China Will Slash Car Tariffs, Trump Says, in a (Vague) Tweet

Chinese cars for the Chinese market are generally lookalike junkmobiles of high quality western cars. They could improve but at the present time they are not a threat to US carmakers. Tractors and heavy equipment are another story.

For every Apple mobile phone sold, for say $300, the Chinese assembly-line manufacturer Foxcomm only get to make 3. dollars! China may have earned $250 billions from U.S., but that is sweat-n-blood-earned money by 1 billion Chinese employee working hard day-n-night; the result is that with those Chinese cheap parts or products, you American customers and business get to enjoy affordable living and much more profit by companies like Apple! So Chinese actually help you make more money, much more than the $250 billions they earned the hard way. If they inadvertently replaced your low-skilled workers, like coal miners and factory workers, then it's your happy businessmen like Trump and CEOs and customers have to make up for them, like providing them with better skill-training or living subsidies. You don't get to enjoy the benefit and blame the country who helps you to become great. Trump, you don't get to have big tax-cuts for your top rich friends and lie to the unemployess about who is robbing them off. America, you don't get to absorb so many Chinese scholars to contribute their talents for your enterprises and slander them as thieves and cheaters at the meantime.

All of Trump's "wins" are vague. He claims to have won with Kim Jong Un even as Kim continues to build nuclear facilities. All a head of state has to say to Trump is, "Okay," and Trump goes home happy and deceived.

To have a basic grasp of demand curves for US cars sold in China, the elasticity of demand for the changes in price and the effect on Quantity demanded would help produce better estimates. The elasticity of demand is defined as: [e(D) = (% change in Q demanded)/(% change in price)]. For example, in 2013 in China, the Audi Ay had an elasticity coefficient of of -4.21. Thus, if tariffs on the Audi are reduced, by -40%, which in turn reduced its price by -40%, then its % change in Q sold could be computed as follows: [-4.21 = X/(-0.40); where X = change in Q sold; and X = +1.6840, or the quantity sold of the Audi Ay should increase by +168.40% in China, per these data points.] In comparison, for the Toyota RAV4 for China in 2013, the elsaticity coefficient was -2.69. So, again, [-2.69 = X/(-0.40)] and X = +1.0760, so the % change in Q sold in this case equals 107.60%. Basically, demand for an auto can be stated as follows: [D = f(Income, Tastes, Number of substitutes, etc.)]. And, in this case, in the short run, since income and tastes are considered fixed or unchanging, the number of auto substitutes would be critical because of the differing tariff rates by country. [12/03/2018 M 1:40 pm Greenville NC]

The markets are reacting favorably to this "news". Is it real? Who knows? The fact that people are making investment decisions based on such unreliable information should worry anyone who has money in the stock market.

The results of the China meeting are hazier than those after the North Korea summit.. there are differences between what Trump and the White House say, and what Trump and China say. It seems there's a 90-day delay to bump tariffs to 25%, and I assume labeling Fentanyl as a controlled substance - both are good, but the rest is hazy. China said they'll buy "more" US products, but no amount was specified, and China had said in June they'd buy almost $70B more US goods before tariffs started. Trump doesn't seem to have any defined written goals. I've dealt with people like that and hated it. I'd drop a list of numbers/points on their desk and walk away. It's more complicated with trade deals, but all I've heard is blurry bullet points and no solutions. For IP/trade secret theft, the easy solution is FORBID any more US companies from setting up business in China (as Tesla wants to do now) or accessing their markets until that issue is resolved. He should also forbid China from buying any US high-tech companies. Cyber-theft is a separate issue.. Trump seems to think tariffs will result in a promise not to do it, but then we'd see the same as with Russia... the govt will say they can't control private hackers. And claims of China stealing US jobs are ludicrous. US corporations set up production over there and elsewhere to cut labor costs/boost profits... Trump's "solution" for this was giving corps and CEOs (the top 0.1%) massive tax cuts.

It is either reduce or remove, which is it? I guess one could argue that to remove is a total reduction. We need to reduce or remove our president soon.

'Experts say?' What experts? The same ones that predicted Hillary would win? Yawn

10 years from now the Trump name will be the 21st century version of Arnold..Benedict Arnold.

And......the moon is completely made of blue-cheese!! The entire world knows Trump will say anything about anything to anyone. So for anybody to believe that "he" got China to drop a 40% tariff on all American cars is farcical at best!

Many people still do not understand the transactional approach of the current occupant of the White House. At that meeting they said they would reduce and remove their tariffs on American cars. That is all that he cares about: the transaction of that moment was done. In his mind, he won and they lost. In a few months, when nothing happens he will interact with them and there will be another transaction. In North Korea, he had a transaction: they said what he wanted to hear, and he won that transaction. He does not view agreements about future as having meaning to him. What he cares about is if he wins or loses in a momentary transaction. His life is one of constant transactions that he wants to win. If he loses, he lies about the lost and moves on to the next transaction. He lives in the "Now" with no focus on the past or the future. All he wants is to win now. Like a child who is a bully who says "Give me a dime." and you say "I will give you a quarter tomorrow" he views that as a win. You can frustrate bullies until they physically act, at which point you defend yourself. At some point he may try to resort to military violence to get a win. At that point I hope the 25th Amendment is invoked.

"Reduce and remove"?? Does he mean reduce at a rate which will eventually be zero? Does he mean reduce on some cars, and remove on other cars? Is it possible for him to draft a coherent sentence of more than three words?

Americans don't want American-made cars without tariffs. What makes Trump think the Chinese will?

One of the most everlasting memories I have (so far) of President Donald Trump is his lack of transparency. He gives a whole new meaning to the word. It is necessary sometimes for all presidents. This is not one of those times, nor the dozens (if not hundreds) of other occasions where even the slightest amount of opacity would be a good thing.

Sad to say that we need to hear this from China since we live in a world where China is the more reliable source of information vis-a-vis our president.

The confusion surrounding this just shows that media outlets need to concentrate less on Trump's tweets and wait for confirmation from a more reliable source before assuming anything. Perhaps it would be more informative to wait until the Chinese Commerce Ministry has its weekly new conference and see if Trump's tweet is confirmed. As it is, reporting his tweet is not informative, and as we have learned in the past, very well could be an out and out lie. Writing an entire article about something that may be nothing is a waste of everyone's time. Trump's pronouncements should always be questioned before being reported as news. Often they are just the ramblings of a confused mind.