Replies

our tariff policy should be set by laws passed by US congress as was done in the past. This new trend of letting the president negotiate trade policy is not good. We simply cannot control whether or not the other nation does or does not allow our products to be treated fairly in their marketplace.

We should pass laws which provide for zero or very low tariffs with nations that buy approximately the same amount from us as we buy from them. But for nations that sell 2, 3 or 4 times to us as we sell to them, we should impose very large tariffs until the trade comes back in rough balance. This approach is better than imposing large tariffs to protect certain industries, like steel. I contend that it is not really in our interest to trade with china when we buy from them 8 times what they buy from us. If it is not two-way trade, we do not benefit and should thus tax it heavily. In this way we can reduce taxes on production in the domestic economy. We must produce domestically or else we will not be able to consume.

You have a voice of reason in a sea of b*llsh^t. We have been lied to, cajoled, threatened with dire consequences and mayhem if we don't buy lock, stock, and barrel the promises made for free trade. We were told after the vote on every agreement that our trade balance would improve if we would just go along with each new agreement.

The situation has deteriorated each time. Now, I have to come to the conclusion that our representatives are the worst bargainers in the world or the biggest liars. Your defense of the Constitutional duties of the Congress is the formula for fair trade.

Nations should be free to trade with one another in a partnership basis without being governed by a board of political operatives subject to the control by no one. What we call free trade is in reality the most negotiated and manipulated set of trading rules the world has ever known.

It has actually depressed trade rather than encouraged trade. As proof of this, when one economy falters, the whole world stumbles. We, as a nation, are the consumer market for every manufacturer in the world, without regard for the repayment in kind for the export of our products.

The truth of the matter is, we are expected to share our wealth with every other third world country until we become a third world country. This is the plan for establishing the socialist designed world government dictatorship and we have a number of conservatives that buy this line, hook, line and sinker while maintaining they are for freedom and liberty. What a joke!