folks on both sides of the pond garner the gains. As the US middle class declines that is more and more of a losing proposition for everybody and the situation can continue only because of the US current status as a the reserve currency for the world.
Presumably China is threatening that status if we invoke a trade war to bring back jobs to the US.
Now if a trade war makes china go the route of Henry Ford, that is develop their home market and while the US has to employ US folks to make US products it means less profits for the very rich, while more money spread out over a wider population. Ultimately good for both nations. Of course it may well threaten our status as “the” reserve currency.
Ponder this: It was very possible pre 1974 for a young man and women to get married at age 20 to 22, the husband to work a conventional job and the family to get by comfortably. No college degree required, houses cost around 3 times the yearly salary of the hubby alone. To stop the decline in the domestic populations birth rate (~1.73 right now, need 2.07) you need to go back to the time when such a life was possible. People do not need cheap plastic crap to have a fulfilling life, they need a spouse and breeding territory sufficiently secure that they have kids. Nature takes care of fulfillment from there.
Economic efficiency in international trade may make winner take all markets, which allow famously rich folks like Gates, Jobs and Zukerburg. Being the reserve currency of the world may allow self important politicians a lot of glory as the predominate military power. Neither does nothing for the common Joe and Jane.
“They’d be in total chaos six hours after we told them “you’ve just made your last shipment to Walmart””
Exactly what I was thinking.
You still haven’t figured out that free-market “globalism” is not political globalism. Maybe after a millennium or two you’ll get it. Go back to sleep.
Free Trade inside the USA, out side never!
The average American family will do fine with a little less cheap Chinese crap in their homes.
I wish the ChiComm butt kissing Free Traitors™ would move to China.
Amended.
Would free up a good bit of landfill space as well.
Not much of a bargain.
And best of all, we get more voters willing to vote Democrat to boot.
The trade deficit with China begs to differ.
What did they do during WWII?
agreed. I would love to see how their little commie dictatorship fares with hundreds of millions of angry, hungry, unemployed people rioting in the streets.
Chinese are among the biggest liars/ propaganda artists on earth.
A likely scenario is that Walmart, Family Dollar, etal can’t put merchandise on the shelves. Employees lose jobs. Stocks go down. People without work can’t pay their rent. Landlords can’t pay their mortgage. Many similar scenarios in other industries.
Meanwhile, China has to sell its crap somewhere. So it sells it cheap (dumps it) on the rest of the world. That puts local businesses from Mexico to India to UK at a disadvantage. They either join the trade war or go out of business.
Need more scenarios?
IF THE BUYER DOESN’T BUY, HE KEEPS HIS WEALTH.
IF THE SELLER DOESN’T SELL HE KEEPS HIS STOCK.
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.