Tokyo to impose tariffs on U.S. iron and steel

iht.com ^ | Friday, November 21, 2003 | Bloomberg News

[Destro]

"Begun this Trade War has"

[adam_az]

We deserve it, the tariffs are unbeleivably stupid and only serve to hurt the consumer, in the end.

[Destro]

US dares a trade war

The George W Bush administration's announcement on Tuesday that it would limit the import of knit fabrics, dressing gowns, robes and brassieres from China considerably complicates a US trade system that seems to be slipping out of control and threatens an international trade war on several fronts.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

China will take retaliatory measures if the United States fails to lift its illegal tariff on steel products, a senior official said Thursday.

What are we supposed to do, quiver in our boots? What do they buy from us besides nothing? We should cut them off completely since all they're doing is flooding our markets with products made from slave labor while putting Americans out of work.

[superloser]

Let the EU, Japan, and China raise tariffs and bring on a full trade war.

They need our markets and will learn the hard way that our Trade Deficit is what keeps them employed.

[Willie Green]

They're going to implement "retaliatory" tariffs on items they don't buy from us anyway???

Well I'm just peeing my pants from the intimidation. </sarcasm>

[EverOnward]

We deserve it, the tariffs are unbeleivably stupid and only serve to hurt the consumer, in the end.

As a consumer, I prefer to buy American. Prices haven't dropped on items made overseas, but the quality has. As a consumer, a little extra money to buy American suits me fine. So don't worry about us and our consuming -- we prefer to consume AMERICAN!!!

The reality is that Japan and Europe were dumping their steel. Why? Though they lose money in the short run, when the competition is run out, prices can then go up. Happens all the time.

[adam_az]

If these companies are dumping their steel below the cost of production (definition of dumping), how could the same companies be turning profits?

I also prefer to buy American where it makes sense.

BTW we do export a lot to these countries, and the tariffs they are placing are designed to hit those very products.

US consumers and producers will be hurt.

[RobFromGa]

Maybe they'll threaten to stop selling to us?

[babygene]

"Begun this Trade War has"

The way to win this "Trade War", IMHO, is to do away with the income tax and replace it with a national sales tax.

Not only would this tax all countries selling in the US market, it would discourage manafactures from moving off shore...

[Dog Gone]

The tariffs are my main disagreement with President Bush. Tariffs hurt trade, which hurts businesses, which hurts employees and consumers.

Bad policy.

[RogueIsland]

Tariffs hurt trade, which hurts businesses, which hurts employees and consumers.

Yet somehow the U.S. rose to world dominance in industry, and concomitant consumer affluence, during decades upon decades of tariffs as part of U.S. economic policy. Musta been a statistical aberration spanning several generations.

[Willie Green]

Maybe they'll threaten to stop selling to us?

They don't have to.
Once they've finished plundering our Middle Class, plunging us into Third World parity, we won't be able to afford any of those luxury items anyway.

[Owen]

Tarrifs are bad in principle and maybe should have been avoided.

But now they are in place. Knuckling under to the WTO gives globalists a lift and suggests that international organizations can instruct the US in its own policy. Probably a very bad thing. At this point a more compelling principle is the need to undercut UN-like organizations at every opportunity and expose them as powerless.

[Dog Gone]

Or maybe it was in spite of them, or perhaps because countries hadn't yet discovered the income tax.

Tariffs cause the price of the things I need to buy to go up. Net loss of income to me.

The retaliatory tariffs cause my company to sell less. So now I'm going to lose my job, and things are more expensive than ever.

Somehow, that pleases you and seems like sound economic policy.

[Alter Kaker]

What are we supposed to do, quiver in our boots? What do they buy from us besides nothing? We should cut them off completely since all they're doing is flooding our markets with products made from slave labor while putting Americans out of work.

This is stupid. Result? Products cost more in America, which means higher prices for consumers and corporations, which means economy suffers, and cost of doing business in America rises, so companies leave. Isolationism is craziness.

[Post Toasties]

If these companies are dumping their steel below the cost of production (definition of dumping), how could the same companies be turning profits?

Because their governments subsidize this dumping as a predatory measure to eventually starve out industries in other countries like the US.

I think the US should go on the offensive and make comprehensive high profile complaints to the WTO and the offending countries about all such cases of dumping where it is affecting US industry and impose automatic matching tariffs on imports of the same classes of goods from countries that slap tariffs on US exports. The time has long gone when the US needed to coddle Japan's or China's capitalistic tendencies by giving the economic store away.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

Isolationism is craziness.

Who said anything about isolationism? There's a difference between trading with countries who are on some economic par with you and those who pay their workers .20 an hour. How is that fair to Americans workers to ask them to compete against that?

Notice I said China and not Japan. Eventually I hope we will work out arrangments with Japan that brings about a more balanced way of trading, but as far as I'm concerned China and the rest of these third world countries can chew glass, they're taking advantage of us.

[adam_az]

I think the US should go on the offensive and make comprehensive high profile complaints to the WTO and the offending countries about all such cases of dumping where it is affecting US industry and impose automatic matching tariffs on imports of the same classes of goods from countries that slap tariffs on US exports.

Care to take that to it's logical conclusion? Those are feel good measures, but they won't feel so good once you feel the secondary effects. How do you predict that such a policy would solve the problem as you've defined it?