Trump is what the American people wanted. Michigan was a state that went for Trump. Now the chickens start to come home to roost. Few tears will fall from these eyes. Thing is it's going to get worse. Watch out Iowa farmers.
42
I can't forget the 47% of Michiganders that supported Trump.
I can't forget that these people cheered, waved and roared with glee when Trump insulted our nation's war heroes (after dodging the draft multiple times himself); accused Mexicans of being rapists; threatened to throw Muslims out of the country; sneered and denigrated women; incited violence against Democrats; advocated for the jailing of an opposing political figure without due process; encouraged violence against those who might dare to see an issue differently; insisted that Klansman and white supremacists were "fine people"; called for the jailing and censorship of journalists; advocated the death penalty for women who have abortions; insisted that President Obama was a Muslim born in Kenya; loudly and proudly declared his intention to undercut our nation's allies because, after all, that's "winning"; threatened to take away health care from one-sixth of the population; declared his intention to start a trade war and withdraw the U.S. from the very accords that give this country enormous leverage in the world; threatened to change the nation's libel laws to amount to a state takeover of the press; expressed admiration for strongmen who wish our country ill....
These people CHEERED at Trump's fountain of hate, misogony, bigotry, xenophobia, and plain old fashioned racism.
To begin to fix this mess, I'm looking to the good in this country. There's a lot of it. Just not in 47% of Michigan.
26
To the many commentators here gleefully expressing their schadenfreude about Michigan, thanks, that's a big help. Of course you know nothing of this state, its regions and its politics.
We are not one thing, although currently we are occupied by a oligarch funded party with a gerrymandered death-grip on the state. Michigan is an unexceptionally racist and segregated Midwestern state. That has been its downfall. But there still exists a large well-spring of progressive power here. It needs support and articulation, and candidates who express it. Hillary who? DNC who? Apparently we missed that.
17
Trump/GOP still trying to take America back to 1950. It will not work. Red States are getting hit hard with Trump policies. Job loss; higher prices; no market for their products. Too Bad. Vote out GOP for change. Ray Sipe
24
All is not entirely lost. Michigan Trump voters who lose their jobs can always get back in the swing making Trump Baby balloons in England.
24
Mr. Xian articulates a bedrock investment truth when he states "Without certainty, nothing can happen". Given that reality, coupled with Trump's unpredictable, incoherent and incomprehensible "vision", it won't be long before the world's economy will be adequately primed for collapse. In the meantime, hundreds of communities across the U.S. and abroad will take the initial brunt, as in the instant case.
14
These conservative and educationally backward and mostly poor and lawless Red states must learn to grow 'organically', invest in infrastructure, public education (free from religious private/charter schools), and health care to groom local talents and potential entrepreneurs to create wealth and develop from within, without such desperate need for foreign or out of state investors. such investors are generally are very exploitative, put too much pressure on local tax payers (in collusion with the ruling administration) and can go away when get a greener pasture without fulfilling the (verbal) assurances they gave while trying to arm twist local govt and tax payers to scoff more benefits to them, in form of tax breaks, cheaper land, lower wages, bending local environmental laws. and so on. we are facing the same situation in Wisconsin under very incompetent Scott Walker administration (Foxconn is just one good example).
21
Chickens coming home to roost.
Between non-voters and Trump voters, Michigan voted for anarchy and chaos, admittedly by a small margin.
Anarchy and chaos can be fun if you are bored, until they start affecting your very life.
31
Gee, that's a shame.
21
At first I thought MAGA was just a campaign slogan but Trump is really trying to rewind the clock to the 1950s when America was white by a large percent, civil rights were virtually nonexistent for minorities and America was king of manufacturing.
26
"Trump’s Trade War With China Pierces the Heart of Michigan"
Outstanding!
The people of Michigan deserve to get what they voted for in 2016 good, hard, and often.
Then they need to vote accordingly on November 6, 2018.
46
Good for the people of Michigan. Gonna vote for the Clown again are you?
54
Refresh my memory... How did Michigan go in the 2016 presidential election.
Oh, Right!
Pity.
69
Hey Michigan, tired of all the winning yet?
You wanted him. And now we’re all stuck with him.
79
The PRC car companies will put an end to USA car manufacturing, just as they did to photovoltaic panels (invented in the USA at Bell Labs) and flat panel displays (invented in the USA at Westinghouse)
Unless the USA (mass production invented in the USA at Ford) protects is car industry with tariffs.
9
Read “Beijing Jeep” available on Amazon. China wants open access to the US, to be able to buy any thing it wants, and for Chinese to freely emigrate to US and be granted US citizenship but China is closed to foreigners, a foreigner cannot buy anything in China of any significance, and while there have been millions and millions of Chinese-Americans there have been 0 American-Chinese says Harvard’s Eric Liu. China’s tariff on the US is 200 years old. Nothing gets into China except on terms benefiting Chinese or to help Chinese steal from nonChinese. If you think the trade war is something new, be assured it is not.
12
I believe the article states the GM sells more cars in China than in the U.S. You may want to check your ill-informed vitriol at the door. It is true that they are steeling industrial secrets and that they enforce partnering rules. And these need to be addressed. But using tariffs like this is like using a bazooka to swat the fly in your kitchen, you may get the fly but you won't have a kitchen.
24
"The Envision, which GM began importing from China in spring 2016, has been a hit with consumers.
GM sold 41,040 units of the Envision in 2017, making it Buick's third-best seller. "
(USA TODAY, 5 Hottest new selling vehicles, 1/3/18)
Folks : EVERY ONE OF THESE VEHICLES PIERCED THE HEART OF FORMER GM WORKER in MICHIGAN
Want more of US jobs to move overseas ? Then keep arguing against applying the same tariffs on cars that since 1964 applied to Pick Ups
Former automotive worker , who started in a
company making bumpers, triple coated with
copper, nickel, chrome
7
Does an American’s companies even pay tariffs? Something should be done, but this ain’t it.
1
Michigan voted for trump. trump is now paying them back. Who could've seen this coming? Well - a lot of us. And we tried to warn you.
61
The Chinese (and the world, for that matter) ought to target the Trump family’s businesses as surgically as possible. He doesn’t care about anything else.
44
Sure, this all sounds bad, but it pales in comparison to Hillary's emails, right? I mean let's not lose focus on the real threats to our well being.
103
I know many Michiganders, and they are beginning to fully comprehend the consequences of the 2016 election. The auto industry started coming back earlier this decade, reflecting the incorporation of new technologies, and they will not let this re-birth be short-lived!
On the Health & Environment side, the Trump Administration has shown no interest in dealing with the consequences of many decades of chemicals & pollutants leeching into the soil of Flint and other major cities. On the contrary, it is doing everything in its power to relax the standards!
My expectation is that voters will react similarly to those who cast ballots in 2018 special elections in Alabama, Pennsylvania, Virginia and other similar areas who had previously cast their 2016 votes to Trump and the GOP.
24
I have written my state reps about how his trade policies and the EPA are security threats to our once proud state. Dems want 5% tax hikes for fire, police , education and infrastructure and the GOP howls it would be the end of the world, but 25% tax hike to utterly ruin the economic recovery is just letting Trump build leverage.
31
I have written my state reps about how his trade policies and the EPA are security threats to our once proud state.
16
I would not bet on that. Trump's hold on his base is cult like. If Jim Jones got nearly a thousand people to guzzle cyanide to be whatever he told them they would be I don't see Trump having many problems leading millions of Americas over the cliff with him.
12
Tariffs are a tax! The government gets the money from the tariff! Not the workers or safety nets, not the company, the government collects the tariffs for its own use. A 25% tariff on cars or steel means the government adds on and keeps 25% above the market price, causing prices to fall. Increasing taxes will not fix trade.
23
If you’re from Michigan and you voted for Trump, you have no one to blame but yourselves. Maybe losing your jobs due solely to his idiotic policies will finally wake you up to the fact that he never cared about you and exploited your legitimate concerns for his own gain. Sorry, not sorry.
113
"Sorry, not sorry." I totally agree with you.
15
You're joking, right?
Thoughts and prayers.
6
Not to worry, they can all just bankrupt out and stiff the little guys and families, just like Trump does. And they voted for the ignorant old dotard that will quickly destroy them. Sad.
51
Trump hires foreign workers for his organizations. Anyone who has half a brain should know that he doesn't care about American workers.
65
Michigan thanks you, Mr Trump
6
Michigan was "pierced" in 2016 --- Wisconsin and Ohio as well ---
Raise your ubiquitous baseball hats (on backwards) for the death of the Midwest...
The Emperor Trump and his arrogant GOP Congress are not finished destroying the United States...
25
"...it matters less who owns their company..." except for corporate income taxes. Foreign based multinationals are far less likely to pay any state and federal income taxes because the pre-tax US profits that they shift to subsidiaries in foreign tax havens ARE NOT SUBJECT TO REPATRIATION. Watch the YouTube video "The Town that Took on the Taxman" and "Taxodus" to learn how simple and easy it for multinationals of all stripes to shift pre-tax profits to tax havens such as the Isle of Man (owned directly by the Queen) and the Netherlands.
7
By the way, Trump won Michigan by 10,000 votes and 250,000 fewer black voters bothered going to the polls. Their Facebook feed was all about discouraging them. There you have it. Otherwise, it would have been the same numbers as Obama. Just saying to the people thinking Michigan caused Trump. Look at the bigger picture.
21
Sad, really, as the non-voters and those who voted for the floundering, bankrupt business man and reality TV star doomed the rest of us.
8
Elections have consequences, Michigan.
41
Michigan Trump voters don't care. They elect Country Club Republicans for tax cuts. In the outlying rural areas they tend to be either anti abortion zealots or libertarians against all government. Currently, Michigan is the 10th best state for a business after 20 years of cuts. However, college grads leave ASAP. We are 36th in educational attainment and not coincidentally, 36th in wages.
Our per capita wages are down 20% from the year 2000. Our roads are abysmal and the suburban county to the north of Detroit will not allow a mass transit bill to go through because poor minority workers will be travelling through their areas. Amazon would not consider Detroit because of the refusal to pave the roads and lack of mass transit. Thanks to Betsy DeVos and her inherited billions, the public schools in all the minority cities have been ravaged by failing charter schools. Many are rife with fraud and terrible test scores.
Michigan has fully adopted a Mississippi strategy of low taxes, poor roads and low investment. This, even though most of the state votes Democratic, they (Democrats) hold no statewide offices in the state government.
They do have 2 Democrat US Senators, but only 5 of 14 US Reps. are Dems, proving that gerrymandering works, although in the long run, in terms of governance, it fails at everything else. This pleases Trump supporters. They would say everything in this post is "fake" and silently want whatever policies hurt poor or brown people the most.
73
I wonder if they'll start caring when their kids have asthma thanks to air pollution and they can't afford the inhalers.
10
The water is practically carcinogenic.
4
It should read "They have two Democratic Senators." But everything else you said is true.
1
I have little sympathy for the folk in Michigan and Rust Belt. You either voted for Trump or stayed home and allowed the low attendance to secure him the narrowest of victories.
Reading this article confirms what I suspected: the auto industry, and most industries, are incredibly complex, with cars being assembled from parts made all over the world. Slapping some simplistic tariff, ostensibly to generate jobs, does little more than throw red meat at a base interested in finding a foreign scapegoat. The historical evidence is obvious on two fronts: one, high tariffs hurt the economy (Hawley-Smoot) and two, many of the jobs Trump has promised to save are not coming back as the economy has fundamentally changed (the Industrial Revolution).
Although I do not know a solution for Michigan's auto industry, I do know Trump is ignorant about the topic as well. I also know my patience and sympathy for the folk impacted by this juvenile economic strategy, which now includes a trade war, has expired. Good luck.
45
You are incorrect in your analysis of Michigan voters. Your opinion is coming off as “Trump like”. Your opinion lacks nuance. I was a Hillary supporter. Even gave some money to her campaign. I am surrounded by Trumpkins. I lived in the New York metro area for 30 years. I am an artist and was gentrified out. For example regarding lack of nuance consider Trumps opinion of Harley riders. I have owned three Harleys. I’m a liberal. Do not assume Michiganders are all Trumpkins. We are not.
1
Aviation Industries Corporation of China is a government (aka a communist dictatorship) owned entity that went on a US buying spree starting in 2010.
Who let this happen?
We know Trump is a big mouth baffon, but some strange stuff happened under Obama that seem to not be reported. And the worst president in a century, Bush Jr, is totally forgotten.
7
Well it is 2018 now and neither of those previous presidents is around. However, when Obama was president, the republicans led the way by blocking him and passing absurd legislation trying to make him look bad. Republicans are the problem - no republicans, no problems.
18
Trump makes baby Bush look like a genius.
13
Our collective memory is short. Obama inherited the biggest financial crisis since the depression. And the auto industry was almost belly up so MI gets little sympathy from me.
5
True, Trump's ham fisted and poorly thought out (not thought out at all) tariffs, and unnecessary negative rhetoric, are counterproductive.
But it is a misguided idea to have a totally hands-off policy to US industry and economy - while other successful nations indeed have government policies and plans for long term success.
The US was once a world technology leader. The US once had a national industrial strategy. We once had policies of high demand, to ensure that we were a net exporter.
China is now taking the lead, and will leave the US behind. Technology transfer has greatly accelerated this process, as has decades of US trade deficits.
The idea that we can have a relatively few, educated technical workers to design stuff, and have everything made in China is tragically naive. Much innovation and advancement in manufacturing, takes place where the actual manufacturing is performed.
Having China own the factories, means China will own all the IP developed at those factories. Trade deficits give China the cash to do *more* of that.
And as many companies are just discovering, the trade deficit measured in dollars, grossly understates our lopsided dependence on China, as their goods are massively underpriced.
It is long past time to acknowledge that the US needs as *smart* national industrial policy - as does, Germany, China, Japan, and others. Trump may not be competent to create such a policy, but at least he acknowledges that we have a problem.
2
TPP?
TPP does *not* qualify as being consistent with a US national industrial policy.
TPP was written by lobbyists, for their corporate employers - period.
Even "our" (actually the donors') legislators were given very restricted access to the text of the TPP drafts - they were not even allowed to have written copies.
In any trade agreement, there are winners and losers. Those who do not have a seat at the table, are guaranteed to be losers. And the people of the US - especially workers - did *not* have a seat at the table. So, you can be sure that they were on the menu.
Again.
Sad. Other nations are competing smartly, and we act as if there is not even an economic competition among nations, or that a bunch of individual actors, working for short term personal gain, will outcompete nations which have long term, well thought out, national strategy.
The New Deal, high demand policies, infrastructure spending, and an optimum compromise between an *honest* government responsive to it's citizens, and free markets, led to the US success from 1932 to 1980.
The bipartisan destruction of those policies since 1980, is why we are now in economic decline.
6
During the 2008 Financial crisis the GOP was openly advocating letting the auto industry go bankrupt. The Democratic party saved this State's economy from being destroyed. And then this state showed it's gratitude by embracing the GOP in 2016. You'll have to pardon me if I zero ability to sympathize with what is about to happen to them
86
As a resident of Michigan - a state that voted for Trump - we get what we deserve. End of story.
77
Michigan & other red states did not vote for a practical & attractive economic plan. They voted for the Hate candidate because fox news and others told them to. I feel not one iota of sympathy for them (or for the pouters & the apathetic who skipped the polls). I only feel sorry for the rest of us who have to live with the increasingly horrible situation they created because they hate everyone who isn't exactly like them.
50
As many others have pointed out, Trump knows only how to play checkers in a chess world. He makes moves on what "feels" good to him and appeals to his base. without either the ability or desire to know what those moves will really cause. I'm afraid we're in for many bumps in the road before he drives us off a cliff. See: RevolutionOfReason.com
12
So much for the free-wheeling style the Trump voters thought would shake up Washington. What they failed to do was extrapolate that style to the havoc it could wreak on their own local economies.
Trump negotiates like a blind person throwing darts.
Note to Michigan: Intelligence matters. Experience matters. Tax returns matter. Ethics matter. Character matters.
121
I feel sorry only for those who voted for Hillary. They are getting the shaft. This will be repeated all over middle America.
If you voted for this hideous man, you are getting what you paid for.
65
What is there to say? Not a single economist endorsed Trump's economic plans. They were white nationalism and xenophobia, not economics. Is there any reason to think that Michigan voters will come to their senses now? Odds are against it. Trump will now tell them that they must now suffer a little in the interests of patriotism, or that their tariff difficulties are the result of the Democrats.
59
never "suffer." always someone else's fault.
2
Good People of Michigan and other supposed "red" states. there is a cure for fox so-called news brain-washing,.
Watch Rachel Maddow (MSNBC weeknights at 9 pm ET) and other MSNBC/CNN shows. Then truly compare their coverage with fox so-called news and listen to your rational minds.
If you are truly smart you will realize something is VERY fishy in today's Robber Baron government and you can return your brains to reality.
I hope you will. Let's restore true democracy in OUR United States of America and let no man tear it asunder.
Not now. Not ever.
29
Michigan voted for trump now you reap the rewards. Elections have consequences.
50
Wow, so many people (well, I know they are NYtimes readers in particular) still think our trade with China over the past two decades has been a winning one. This "trade war" with China is just a very first battle between the free, market-driven economy and the totalitarian state control "capitalism" that China has been successfully practicing. If such the unbalanced and unfair trade is not to be corrected, you will find your lunch is gone -- not in next year, but very likely in next decade or so. Trump may not be likable, but what he is doing on this matter shall be credited.
3
I am not sure that anyone believes that "our trade with china over the past two decades has been a winning one" but that is because (at least for me) trade with any country is complicated, not because it is some battle that can be won. Trade with countries we disagree with but with who we either get a lot of goods from, or send a lot of goods to is fraught with issues including how to balance the social needs with the economic ones. What Trump now believes is, and what his media army has convinced others of is that the "soulution" is as easy as "American exceptionalism" and the idea that "they need us more than we need them". Neither is true. Trump and his actions demonstrate his lack of understanding the difference between trade policy and creating a trade relationship. Trump, while many might disagree (me included), might be a great "negotiator" in business but the country doesn't need to be run like a business. It needs to be run like a country. As for credit, my deepest hope is that he gets credit, full credit, for his actions much in the same way that Nixon gets credit for being a mastermind of breakins.
18
China was winning and is likely to continue to win because of many reasons one of which is their working ethics and another is their stable central leadership. U.S. has been winning BIG as well. The problem is that the benefits primarily went to big companies like Apple, Microsoft, Nike, Caterpillar, GE, and Boeing. That's a big reason they are eager to keep things going...
China or any other country should not be a scapegoat for the problems in distribution of wealth, social system unjust, or leadership change in the this country.
It is way easier to blame or destroy something than to build for common good. If China or Europe want win-win relationship with us, we ought to be interested to see how to do that instead of doing everything opposite.
5
The "American carnage" continues in a state that helped put Donald Trump in The,White House. It's the latest example of "what goes around, comes around" in the Reality TV world of a trade war that's "easy to win" except in Detroit and other places in flyover land (aka Trump country).
18
To the voters in Michigan who did not vote for Trump - sympathy. To the voters in Michigan who did vote for Trump and are now experiencing buyers' remorse - cry me a river.
55
Don't try to restrict what I can and will buy from China and Asia.. Everything I have, clothes, TV's , computers, Phones, and all my Cars, comes from there and all of it is better than anything the US ever produced. No cloth is made in the US. Thank you China formall you do for me. If the US has its way we will all dress in homespun. Not I, I 'll have none of it.
4
Right? My thing is the US isn't the absolute worst at manufacturing the things that it does but we have not been responsible for producing skilled craftsman since the 60s during the space races (forced schools to put emphasis on science and math to churn up future astronauts).
The influx of people in college too, americans now believe you need knowledge over a craft which isn't bad but now they expect us to buy ONLY products from a country not used to producing so much of its own anymore?
It's like saying hey west virginia you are now solely in charge of all of our coal oil and natural resources for the entire united states hop to it.
1
When the books are written again and we have to teach the next generation about US history teachers are going to let out out one long sigh before this chapter.
3
Good. Enjoy it, Trump supporters. You deserve it.
22
It's hard to muster much sympathy for anybody from Michigan who voted for Trump. You reap what you sow.....
23
Once again, we are called upon to sympathize with the “working class”. This is a dying segment of a larger post-industrial society. It consists of people too lazy or too stupid to educate themselves for the future job market and who are, consequently, finding the meaning of their lives in racism, envy, religious fundamentalism, and class resentment. Why should we care for them? They are the ones who brought this disaster of a presidency upon the world. By what right are they seen as “the real Americans”, while successful professionals, urbanites, minorities and women are not? You voted for a xenophobia because you are xenophobic yourselves and you expect other nations to swallow your insults and continue to do business as usual? Newsflash to the “working class” of Michigan: Chinese people have a very high opinion of themselves, and they are not likely to bow down to you because Trump says so.
26
If you call yourself an informed voter and still voted for this administration, you deserve everything that's about to happen to you.
30
To be clear, I’m not defending Trump. He has no clear plan and doesn’t distinguish between friend and foe.
However, it is a sign of how partisan we have become that the left seems to suddenly be in love with free trade. Bernie Sanders has argued for fair trade, not unfettered free trade. He argued against normalized trade relations with China. He opposed TPP and thinks NAFTA should be renegotiated. Now, I think Bernie would have handled the issue in a much more thoughtful, rational manner and would distinguish between China and Canada, but I think there are valid concerns about free trade.
http://www.politifact.com/north-carolina/statements/2016/jul/27/donald-t...
2
People in Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania who voted for Trump in 2016, there are a number of Americans who sympathize with you as you experience pain from Trump's actions. Don't think for one minute that I'm one of them.
44
Great writing!
7
Thanks to Trump policies investment in America will grow sharply due to tax cuts an regulation curbs creating millions of American jobs.
Also after Trump makes a fair trade deal exports will boom
Peace through strength. prosperity for everyone, jobs for all low taxes, curbing ecofreaks... winning under conservative and Republican policies is obvious.
2
“...after Trump makes...trade policies....”. I need to correct this to “if Trump makes....policies”.”
To date there has only been chaos, the chaos Trump likes to engage in.
11
I'm still waiting for effects of the Bush tax cuts and regulation curbs to kick in. I wouldn't hold my breath for the Trump policies.
19
"Thanks to Trump policies investment in America will grow sharply due to tax cuts an regulation curbs creating millions of American jobs. "
Companies don't invest because they happen to have some spare cash. They will invest in the US only if there is enough consumer buying power to justify it. By increasing the costs of products that Americans buy, Trump has reduced the ability of the middle class to increase consumption. Because the tax cuts are so heavily weighted toward the wealthy, any benefits that the middle class received will be completed cancelled out by higher tariffs (which are also taxes, albeit by another name).
In economic terms: there is no such thing as a free lunch. Never, ever.
11
Remind me again: who did Michigan vote for?
Oh yeah, Donald Trump!
So guess what? I don't care one iota what happens to Michigan or the 47.6% of Michigan residents who voted for Trump.
Not one iota.
Maybe, when they all lose their jobs, they can go to Trump University and learn how to start winning.
44
The story in the WaPo indicates that Trump's unemployment victims stated they wouldn't change their support for Trump. I read the story and felt as if I were reading a history book of 1930's Germany and support for it "Leader."
15
Our politics won't be fixed until GOP enablers are shocked out of their ignorant tribalism. If it takes a self-inflicted wound to the economy of Michigan to realize that the world is more complicated than comprehended by a first grader than so be it.
Michigan enabled Trump and his right-wing truth-deniers in congress. Voters supporting the GOP need to face the consequences of their actions, starkly, before they will ever change. And people who don't support these policies need to understand that not voting is the same as voting for the GOP status quo.
It is time to see about some of the accountability the GOP is always whining about befall the places that voted for them.
Better luck next time.
43
Worse yet, the pain these people and businesses are feeling was supposed to win win win. But Treasury Secretary Mnuchin says talks with China on trade have "broken down" and last year saw a record trade deficit with China. All the pain gets them nothing but bigly talk because this administration has no clue what it is doing.
20
Glad to hear that Michigan is taking a fall!
12
They voted for him; and he now tells then that as good "patriots," they'll take on the necessary suffering. Perhaps they can eat their MAGA hats ...
72
We all know Chinese have stolen our secrets, allowing China to buy our assets is near criminal. I am sure China would not allow a US government agency to buy anything in China.
2
What you don't know is the Chinese government has tried to stop the purchase of US tech products in China because the NSA uses their devices to spy on China and others and has be doing it around the globe since at least 2015.
This is decidedly a two way problem.
4
Not to worry, folks. The Trump boom in Clown Cars is already on, Made In the USA.
37
So Michigan, watch how you vote in the midterms and in 2020.
35
Who was it who famously said (but perhaps he's now forgotten he said it): "What do you have to lose?" Well...pretty much, apparently.
95
Herein lies the problem. Trump’s use of first grade math to calculate who’s winning and losing doesn’t account for how the world works.
From the beginning of this nation we’ve never been completely self sufficient, even if we could have been. Historically, nations have traded for both essential and non-essential goods.
If we’re not smart enough to build and price our products to sell beyond our borders, someone will. International business cooperation has generally been successful. I don’t discount the dangers of appropriating intellectual property, but that hardly represents the majority of cases.
Unless or until someone can educate Trump about the true dynamics driving trade, including surpluses and deficits, HE will drive many elements of our economy off the cliff.
39
Affix the hurt on those areas where folks paid all their attention to a server issue. On a sympathy scale, a minus ten. Make a better choice next time. Start with mid terms.
79
Mr. Trump boils down all things to its most simple component; good versus bad based on his opinion. This simplistic approach to his governing style is no better defined than by Mr. Trump's simplistic approach to dealing with trade deficits. He believes that you engage in a 'trade war' and the U.S. will 'win'; however he decides to define 'win'.
This column demonstrates just how brutally complex international trade is, using but one state in our nation to make that point. Our economy cannot survive such simplistic and indefensible actions over the long-term. Mr. Trump's trade war appears to have no strategic plan for either waging it or ending it.
One wonders how long it will take the markets to finally decide that Mr. Trump's irrational trade war will ultimately create the need for a major market adjustment? When that day occurs, we all will be significantly impacted; not just the citizens of the state of Michigan.
45
Unfortunately, while Trump cuts a trillion dollars for corporations he imposes tariffs to pay for them. On the back of the US consumer. Is anyone surprised?
57
Excuse me, but why is anyone surprised that having a market of 7 billion consumers is better than a market of 300 million consumers?
The nativist call to make the US a closed economy is asinine. Other closed economies, such as Cuba and North Korea are not exactly beacons of prosperity and innovation.
Global trade and immigration have enabled the nation to prosper over hundreds of years.
Trump is actively working to tear America and free democracies apart. The benefit of comparative advantage in global trade to standard of livings has been well understood since Adam Smith, if not before.
It is automation that is reducing demand for high paying, unskilled jobs. That will accelerate as US businesses become less competitive without access to larger economic trading blocs.
Higher prices, lower quality, and less selection sounds like a dream for Trump and Ivanka LLC, but for consumers and employees it is a disaster.
This stable genius is a two-year transfer student to Wharton College, who made his ill gotten gains by serially bankrupting companies while conveying corporate assets to his person before defaulting on his lenders, contractors and employees.
He is on his way to meet with his Russian taskmaster to report on all the ways he has tried to destroy America and undermine western democratic alliances.
142
Indeed he is. Thanks for clearly articulating what's really happening here, David.
10
You wanted Trump, now deal with the consequences.
136
It sure would be terrible if people from Michigan were affected by this trade war. I mean, it's not like they, as a state, voted for Trump or anything! Apologies to those Michiganders who saw things clearly and voted for Hillary.
131
Who knows? Maybe they all voted for Hillary, and 10,000 votes were flipped in the software.
We still live in a world of nationalism. Nationalism is not the way of the future but we still have politicians mired in the old world mentality. To raise all boats is the ultimate goal that provides the best results. That is what globalization has done thanks in a great part to America. Now that other countries are competing and in many cases out competing us, we are trying to throw up roadblocks. Trying to turn the clock back is failure and will not work. The genie is out of the bottle and there is no putting it back in. Trump is a dinosaur and his followers believe in the good ship lollipop.
23
The US has been demanding that the rest of the world be open to US investment and products for decades. The US built the current international economic system because it directly benefits US companies. Now, when others are playing and winning by the same rules, the US is complaining. The reality is that other states were always going to catch up to the US and bypass it in economic development and political power. The US can either accept this new, more complex world gracefully or it can try to destroy everything in an effort to more firmly rig the system on its behalf. Trump has chosen this latter strategy; we will see how long the rest of the world can put up with a US that cannot be trusted but must be contained.
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I think of myself as pretty liberal, but Chinese companies are ultimately owned by an authoritarian government. Is allowing China to buy American companies really a good idea in the long run?
Markets are robust and they adapt. Restrictions on trade aren’t the catastrophe that some would have you believe. Free trade has benefited large multinational corporations and their shareholders; it’s benefits haven’t been proportionally shared and it has contributed to wealth inequality. The comparative advantage some countries have in manufacturing results from low wages, lax environmental regulation, and, in some cases, even from child labor.
I’m not defending Trump. He’s wondering around aimlessly without a plan and doesn’t distinguish between friend and foe. However, I’m tired of the elite mantra from both parties that we must have free trade at all costs. Free trade has decimated rural communities that have lost manufacturing jobs. Selling cheap imported goods helped Walmart run locally owned stores in small towns out of business. It contributed to the environment that produced Donald Trump.
I want a blue wave, but Democrats have to articulate an economic message that resonates with voters. Free trade does not do that. Quote Econ 101 all you want (which is overly simplistic and largely ignores criticisms of comparative advantage theory), but it rings hollow when your job moves overseas. Many working class voters would say: Been there, done that, got the made in China T-shirt.
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Lets suppose instead of a tit for tat tariff war the Chinese people decide based on the rhetoric coming from our President and others in our country that they think they are the enemy of the US. Suppose they just stop buying US made products as an act of patriotism? Suppose the young Chinese men and women in their Navy and air-force decide to shoot on one of our ships or planes near their territorial waters?
Trade and relationships are part of an exchange of values, culture, friendship. It's about way more than monetary transactions.
China is a world economic and military power that's not going away and not going to shrink. They may have recessions and serious problems but that's temporary.
The Chinese people love American products and are extremely nice to us when we go to China. They are traveling in the US and the world in record numbers. They are attending our Universities and taking back not just knowledge but the free exchange of ideas.
Do we really want to stop good relations with China when they now have almost a half a billion middle class customers, rising wages, modern factories that rely on computers and robotics and a large number of highly educated and skilled people who will participate in new innovation and the future of our world with or without us.
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1. The US car companies have outsourced production and parts for decades to low wage countries - with a steep increase since NAFTA, signed over the protest of automotive unions
2. In a global economy, cars and parts made at US wages can not compete with cars and parts made at much lower Mexican and Chinese wages.
3. Unless protected by tariffs. That is the case in Pick UP production is , with a 25% tariff. Passenger cars, at 2.5% are not protected.
4. Hence Ford announced that it will end all production of passenger cars (exempt Mustang) on which it is losing money in the US. But Ford is making plenty of money on tariff protected Pick Ups. Ford 150 Pick Ups, were the single most sold vehicle in the US in 2017
5. GM, as the article noted sells many more cars in China than in the US. It also moved its most advanced R&D (Urban transport, subset self driving cars; Hybrids) to China. It's flagship sedan, the Cadillac CT6 Hybrid is manufactured ONLY in China, at Chinese wages and imported, at 2.5% back into the US. By economic measures, GM is primarily a Chinese manufacturer - and hence forced to fall in line , in trade disputes, with the Chinese position
6. Now consider: If the CT6 Hybrid imports had the same tariff, 25%, as pick ups, its production would return from China to the US. Same for the Ford Focus made in Chongqing.
7. Far from "piercing the heart of Michigan" the proposed 25% tariff, if passed, would return the heart of Michigan to health
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"7. Far from "piercing the heart of Michigan" the proposed 25% tariff, if passed, would return the heart of Michigan to health"
Perhaps, but only by increasing taxes on Americans everywhere (a tariff is a tax, make no mistake about it). Why should people in the northeast pay higher prices for their cars to preserve Michigan jobs, when Trump and red staters refuse to help finance vitally needed infrastructure elsewhere?
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I’m supposed to believe your speculation over the facts and numbers in the article?
I sympathize with Michiganders who recognize that by voting for Trump they sealed their economic demise, and hope they’ve learned their lesson.
Trump voters who insist on fictions in the face of evidence—not so much.
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The world is flat. To impose more tariffs will give the American worker a false sense of security in the short term until Mexico, China, Japan, and other trading partners again ratchet up their tariffs in response to ours.
Competition forces us to become efficient, inventive, and industrious. If we use protectionist strategies as Trump is doing, we are bound to become lethargic and complacent, much like the Soviet Union was for close to 50 years.
Whether we like it or not, we Americans will have to start living within our means until we regain our competitive edge. And that doesn’t begin with tariffs.
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This article interests me because it shows an affect on Michigan, the state I reside in. I am mostly interested on how the article displays more than one opinion based off of government officials’ or factory workers’ beliefs on the change Trump imposed. These words from the people affected the most gave the article a real feeling in order to allow me, as a reader, to feel considerate of their thoughts and beliefs. It allows other readers to put into perspective what they might have felt if they were in this situation as a person or as a state. Therefore, this article was well written and easy to understand due to the supportive information the author chose to include.
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A tariff is a tax.
Trump is jacking up everyone's taxes and no outrage?!
Trump and the Republicans own this tax increase.
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Worse, it is a tax to subsidize stupidity -- that of trump. We are paying very high tuition in order to send trump to school. The worst part of the interchange is that he doesn't seem to be learning much.
Larry Kudlow, director of the national economic council and quondam coke sniffer, in his pre-trump manifestation, used to rail against the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act. Barely an interview could pass without Larry bloviating about the evils of tariffs...he was monomaniacal on that topic.
Where is Kudlow today on the issue of tariffs and why the abrupt volte-face?
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