China to face U.S. tariffs unless it devalues currency

Big News Network.com ^ | Friday 8th April, 2005 | Big News Network.com

[TXBSAFH]

GOOD!!!!!!!!

[econ_grad]

This is nuts. What we are really saying is that they should give up a chunk of their dollar reserve. We don't realize that if China ever comes back to cash out their Treasury holdings, we may have no choice but to inflate away our currency.

[RWR8189]

Yeahhhh!

Increase the prices Americans pay for Chinese imports 27%, and give the money to the government!

Great idea!

[EagleUSA]

The only real positive potential is it will P-OFF the WTO. If I could , I would remove the US from the WTO and all world trade agreements , for that matter. Now ask me why...you should not have to.

[peyton randolph]

Bush would veto it. This is a nonissue.

[RockinRight]

Bush hasn't vetoed a single thing yet...

[Centurion2000]

bump

[TXBSAFH]

I do not think GWB knows where the veto stamp is.

[peyton randolph]

Bush hasn't vetoed a single thing yet...

Bush family has been making a fortune in China since the days of W's grandfather. No way he will kill the goose that lays the family golden egg. Bonus: The veto happens to be the right thing to do.

[FreeAtlanta]

Bush would veto it.

Then the veto would need to be overidden. BTW, has he actually vetoed anything? I am a big Bush defender, but I am getting tired of defending him.... to all my former Republican friends.

President Bush, if you want my support back, slap a major tarriff on China, Close our Southern Border (and I am married to a Latin Lady, so this isn't racism with me), force Koffee Annan to resign and reform the UN, stop campaingning for Hitlary by flying her disgraced impeached husband around (and getta pappa Bush to stop palling around with Bealzebubba). I am at wits end. Stop being Democratlite!!!

[Waterleak]

I knew about Gore and Occidental
Clinton and Cocaine
Kennedy and the mob
But I've never heard about the Bushes and China - please explain.

[NEBUCHADNEZZAR1961]

I guess that Free-trade thing isn't working out like promised.

[Wayne07]

This kind of government interference is bound to have unpredictable and dangerous consequences. See smoot hawley.

[peyton randolph]

But I've never heard about the Bushes and China - please explain.

Like Joe Kennedy (JFK's dad), W's grandfather (Prescott Bush Sr.) made a fortune dealing with the Nazis pre-World War II.

Post-WW II, the money was diversified into domestic oil interests and various deals with China. In fact, W's uncle (Prescott Bush Jr.) is a close friend of Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

W's father, Bush '41, was appointed U.S. Ambassador to China in 1974 because of this relationship of the Bush family with the ChiComs.

There is alot more out there on the Internet (Google it). Doesn't make W a bad person. Just means there is a snowball's chance in Hades that he will voluntarily get into a p#ssing contest with the ChiComs.

[Paul_Denton]

The only real positive potential is it will P-OFF the WTO. If I could , I would remove the US from the WTO and all world trade agreements , for that matter. Now ask me why...you should not have to.

I agree and remove the U.S. from all FREE TRADE agreements too.

[Paul_Denton]

Yeahhhh! Increase the prices Americans pay for Chinese imports 27%, and give the money to the government! Great idea!

You can do you part by doing your best to not buy anything made in china. It is what I do.

[CasearianDaoist]

Just how do they "cash out" of their treasury holdings? This sort of thinking implies a complete misunderstanding of government securities. TO "Cash out" they sell them on the open market. The Treasury Dept. still has to pay the interest on those notes no matter who holds them. The Chinese are not doing us any favors at all by buying T-Bills, it is simply an matter of economics, markets in general and currency markets in particular. There will be a ready market for them. There is little reason to believe that wither a across the board tariff or a unpegging of the Yuan (or both) would not do anything other than immensely help the US economy. Can you explain to me how a one trillion dollar economy (that' right, one trillion in real terms, not PPP indexing) can prop up the currency or the government securities market for a one trillion dollar economy? The harm that the distortions of Chinese labor, industrial and currency policies inflict on us are much greater than some sort of minor discomfort in the government securities market. WHat are the Chinese going to do about it anyway? develop markets in the EU? fat chance of that going out in time? S. America? Japan? They should have been called on this game a decade ago - in fact they never shoulod have been allowed to get away with it in the first place. We never were so irresponsible with the Japanese.

This action is long overdue. We need to do the same thing to the Euros too.

[Waterleak]

I thought I heard that somewhere, but then again they made lots of money off the middle east too. They're mindset definitely changed there, and I'd imagine they will not allow lightning to strike twice. In other words the bushes were double crossed by the Saudi's and such, and I don't belive they will allow that again. Another note of interest is that Bush senior was the Head of the CIA before his ambasador status in China.

[tdewey10]

Free trade is a great idea in theory. Unfortunately we have to deal with the reality.