Posted on 07/20/2018 6:19:02 AM PDT by GonzoII
President Donald Trump has indicated that he’s willing to hit every product imported from China with tariffs, sending U.S. markets sliding before the opening bell Friday.
In a taped interview with the business channel CNBC, Trump said “I’m willing to go to 500,” referring roughly to the $505.5 billion in goods imported last year from China.
The administration to date has slapped tariffs on $34 billion of Chinese goods in a trade dispute over what it calls the nation’s predatory practices.
Dow futures which had already been pointing modestly lower slid sharply after the comments were aired by CNBC early Friday, indicating triple-digit losses when the market opens.
The yuan dipped to a 12-month low of 6.8 to the dollar, off by 7.6 percent since mid-February.
China has retaliated with duties of its own, hitting U.S. imports of soybeans and pork. The administration July 10 announced a second possible round targeting $200 billion worth of goods. Beijing vowed “firm and forceful measures” in response.
Beijing is targeting sectors, like agriculture, that could harm Trump politically at home, though he said in the CNBC interview that he is seeking to do only what is fair.
“I’m not doing this for politics, I’m doing this to do the right thing for our country,” Trump said. “We have been ripped off by China for a long time.”
There is already pushback in the U.S. from businesses that will take a hit in an escalating trade war.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
People don’t realize how important brinksmanship is with China.
EVERY POTUS until now has let China do whatever it wanted to unfairly — and illegally under international law — manipulate trade to its advantage and thew USA’s disadvantage. Everyone in the chain just played along to get along since it had the veneer of helping through lower prices — prices so low they put US businesses out of business.
We finally have a POTUS with spine and the uneducated don’t understand it.
I really, really dislike tariffs; however, China has much more to lose than the USA in a trade war, so I think Mr. Trump’s tactic is a good one.
There is no free trade, never has been, never will.
In fact, Trump’s tactic is meant to get us closer to that mythical notion of “Free Trade”.
Oriental Trading Company hardest hit.
The only way to respond to tariffs, trade barriers, and IP theft (Which China has all 3 on US products) is in kind. These are long overdue. We also should have a tariff to level out minimum wage, environmental and other regulatory laws. Penalizing US production for laws we demand they adhere to only hurts US workers.
Bingo
Temporary inconvenience Permanent improvement. MAGA
I LOVE tariffs.
George Washington LOVED tariffs.
Karl Marx HATED tariffs and advocated “free trade”.
What happened to the triple-digit losses?
...and Adam Smith was opposed to tariffs, because they distort the market, the same reason I’m opposed to them.
However, if Mr. Trump applies temporary tariffs to reset our relationship with China, I’m fine with that, as long as they’re temporary.
China has much more to lose than the USA in a trade war
****************
That is the bottom line. There was a huge bankruptcy in China this week. And this is just one of many as discussed in the article below. China is playing a weak hand.
The Republican party supported tariffs until after post WW2 to try and prop up Western Europe. It didn’t support “free trade” (or one sided free trade) with China until the 90s. People forget until WW2, the majority of our governments income came from tariffs - and we grew much faster - and wages grew much faster. Before we started “free trade” with China, we had averaged 3.5-4.5% GDP growth over the previous 25, 50, 100, 200 years. Since then we’ve averaged 2%. There is no evidence “free trade” works - largely because there is no such thing as free trade today - we have its free to come into the US but not for the US to go elsewhere. And that doesn’t even count currency manipulation and subsidies.
We can add walmart to the mix, but then they might just move their buyers to VietNam and other Asian countries.
Also add Harbor Freight, or as I call them "Just off the boat from China"
Thinking about it, there is talk of a developing market in North Korea. lol
Agree. Long since time to level the playing field. If not now, then when?
We are in a uniquely strong position to do this now.
China also has a very rigid bureaucracy. Even XI, who seems like an emperor, sits atop a Communist Party which is full of rivals and political enemies and their own fiefdoms.
Something has to move them to action, and Trump knows this and is going big.
In the meantime, he’s put American businesses and others on notice - you can start looking to make and buy your crap elsewhere. Things with China have changed.
1) The Chinese think its ok to break any rule as long as you don’t get caught. 2) Tariffs could be risen to get rid of the income tax. Keep sin taxes though I’d give tobacco a big break.
Some big box stores aren’t gonna like this at all. China is their bread and butter, giving them those thousand percent mark-ups on goods manufactured in the PRC. That’s because the stuff costs practically nothing with factories paying twenty-five cents per hour to “employees” and fuel and machinery and overhead state-subsidized. In case you hadn’t noticed—since this all started 40 years ago, China has become incredibly skillful in its beck-engineering of Western technology. The stuff coming out of there is very competitive and U.S. markets are liking it. It’s become an addiction. How will we ever get weaned? Cold turkey?
We can always just not trade with China. North Koreans will need Soybeans once they get off the nuke drug. China is not the only place in town. At some point trade deals will actually start happening in my opinion. If that is the case the U.S may find that there are other markets out there and that would weaken China’s hand too. If either the E.U or Canada or Mexico decides to grab up to a fair trade deal with the U.S the remaining countries are going to get a raw deal. The same is true if China grabs it first. That will suck for Canada etc. I think the smart play is to be first to get a deal.
You got it, it’s now or never and who can do this except Trump.
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.