No, I did not know that. I do know that the WTO permits tariffs as sanctions for dumping and whatnot, much like it permits retaliatory sanctions. Something that Pres. Trump would be wise to consider.
Right, but in most cases they aren’t dumping. Their labor costs are just so much lower than ours. And in China’s case, that’s due to government policy.
He could also go the route that Romney mentioned, declare China a currency manipulator.
But I think general tariffs are the way to go. Goods have a way of being rebranded through neutral or even friendly countries and finding their way to our shores anyway. Best just to tariff them all.
Notice the reason given is to keep countries with high trade deficits from going bankrupt. That's what happened to Greece. High trade deficits resulted in high unemployment, which resulted in government deficits, which resulted in bankruptcy. Once everyone lost their jobs the trade deficit came down. Because nobody could afford the imports anymore.
Of course Greece got hit by the EU agreements as well as WTO agreements.