Posted on 03/04/2018 3:47:42 PM PST by Kaslin
Last week President Trump announced a new 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent hike on aluminum imports. Foreign leaders like Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the move "unacceptable" and the European Union threatened to respond to the U.S. with their own tariff.
Try it, Trump dared. He'll just add a new tax on European cars.
British Prime Minister Theresa May shared her own "deep concerns" with Trump directly in a phone call on Sunday. What he should have done was pursue "multilateral action," May reportedly told the president.
At least one person sees where Trump is coming from.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), one of Congress's more moderate Democrats, is siding with the president in his explanation of China's trade practices.
“When you look at who produces the steel in the world, 50 percent of the steel produced in the world comes from China. The United States is the largest importer of the steel,” Manchin said.
“Connect the dots. Even though they’re saying it might not come directly from China, it comes ... through other countries.”
Knowing China's M.O., Manchin "welcomes" Trump's plan.
While other lawmakers like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) agree China is an economic aggressor, he argued Trump's tariffs will do nothing to rein them in. He's making a "huge mistake," Graham told CBS Sunday.
“Your solution has let China off the hook,” Graham appealed to the president.
What Trump needs to do, the senator suggested, was reenter the U.S. into the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Judging by his Twitter timeline this weekend, Trump appears to have made up his mind, offering Americans this "easy" explanation for his actions.
When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win. Example, when we are down $100 billion with a certain country and they get cute, don’t trade anymore-we win big. It’s easy!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 2, 2018
Shut up Linda
To get back in Trump’s good graces, Canada should fund The Wall and bill Mexico.
I'm not sure what's more disturbing: that Graham is stupid enough to say something like that; or, that he's paid to say it.
Pandering for votes. Just switch to the rino party and shut up.
Oh, that's a good idea. [/s]
China is the 11th largest source of steel imports. How can this be about China?
“What he should have done was pursue “multilateral action,” May reportedly told the president.”
This skank should talk. The folks in the UK voted to get out of the EU and she hasnt even accomplished nearly anything towards that.
Today’s European “leaders” have a hard time with simple thoughts, let alone “deep” ones.
Go, Trump, go.
If the MSM disagrees with you, you are on the right track.
There is a lot of deception going on here over this. Why do they keep hammering on China if it’s not the biggest target of these tariffs?
"OK, but let's pursue "multilateral action" that makes America first", responded the President.
“What he should have done was pursue “multilateral action,””
Well, Theresa, OF COURSE, that’s what you and the rest of the world wants because that means the U.S. has only one vote out of the many, and naturally gets outvoted by the weak sisters in a deal that totally screws the U.S. Trump explained all of that to us during the 2016 campaign, Theresa, so that’s NEVER going to happen to us on Trump’s watch ...
Baloney. We don't need that dummkopf. We need a REAL Senator in West Virginia.
Not a clue. Here are the statistics for last year: Link
China is the 11th largest source of steel imports. How can this be about China?
http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/06/news/economy/us-steel-vietnam-china-tariffs/index.html
American steelmakers complained last year that Chinese companies appeared to be avoiding huge tariffs by diverting products to Vietnam for “minor processing” before they were shipped to the U.S.
its just about theater
The media goes out of its way to make Republicans and Trump look stupid. One of these ways is to omit crucial information:
Busters, meanwhile, often say China doesnt export much steel to the United States.
But thats in part because China is running certain steel products through third-party countries where they are superficially processed, and then sent to the United States for sale.
Its basically a clever way to avoid tariffs assigned by the U.S. Commerce Department on certain Chinese steel products.
Thats what Commerce decided today, when it assigned duties to steel products from Vietnam. Reuters reports:
The Commerce Department said it would apply the same Chinese anti-dumping and anti-subsidy rates on corrosion-resistant and cold-rolled steel from Vietnam that starts out as Chinese-made hot-rolled steel.
Although the product was processed in Vietnam to be made corrosion resistant or cold-rolled for use in autos or appliances, the Commerce Department agreed with the claims of American producers that as much as 90 percent of the products value originated from China.
And get this:
The Commerce Department said that after anti-dumping duties were imposed on Chinese steel products in 2015, shipments of cold-rolled steel from Vietnam into the United States shot up to $295 million annually from $11 million.
We import less steel from Vietnam than we do from China.
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