Posted on 09/14/2009 4:19:42 AM PDT by SonOfDarkSkies
A full-blown trade row erupted between the US and China after Beijing accused Washington of “rampant protectionism” for imposing heavy duties on imported Chinese tyres and threatened action against imports of US poultry and vehicles.
Trade relations between two of the world’s biggest economies deteriorated after Barack Obama, US president, signed an order late on Friday to impose a new duty of 35 per cent on Chinese tyre imports on top of an existing 4 per cent tariff.
In his first big test on world trade since taking office in January, Mr Obama sided with America’s trade unions, which have complained that a “surge” in imports of Chinese-made tyres had caused 7,000 job losses among US factory workers.
Chen Deming, China’s minister of commerce, condemned the decision, saying that it “sends the wrong signal to the world” at a time when Washington and Beijing should be co-operating to deal with the worst economic and financial crisis in decades.
(Excerpt) Read more at ft.com ...
Tire prices are going up!
Hard to choose a side here.
It would be a lot better recieved if he would slash taxes on American manufacturers at the same time.
Personally I’ll choose American made every time.
It may save some jobs in unionized tires plants but it kills jobs in chicken and vehicle plants...and raises prices all round, hence putting a downward pressure on the economy in general.
And that's the free market at work!
But Obama doesn't trust you to make the best decision for yourself. He wants to remove that choice from you and essentially require (through prohibitive taxation) that you buy a now more expensive American-made union product.
Obozo starts a trade war with China over 7,000 UNION jobs...............have you ever noted that “Zero” rhymes with “Nero”?
I’d rather by an American made union product that send money to communists who in turn send weapons that kill our troops.
““This is a grave act of trade protectionism,” Mr Chen said in a statement. “Not only does it violate WTO rules, it contravenes commitments the US government made at the [April] G20 financial summit.””
Obama LIED!?!? Wow, who would have thought.
Now I’m all for those 7000 jobs being back in America, but since they were union jobs, I’d imagine that the 35% increase in tariff could have been avoided if unions weren’t involved and made the tire business more competible.
Exactly, although I’m relunctant to rah rah “Cheaper goods is better for everybody!” because that is kind of what got us in this unemployment mess in the first place. Cheap is useless if you have $0.
“Obozo starts a trade war with China over 7,000 UNION jobs...............have you ever noted that “Zero” rhymes with “Nero”?”
Nothing like poking a stick in the eye of those financing all of you’re debt!!
That’s a good point. 7000 out of half a million a week isn’t much. Considering how screwed this country is if China says yanks the plug on imports to the US.
We have NO MANUFACTURING IN PLACE. It would take so long to get it going, we’d be in chaos by the time it even started.
Someone has to pay for Obama’s excesses! Ultimately it’s going to be the US consumer.
Obama would screw up a two car funeral.
Quality from American goods is no longer the standard that it used to be. Thanks to robots, and automated assembly, American goods have still been able to compete with Asian and European goods in regards to quality, but the added cost of American labor and government regulatory overkill, has driven prices way out of proportion.
Add protectionism to that quotient and it adds up to economic disaster and grossly inflated prices to American consumers.
I still don’t want to support a communist nation that supplys weapons that kill our soldiers.
Reagan imposed import tarrifs and gave tax breaks to American industries to spur American manufacturing.
heheh...he makes Jimmah Carter look like almost intelligent!
It has been tried countless times in this country, and it has triggered economic chaos every time. It is what helped make the great depression of the ‘30’s much greater.
Wait until China retaliates by banning American goods, raising their tariffs on what we sell them or they demand the early repayment of the loans they have given us.
And you are wrong that cheaper goods is what got us into this economic mess in the first place. Cheaper goods had absolutely NOTHNG to do with it.
The circumstances around what Reagan did has no comparison to what is happening now. Reagan imposed moderate tariffs on goods that had no previous tariff before, and those countries were charging massive tariffs on American goods. Reagan leveled the playing field. And those countries lowered their tariffs, which allowed American goods to be sold in those countries again.
The difference here is, China and the US had a trade agreement, and ObaMao violated it. He also has doubled the taxes on American industry and given the Unions special favors and treatment. This will only increase prices on both imports AND American goods.
Wages will go down for nonunion, Americans will be less able to afford to buy goods, and this nasty economic situation will become much worse as a result.
Frankly I don’t care about trade agreements with communists that were forced on us. And I especially don’t care about trade agreements with scum who are aiding the killing of our troops.
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