Posted on 07/26/2018 4:35:13 PM PDT by RoosterRedux
Commerce secretary Wilbur Ross breaks down the trade framework President Trump agreed to Wednesday with leaders of the E.U.
SECRETARY WILBUR ROSS: I think there are several very significant aspects. There were no preconditions, no requirement that we drop any 232 tariffs just to get talks going, which had been an original EU request. They came prepared to do business, we came prepared to do business. This really breaks the ground, because it has now set the parameters: Everything is on the table.BRET BAIER. FNC: You're talking zero tariffs, ultimately.
ROSS: The president made it clear at the G7, although you remember no one paid any attention, that his endgame is zero tariffs, zero non-tariff trade barriers, zero subsidies, and zero barriers to our market access, so four big zeroes...
And it is more than soybeans -- all agricultural products will be discussed.
*snip*
ROSS: Well the strategy is this, it took us since World War II to get to the current unfortunate trade deficit. Right after World War II, American public policy was rebuild Europe, rebuild Asia, partly with Marshall Plan and things like that, but also partly with unilateral trade concessions. Those were good then, but should have been time limited.
Concessions that we made that were appropriate to Germany, to Japan, to China in 1950 are no longer appropriate, because they're no longer small, struggling economies; they're now world powerhouses, particularly in export.
So it's a lot of history that we have to deal with. What we now need is to lower the barriers that they were permitted to erect relative to us, get market access...
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
Glad to see Trump comming around on this issue . Evolved is what they are calling it these days
I watched President Trump with the steel workers today, when the 4 workers came up to tell their stories it was really hard to see that blurry screen. How our leaders allowed this to happen is beyond me. I only hope these folks return his loyalty by getting out and voting this fall. Seriously I cringe at the thought of what will happen to his agenda if the Dems take the house or senate
I think it’s a good goal, but I’ll be amazed if we ever get to zero tariffs on agricultural products. The EU ag community is simply too strongly entrenched to ever allow that. That being said, if we can get to zero on manufactured products, I think US industry will have a field day, given how inefficient most European industry is. Autos will be an interesting area. I don’t think US autos are competitive in Europe, not because of tariffs, but because of their style, type, and a perception of quality issues. But who knows, maybe we’ll all be surprised, and a substantial number of Europeans will buy US SUVs and pickups.
“Glad to see Trump comming around on this issue . Evolved is what they are calling it these days”
Coming around? Did you read this?
“ROSS: The president made it clear at the G7, although you remember no one paid any attention, that his endgame is zero tariffs, zero non-tariff trade barriers, zero subsidies, and zero barriers to our market access, so four big zeroes...”
Actual FREE trade. Not free for Europe AND NOT FREE FOR US!! GO TRUMP!!
This is not something that politicians or even business managers understand by nature.
Trump understands "creative destruction" and "economic disruption" because he is creative...an entrepreneur.
This is what he did with Trump Tower by introducing a high-end condo apartment development in a city dominated by cooperative apartments (which behave like residential country clubs in their approval of owners).
Trump opened up NYC upscaled apartment ownership to those who might not pass the societal muster of the Manhattan coop boards because they were foreign or just nouveau riche.
As an aside, economic disruption is how Silicon Valley makes it living.
Trump was way ahead of Silicon Valley.
Yes, and a world with zero nukes would also be great. Unilaterally disarming will not make that happen. I can’t believe how ingrained this NAFTA-style religion has become.
He addressed this during his campaign. He said all of the other countries were taking advantage of us. He said we had given away the store, and it was time to make some agreements that saw the United States getting a fair shake.
Not sure what you mean exactly, but I don’t think it’s accurate to describe him as, “coming around”. I’m glad to see this addressed now, but it was going to take some time as our relationships solidified under Trump to address some things.
One slight perceptional mistake was made here by Ross > IMO. We made trade concessions to help Eastern Europe recover. While we did that with Germany too, but I don’t think it’s exactly kosher to emphasize Germany (our main adversary) and leave out Britain, France, and Italy. That’s just Europe too, as he did mention Japan.
If anyone can think of other European nations I left out here, please add to the one’s I mentioned.
Obviously Western Europe.
In 2002, Ross founded International Steel Group after purchasing the assets of several bankrupt steel companies. Ross had support from the local steelworkers union, negotiating a deal with them to "save" Pennsylvania's steel industry.
Leo Gerard, international president of the United Steelworkers union stated about Ross that "he was open and accessible and candid and honest and he put a lot of money back into the mills, so literally tens of thousands of jobs were saved."
Ross sold International Steel Group to Mittal Steel Company for $4.5 billion, half in cash and half in stock, in April 2005.
Representation of investors in casinos owned by Donald Trump (never heard of the guy :-)
In the 1980s, Donald Trump was in financial trouble. His three casinos in Atlantic City were under foreclosure threat from lenders. Ross, who was then the senior managing director of Rothschild Inc., represented investors in the casino. Along with Carl Icahn, Ross convinced bondholders to strike a deal with Trump that allowed Trump to keep control of the casinos.
My analysis: Both Ross and Carl Icahn are reaping a nice return of their investment in Donald J. Trump. Indirectly, of course: both of these men are heavily invested in American industry. MAGA!
Ford does very well in Europe. They are #2 in sales behind Volkswagen. The Fiesta is the #1 selling car in UK, and Focus is #3. Fiesta is top 10 in several EU countries.
Trump understands “creative destruction” and “economic disruption” because he is creative...an entrepreneur.
* * *
And now he’s practicing “creative destruction” of our State Department, and the rest of government. Thank our lucky stars to have DJT VSG as our President.
If I recall, doesn’t value added taxes need to play into the discussions? Seems like that was a hidden tariff on our products and a hidden subsidy on theirs.
We would be better off with moderately high tariffs on all imports.
But zero tariffs is more acceptable with Europe which is closer in salaries and social programs and environmental rules than with third world countries with huge untapped labor like China.
We would be better off with moderately high tariffs on all imports.
But zero tariffs is more acceptable with Europe which is closer in salaries and social programs and environmental rules than with third world countries with huge untapped labor like China.
What about regulatory barrier erected by government agencies with the statutory authority to do so? Food with dangerous additives, poorly made drugs, mishandled food products, illegal drugs, poor dross laden iron et al.
>>I cringe at the thought of what will happen to his agenda if the Dems take the house or senate<<
.
Going back to the Obama days (shudder).
A no tariff trading, no barriers, etc. seems the best. But, we have seen foreign countries “subsidize” their manufacturers in the past, especially with farm products, so that it is, in effect, not free trade at all.
Right. Bu the cars Ford sells in Europe aren’t the cars Ford sells in the US. And they’re manufactured in Europe.
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