Posted on 03/23/2018 8:16:20 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
U.S. agriculture is bracing itself potentially costly tit-for-tat trade retaliation between the Washington and Beijing that could hit everything from American pork to wine.
"The producers of the commodities that are being targeted will probably feel the effects of it," said Larry Karp, an agricultural economist at the University of California at Berkeley. "And there's no reason to think that the Chinese will stop at this."
On Friday, China's Ministry of Commerce said $3 billion in U.S. goods could face new tariffs following the Trump administration's imposition of duties on imported steel and aluminum. Among the goods listed for retaliatory tariffs were several agricultural products, including pork, wine, nuts, fresh fruit and dried fruit.
Overall, U.S. agricultural exports to China represent about $20 billion annually for American farmers.
Food as weapon "It just seems like any time there are trade disputes, food is top of the list just because it's an emotional issue," said Larry Sailer, an Iowa farmer who produces pork, soybeans and corn. "I wish these countries wouldn't use that as a weapon, but that's basically what they are doing."
Still, Sailer said he "totally supports the administration we have right now," adding that trade issues with other countries such as China have been ignored for too long.
Earlier this week, an editorial in China's Global Times, the ruling Communist Party's official newspaper, made a case for targeting "subsidized U.S. soybeans," charging the commodity is "dumped on China." That said, the Chinese ministry's announcement Friday didn't identify soybeans.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
The quality of bacon is really bad. I suspect the good bacon is going to the Gooks.
Want me to but something American? (and for the record I buy a lot of American products)Ok, then make something cheaper and at least of similar quality. My dollars go for value, not nationality. Most Americans, even Trump voters, agree with me. How do I know, look at their purchases. They have already spoken by buying Toyota over Ford, by buying Samsung over ...who ever, etc, etc.
No one seems to have mentioned that Trump’s tariffs are meant to be RECIPROCAL. I haven’t read the language yet, but it seems to me any ADDITIONAL tariffs that the Chinese impose (above and beyond all those they already do) will be reciprocated. They will be shooting themselves in the foot.
To balance the difference in labor costs between the USA and the 3rd world would not take much. Frankly, most manufacturing is not labor intensive. That's the point of mass production. Maybe 7% of retail prices goes to labor, and that's for domestic union labor.
Protectionist, (Patriots) understand is that a tariff will increase prices. We get it. WE WANT THAT. It's a one time inflation due to higher labor costs in the USA. We understand economists. We are not stupid. But the payoff comes in lowered social costs and higher quality products. We are willing to pay more for a strong viable industrial base. I WANT TO PAY MORE. I understand the economics involved here.
I am not so greedy as to destroy the USA industrial base, cause social havoc, in order to buy a cheaper poor quality Gook made consumer goods. IT'S NOT WORTH IT AT ANY PRICE.
You Free Traitors™ need to quit acting like you need to educate us Patriots in econmics. We understand economics WAY more than you realize.
Final points: Adam Smith was an Utopian a$$hole.
The motivation of the patriot will always be a mystery to the traitor.
It is up to the people of China to decide if they prefer American food products to pay more.
Of interest are soybeans. That commodity is a major american export to China and apparently will not be tariffed
tax is a factor
China bought Smithfield for several reasons. An important one was to buy U.S. production and quality control expertise, which they can use to improve their own production. (China is the world's leading producer and consumer of pork products.) Another, of course, was to buy into the U.S. production and distribution system as a foundation for increasing Chinese imports of U.S.-produced product. I am all in favor of China buying more U.S. pork. I care much more about the pig being raised in Iowa on corn grown in Iowa, and being processed in a plant employing U.S. workers, than I am about whose label is on the package.
The politics of this get quite intricate. China is very skittish about becoming import-dependent for basic food commodities, pork being high on the list for Chinese consumers. Chinese-owned foreign assets help ease China's apprehensions about increased import dependence. There's a fair amount of irrationality involved in that. In a real crisis, China would lose access to (and possibly ownership of) U.S.-based plants. But still, the notion of Chinese ownership eases Chinese concerns about import dependence.
I was in Rota for four years. Wine I drank there was rarely over 4 bucks a bottle. Reserva ... the good stuff. Over 15 bucks here for the same stuff.
And yes, Reserva ! The good stuff.
Thibo...import tax ? Or State / Federal ? An additional 10 bucks ?
Pork, really. The Chinese bought Smithfield.
US pop. - 325.7 million (2017)
China pop, - 1.379 billion (2016)
The Chinese do not have enough water to grow/raise their own food.
We can always can/bottle our excessive harvest...of wait, that will create moar manufacturing jobs!
Pork tariff> All of the Chinese tiggers and rovers get worried.
Fruit and nut tariff> maybe some of the Mexicans will pick up and go home
True that.
"Soybean Subsidies in the United States totaled $35.6 billion from 1995-2016.
https://farm.ewg.org/progdetail.php?fips=00000&progcode=soybean
Stolen from hardworking families all across the country, by a centrally planned government, greased by lobbyists.
I'm not heartbroken that they face the truth.
Smart move. Given the “plastic rice” they inflict on their own people, the thousands of poisoned pets here, the seafood they send to our stores infested with worms, it’s insanity to consume any Chinese product.
Also.....houses built with toxic Chinese drywall are uninhabitable.
I also demanded the supermarket I patronize label all its produce as to the country of origin.
One Chinese “entrepreneur” bought the Waldorf Astoria for $2 billion. But the snoopy Chinese govt started asking questions about where he got all that money.
With one swift move, New York’s Waldorf Astoria and JW Marriott Essex House and the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington, D.C., are now controlled by Beijing.
Beijing also took over Anbang, the insurer that owned the Waldorf Astoria.
The Waldorf is closed for two years for renovations.
The Chinese also bought out the 200 hotels in the Radisson Hotel chain.
Thank God. Bacon has been selling for more than steak. A surplus of pork here should bring the price down for this poplular item.
And California has lots of homeless on the streets that will now be able to afford more wine. As will I although I won’t support California wines over Texas.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.