Oh what a lovely trade war!(Barf alert)

Harry's place ^ | 3rd March 2018 | Gene

[Ennis85]

After announcing plans to impose a 25 percent tariff on imported steel and a 10 percent tariff on imported aluminum, President Trump tweeted that “trade wars are good and easy to win.”

I have protectionist sympathies and I believe manufacturing still matters. The decline of steel and aluminum manufacturing in the US has had a devastating effect on many communities– such as Ashtabula and Youngstown, Ohio.

I’m not sure how good or winnable trade wars are, but there’s no doubt that countries which export steel to the US will retaliate in kind– making it harder to sell American-made products and agricultural goods to other countries. And US manufacturers which use steel and aluminum will face higher costs.

So it’s entirely likely that these tariffs will cost more American jobs than they create or save.

It probably didn’t help Trump’s case when his multi-millionaire Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross tried to explain to ordinary working folks how little the cost of a can of Campbell’s soup would go up as a result of the tariff.

It’s important to make a distinction between free trade and fair trade. I am a proponent of the latter. That is, countries which protect workers’ rights– including the right to organize independent trade unions– deserve more favorable treatment on trade than countries which don’t. China and (as Bernie Sanders noted) Vietnam come to mind.

Trump doesn’t seem to care about this distinction. In fact his administration has been steadily undermining the rights of American workers.

The largest single exporter of steel to the US is Canada–which in fact has stronger labor laws. By contrast:

Although China is the world’s largest steel exporter, it is only the 11th-largest source country to the U.S., accounting for just 2 percent of total U.S. imports last year.

[BenLurkin]

[HiTech RedNeck]

Is this all? I thought it was going to be worse.

Tempest in a domestic steel teapot.

[existtoexcel]

This is a re-post so forgive the redundancy to those that have read it.

The existing tariffs on steel were being thwarted by NAFTA allowing a backdoor through Canada and Mexico.(China)

President Trump, our most adept financial negotiator ever, closed it. If China can't get in the back door, they have to deal through the front door and our Chief Negotiator's wheelhouse.

Of course there will be lots of screaming, hand wringing, and angst from Canada. Without NAFTA, China can't use them to get their steel here cheap.

Canada no longer has leverage with China.

We do.

The ease with which the media obfuscates is a trademark of follywood. In this instance, they gush with sensitivity over workers rights when Canada is allowing Chinese cheap steel to pass through them to us. Canada is promoting low wages in China.

The hubris and the disdain for US workers is transparent.

[heights]

Turning China into what will be the most powerful country in the World in a few decades, was such a Sweet Idea. for the 000001%, that is.

[joshua c]

Thanks for that information. I am a newbie on the subject of trade. Gonna read up on this.

For all those wringing their hands. We elected a fighter and he is fighting.