It always is helpful to have a look at the past. The 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff was a trade war that worsened the Great Depression. It increased 900 import tariffs by an average of 40% to 48%. Smoot-Hawley was designed to support U.S. farmers who had been ravaged by the Dust Bowl. But it also raised food prices for Americans who were already suffering from the Great Depression. Other countries retaliated with their own tariffs. The trade war reduced international trade by 65% - with all it's side-effects because the US isn't alone on this world. It turned a recession into a global depression and contributed to the start of World War II.
11
@illampu
We have been taken advantage of by China in so many ways. The workers are not given the same employment benefits and safe conditions, and if employees are not treated similarly in this day and age, then it is not a true "Global Economy". On a percentage basis, Canada does very little trade with them.The USA has been complicit in this inequities for a long time.
For US residents, tariffs may be seen as a federal government imposed sales tax. The money so raised to defray the fiscal deficit. The main reason why those tariffs shall stay in place for decades. For those of us not living in the US, the imposition of tariffs will cause us all to pay so much more for goods made in China for US companies. That includes mobile phones, computers, IT technology and every product that an american company has a licence and has offshored manufacturing to China.
For a nation so dependent on global trading; one wonders how this Trump led trade war not just with China; but allies as well; can possibly not lead to higher costs to the American public and more and more Taxes (Oops Tariffs) being imposed as multinationals continue to be harmed as a result of all this short term gain/ long term pain insanity by a man who thinks losing $1.17 Billion is a game?! Well at least it is not his money of little Trump empire going down the drain. If this is winning; God help the American people as the losses continue to add up. Xi will still be around long after Humpty Trumpty is long gone.
1
Since when the parties cannot change their mind during negotiation? Since when the changing tactics during negotiation can be called a breach of a contract? Is US redefining the contract law or more fundamentally the rule of law?
2
I get warm fuzzies knowing that the increased product costs resulting from tariffs that I pay will be used to provide welfare to America's beset farmers. Wealth transfer from the cities to the farmlands to help Trump's base.
5
"While trade accounts for a smaller percentage of the American economy than in most other countries — just 27 percent in 2017, compared with 38 percent for China and 87 percent for Germany, according to World Bank data — it is still a critical driver of jobs and economic growth."
Yes international trade, especially when conducted by cheaters like the Chinese, is a driver of jobs; it has driven millions of them out of the US.
The quoted paragraph above is a coded talking point that while truthful, hides the truth. According to the World Bank, the US economy is the fourth LEAST DEPENDENT in the world on global trade. Only Argentina, Brazil and Somalia are less dependent on international trade as a component of their economies. What this means, and what Trump understands, is that a race to the bottom in a global trade war will result in the rest of the world crashing well before the US does. And this gives the US tremendous leverage to demand that the rest of the world stop blatant cheating on trade (like China) or erecting non-tariff barriers to US exports, like the EU has been doing for years.
So let's start the Trump trade war and see who it hurts worst and who blinks first. In the US, only the Wall Street financiers (you know, the "1%"), who profit from selling out US interests, will suffer.
Buy american. Let's bring some of the manufacturing back to this country. Sorry if everybody has to pay a bit more. If the tariffs are steep enough, companies will begin to manufacture here. Sorry the junk we buy from china won't be so super cheap.
1
Ah, ignorance is such bliss. Those jobs aren’t coming home they will go to an even cheaper country. Look, the mfg jobs that are worth The cost were already coming back, see automotive, big machines and aviation. We really don’t want the other low paying jobs, just like the jobs that South Americans are supposedly taking , you know, the ones no else wants to do.
Europeans will never accept the manipulated chemically doused products American farmers produce. At least I hope so because we are already over-run with uniform unappetizing Macdonalds.
11
the actual number of farmers in this country reached statistical insignificance many years ago.earl butz,ag secretary for Nixon told farmers: get big or get out. and like it or not they did. the farm economy includes more than farmers , but the driving principal behind farm policy is: cheap food at any cost. part of that cost is small farms and rural communities
.exactly like our choice to Walmart shop,we. are more than willing to sacrifice the 'small' for the cheap. ask not for whom the farm subsidy goes. it goes for you.
2
@kirk
Thanks for adding that. US government policy towards farms going back to post WWII has been about getting rid of small farms, and all about maintaining cheap food prices, to keep the hoi polloi under control.
Trade war and tariff's to off set huge tax cuts for the wealthy.
American taxpayers are left with increasing prices and income taxes.
5
China has been a bad actor within the World Trade Organization (WTO) since we admitted them. We desperately need to readdress those issues.
It's all well and good for intellectuals to talk about people lifted out of poverty by free trade, but much of the lift has been at the expense of the American working class, many of whom have gradually slipped into poverty in the last generation. They know they can't get a job down at the plant like their Grandpa had.
BUT, nothing better exabits the malign incompetence of the current administration than their inclusion of Mexico, Canada and our European ALLIES in the trade war. Another opportunity squandered by a Republican administration.
5
"He called the trade dispute “a little squabble”. Trump may think the trade war is merely a little squabble but bankruptcies for the American farmers are skyrocketing due to his lack of intelligence.
5
We live in a global economy. And that began in 1492. Out of the top seven vehicles qualifying as being the "most American made" - three are Hondas and one is the Acura DMX. The pursuit of a trade war with China (with consequences for American allies such as Canada) and the prospects of military conflict with Iran have nothing to do with improving prospects for American workers or national security. These are maneuvers that will harm and cost lives exclusively for the purpose of meeting Donald Trump's (and his GOP sycophant's) 2020 electoral ambitions. I can't believe that the defense chiefs will permit the troops under their control and supervision to be put in harm's way for such a transparently self-serving agenda. That's why Mattis baled and any staffer with a conscience should also bale. Today, the honorable choice between serving the retrograde agenda of an incompetent narcissist and resignation... is resignation. I don't know if these thoughts pass the civility test for NYT comments but they are both honest and accurate.
17
Who says the GOO doesn’t like taxes and deficit spending, as long as it’s theirs.
4
Why not make tariffs permanent if it results in a tax revenue stream enabling you to bribe your base with additional subsidies? Don't the revenues flow to the federal treasury and doesn't the Congress determine how federal funds is appropriated? It seems like an opportunity for the House to pass legislation to the effect that all proceeds be directed toward protecting the environment, immigrants, and our education and health care systems.
2
The tariffs reduce trade, so there is no tax base created by the tariff as the trade and the tariff revenues both are reduced.
Jobs are reduced in US as well so income, sales, property tax revenues also go down in US. Investment is reduced as factories and stores in US close down.
The downward economic spiral that results from trade wars is why US stock market crashes every time Trump's irrational trade war policies are promoted.
5
@EaglesPDX
Yes, yes all understood and agreed. And yet Trump still apparently gets billions in tariff revenue to direct to whatever politically-expedient cause he chooses.
1
Yes, I do agree that these tariffs could be construed as regressive taxation to benefit one sector of our economy, like farming, with monies taken from the American consumer and corporations, something akin to robbing Peter to pay Paul.
But, let's look beyond that. The overall intent should be (and I hope it is) to encourage American manufacturing, thereby creating jobs, protectionism not withstanding, and most importantly, reducing the obnoxious alarming trade deficit.
My father always used to say that a man in debt is never a rich man. The US is NOT a rich country (like Germany) with such debts to pay. It is about time somebody did something, setting aside twitter politics.
@zorro3692
Many goods affected by the tariffs will be imported from Vietnam and South Korea instead. Effect on the trade deficit therefore minimal.
Any increase in manufacturing jobs in the US will be offset by a decrease in jobs related to importing and the fact that consumers have to pay higher prices.
3
It appears that Americans will pay more for products. The US will lose trade and leverage worldwide. Funny how the TPP was meant to exclude China and form tighten bonds with Pacific nations , has been turned upside down making the US the outsider. The rest of the world creates more partnerships while we bail.
6
“China buys MUCH less from us than we buy from them, by almost 500 Billion Dollars, so we are in a fantastic position,” Mr. Trump tweeted. “Make your product at home in the USA and there is no Tariff.”
Is he talking about his made- in- China MAGA hats, or Ivanka's Chinese-made shoes and dresses?
His base does not understand much, but they WILL notice the higher prices at WalMart.
6
This is a sneaky way of correcting some of the deficits caused by tax cuts for the wealthy to be transferred to the American public.
The tariffs are paid by the american public and go into the US treasury.
We should not call these charges tariffs, they are more accurately conceptualized as taxes.
85
@paulu: [they are more accurately conceptualized as taxes.]
And regressive ones, at that.
6
@paulu, unfortunately, the middle class really did not benefit much, if at all, from Trump's tax cut for himself and the wealthy. So, Trump's tariffs are a tax increase pure and simple. And the lower income folks are really going to hurt.
5
Trump talks as if but it reduces the overall demand for goods and services by inflating the costs of everything that cannot be supplied domestically at pre-tariff costs. It will actually exacerbate our indebtedness.
5
Those that think this is going to help America, are ignorant of history. Let me state this fact, punitive tariffs never have their intended consequences. This country is doomed to repeat the failures of the past due to an uninformed electorate and a derelict senate.
Oh , and let’s not let our welfare queen farmers off the hook as our pocket books are being raided to buy their votes.
64
@Steveb Indeed, and does anyone recollect what the Boston Tea Party was about? It seems an imposed tariff on imported tea from China was thought to be objectionable...
3
@Steveb Regulation of the agricultural segment of the economy to support minimum prices is the foundation of economic stability. Food supply is too important to allow preventable economic or natural disasters to disrupt it.
1
"I think it will turn out extremely well" Trump said. This is of course a man who said the same thing when he launched the Trump Taj Mahal, Trump Soho, Trump Airlines, Trump University, pitched all those banks that he later stiffed, and on and on...Feeling confident folks?
561
@Haynannu
It always turns out well for him. For us? No.
35
@Haynannu Why else do you think Putin chose Trump to be President? Trump is a walking calamity.
40
@Haynannu
He us under the illusion that he can declare national bankruptcy and start living off of Russia.
58
First we pay more money for everything we buy, then we watch our economy die. It's a shame people don't study history anymore and therefore are doomed to repeat it.
It's also a shame that they don't realize a tariff is a tax...
https://pjlehrer.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-cost-of-washing-machines-is-up-by.html
1
It was shocking to learn that our friends and allies like Canada, Germany and France as well as China, Russia and Turkey impose tariffs on American imported goods.
Do you suppose that shocking fact contributes in some small way to the more than $800 Billion trade deficit we enjoy with our friends and allies?
BTW NYT, the USA has NOT withdrawn from the Paris Climate Accord. Read the details in the Archives of the NYT.
The Congress has the authority to set tariffs. It needs to act now to take back control over the setting of tariff levels in consultation with the relevant departments, after those departments present data-backed evidence of the efficacy of each and every tariff request.
What we see right now is the destruction of the global economy by a company of morons and isolationists. We are not going back to the 19th century.
1
Lies and more lies.
The Con Man in Chief doesn’t understand how tariffs actually work, Donald makes up this idiot belief that his plan represents a redistribution from China to American farmers.
But China does not in fact pay for the 25 percent on $200 billion of Chinese goods in tariffs Trump imposed on Chinese goods after threats failed to bring the two countries into agreement.
Tariffs are paid by American importers and manufacturers and stockholders, who pass the cost along to consumers. So Con Man's plan, as vague as it is, only protects the 1 percent who in reality are simply waiting to buy up farmland put on the market from the costs of tariffs.
2
Well if Trump plans to make the tariffs permanent and implement a policy of protectionism then it looks like the prices for everything in the Trump resorts gift shop will have to be increased.
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-buy-american-order-hotel-imports-2017-4
4
If the Chinese government continues to pay tariffs on all Chinese goods imported into the US, then it is possible that the US government will run a surplus in this fiscal year. That means that the government will not have to borrow money in order to operate. This has not happened since Robert Rubin was Secretary of the Treasury in the Clinton administration. From 1998 to 2001 the US government had a budget surplus.
The tariffs are fees Americans pay on Chinese goods. The Chinese are not paying the tariffs.
126
@John Murray
Huh? The importer (US) pays the tariffs, not the exporter (China.) A tariff on Chinese goods is a tax paid by American businesses or consumers.
125
@John Murray - The tariffs may help a little, but they are only a couple hundred billion in revenue. That won't put much of a dent in the current deficit.
8
Trump’s tariffs will not increase jobs. I’m in the wholesale business, and I can tell you that companies are beginning to manufacture their their products in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand. Not single manufacturer I’m aware of began manufacturing in the U.S. since last year’s tariff increase on goods imported from China.
89
Good, and you can try to sell your products there as well because you’ll have more competition domestically.
2
@Saul Diversification is a perfect answer to the tariffs on China. It'll help China's neighbors to develop and become prosperous, and hopefully, they won't use the same underhanded tactics as China to conduct trade with us.
We should all be for it.
When things become more expensive, buyers buy less of them.
Recession could be the result.
163
@freeasabird
Who knew that economics could be so difficult?
29
@freeasabird
Yes, many people are living "paycheck to paycheck" now.
It's easy to see how higher prices on consumer goods , thanks to Trump Tariffs, will make things even more financially precarious.....to say nothing of the effects on health, including mental health. .
13
@freeasabird
"...buyers buy less".
This might hurt the economy, but could be good for the planet.
Reduce, re-use, recycle is not a bad idea.
12
The silver lining: perhaps if all the products we import from China get more expensive, Americans will consume fewer of them. A win for the environment. Perhaps if products start to be made closer to their destination marketplace, less fuel will be used on transporting them. A win for the planet.
I am not a Trump fan and I recognize that tariffs disproportionately affect lower income Americans and that there are likely to be broader economic consequences down the road. But one way or another, we must consume less.
1
So Trump is going to take money from the tariffs, money paid by US companies and consumers, and give it to farmers hurt by the tariffs. This is essentially a massive, regressive tax increase being used to bail out an important segment of Trump's base, to save them from the disastrous results of an incredibly poorly conceived strategy - picking favorites for the most venal political ends.
247
@nycarl
Not only that: Trump is talking about donating (dumping) farm products that might have been sold to China, to poor countries.
This tactic looks good to US farmers. BUT it disrupts the economies of those countries and fosters dependence on the US for handouts. Farms, industries and businesses in the foreign countries suffer or must adapt to the effects of Trump's capricious "gift-giving".
And, who knows when and how Trump will change his mind on this "benevolence" - OR, what price he will try to extort in return for it?
Wake up, Americans!
22
Maybe he should give all the surplus soybeans to the American public, since you're the ones paying for them.
Ok, you can't have universal healthcare, but maybe you COULD have six 50lb sacks of soybeans delivered fresh to your door every Monday.
12
Capitalism redefined.
2
I support the tariffs as a way to reduce the importation of Chinese-made goods.
When someone buys a shirt at a good price, they should ask themselves, "Who was abused to make this shirt?" Or that $60 bicycle? Or that $6 clock-radio? Or that winter peach?
When we buy products from countries with no child-labor laws, no worker safety laws, no environmental laws and no worker's compensation, we are buying the products of economic slavery. By giving them money, we encourage it; we become part of the problem.
We in the U.S. no longer have slaves toiling in the fields of Dixie, but we now have Asian, African and Latin American slaves toiling in factories and farms (which only grow crops for export) around the world, some of which are owned by U.S. corporations. Is a few dollars a day for labor a wage? It's still slavery, and they have to provide their own food and shelter. The 'workers' have no choice as we've taken their options away by removing viable opportunities.
Let's stop importing cheap goods. Buying these products supports the economic slavery of poor people around the world. Let's buy only items made by workers who are paid a decent wage and have decent benefits.
It's the right thing to do. Consider the extra cost a charitable contribution.
@Allen
Sounds great, but most of us are having enough trouble getting by that we can't afford that kind of daily charitable contribution.
1
Few things have contributed more to climate change than the last two decades of trade with China. Cheap goods aren't cheap for the environment. They fuel mass material consumption which is a culture our planet can no longer sustain.
2
No Pain. No Gain.
Tariffs are here only as long as China won’t stop cheating. Dumping subsidized steel and aluminum will have a much longer and more harmful effect on the U.S. economy.
The stealing of U.S. IP by China is another long term problem that tariffs should serve as an incentive to correct. Movies, music and software is being stolen by China and reproduced and sold; with no remuneration to the creators or the companies who paid the creators. China does not see anything wrong with stealing.
Tariffs are the only thing China will respect. Ask anyone who has done business in China. Written documents aren’t worth the price of the paper hey are printed on; and most aren't even on paper.
From Nixon to Carter to Clinton to Obama, all previous Presidents have tried negotiating trade agreements with China, and China has violated every single one of them. It’s cultural. They don’t respect anything except strength. Prior to Trump, the U.S. negotiated from a position of weakness. Tariffs are painful to both countries, but they are more painful to China because the cost of the tariffs are on top of the subsidies they are already paying.
The farmers do understand why tariffs are the only solution, but they don’t like tariffs. If U.S. farmers were offered a subsidy, and some are, they would take it.
@Samara - "they are more painful to China because the cost of the tariffs are on top of the subsidies they are already paying."
I guess you believe that China pays the taxes that end go into the treasury as Trump said?
Costs of the tariffs are not born by China.
1
Trump has no Plan B for what will happen when his brilliant initiatives fall flat; he didn't have a Plan A to begin with. He is all about a belief in his ability to charm the dictators whose power he envies, as if they were saps dying to invest in a Trump branded property.
We have, as a nation, a mess. There are definitely problems with China's theft of intellectual property; call me ignorant, but, once all of our high tech company whizzes decided it was cheaper to go to China: what DID they expect to happen? Trump has no initiatives we have heard of to counter this.
We have massive debt and interest in that debt. The tax cuts flew in the face of the costs of wars the US has been waging for two decades or so. We didn't fight WWII, or get through the 50's and 60's with a 37% top tax rate. Per Wikipedia,
"The US Revenue Act of 1945, Public Law 214, 59 Stat. 556 (Nov. 8, 1945), repealed the excess profits tax, reduced individual income tax rates (top rate from 94% to 86.45%), and reduced corporate tax rates (the top rate dropped from 40% to 38%)."
Without evidence or expert advice, Trump boasts there are " Billions of Dollars, and Jobs, flowing into our Country - and yet cost increases have thus far been almost unnoticeable. "
Economists can be wrong and some pacts hurt American Labor. But Trump is more likely to trigger a Depression than a boom - with the GOP ready to yank the safety net. He barks orders but doesn't hang around to answer questions or pay his bills.
2
This is truly a question with no agenda: Would the US staying with the Pacific Trade Partnership have avoided this calamity?
2
into whose coffers does all this tariff money go?
"banish an undesirable trade deficit" ? Who is your source for the idea that trade deficits are undesirable? Trump? It is the overall economic picture that is important, not single pieces of data.
1
Back in the 1930’s FDR tried clever ways to initiate recovery from the Great Depression. Republicans opposed him and declared him as seeking dictatorial powers as President. The appealed to our Constitutional checks and balances. They failed because Hoover’s efforts to encourage the private sector to act to overcome the Depression failed, so the people were open to FDR’s strategies for using government. It turned out that the acceptance of government directed national efforts paid off during World War II and in the following decades. FDR made good use of the power he was allowed. It made the Republicans very frustrated but they went along because it worked.
Today we have a President who should never have the free hand given to FDR and it’s the Republicans who give him even more and will not challenge even the silliest of his behaviors, and actively keep the Congress from controlling his ridiculous excesses. Ironic that they cannot see the danger to the republic posed by a charismatic leader with autocratic inclinations, like some infamous heads of state in the past, and no real capability to perform the duties of a President.
2
Hey, install tariffs and give billions to farmers to compensate. It’s vote buying, folks.
3
You people fail to see how brilliant Trump is. This battle will China will benefit countries like Mexico, which will use the money to pay for the wall.
1
The people who will be hurt most by this approach are the poorest, who cannot afford to pay more for goods. Ironically, many of these people voted for Trump. Personally, I can't fathom how someone who seems to have spent his entire living on a precipice, creating disaster after disaster, has survived into his seventies. His policies, meanwhile, might send many Americans into early graves.
2
It's no surprise to me to see all of the whiners in this country condemning our trade policy and tariffs with China given that these same folks enjoy the throw away products they buy from China for a mere pittance.
Do the Trump businesses still have their clothing and other Trump logo items manufactured overseas?
If you believed Mexico would pay for “the Wall” then you will believe that China is paying these tariffs.
4
I'm going to get out grandma's old sewing machine but I think I'll have a harder time finding someone to operate it at $1.34 an hour.
2
Interesting. Back in the 30's high tariffs in general helped turn an ordinary recession into the Great Depression. And high American tariffs made the Depression worse here than almost anywhere else. Now I get how Trump is comfortable with this, -- we all know that whoever suffers it won't be him. But why is the "base" so gung-ho at the idea of going through all that again. Could it be that most of them believe that "Great Depression" is a reference to an unusually large pot hole?
1
The trade imbalance with China is real, as is the fact that they steal proprietary intel, but I'm not sure this is the way to address the issue. Sadly, it's been ignored for decades. We wonder why there are few manufacturing jobs in the US, this is why. Our country will not do well if we depend on low skilled workers to support families working at fast food restaurants or in the service industries.
What is the answer? Perhaps work with the UN, as other countries also have a trade imbalance? We can attack Trump, and given his statements, that's pretty easy to do. But in the end, this is a serious issue that needs to be addressed. Preferably by someone that knows what they are doing.
1
Making a product in the USA will require these tariffs to be guaranteed for at least 10 years. Otherwise, one tweet and your factory is gone. A much deeper strategy is required which I see China has but we don’t. The Chinese have a higher threshold for pain. They have enough reach to find alternative markets over the next few years. But do we have a patience for inflation?
And remember, the prices will never come down even if you make it in America as the US corporations may keep the profits.
3
It is easy to start a Trade War, not that easy to end one, same goes for a Military Conflict, as well. Our current administration does not appear to understand the longer this trade conflict goes on, the greater the negative economic consequences of it will be. Morgan Stanley, warned the adminstration today, there is a very high probability this trade war could lead to another World wide economic recession.
Another recession brought on by the same political party that gave us the Great Recession in 2008, and the same political party that worked to clean it up then, will have to clean it up again. The Republicans, need to start speaking truth to power or become dust in the wind in 2020. The Democratic candidates for President, need to start addressing this issue, and the Democratic party needs to concentrate on winning the Senate back. Otherwise our country will be in deadlock again, fighting against the wind.
2
Presidents can make war and levy taxes. So who needs the Constitution with dupes in Congress willing to accept duplicity, 10,000 lies, corruption, adolescent name-calling, and being in love with our enemies? If there isn't a roaring change in 2020 the country will have sold its' soul, the heritage bequeathed by the Founders, the legacy of the Civil War victory over slavery, and the defeat of fascism in WWII. All done willingly, at the ballot box, with or without the help of Vladimir Putin.
8
@Ed Marth
Only Congress can declare war.
@John
I think Ed was sarcastically referring to the reality not the irony of what is the Constitution regarding levying of taxes and starting a war.
1
The Constitution grants Congress sole power over tariffs and duties. The founders feared granting the president any power that might translate into monarchy. Congress has ceded its power over time in various laws.
Where is Pelosi’s House bill to repeal presidential authority over duties and tariffs? Where is the aggressive Democratic media campaign making the salient points many commenters are making?
History has its eyes on you, elected House Democrats. So far, you appear locked into a strategy of caution and empty talk that is failing both you and the country.
3
@Julie B
Where is the House? Blocked by Mitch McConnell who believes in mercurial presidential powers (as long as the President is a Republican).
1
The threat to nations other than China perhaps has not been appreciated.
First, the US becoming a high tariff country is a worry. Many countries have to buy US goods - like airliners - but the US can buy goods from many countries. This makes countries, even those who obey the rules, vulnerable. American enthusiasm for tariffs as a no-cost gain is troubling.
Secondly, the type of deals made with China specifically restricts trade with other nations. If China is forced to buy US soybeans or meat, Brazil and Australia must lose trade. Added to that is extra billions pumped into US agriculture and Australian farmers will suffer.
I know the worries of small trading nations don't cut much ice with the US public but there is only way to counter US pressure - an alliance to stop each trading nation being picked off one by one. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.
It is sad to see the US, champion of free trade, stoop to this level.
Where are the tariffs collected from Chinese imports going? To fill holes in social security resulting from tax cuts? To fill holes from the surge in the debt? To renew US industries in textiles and electronics—oh wait that’s Socialism?!?
The imbeciles that are cheering on the tariffs will have a rude awakening at the regular Walmart run, realizing who really pays for the tariffs. Hint, it's not China.
Footnote, where do you think MAGA hats come from?
4
Last week’s news, that Trump is a disaster as a businessman, should give us pause. The sunny assurances that an asinine trade war will benefit this country are highly suspect, coming from a man who lost millions upon millions. How can anyone trust him after this news?
6
China can act like a victim of bullying but in reality if you get caught stealing and refuse to change your ways you made yourself the victim.
1
I just hope this will put an end to all that cheap plastic junk that eventually litters our planet. We can do without it.
1
Cut taxes for the wealthy and corporations and try and make it up by what amounts to a VAT. While all along saying that you are for the little forgotten people. Then take away a woman’s right to choose. Don’t forget about ruining the environment for years to come and denying climate change. What rubbish. What are you thinking people to support such a man? Sometimes I wonder how people can be such wrong thinkers. It boggles my mind.
7
Much of the economic and social engineering that Trump has put in place while playing with his LEGOs will remain long after he is gone. Trump, the bully and coward, will change directions in an instant. Complete reversals. Compare his genius to General R.E.Lee but remember that the General lost the war and most of his Army, and the country and cause that he championed. That a 'stable genius' or horse's behind has picked up that banner after all these years should scare us all.
1
I'm amazed at how crazy this all is, folks elected this so called "business man" who is the BIGGEST LOSER of all business men to run our country - into the GROUND. China will not be paying for these tariffs - WE ARE. Farmers in this country will go bankrupt, no more cheap goods for consumers. Our economy will dive if we don't either impeach this mob-boss business man wannabe or 2020 secures his blip in history!
7
Trump has been stiffing Banks for his entire life. China is America’s bank.
5
How about we take some of that 25% tariff money and spend it on reestablishing the industries we lost as a result of China under-cutting us with their cheap, knock-off defective junk?
We can start with clothing and electronics.
1
@MIKEinNYC
Great idea. Are you ready to pay 4-5 times for a T-shirt? How about a TV or smart phone.
Obviously tariffs/taxes on imported goods will be added to purchase price. That will even increase prices for non-imported goods--but those increases will be corporate windfalls.
And reciprocal/retaliatory/revenge tariff increases will obvious hurt US exports--as US farmers now well know.
Obviously a lose/lose. Trump thinks world leaders are ignorant and frightened by his genius.
Truth is--they would be seriously disadvantaged if they were only as smart as he is.
Trump/Trumpies forget that underlying civilized international
trade--including international competition--are agreements to play by the rules of game. Otherwise "trade war" escalates into war. Dumping, product safety, warranties, truth in advertising--on and on--all need underlying regulation.
It's like one football team insisting that all the others play with handicaps--bare feet or lead weights--or it won't play. "Fine" the league will say--"go play by yourself."
2
For 8 years we heard Republicans and Fox News crying about spending, debt, deficits. Now we hear nothing from them. Nothing as all three indicators are going through the roof amid promises of even more spending.
5
Something had to be done about Chinese mercantilist trading policies. Previous Democratic presidents were too timid to do anything about it. Liberal economists provided the intellectual justification for it with abstract theories of comparative advantage.
The result? Lost American jobs on a massive scale leading to the turmoil that besets our country, today.
The irony? It has taken a dictator wannabe to attack the problem. And of course he is attacked, in turn, by the very same liberal economists who supported the corporatist policies that have done so much damage to our country.
I doubt these very same economists would have been so facile with their theories of comparative advantage if it had been their jobs at risk. The human cost was never, really considered; most liberals merely turned their backs on it. That’s why we are where we are, today.
2
@Ron Cohen
He’s not attacking the problem. And no president has addressed this issue.
The simple fact is: 1) American companies sold out to gain markets and increase share holder profits; 2) unregulated capitalism shifts to cheaper labor and production costs, something Marx clearly outlined. But since most Americans refuse to read Marx, for an unfounded fear of becoming a communist, and have supported policies that damage workers, the creative destruction has run rampant.
In the White House sits a president whose stock in trade is declaring bankruptcy. He seems to think these tariffs will somehow enrich the federal government, but the people who will be affected by the inflationary prices are ordinary consumers. This is regressive taxation at its most unfair.
Let me revise that. I *hope* that Trump thinks that these tariffs will enrich the government. If his end game is to increase the chasm between well to do and struggling Americans, I will be shocked. And here, after 2.33 years, I'd thought I had inured myself to being shocked.
Let’s see:
First the Republican controlled congress over the last 20 years put in to law most of the corporate tax and trade policies that shipped US business offshore and gutted middle income America.
Second under Bush presided over the largest transfer of wealth in US history out of the pockets of average Americans to Wall Street and hedge fund managers
Then pass a trillion dollar tax welfare law that that went once again to corporations, hedge funds and of course, commercial Real Estate developers!
Now conman Trump will pay for his mindless tariffs my forcing average American to pay more (a VAT tax) on almost everything they buy.
And still many average Americans continue to vote against their own and families best interests and elect Republicans.
Republican are bad for the average American — but incredibly good at conning them.
10
Senate Republicans,
You’ve been warned to cut your (and our) losses, and remove Trump.
[The house just needs to be given the go-ahead from the critical group of Republican senators necessary to equal 67 votes, which would remove the blight of Trump from office.]
1
These tariffs are Trump’s tax on the US middle class.
Raising prices on the cost of goods they need.
Where does the money go?
To reduce Trump’s trillion dollar deficit — the one caused by his tax cuts for the rich.
How about federal property taxes on mansions, on second, third, and fourth homes?
How about a federal sales tax on stays in luxury hotels, on fees and dues at country clubs and golf courses? On caviar and tiaras?
How about taxing million dollar capital gains at the same rate as taxes on labor wages?
How about closing the loop holes that Trump used to “lose” a billion dollars and never pay a dime in taxes as he lived in luxury?
3
The last paragraph shows Trump's hubris. While it's true China buys less from the US than the US buys from China one must look at what is being bought. One can't compare what is in a General Dollar store with American soybean. I saw a farmer on TV two nights ago who said that some farmers are already committing suicide because they are going bankrupt losing farms that have been in their families for generations. And they have mountains of soybeans stacked up with no buyers. It will get worse if China decides to buy soybeans from Brazil. Even if all the tariffs were to be dropped who's to say that China will start buying American soybeans again? Trump's brinkmanship will eventually backfire. Already farmers in the mid west are being hit with a double whammy with floods ruining their crops and destroying top soil. There will be more suicides and bankruptcies. I don't think these are the types of small sacrifices he is asking people to make so he can win a trade war.
3
However, these farmers seem inclined to give Trump the benefit of the doubt, and say they will stick with him in 2020. Hard to understand.
yes, this is how Trump treats his supporters, and yet they remain steadfastly behind him, Christians without charity and Patriots happy to see their country destroyed by the idiot puppet of foreign intetests. Barnum was right.
Well, 25 % of 600 Billions is 150 Billions, which helps offset the Tax Cut to the richest 10 % Americans.
Because this consumption tax will be paid mostly by the Middle and Poor Classes, ( I haven´t seen any hedge fund managers shopping at Target or WalMart lately) is simply a wealth transfer scam, sort of a Robin Hood operation in reverse, from the poor to the rich.
Did anybody expect anything different from Trump and the GOP?
2
you can't really stick Trump with this. he's a loudmouth and currently the figurehead, but the overall vampire program to drain wealth from the middle class and concentrate it ever more intensely among the very richest is standard Republican policy and has been for decades. now comes the bellicose tarriffs situation which seems to be a reversal of Republican policy, but the true costs of course are paid by increasingly stressed Americans and the ultimate beneficiaries are the uktra rich and giant corporations who are global citizens, conniving at country clubs and aboard megayachts on the best places to stash their loot and the most attractive ways to file their taxes in cheaper overseas jurisdictions. there are fewer Americns that actually benefit from Republicans' economic plans than there are people in Montana, and the only way they can keep their hooks in the rest of us is by hoodwinking voters with things like the bread of abortions and the circuses of phony tax cuts, all SOP for the GOP. and, when all else fails, they start a war.
@PottreeYou are right. Notice that I said: Trump and the GOP.
If China stops buying American Treasuries and decides to go it alone?
Interest Rates can’t just be ordered down.
1
The unilateral raising of tariffs is in breach of US commitments at the WTO and can not help but undermine the whole reciprocal and non discriminatory basis of the multilateral trading system, a major achievement of US foreign policy since immediately after WWII. This open trading system produced the prosperity of the last 70 years. It's a very big (and sad) deal.
1
All these tariffs will fill out treasury up to the brim and solve our deficit ,trade wars are easy to wing 100% tariffs on everything ,no wonder Trump lost over a billion in biz living off his daddy's wealth untaxed.
74
@REBCO you sound like someone who believes American customers pay for tariffs. If true, do you realize tariffs are taxes? Which proves that companies don’t pay taxes, customers do. Applying that reasoning to our tax code Rhee should be no business taxes. Do you realize this or are you such a partisan that you fail to realize you are actually proving a greater Republican tax issue?
President First-letter-of-the-alphabet- Aperture, does not know what he is doing economically. The mystery is why the GOP is breaking with their core economic philosophy to grovel to this preposterous professional imposter. Tariffs are a socialist strategy. The supreme irony is that his blundering flailing is anti-capitalism. Unbelievable. The guy is hunkering down for a life presidency. Graham, McConnell and the other obsequious sycophants seem to be OK with that. Where is the capitalism now?
38
@Bob Guthrie Wrong. First, every administration has had some amount of tariffs. Second, I am a free trader and prefer a true free market, but that does not exist anywhere. Third, if making others suffer to bring about a freer trade environment I will accept that (after all don’t we have regulations which limit actions, but are believed to provide overall greater freedoms)? Fourth, if these countries do revert to tariffs (we will beat them at their own game by establishing more US businesses) or the tariffs will decrease all markets (but we are less dependent and richer). You are welcome for the economic realities that the talking heads refuse to admit.
J.D./M.B.A.
@Matthew
What are those economic realities you talk about? There is no logical connection in your points that would suggest those conclusions.
How long will it take for His Base to realize THEY are paying ???
Willful ignorance. A mind is a terrible think to waste.
29
@Phyliss Dalmatian thank you. Now realize tariffs are taxes which means customers pay taxes NOT CORPORATIONS! Thank you for reinforcing a stronger Republican tax issue.
J.D./M.B.A.
@Matthew
What does that have to do with tariffs?
All incompetence comes with a price. And the greater the incompetence, and the more it is enabled, the higher the price will be.
We have never had a leader more colossally incompetent than Donald Trump. Which seems almost impossible considering the almost incalculable incompetence of George W. Bush's "Reign Of Error".
"So, you elected an idiot?" Well then, expect one idiotic decision after another. Which is exactly what we are getting and seeing in this Administration.
The only real question that remains is how much irreversible damage is The Donald going to inflict on this country and it's citizens before his "Reign" comes to a close?
149
The Senate must be included in this calculation as they enabling and complicit.
14
I stand now in defense of Millard Filmore. it is true he was not as bad as Trump, and probably neck and neck with W, but the boy from upstate deserves to be included in any list of bad presidents, including Grant who was drunk and Wilson who was comatose.
Why not point out that the United States, which was a world leader in rules based trade since the creation of GATT in 1947 and the formation of the WTO in 1994, is violating its WTO obligations by raising tariffs against China above the rates the U.S. is bound to under WTO rules?
3
@Joe Dorn
Or that China's alleged trade transgressions can be impartially investigated by the WTO instead of being trumpeted by a man who has told 10 000 lies?
1
Now Trump says he'll use tariff money to pay farmers for the damage his tariff war is doing to them. Sounds like a political payoff to me to get their votes again in 2020. In the meantime, it is American consumers that will be paying for the tariffs, not China and not farmers and not businesses.
6
And how does that differ from manipulating markets, something he says China must stop doing? Trump just wants to control one more thing.
1
@kmgh it is. However, tariffs are taxes so your statements about customers paying actually strengthens the Republican argument of no taxes on businesses (in case you didn’t realize businesses don’t pay regular taxes either their customers do). It’s amazing that people are so anti-Trump that they are adopting Conservatives tax views.
J.D./M.B.A.
Let's hope that those who voted for Trump in 2016 because they believed his lies and wanted a change in the White House now realize the danger of his Presidency and vote differently in 2020. If not, the damage may not be able to be repaired.
5
Americans have, historically, preferred alternating government (Dems. in power eight years followed by Reps. in power for eight years, etc.). This scenario, where the leader of one party unilaterally provokes close allies and competitors alike, knowing full well the consequences of that provocation will fall upon the shoulders of the other party in the near future and make it difficult for them to govern, is a limitation of America democracy. Since Trump is a curious blend of shameless and clueless, it is unlikely he will be dissuaded from his present course. The best we can hope for is that the consequences of tariffs appear as quickly as possible, hurting consumers as they must, and American voters realize the Democratic candidate for president will better protect their interests and vote Trump out.
But then what happens? The Democratic president puts time and energy working with allies and competitors to mitigate the damage from Trump's tariffs. And then there will be a vocal segment of the American public that points to this as a sign of weakness, and that will lead to the election of a Republican.
Alternating government, in the hands of the unscrupulous who only care about winning and representing the top 10 percent of the American public, is a flaw in our democratic system. I'm not sure it can be fixed, except that people need to get smarter and more skeptical, particularly about false equivalencies peddled by the unscrupulous party. One party is worse. Deal with it.
1
give more money to the farmers???? They already have two mailboxes, one for mail, and one for checks from the government!! The only segment of the economy that milk tax dollars for themselves while complaining about other people getting benefits from the government. Farmers in the US can't make it on their own, they need the crooks in Washington to support their lifestyles unlike the rest of us.
4
Well maybe its time the true cost of shipping stuff around the globe helps stop people from buying more stuff. We don't need this stuff, and if we do, we'll pay more for it by saving on not buying the stuff we don't need (that 4th of July themed plastic punch bowl). Since our economy is based on consumerism, of course it will hurt to start. But maybe people will begin to value what is produced locally and less harm to the earth. This is one reason I cannot get upset about these Chinese tariffs.
2
Trump is right about one thing.. the economy has gone up trillions and trillions in debt. The Dow has continued to go up on a speculation bubble, a hope that Trump's trade war delusions will somehow come true. The Dow average has been leveraged up based mostly on Obama's economic successes, and now it's over valued around 18 times higher than corporate earnings. Get ready for a Trump recession.
6
The US has been importing deflation from China for 30 years. It has in turn been exporting inflation —via an ever larger emission of dollars— to the world who has been happy to make the US dollar its preferred savings currency. If this model changes the US economy will suffer greatly.
1
Trump’s tariffs are a response to existing tariffs imposed piece by piece over many years and benefiting many.
Those tariffs are a mosaic of special interests, kickbacks and favors to donors and influential constituents. They are complex and designed to benefit specific, individual American manufacturers and trade associations that export as well as specific, individual American companies that import foreign goods.
Similarly, there are a patchwork of special interest groups at US trading partners who do the same thing.
These special interests and their lobbyists have created this mess. Trump’s strategy may be wrong but we can’t ignore the fact that he didn’t create this situation.
Despite Trump's tariffs the US had the largest trade deficit in its history in 2018.
4
Sure, bring those manufacturing jobs from China to the US. Let's see how many Americans will work for three dollars a day. Definitely put a stop to Intellectual property theft now that Apple and Microsoft have stolen what they need. Republicans have complained for years about efforts to raise the minimum wage, instead outsourcing to China, India, Indonesia and others, and lawn care and childcare to illegal immigrants. Once they blow this model up we can pay more than other countries just like we do for our healthcare and education. Then, when all is said and done, they can blame the mess on the Dems.
2
The global economy will benefit when garments are made in Viet Nam and Mexico and not under the slave-like conditions of the Chinese for no net increase in cost.
4
You think the working conditions are better in Mexico or Vietnam?
You don’t know much about the garment business my friend.
This will be like the US policy on wars. Never-ending! The US has been at war almost continually since the war with Spain in 1898!
6
If Trump says he intends on using tariff money to pay farmers, isn’t that a form of socialism? But, who’s minding the store?
15
The trump tariffs will stay only as long as he stays . 2020 and he is gone .
@MN
Since US farmers export world wide, they are also government subsidized goods which will undercut farmers in every corner of the globe.
Government subsidized exports are unfair and must be eliminated. Except when the US does it....
@MN
And it's robbing Peter to pay Paul. We the taxpayers are paying for his socialist bailout that HE created through his ineptness, pig-headedness and abject ignorance. It's estimated that 2 million will lose their jobs. Will he be bailing them out as well? Of course not, unless they're part of his "base". I'm sick of my hard earned blue state dollars bailing out these ingrates.
My daughter waitresses at a high end restaurant in the Boston suburbs. Sales have been down due to uncertainty. People are rushing to purchase products before the tariffs kick in full force. We bought a new stove and other household items before the tariffs kick in since even American "made" products have electronics that come from China. It will be interesting to see the June consumer purchase numbers although EVERYTHING this administration boasts is suspect so it wouldn't surprise if these numbers are manipulated. I no longer believe a word out of his or his complicit lying administrations mouths. People who work in retail will tell the real story and it won't be pretty.
Oddly I am not totally against these tariffs IF they reduce our plastic consumption and eliminate some of the purge of these items in landfills.
IF they go through as planned, I hope it gives the American Consumer time to reflect on what is truly important. More plastic doesn’t lead to true happiness - hopefully many will see that Less is More.
While this will definitely hurt our wallets the overall hurt will be shared by big companies looking for cheap labor, smaller businesses looking for profits and farmers - already ignoring the facts.
Farmers should take note of the textile industry which virtually is nonexistent in the US. If it is still here, clothing is assembled from cloth made elsewhere.
Unions will become important again if manufacturers need to make a come back. If you don’t think so, look at Uber who must have originality thought no employees = no strikes. A major labor movement is way over-due.
Also, these tariffs were way out of hand. When American workers and the government allowed big businesses to contract labor (read:jobs) to China and elsewhere it decimated industries and people’s livelihoods here. Tariffs cost us more than just jobs and cheaper products. Sadly, the American Consumer is as greedy as Big Business.
6
@Sheela Todd
The problem with your analyses is the fact that wages have not kept up with inflation. In order to pay obscene wages to CEO and a high stock investment yield, workers' salaries have been sacrificed. We don't buy these product because we're greedy, we buy them because we can't afford higher priced items. Put the blame where it belongs: on corporations that could never see a high enough profit! Laborers making $15/hour can't afford $300 made in USA work boots. They can't afford made in USA tool prices at quadruple the cost of the Chines counterparts. They can't afford clothing at 4 times the cost of Chinese and other low wage countries. These are NECESSITIES not frivolities. And why shouldn't the lesser among us have some of the niceties in our lives like televisions, computers, phones, appliances. Should these be just one more thing that only the wealthy can afford? Struggling millennials can't even afford an apartment. Should they be able to afford no leisure items as well? These taxes don't hurt the wealthy. They only hurt the rest of us, you know the 99%. But I guess we should quietly accept our serfdom and work our fingers to the bone for no material reward. Even if it's a meager one.
Instead of attacking hard working Americans who are struggling to make ends meet put the blame where it belongs. Corporate greed and the wealthy who apparently can NEVER have enough money. The average American workers is already going without. The Gilded Age is alive and well.
1
We should really think President Trump for having the courage to stand up to the unfair trading practices of China. One must understand that the ultimate goal of China is to become a world power and with its currency be the world currency reserve surpassing and replacing the US dollar. I hope President Trump and his advisers understand that ultimately was a prolong trade war with China Will seek to take over Taiwan and by doing so they will exert pressure on all of Asian countries whereby They will have to conform to the wishes of the Chinese. So ultimately President Trump thinks that the trade war will cause the products to move to other countries such as Vietnam Thailand Indonesia Philippines Cambodia but that will not take place once the Chinese take over Taiwan which they will be forced to focus on at this point today. And in the long run once they take Taiwan the world currency reserve will be dictated by the Chinese. America must be on guard
2
@Joseph Stern - Get a clue. Trump products are made in China. Trump doesn't stand up to anyone, he just blusters and caves.
4
If you don’t like the laws and policies that sent jobs overseas, gutted middle class America and created massive retailers like Walmart, look no further than the political party who has controlled congress over the last 20 years and put into law these tax laws and trade policies.
The Republican Party. What a con job.
While in their spare time handing a trillion dollars tax welfare to wall street and hedge funds
Attempting to take healthcare away from millions of Americans
Now trying to gut social security and Medicare.......
The shameful list goes on and on.
1
This old trick failed in the past when the damage to our economy became a blight on the quality of life for average Americans.
Wealthy folks need not worry about higher costs, congestion pricing or taxes. Excessive cash positions make them just about invulnerable to this very bad play.
Where are the investments in retraining our population to meet the new economy of today and our future?
10
China never had to hold a gun to our head to get where it is today.
We walked into this economic "relationship" with our eyes wide open.
We wanted cheap products and services and we were willing to eliminate American jobs and economic security for it.
It was a truly bipartisan effort.
16
Look around you at the de-industrialization of the United States. Should we cheer for China? Who has benefited from the relationship of the last twenty or thirty years? Or, who has benefited more? Are tariffs the answer? Not necessarily, but at least Trump is stirring the pot - at least we are debating our China policies as opposed to under Obama, when everything was swept under the rug. It was all just peachy under Obama as the economy rotted away and the intelligentsia enjoyed cheap products and cheap labor from the Third World. It's good to debate this.
5
@Jason McDonald...He is indeed stirring the pot. Hopefully, this will lead to thoughtful discussion. Intelligentsia usually buy luxury goods, not cheap products. The working poor suffer the most from tariffs. What's new?
7
The USA is/was the wealthiest nation on a he planet, of course we benefited from trade with China
The tariff issue is not about Mr. Trump, it is about China stealing American IP along with their software, music and designer piracy. There is much talk about who will be harmed by the tarriffs, but what about those who have already been harmed by these obscene Chinese business practices? It is time to stand firm.
2
So now, to quote Trump, our Socialist President, in his trade war with China, states that we are in a "fantastic position", while he continues to subsidize our farmers for their losses, with our taxes.
So, when will our Socialist President, Trump, subsidize us with our taxes, for the tariffs he has implemented for which we will now have to pay, thanks to him?
Of course, since Trump has been a billion $s in debt, he has prided himself, and stated, that only smart people like him, don't have to pay taxes!
Trump now holds the record, that he is the only President since income taxes were implemented, while in office, pays no taxes.
And we have lost 3 million jobs since Trump became President. Now that's a proud record, which he should trumpet at each of his campaign rallies!
7
First the Republicans take SALT from the blue states and now impose a backdoor consumption tax on most of the retailers. Where do all the monies go?
Trump said he would give the tariff money to the farmers. Congratulation, farmers, real farmers, I mean, this is really a double whammy! First Trump & the Republicans rob you of your livelihood and now they are going to rob you of your dignity as well. You are forever associated with the welfare farmers now.
Remember the Republicans refused to pay for the airport maintenance, a paltry sum, in the Obama era because they said there was no money?
Elections have consequences. Once again, American voters seem to want to vote not only their self-interests but also their self-worth
5
These unwise tariffs are not the disease. They are symptoms of the disease that needs some serious diagnosis and therapy. The disease is chronic imbalance of trade that weakens and destroys. The US needs a consistent policy of balanced trade -- $ in = $ out. This best might be accomplished, as once proposed by Warren Buffett, by granting US exporters $ trade credits that US importers must buy on a regulated exchange before releasing equivalent $ to pay for imports. In that case no tariffs are necessary and no individual trading partner or category of import need be targeted.
2
On last night’s PBS Newshour the president of the Teamsters supported Trump’s tariff policies. When asked would his members do likewise and stop wanting to buy cheaper goods, he said they would have to. But he also noted that the nation’s middle class has been decimated by the loss of union membership. He failed to say that it is a condition created by Republican laws and their conservative allies in business.
Trump’s tariffs may indeed be necessary but they will help to foster a permanent lower middle and poor class in the USA until the day USA workers decide to join unions again and throw out of office the Republican Party. The problem currently seems to be that the USA worker isn’t smart enough to realize and acknowledge that.
9
Take a morning one day and stroll up and down each aisle of a Walmart. Select an item at random and study it's label for the point of origin. The largest employer in the US, the largest retailer in the US, the largest grocer in the US, will not tolerate an extended trade war that affects is's already razor-thin margins and hence the bottom line. And tens of thousands of laid off workers may finally wake up and smell the coffee that no longer goes on sale for 8 bucks a can.
4
Trump is doing these multi-nationals a favor. They should never have allowed themselves to become so dependent on one country for their manufacturing. The tariffs will lead them to diversify their production among other nations and they will be better off in the long run.
3
A 25% tax on imported cars would be a powerful incentive for the big three US auto makers to raise prices on all their cars. With that kind of competitive advantage, the incentive to innovate and improve your product also goes away. So in the end, everyone will pay more for an inferior car, with the 25% tax for a foreign auto going directly to the US treasury, and the “tax” levied by the big three in the form of higher prices, directly to their bottom line. The irony here is that there will be so much more $$$ to buy German and Japanese industrial robots!
5
This trade policy is being driven by a man who is ignorant and prefers to remain so. The fact that Trump does not understand that the Chinese economy slowing does not mean we are winning says a lot. He does not understand the global nature of economics in this day and age nor does he understand that when China's market slows, its consumers pull back, and our companies suffer a slow down in sales. Tariff man does not get that imposed tariffs are paid by American companies and consumers, not the Chinese.
10
It’s nice to know, all the farmers who abhor the thought of socialism, will refuse all the bailout money they will receive from our government, as their overseas markets dry-up and go elsewhere due to the trade wars.
Maybe they will send those bailout checks, served up through the tariffs, to the treasury to reduce our exploding deficit.
MAGA!
10
Look at the bright side. Trump is helping the Fed achieve its inflation targets by raising prices in the US and decreasing consumers' pricing power. This should end well with his struggling middle class, low-information voters enjoying their even lower standard of living while they cheer him on.
1
This evil GOP Trump ruined his bank account for over 10 years now was allowed to destroy our economy with China . He should have been removed from office. Why would any other country want our style of government with such GOP corruption.
3
Mr Trump is such an amateur. He fights battles for publicity not for substance, and only he still insists that trade deficits matter. His trade decisions have alienated the US from its traditional allies; and any peripheral benefits from his constant trade wars are going to the citizens of countries like Vietnam and Mexico. With policies like his,friends become enemies, and an insignificant and corrupt cohort of authoritarians become our friends. I can't wait to try out a Romanian iPhone or a North Korean laptop. MAGA to the bitter end...
7
The aftermath of this reckless policy will not lower the raised prices we the consumers will pay because why not keep the excess profits. Unfortunately this new tariff policy will close out many smaller farmers because their costs of doing business will not go down.
I hope many of his voters will think what will happen to them when the $10.00 extra in their pockets will now cost them $20.00 or more, and how about the raise if their taxes?. Trump and his friends are laughing all the way to their banks.
33
Such irony that both trump and his daughter have their products make in China yet he wants us to buy American. Such hypocrisy.
9
Again Trump divides Americans he has chosen to protect farmers from his policies but what about everyone else hurt by his policies. This is the first President in my lifetime that represents no one but his supporters.
6
Everything Trump does or has done produces wreckage.
And yet? He himself invariably emerges intact, and unscathed!
—
What does that tell you?
Who *is* Donald Trump, really?
...I think I know...
2
Pleased to meet you, hope you guessed my name.
But what’s puzzling you is the nature of my game.
1
I have watched these isolationist, xenophobic, Neo cons on Fox news for years. Never would I have imagined they would be running the country.
7
"When two quarrel, the third takes the advantage." Hmm, I guess Putin must be very pleased with Donald, diminishing the economic power to the east, declaring the EU an economic "foe" to West, while shooting itself continously in the foot.... Who knew olive oil was of such strategic importance to the US, especially to a president who lives mostly on "hamberders"?
9
And now MAGA hats will cost more. Perhaps there is a silver lining after all.
13
When all his misdeeds hit the wallets of his supporters, then and only then will they wake up and realize their mistake in putting into office a person devoid of integrity, with an inferiority complex, a con artist, racist, self-serving, very bad businessman, etc etc etc. He might do well by playing himself on SNL because he has no clue how to be Presidential.
7
Rob, replicate and replace.
The Chinese unashamedly steal intellectual property, copy products and then exploit masses of low paid workers to produce and dump these products in overseas markets, driving competitors out of business.
Let's stop kidding ourselves that they are legitimate free trade partners.
6
"Cecilia Malmstrom, the European commissioner for trade, repeated on Monday that the European Union had prepared a list of American products worth $22.5 billion — including ketchup, suitcases and tractors — THAT WOULD FACE IMMEDIATE RETALIATORY TARIFFS."
Looks like Europe is doing to US what Trump is doing to China.
Are they also bad?
1
Don't forget to add in the cost of subsidies to farmers, as part of the tariffs paid for by American consumers and tax payers. Won't be long before you can add Boeing and few others to the list. Mean while crickets from Republicans in Congress.
4
Consumer confidence can’t be maintained. Massive consumer debt combined with insecurity about financial stewardship and higher prices is a disaster in the making. Trump can throw out stats about the great economy all he wants, but I think people are going to slow spending and head us toward recession. Probably just in time for our new democratic president to take office.
3
I can only hope that Trump's isolationist and idiotic policies wound the American economy grievously, reducing the standard of living noticeably for all of his supporters, even though the innocent would also suffer. The only way to get his supporters to change their minds about him is for them to suffer personally and directly from his actions. So let the suffering be extreme enough that we get this clod out of office next year, no matter the cost.
15
@Dan Stackhouse --- That lousy trade agreement NAFTA is what seriously wounded the American workers, who rebelled against NAFA 2 aka the Trans Pacific Partnership that would have brought on board another 1/3 of the world's cheap labor force, without protecting American workers! Europe does a much better job of protecting their workers because they are not sold-out to the global cheap labor and defense industry investments crowd. #StopTPP is why a lot of people voted for Trump after Senator Bernie Sanders was forced out of the race by DNC/Clinton insiders.
1
Trump is rapidly turning the once proud USA into a parody of a banana republic. (My apologies to any nations that grow bananas.)
20
Can you imagine that!
A con artist, who had a handful of bankruptcies, and conceals his tax 1040 history!
Who could have guesses?
6
What is seemingly lost on most commentators here is that the fundamental point of tariffs is to protect local industries. These industries create jobs and the money spent on the goods produced remains in the local economy.
Free trade works to everyone's benefit if it's between equals with complementary products. It doesn't work if it's simply a ruse for one nation underming the economy of another.
7
Congress should stop Trump's trade war and block his attack on Iran.
9
What President Trump is doing now is what the world leaders were doing before and after WWI. We are lucky it is, at the moment, only him that sanguinely practices this policy, which stems from arrogance, ignorance and xenophobia. But it won't be much longer until Mr. Xi, Mr. Putin et al. find him very charming.
2
Astounding that 45 could think his China tariffs a great boon, because it was the American executives who outsourced their production offshore for the past 60 years. Execs who are Republicans in the main, of course. Not to mention the yuuge agricultural segment of the American economy that depends on massive exports to China. It will astound one even more that those two groups will swallow this round of tariffs whole and probably support Trump in the 2020 election. After all, the GOP is the genius party in convincing people to vote for it against their own interests.
17
The developed economies should standardise tariffs to reward new Fair Free Trade rather than sweetheart deals for dictatorships and crony capitalists who feed off developed economies.
No free and fair elections? +10% tariff
No worker, and welfare rights +5% tariff
No environmental standards +5%
No equal opportunity education, respect for Intellectual property 5%.
Ancient 17th century economists got it wrong, middle class society was build on standards not free trade!
2
I have learned a lesson from Trump.
Next time I shop at the supermarket, I'll tell the manager that I am buying much more from him than he from me. Actually he buys nothing from me. You CHEAT!
So I will raise the price of his products that I buy to punish him, just so I can pay more.
Umm, hang on a minute... I'll come back to you on that. I am waiting for the next tweet.
10
If these new Trump Taxes don’t go away soon, expect a lot of factories to relocate from China ... to India and Thailand.
Meanwhile, enjoy paying your Trump Taxes.
4
What is the most fascinating is that Trump's tariffs are hurting his rural farming supporters the most, yet the GOP "leaders" say that these cash strapped farmers still love the White House con man.
Who knew that lemmings were so masochistic?
6
A person’s past behavior is generally a good indicator of what to expect from that individual now and into the future. It happens that Mr. Trump’s past behaviors are consistent with his present behaviors. So, “follow the money.” All his machinations, well-practiced tricks, and promises that are just lies with a time fuse, suggest he does what benefits himself and his cronies.
What does he benefit personally from this trade war with the World?
What does he benefit from his generosity to Putin and Neo-Soviet Russia?
What does he benefit from protecting or befriending the likes of Kim, MBS of Saudi Arabia, and other dictators?
And what does the previously free-market Republican Party benefit from marching lockstep behind him?
While President Donald Trump confuses and gets the most attention from everybody by taking over the airwaves, the media, the front pages, what is really happening to the foundation of America, and who benefits from that?
Who are the “men behind the curtain?” Who are they who pull the levers and turn the cranks to animate this Great Orange Oz?
8
I don't agree with trump on many things but the way china dumps useless products on rest of the world needs to stopped. Perhaps the American consumer will start fixing things instead of throwing away and buying new ones. A lot of cheap Chinese products don't really improve the quality of life or the envoirnment.
4
There should have been permanent tariffs from day one to offset the cheap labor costs of producing goods in China. NAFTA was a lousy deal for the American worker, and did not even protect corporations' intellectual property. It reduced our workers to retail and service-industry low-wage earners. The only real choice in 2016 was Senator Bernie Sanders or Donald Trump because of the #StopTPP movement and #FightFor15. Clinton said, she was "willing" to fight for $12 minimum wage, and her way to address the 50% unemployment of young people with high school diplomas, living in inner-city areas, was to give more subsidies to Walmart -- to hire the low-wage minority workforce they already hire. The fact that President Obama and Sec. of State Clinton were pushing hard for a Trans Pacific Partnership that would bring on board another 1/3 of the world's cheapest manufacturing labor force was a losing proposition to working class voters; and did not offer any tax relief to the shrinking middle class. If the Democrats continue to be dominated by the "New Democrats" that are backed by the Wall Street CEO/ global manufacturing and defense industry investments crowd: They will continue to lose. The true progressives are demanding a reduction in the $715 BILLION "defense budget" (up $100 billion last year) and they are demanding that more of OUR TAXES be spent on education, health care, pensions and upgrades to our neglected infrastructure to bring it into the 21st century.
6
China will pay Trumps tariffs just like Mexico is paying for The Wall.
6
I’m astounded that so much narrative is given (across many articles) to certifying the ignorant sense of economics that a real estate salesman is permitted to sell, as if Trumpism is now fait accompli.
There’s no “consensus” that any of this makes practical sense. Article after article cites the damage that’s being done, and no article cites support for Trumpist silliness, except by other Republicans who depend on his electoral base.
Indeed, it’s a minority American voters—that provincial, red meat base—that is driving a salesman to upend the global economy, which will take years to undo.
Trump has harmed the relations with allies that could collaboratively constrain China—even, now, giving China a chance to change the WTO rules that it’s violating, on the way to domination as a “developing” nation? China is suckering American government, even as Trump suckers American voters.
And Trump’s isolationism will just cause China to develop markets elsewhere, undermining the fantasy that Chinese tariffs in retaliation will create opportunities for U.S. business in non-Chinese markets that Trump’s tariffs are sendng China into.
The bottom line seems to be that domestic political opportunism within Congress is allowing an imperial presidency, because the emperor can weaponize legal process to ride out Congressional handwringing.
American “democracy” is becoming pathetic, which dictators elsewhere welcome.
2
It appears to me that the apprentice POTUS is of the view that he can dish out tariffs to his liking which are all bad to the foreign exporters and only good for the US. Black and white, rather than nuances of lighter and darker grey, this reflects well the simplistic world of this person.
Of course, tariffs make those products more expensive and hence less competitive, but its the US domestic consumer who at the end has to shoulder higher retail prices.
And those economies hit by the Trump tariffs are hitting back, making life much harder for the US export industry. Strange way to tackle the trade deficit.
At the end, everybody loses. It remains to be seen if at the end the USA will be the biggest loser.
1
"Progress toward a deal came to a sudden halt this month when China backtracked on certain commitments and Mr. Trump threatened to move ahead with higher tariffs.
'We had a deal that was very close, and then they broke it,' he said on Tuesday."
While China may well have backtracked on a deal, Trump has zero credibility. Him saying so is no evidence at all.
Backtracking, breaking deals, and lying is Trump's modus operandi. He is utterly incapable of honest dealing.
So, has the NYT any evidence that China backtracked? If not, the article should change the wording to reflect that there is no evidence.
4
NAFTA was a lousy deal for the American worker, and did not even protect corporations' intellectual property. It reduced our workers to retail and service-industry low-wage earners. The only real choice in 2016 was Senator Bernie Sanders or Donald Trump because of the #StopTPP movement and #FightFor15. Clinton said, she was "willing" to fight for $12 minimum wage, and her way to address the 50% unemployment of young people with high school diplomas, living in inner-city areas, was to give more subsidies to Walmart -- to hire the low-wage minority workforce they already hire. The fact that President Obama and Sec. of State Clinton were pushing hard for a Trans Pacific Partnership that would bring on board another 1/3 of the world's cheapest manufacturing labor force was a losing proposition to working class voters; and did not offer any tax relief to the shrinking middle class. If the Democrats continue to be dominated by the "New Democrats" that are backed by the Wall Street CEO/ global manufacturing and defense industry investments crowd: The will continue to lose. The true progressives are demanding a reduction in the $715 BILLION (up $100 billion last year) and they are demanding that more of OUR TAXES be spent on education, health care, pensions and upgrades to our neglected infrastructure to bring it into the 21st century.
4
As long as Trump's tariffs have no negative impact on whatever profitable Trump Organization advantage that Donald Trump is hidibg from the Ametican people in his income tax returns and records arising from his occupation of the White House then they will continue.
As long as Benjamin Netanyahu, Vladimir Putin and Mohammed bin Salman are still smiling and smirking then Trump's tariffs will stay.
No collusion. MAGA.
2
Th Smoot Hawley Tariffs were such a great success, they brought about the Great Depression of the 1930s. Not a great idea for America or anyone else.
The problem is basically forgetfulness. ‘Who forgets the past will relive it”.
That is called choking on one’s own ignorance.
3
I see little domestic discussion of U.S. companies losing access to the world's largest consumer market: China. In the 1950s the U.S. became #1 by manufacturing AND consuming their own products. Trump is now forcing China to don that robe.
1
(There are many comments here I want to Recommend but that slur ourselves as "consumers". Upward mobility begins in the mind! That's why the loser is still not even a millionaire, after all—one needs a mind to begin in, first.)
We need to ramp up our manufacturing back to at least the days when Farberware actually made stuff in my borough, to have a chance of surviving against the vile NOT-communist xi regime. But rewarding corporations like Carrier for replacing their employees with robots, supporting vile NOT-trade treaties like the anti-internet vile TPP, going along with the obsolete "intellectual property" mindset with even more oppressive copywrong and patent laws that won't affect China, and imposing tantrum-based tariffs like the loser does, are all exactly the wrong way about it.
What we NEED to do instead, and fast, is to subsidize companies that demonstrate (not merely "commit" to do so by *insert faraway year we'll forget about the commitment by, here*) that they will or already do manufacture inventions and products in the US, with local employees when possible and according to US laws, and without needlessly attacking climate, local environment, or quality of life; and jail employers who pass on willing locals trainable at reasonable expense to hire cheap out-of-state or immigrant labor instead. We then need to End The Patent, ultimately—no manufacturer should have to fear MPEG-LA-style submarine lawsuits! Any patent power ought to be "defensive" at most.
1
@SR "they will or already do manufacture inventions and products in the US, with local employees when possible and according to US laws"
Agree the best way to win is to have our own industrial policy. China is doing capitalism better by intervening in the market. That's how China created the greatest manufacturing base the world has ever seen and ate our lunch. There's no way to bully them out of what has been very effective policy. So we should just beat them at the same game.
1
A couple of decades ago, you could listen to Trump brag about how well his magnificent casinos were doing as the quickly slid into bankruptcy. Substitute "tariffs" for "casinos" and nothing has changed. Any and every claim made by Trump needs to be questioned.
5
Just what the ‘conservative’ Republicans wanted... a regressive tax on imported goods that will hammer the working class consumer. The standard of living for 99% of the population has been on a long, slow, inexorable slide for some time. An overlay of punitive tariffs will be a swift kick down the mountain.
And no, China will not pay these tariffs. Any kid with a 7th grade education can tell you that.
4
Let us not forget that China holds 1.3 trillion dollars of our treasury bonds. If they sold them our interest rates go up. That could be retaliating of the highest order. They are retaliating right now by not buying corn, soybeans, pork, beef & farm machinery.
2
Do the proponents of "Buy USA" understand what wold really happen if we all in the rest of the world do everything possible to buy anything that comes out of USA? I am for one avoiding them as much as I can.
1
Trump's tariff increases are a form of neomercantilism which is similar to a manufactures-based (craze) concentration which heralds to the time of Adam Smith. His object fetish is an incorrect approach to the growth of markets, particularly as the 21st century should be about services, or pronouncedly services, and not manufactures.
Trump's attitude is like a pawn-shop dealer who claims he has something from a given time which is very valuable. In a world where engineering is not even about copying (anymore) countries are able to undercut his plans simply owing to the cost of labor.
That Trump would revert on tariffs to a position pre-Bush Beijing is an anomaly. It is like saying that it never happened, which is a deception on Trump's part.
The new economy is not about addends and spare parts. It is about wealth of new ideas. So to push patent law into the forefront, it doesn't make sense for America to build solely on the number of patents filed with the Patent Office. Trump's insistence on technique of manufacture is synonymous with his background- Trump bricks, Trump tiles, Trump windows, sourced from his company. It does not spell global outreach.
2
If these Tariffs are so important for the success of American Business, why is the entire cost flowing through to consumers?
11
@l burke Just a way to eventually get more $$$ from working class people. Because whenever this insanity ends, do you really think the new prices will go down? No. They will become the new "normal" prices with businesses set to pocket the 25% increase. Just another way to fluff the feathers of his loyal business supporters--at the expense of all Americans. Intellectual property...the Chinese will never give in on this.
2
Reducing the environmental footprint of every American is essential to fighting climate change. Increasing the cost of goods will reduce consumption - that’s good. Making items closer to the point of sale - that’s good. Using local materials that reenter the production stream at the end of their life - that’s good. Reducing agricultural production to preserve farmland for the future - that’s good too.
I don’t think Trump’s tariffs will achieve this, but these are good goals.
5
If these tariffs are necessary to keep China in check, and hopefully return more manufacturing to the USA( benefiting the American worker), then let them stay.
2
@samuel Since the Reagan years, manufacturing jobs have been going to countries with (much) cheaper labor rates. This has been a world-wide issue. European governments have programs to retain manufacturing jobs to the extent possible. America's "free enterprise" system did nothing to stop the job drain. Nearly four decades later,
there is nothing to be done but sell a fantasy to voters who lap it up as if it was reality. America needs government help in job training and job creation but you ain't getting that from Trump.
4
Have you emailed the president and asked him why he prefers Chinese workers to American ones? Even the ones who voted for him?
1
I don't agree with Trump on much, but his push against China is interesting. It's been unfair too long and has hurt the American worker. The fear is Chinese products, already with questionable safety standards, will cut corners even further. One has to really worry about safety of Chinese imports with a tariff. Buy American.
4
Tariff raises the cost of producing goods outside the USA. So businesses are forced to move back more of their production line here. True, these businessmen lose, but American workers gain. So the pie is smaller but being shared in a fairer way. Isn't this all along supported by the democrats?
3
This is based on the unproven assumption that US-made products will be competitive both quality and cost wise. This remains to be seen.
3
@Wayne You let me know if you hear any real data about jobs moving back to America. They ain't and you're lapping up Trump's "story" like it was real. And "tariffs do not raise the cost of producing goods outside America" - they raise the cost of what YOU pay for them.
4
A permanent tool to shelter American industry, block imports and banish an undesirable trade deficit.
That is worrying for America's allies. Mexico is unfair on trade because it pays lower wages. Canada is a security problem because it supplies steel. Germany makes cars which are preferred by American buyers.
The new model - high tariffs and subsidizing exporters, such as in agriculture - is a threat to all of Americas allies in all markets.
Rather than creating a common front and using the WTO against specific unfair trade practices, the EU and others are looking at China and wondering if they are next in line.
5
The tariff policy raises the cost of foreign products, forcing businesses to produce more goods in America. True, these businessmen lose, but American workers gain by having more jobs. Isn't this redistribution of wealth all along supported by democrats?
2
@Wayne I doubt that a lot of american workers could afford T-Shirts, furniture and phones made in the US.
3
Reality Check whos going to pay for these tarriffs us tax payers another tax just like affordable health care act. Making manditory to have health care even if person never uses it in there entire life. See where this going our beautifull country being ruined by tose who swore to have allegance to american dream freedom.
In the past, which we can restrict saying past century for lessening something as brutal as war, trade, let's admit it, was dictated by force. Further back in History were, of course, Empires and their vast networks of colonial hubs and harbours. War victories assured the compliance of vanquished powers for favourable exchanges. And this doesn't apply only to colonial America after Christoph Colomb 'discovery' but also to Imperial China (Opium war). This was the bases for the phenomenal development in the Western world. No doubt of it. Now, after two worldwide devastating wars civilization decided that diplomacy and treaties was the way of progress. And for the last 70 years it has worked well, so positively well that many former vanquished and even humiliated powers have flourished and are thriving beyond the best expectations. And the problem is, competition becomes painful for former Empires required to share benefits with those former subdued powers. China, Russia, Germany, Japan, the whole Europe come back to haunt the winners. War is impossible today but imposing rules to lesser countries looks plausible by commercial 'crushing' (Venezuela, Cuba, Iran are good examples). Britain is immersed in a excruciatingly lengthy dealings with Europe on the other hand, perhaps because the imperial design doesn't apply anymore? U.S. with China is in the middle road of tentative 'crushing', Mr Trump being incapable of any 'excruciatingly lengthy' dealings with his counterpart.
4
The article misses the point. The US largely no longer exports finished goods, with the exception of planes and some cars. What we export instead is "knowledge" or intellectual property -- the smarts that go with iPhones, social media with Facebook, the search capabilities of Google, the miracle cures of modern medicine, and movies made by Hollywood. We export these to the world and in turn import clothes, furniture, iPhones designed in California, and the like.
This would be all well and good if the other countries allowed us unfettered access to their markets for our knowledge/IP created efforts (almost no one does -- you can only show a dozen Hollywood movies a year in China, Facebook and Google don't exist there, and there is no respect for drug patents). Europe keeps fining Apple and Google to the tune of billions because they can't make anything.
If we are not exporting goods but other countries don't respect our IP or provide us access to their markets, what else should we do? We are compelled to use tariffs to get respect for our IP because finished goods is what we import. When was the last time we relied on a drug invented in China that we could copy and not pay licensing fees for?
3
@RSSF
Europe doesnt fine Apple and Google because they are incapable of creating IP, they fine them because they are leveraging their market position to try and breach personal rights time and time again. With such corporations rivaling some countries already in terms of their monetary weight, controlling large corporations and their actions will be a key battlefield of the future for everyone who enjoys personal freedom. These efforts being made in the EU is one of their biggest achievements to date.
1
@RSSF " you can only show a dozen Hollywood movies a year in China"
I wouldn't hold your breath on the movies issue.
How many Chinese films did you pay to see last year?
Reverse it.
1
"Make your product at home in the USA and there is no Tariff." Well, if that is the case, Mr. President, why is that so much of the merchandise sold by the Trump Organization is made outside of the United States? Surely, you want to do your sacrificing as well in order to Make America Great Again, don't you?
In fact, given your claims of being such an extremely wealthy man, why don't you start buying American soybeans? Diversify the businesses! Help those who helped you.
46
What is a trade weighted tariff?
And it feels a lot like pro-forma earnings to me: a metric used to skew an argument in one direction as opposed to another.
Perhaps a table is in order of all of the actual average tariffs, median tariffs and all the 'trade weighted tariffs'.
Interesting! We finally get what is, in essence, a Nationwide sales tax, just like the value-added tax (VAT) in Europe, and all thanks to a Republican president! Tax reform indeed!
37
Does it occur to any of the very trusting Trump voters that President Polymath has probably never read an economics book.
It is wonderful to have a Polymath for a president. This Polymath paradigm of stability can only get away with it when he has millions of Pollyannas to believe every lying word he says.
36
@Bob Guthrie acquaint your self with the Trade and investment barriers of Asia and you may appreciate this is long overdue.
We should keep in mind that all of Trump's behaviors are based on fear, narcissism, autocracy and vengeance. Which one or group of these has led to tariffs directed at China is anybody's guess. But it seems as usual that it was another gut reaction with little forethought. Trump rarely reads, so the idea of tariffs must have come from Fox or one of his crone contacts. In any case, once the tariff idea hit him, he will not let go because he thinks it shows strength. He also thinks he knows more than anyone about economics. So here we go once more with an irrational act, no easy escape hole for him and an unwillingness to bend to reason. China may buckle, but saving face is far more needed in the Chinese culture. So we are left with high tariffs that will negatively effect our own people while Trump struts around like a Rooster crowing about his success with his tariffs on China.
41
@Paul Raffeld
Agree with your post. I don't know for sure but there is usually something to do with benefiting the stable genius, whatever the stance, whatever the action, whatever the lie. I suspect he could be setting up a narrative that when he gets pummelled in the 2010 election, he wispy he was fighting with China and that they interfered to rig the election in the Dem's favour because don't you see, they hate him over the tariffs. Cohen was right. He is not vacating the office when defeated. He is afraid of jail and he alone knows the extent of his easily proved criminality. Donald is not leaving even in 2024.
1
I'm not a leftist so forgive me, but if you truly believe this is a tax on Americans, then what's the problem? I thought leftists were pro tax? What if Trump called the Chinese tariffs the New Green Deal Tax? What that be okay? China is the biggest polluter on the planet. If China's polluting plants are polluting less because they are exporting less, then this should be good news? People will be incentivized to buy locally instead.
4
@Mauricio
These are regressive taxes.
The environmental impacts, though, that's a positive. If Americans cut their consumption of goods significantly, the environment wins. So they will have 4 T-Shirts instead of 10. 2 pairs of shoes instead of 6. Sounds like good environmental policy.
7
@Mauricio -- Too many logical fallacies and distortions in there for a 1500 character limit.
12
@Djt By all means, consume less. That means less people employed. Businesses which add value to Chinese imports go out of business. And of course the poor and middle class suffer the most. If this was actually a progressive policy, I might support it. But it isn’t.
4
why do we still refer to ourselves as a developed nation? we do not provide healthcare to our citizens, we do not provide a decent public education to our citizens, our infrastructure is falling apart, and half the country does not believe scientific facts.
83
Well as I understand it Xi is an authoritarian, life-long dictator a job DJT wishes he had. Based on the law of the land I believe Xi can out wait Trump.
10
Perhaps while he is waiting we can increase jobs, pay better wages and let our adversaries know that we are unwilling to support their economic development at the risk of our own. It is not about Trump but few readers of the Times understand this!
1
@Confused Farmer suicides are way up. More good times ahead!
Economics is hard so don't bother.
11
@Confused Where does the money come from to support higher paid American workers producing more expensive stuff?
1
Trump's base isn't bothered by his racism, xenophobia and misogyny. They may even find these characteristics appealing. They apparently don't care if Trump is corrupt and a congenital liar. But if Trump's tariffs begin to hurt them personally (e.g., soybean farmers), they will turn their anger away from the main stream media, coastal elites, liberal "snowflakes" and Hillary Clinton and finally begin to see that the great and glorious Oz is really just a little man behind the curtain shouting and turning levers that aren't attached to anything. However, nothing will change until Trump voters suffer personally.
54
@James, Toronto, CANADA Well put, James, but the base seeks confirmation rather than understanding. So if soy goes up, it will be Corrupt Hillary's fault. Who else?
1
@James, Toronto, CANADA Your theory has already been disproven. Trump's support is loyal to the end.
2
I wish I could share your confidence in this outcome. When things do get bad, really,really bad, Trump will just blame the Democrats and their “socialistic” ideas. Plus the Times , CNN, and Wapo. It’s never, ever his fault.
2
Let's hope that the breakdown of global trade will slow climate change!
4
@Jon
But you could be trading things like solar panels- the first thing that the 71 year old with little stake in the future, put a tax on.as soon as he stole office.
1
Trump is not sincere in this and other issues. If China is a menace because it trades unfairly and it intends to dominate the world, why is he trying to impose tariffs to our European allies and to Mexico en Canada? The Spain -US trade is more o less balanced; Spain is the major world producer of olive oil and the best quality, and one of the few products that Spain competes and exports to the US. It also benefits the health of the American people. Why is he then imposing a tariff of 25% to protect some friends in California?
8
The Republican Party may not realize it yet, but it is on life-support. Once the robust standard bearer of free trade and balanced budgets and family values, it has morphed into, well, the exact opposite, a pathetically sick creature that I hope will be put out of its misery in November of 2020.
36
Sadly, the Senate has yet to realize this idea.
1
@the doctor If my red state is any proof, ain't going to happen.
1
It's all about the Trump Wall Street White House enriching the wealthy. Now do you understand the "Wall" and the tariffs on "Steal".
3
@WITNESS OF OUR TIMES I wish I could see that conspiracy... "enriching the wealthy." His policies are dealing a body blow to continued international trade and this trade has been central to the growth of economies everywhere in the post-war period. Little fact: more Cadillacs were sold last year in China than in the US. What the heck do you think a trade war is going to do to American business up to their hips in international markets?
We hear reports about how much as many as 6000 products here will go up in price because of these tariffs.
I will be interested to see if these price increases are reflected in monthly government reports on the rate of inflation or if it is true that Trump is scaring bureaucrats into cooking the books.
After all, if a venerable former AG and retired 4 star generals can give up their integrity in service to Trump, what chance does a lower level bureaucrat fearful for his job have?
11
@Paul. The wonderful Makita sander I've been eying is already $50 higher than it was 12 months ago. No way I will buy it at that price. Just a sliver of what this means to businesses. Wake up, America!!!
1
@The_Last_Lioness Agreed, I was seriously considering buying a new car this Fall-- I was going to get a hybrid with all the tech (heated seats, back up camera, googlemaps, audible etc). But not at a 25% premium! I thought about what I am spending annually for maintenance and repairs and I think my 2011 Sonic can go another 6 years. I'll wait until we have some intelligent economic leadership in our government. I counseled my son to wait on buying real estate for the same reasons-- I think another bubble will break and we will all need our savings. I don't believe the numbers on unemployment and GDP, our food banks are still mobbed.
1
The man who in 10 years was able to lose more than a billion dollars of other people's money says he thinks his tariffs and economic decisions are going to turn out extremely well.
40
Cost of consumer goods goes up. Inflation. Consumers consume less--because most of the stuff is only made in China. US GDP is 75% dependent on consumer spending. GDP goes down. Recession. Unemployment goes up.
Stocks finally go down as "expectations" are not "met." Loans start to get called in. US consumer and business debts is at an all time high, thanks to artificially low interest rates. Fed tries to lower already depressed interest rates. Nothing happens. Stocks go lower and lower.
21
This is one of the things that Russia wanted, and is now getting from its minion, Trump.
@JCX
Yes, Americans (consumers/voters, and legal residents) are well advised to focus on paying off debts and credit cards (which curiously are not downgrading their interest rates from the highs after the last economic earthquake) than purchasing consumer goods at a 25% (at least) premium. Prepare for the next popped bubble, when Trumps House of Cards collapses.
1
seems like a lot of money and inflation just so manufacturing can move to Vietnam or Thailand..
17
@julius
YES! Trump's naive apologists have this idea that American corps will set-up shop here...again...just like 1950! Good luck. American corporations will merely go to Country B: Vietnam, Thailand, etc and set up their low-wage sweat shops there.
Mr. McConnell, this nation's economy and military involvement is actually in your hands. Since you're evidently running the country, could you please keep us out of war?
We are all schooled and can easily identify the trumpian game plan, because he just keeps using the same MO: make people look away while they lie, cheat, steal, deceive, break and ignore the law.
Because we easily understand the hallmarks of a true trump scam, we see that the China trade tariff negotiations war is really just a loud noise, a distraction, just pretty lights for his base.
Now, when we begin to feel tariff pains by paying more for things, do not let the "trump & Fox Administration" try to redirect our attention and try to reshape our pain into support for Bolton's Iranian War. Be ready for it.
Do not believe the "trump & Fox Administration" FAKE NEWS as it pits the United States against an economically significant trade partner and at the same time, against the country that the United States talked into signing the verifiable Iran Peace Treaty.
It's all just meant to occupy our minds so we don't notice while the trump administration manufactures a reason to attack Iran. Mr. McConnell?
17
@LivingWithInterest Sorry, Mr. McConnell is not listening. Maybe he'll listen when we impeach trump?
1
@LivingWithInterest
He will capture everyone's attention by reinstating an active military draft for his wars. Watch for it.
1
I loved watching Chris Wallace of Fox telling Larry Kudlow that Trump and his advisors were LYING.
He kept beating away the idea that the tariffs were going to our government!
How can they keep lying? We knew that Trump had zero business acumen, but can’t someone explain how we Americans are the ones who will be paying out of pocket--average of $2600 per family, that up to two million of us are going to lose jobs?
Can they use Legos to ‘splain?
13
@Nuschler always love the globalist oversimplification of trade. So for 30 years we have cheaper goods ourself into stagnant wages and built the Chinese economy. What is good for the behemoth Corp isn’t always what is best for blue collar joe. Democrats use to see this but now they would rather hate Trump than help the middle class
2
@David what worked for China was having a strong industrial policy.
Why aren't we doing what works instead of trying the force China to change behavior, which isn't going to work?
China has basically shown us up. They are doing capitalism better than us. Maybe we should be taking notes, not making ultimatums.
3
@David for goodness sake it’s not about hating Trump! Can you not see how incompetent he is? Look at his track record! Democrats want a president that puts his country first not his own personal agenda! If he actually did something I thought would benefit America, I would support but I see a man that gave tax breaks to the rich that has made them richer, put kids in cages, and side with Putin over America. Sorry. Wanna-be-dictators don’t get my support.
1
Peel away all the layers of the onion and it comes down to this: Trump’s fossil fuel handlers couldn’t abide the threat of inexpensive solar panels.
9
It is perfectly obvious that the current occupant of the WH doesn't understand the most basic things about global supply chains or any aspect of American trade and trade agreements.
Why is he being allowed to run amok wrecking things?
He is wrecking the current economic model both domestically and for other countries.
In the long and short run this is actually good.
The current use of resources and production of CO2 needs to be sharply curtailed if anything approaching safety for most of the life forms on Earth is to be achieved.
Maybe the buffoon is a secret, deeply committed environmentalist, whose undercover plan is to wreck the global economy, reduce consumption of resources, spread starvation, disease and death until the world population is very much reduced.
Maybe.
Maybe this will be his greatest triumph. Too bad that nobody voted for him to do that.
Maybe that should be his platform next time, he might get the big votes then.
12
Americans have long experience with tariffs, and the results in this century and the last have been abysmal. Most recently, W's tariff's on steel boosted American production very slightly, but lost 200,000 jobs in manufacturing because the increased price of raw materials resulted in higher prices and lower sales to consumers. These tariff's also lowered aggregate GDP. As a result of tariff's on solar panels, American installers have already lost over 200,000 jobs. Those are jobs that pay well, not the low-paying service jobs that have boosted our employment numbers without boosting pay.
We shouldn't go into a permanent trade war with China, we should sell things to their 1.4 billion consumers. But Trump has a notion that by building walls, physical and otherwise, we can return to our world dominance ca. 1950. That's never going to happen.
16
It is not like there are factories sitting here that a company can just turn the lights on next month.
7
The tariffs will be great for the Kremlin.
Putin’s plan proceeds ahead of schedule. Collapse the US economy, fan the flames of schism and social unrest, divide and conquer.
A classic plan.
Trump must be stopped from having private conversations with Putin. Sound over the top?
Examine the facts and connect the dots.
Putin is all a twitter with his social media campaign.
18
Trump claims that domestic businesses who rely upon foreign suppliers should switch to domestic suppliers. Simple. But can they?
In 1970, all domestic producers relied upon domestic suppliers. Shortly after, many suppliers began to disappear as foreign suppliers replaced them. It was the most cost effective way to obtain supplies. Since that time more and more supply chains became global. That means that no businesses could find any likelihood of acceptable returns on their investments by becoming domestic suppliers. So now, many businesses have no domestic suppliers. How likely are people who have not wanted to invest in these business to invest now? What happens if the tariffs are ended? Would that mean that an investment would no longer be profitable enough?
5
The President"s frustration in not getting his pet project built has led him to a far more costly series of 'walls', tariffs are just one
7
It’s funny, I don’t think China cares if the USA puts taxes (tariffs) on their goods as long as they keep selling the stuff too you. You’re paying the tax (tariffs) not them. It’s funny. 😆
21
Of course they do. Tariff=> increase prices => decrease demand/fewer goods sold. Less USD coming into the country and less income per citizen. This is very bad for their growth dependent economy.
2
Now the American consumer is paying much more for goods as their production exports are declining. That means we all pay more and earn less.
17
@WITNESS OF OUR TIMES Wait til China puts a tariff on US LNG and trump's cronies in the extraction industries start squawking as the Chinese, one of their biggest customers, goes elsewhere, like soybeans.
The liberal cause has taken a great blow from which it may never recover. It has taken its best instincts and greatest traditions, its love for humanity and regard for the least of us and turned it all into hatred of Trump and bitterness at losing the Presidency to him. It’s time to stop this nonsense that is eating us all up and become a functioning society again in which all people work together for a common cause and the good of the country and treat one another with respect even while disagreeing. Is it too late?
4
@Edward, many people have bonafide reasons for not agreeing with Trump and the direction he is taking this country. And yes, since we are a democracy AND we have this crazy right called freedom of speech, we don’t all have to just get along and take it, as you are suggesting.
12
@Edward
Wrong!
A criminal administration has taken over this country. Our very DNA is at stake! This is not trump hatred. It is love for America. Defeating trump in an election is only a very small first step. The repair process to the damage that has been done will take a very long time. The longer we let this criminal run amok the worse this tragedy will become.
8
@Edward, Oh that's a classic, your not serious are you? Trump is the person who has caused the division, he has encouraged that division, he has nurtured it because it is the only thing he has that binds him to his base. The sooner this illegitimate president, that's what he is, 3 million fewer votes and a foreign power cheer squad, is gone, the sooner the rest of civilized world can begin to try to heal from the harm this fool has caused.
12
Last night on The Last Word, Rick Reilly discussed his new book explaining why Trump cheats at golf...he needs to win.
Trump is setting everything in motion to win in 2020, including forcing the FED to cut short term interest rates and restart QE. He doesn't care what happens in 2019, the election is a year and a half away. In fact if he forces the FED to cut rates this year it will boost the economy next year.
Trump will do all he can to gin the economy for the 2020 election and announce major trade deal wins (real or not) all to appear as the savior. "I alone can fix it".
14
@James yup. His MO is to cause the problems then pretend that he alone can/will fix. Not so sure about this one though.
4
Trump has the courage to challenge the outrageous trade deficit we have with China -- $419 billion in 2018 in total trade of $660 billion. How many people (including media reporters) even know this? The U.S has had the world's largest trade deficit since 1975.
4
@John Corr
We have 1 trillion budget deficit in 2019 which is far, far more important for our future than trade deficit.
10
@John Corr
But under Trump deficit with China has grown even more.
2016 $346 billion
2017 $375 billion
2018 $419 billion
How is his policy making this number better?
8
@John Corr, Trum’s actions have also caused the trade deficit to increase.
6
“China buys MUCH less from us than we buy from them, by almost 500 Billion Dollars, so we are in a fantastic position,” Mr. Trump tweeted. “Make your product at home in the USA and there is no Tariff.”
Is this China's fault or our fault? Americans like cheap junk. Too many American companies like maximal profits, at the expense of investing here. That combination has led to the offshoring.
49
@Tom
Your last paragraph sums it up so well .
So simply that even Trump followers and Mr.Sunshine himself may be capable of grasping your explanation.
It would be great if you could get them to understand about the offshore hoarding of vast amounts of taxes that are due the US.
It was just last year that the last factory that produced denim in the USA closed. A iconic American garment no longer has it’s base material manufactured in the states. That is pathetic.
I guess Chinese made American flags and MAGA hats are going to be more expensive too. Trump supporters are going to have to ante up more money to prove their “ patriotism”. Maybe sacrificing a child to a distraction war will make them feel more patriotic.
34
Two and a half years ago, Speaker Ryan touted the idea of "Duties" on imports. It was knocked down by the public as a tax.
Last year it was resurrected by Republicans and Trump as "Tariffs" after renaming the tax from the defeated "Duties".
Trump has since weaponized Tariffs, and predictably so.
It's always been about transferring wealth from the 99 percent of us to the 1 percent of Trumpians.
The tariffs are going to the Treasury to offset the tax cuts deficit. The idea was likely given life by the Ryan Republicans two years ago as a way of transferring wealth to their benefactors. The Republicans would call it "Growing the economy" just like "Trickle Down Economics".
We are now paying the Wealthiest Americans share of the burden of maintaining America.
It's all about deceiving the public and the use of words.
36
Most Countries have VAT taxes, It just took a few years longer and a Trump to introduce a Value added Tax by stealth to Americans
8
@alan
We've had tariffs since the first years of the Republic. Every Democratic Party President and Congress have taken the money paid by importers and spent it.
You could look it up.
@alan
A VAT and a tariff are completely different.
2
We live in a country, where there are far too many hard workers barely living from paycheck to paycheck.
Sadly, there are also too many that paycheck to paycheck doesn't cut it - and they are slipping into unrecoverable debt.
The rich get richer while those of us who toil for unlivable wages are the actual fuel for allowing the rich to prosper.
Even the working poor could muster enough credit to by a China made flat screen TV . . .
Now what -
Trump's Tariffs which are only an added tax on America's middle class will now make a few hundred dollar TV - "out of reach"
Trump's claims:
"Trade Wars are Easy to Win" are in a category of economics easily understood by anyone with a GED - yet light-years beyond the intelligence of "our president".
Somehow, an egotistical narcissistic clown, cheered on and fully supported by the GOP, became the leader of the Free World.
Now, what are the odds of that !
16
@Leonard Dornbush
What about all the jobs? We could take everyone on unemployment, add a million workers out of the blue sky, and still not fill all the job openings.
What president that you liked could claim that?
@The Observer
With 1 trillion budget deficit this economy look like on steroids. When the bubble will pop? With all your dream jobs?
6
@The Observer All those job openings Trump is bragging about. Sorry, not that easy. Where are the people trained for those jobs? In my state, people simply do not have that level of education, so they can't apply. How do they get their training and, considering they are the usual low wage earners, where do they get the money to pay for training? And if the jobs are hundreds of miles away, who is going to pay for the move?
1
There is some twisted irony here in that Republicans lowered taxes on the wealthy (predominantly) in the 2017 bill and are now regressively taxing the middle class and poor to offset the revenue loss with tariffs. Rob from the poor to give to the rich.
Their tax and trade policies also risk rising inflation, a recession, and a debt crisis as interest rates climb.
Mark my words, Republicans will turn out to be disastrous for the economy - again.
41
@Michael And then all the dupes in the red states will vote for the Republicans again.
You can't get to the top of the Freedom Tower by jumping off the Verrazano Bridge. That's what Trump is doing.
Prices WILL go up (they already are) acting like a brake on the economy, and killing the short-term boost from his irresponsible tax cuts. This MAY increase manufacturing, but at what cost?
Soybean, wheat, and chickpea farmers have seen export sales fall off 40-50% and more...and when China finds new, reliable sources, it will lock in with those countries and are lost to the US for the foreseeable future. Trump WILL kill the healthy economy he inherited from Obama, no matter how much he lies about how he "fixed" what wasn't broken.
As he has always done, he's spending money he doesn't have, investing in plans that cannot add up, lying like crazy about how great it is, but the underpinnings of our healthy economy keep being knocked away. I expect soon inflation getting worse, followed by a crash bigger and worse than 1929. Remember: Up until the fall of 1929, NOBODY thought the ride could much less would end. Groucho Marx of all people, described how he lost his entire fortune in the Crash. His broker kept calling for more cash to cover his margins.
Then one day, the broker called with these fatal words that made Groucho's heart sink:
"Marx, the jig is up!"
The flim-flam sooner or later collapses, and it's coming.
19
Trump's plan to make America great again via sharp trading is as illusory as Little England's plan to be great again via Brexit.
20
It’s amazing the changes Trump has made whether for good or ill. It used to be the accepted wisdom that the global economy was inevitable and there was nothing we could do about it except sink or swim. It created a great divide in society between those who were able to adapt and those who were not and between the trendy bicoastal states and the less favored flyover country. It was not a just society where workers received a good wage and were protected by their companies but a competitive one where workers were forced to accept poor wages and benefits with the constant threat of their jobs going elsewhere. Now a new day has dawned in which the moribund social contract that protects the least among is revived and people have the dignity of work again and the ability to take care of their families. All of this accomplished not by the typical social reformers with their leftist and progressive agendas or by the Democratic Party which had essentially abandoned its traditional base but by the unlikeliest of persons—an antiestablishment and non-ideological buffoon with orange hair. It is one of the greatest stories of all time.
1
@Edward
How exactly is the moribund social contract being revived? That underpaid worker in flyover country will be wishing he lived in an uberized urban center so he could earn a few extra bucks to afford the inevitable higher prices at his local Walmart.
15
@Edward Dignity of work, you say? Most poor Americans are working, many two jobs. How much more dignity would you have thrust upon them? If anything, for all the improvements in productivity over the decades, a 30hour work week ought to be the norm. No, the benefits go to shareholders, and, with the labor movement moribund, workers don't have a seat at the table. Yeah, right, dignity.
12
@Edward
"... the least among is revived and people have the dignity of work again and the ability to take care of their families..."
Well, like all generalizations, in my opinion, all this is generally not true. Midwestern farmers are going broke due to the tariffs (one more buying-opportunity for Agri-Business, I guess), coal is NEVER "coming back" (in deep-Red Oklahoma 40% of their power generation is from wind-farms) and in Michigan they can't even deliver clean drinking water to their citizens. I agree with you about the "divide." It's what's fueling Brexit. A huge number of Brits lost their high-paying union jobs to "globalization" and lack the resources to re-tool or re-invent themselves. But all of this is really just nihilism and Don's the leader of the pack. But he won't be re-building the industrial U.S. economy because those days are gone. And neither the so-called left or right has a clue what to do about it. So they mouth platitudes. Or, in Don's case, ignorance and hatred of the "others." Peace.
8
You get what you vote for. Trump voters wanted someone to shake things up and they got what they prayed for. The only problem is that the Shaking is causing them pain. They, his supporters, don't seem to care and The Left has no messaging to make them care. I wish The Left would hammer home how Trump is costing us in the pocketbook instead of looking like chumps who can't even enforce a subpoena. Two years of waiting for Mueller to save us and now allowing Trump to stonewall is a sure formula for another Trump term. Trump and his minions are making The Left look like a junior varsity team.
14
To Bannon & Trump the tariffs are just a means to an end, the end is an economic war with China. Bannon stated this nationalistic view in the Frontline documentary “Trump’s Trade War.”
STEVE BANNON: “The most intense fights and debates in the White House were about this issue of tariffs, but tariffs as a proxy to the great economic war with China that we’re engaged in.
There’s no middle ground [in this fight.] One side’s going to win and one side’s going to lose, and so we knew the stakes were high.”
5
Tariffs (a/k/a taxes paid by American companies on imported goods) will not incentive companies to make more goods in the US. Just the opposite. Manufacturing companies such as my employer - we import approximately $75-100M / year of chemicals and other raw materials from China, used to manufacture goods for the global market - will simply move manufacturing operations to our existing operations in other countries. Many, if not most, of the goods taxed by this administration's tariffs are not economically feasible to be made in the US. Companies will not bend over backwards to make those goods in America; rather, they will transfer jobs and investment to other geographies. Extensive, interminable tariffs on China or other trade partners = instability and unknowns, which are the antithesis to corporate decision making policy, driving moves to countries with more stability and certainty when it comes to financial policy.
21
@Ben
This is one example of why tariffs are a tough way to try to solve trade problems. Tariffs on finished goods to consumers may partially work if consumers tolerate them, but tariffs on inputs to production bought by businesses will make any exports less competitive than they are now. To remain competitive, labor costs will have to drop to compensate.
Tariffs on iPhones will make them more expensive and change the upgrade cycle. Apple will either need to eat the cost or they will sell less and probably have to decrease their employment of designers, engineers, developers. These are probably US employees.
If tariffs don’t actually increase manufacturing jobs, their net effect will be to decrease design and engineering jobs in the US. Nice work DJT!
But this isn’t about helping the unemployed, it’s about punishing the employee who are “coastal elites”.
10
@Ben Yes. Basic economics. A course that Don obviously flunked at Wharton. No one "wins" a trade war. And the last big U.S.-led trade war set off a chain of events that led to the deepening of the Great Depression.
8
I contend the Consumption tax tariffs were designed to offset the tax cuts giveaway to the rich. Tariffs receipts are roughly approximating the 150 billion dollar annual deficit increase for the next ten years. If Trump Wall st. White House does not rescind the tariffs after an agreement is reached with China, then you will know it's true. Once again, the Tariffs are meant to transfer wealth from the 99 percent of us to the 1 percent of the Trump wealthy benefactors and colleagues.
13
Nothing is forever.
Trump will beggar us all. It was Putin’s plan all along -accomplished by complicit republicans selling out their racist constituents. We deserve the government we voted for.
9
except that the majority of voters voted for someone else. So we did not get the president we voted for
7
@Brassrat
I didn't vote for him. but those rural folks whose hospitals are closing and whose farms can't sell their soybeans sure did and they are the ones who are suffering - hopefully they learn their lesson but experience tells me they won't.
1
I actually suspected quite a while ago that the tariffs on China's products are here to stay. Now it's becoming more clear. China will have to decide what is the lesser problem. Xi not caving on a trade deal also fits into one possible future that benefits the US. Xi will shut us out of a market that we do not really have anyway.
1
@Sutter
Not clear that we don’t have markets in China. Many US companies make goods for China outside the US. Those goods are designed and engineered in the US, but those services are not measured as exports. Trade deficits don’t measure all factors.
3
Congress needs to repeal the president's ability to unilaterally enact these taxes on the American consumer.
19
Don't think Trump is going to bludgeon China into seeing things our way with tough but uninformed talk. Our tariffs are trade-killing taxes on American consumers. China's tariffs will hit our electronics producers. Their tariffs on our soybeans will rearrange the soybean trade, for a long time. China will buy all they need from Argentina and Brazil at non-tariff prices.. Trump will reimburse soybean farmers from the the public purse (debt). The Chinese will not allow themselves to be disrespected on the world stage. If there really was a desire to equalize trade, it should have been approached in a more respectful way. This entire business is a lot of simple-minded razzle-dazzle intended to excite his formerly well paid supporters and it will live on for years.
18
Tariffs will be no problem for the soy bean farmers, they will be penniless anyway! So much winning!
Every soy bean farmer in the rest of the world thanks you, Donnie, you just eliminated their major competitor.
Expect all that poorly made junk Walmart sells to be more expensive too, I really hope this impacts the walton’s family bottom line.
19
China does have unfair trade practices, does steal intellectual property and does not do a good job protecting copyright material.
Trump is NOT the person to deal with the issue. He is not intellectually capable or disciplined enough for the job.
Trump can lie all he wants, and make one false claim after another about his tariffs, but the American people know they are paying the price for trade war. Trump increased taxes on the middle class once already, we don't need another trump tax hike.
17
Here's the chronology I know because I first proposed tariffs to return industry about three years ago; After I wrote several times here about the need for tariffs as a carrot and stick to return industry, Speaker Ryan then touted the idea of "Duties". The public backlash was extraordinary as they immediately knew it was a tax on them and the Republicans let the idea fade, for a year. The "Duties" were then renamed by the Trump White House as new "Tariffs" that he has continued to ram through despite public objections which grew slowly until now as it is a major issue. They changed the name from Duties to Tariffs in an attempt to deceive the public, but I have been following this issue carefully. It was meant as good economic policy but it was at a bad time with Trump in power who turned the Consumption taxes, by any name, into a weapon and a means of offsetting the tax cuts deficit they created. So what I intended as a simple incentive has morphed into a corrupt theft of wealth from the 99 percent to offset the gains by the 1 percent. I want to apologize for trying to do the right thing to rebuild manufacturing but for not foreseeing such a ruthless Trump Wall st. White House.
American consumers are now paying more for Chineses goods as their livelihoods are at risk with reduced exports profits.
The Tariffs are a bad idea everywhere and Trump is a bad man using them recklessly and corruptly to enrich his wealthy interests.
8
I have suspected for some time that these so called tariffs are in reality a VAT tax or federal sales tax.
In my own state when the Republicans wanted to give a huge tax cut to our local billionaires that paid for it by raising state sales tax by 10 percent.
5
It is amazing to me that the "Stable Genius, the Master Deal Maker" got a Wharton MBA. The next time I meet a Wharton grad, I will be far more skeptical of their MBA intelligence.
No point on commenting on this fiasco other than, I hope the Democrats are smart enough, and this is a monumental hope, that they clean both houses and have a Democratic President. Of course as always, the first two years will be wasted just trying to fix up the mess the Republicans created and pushing some left wing agenda item. Rinse and repeat.
6
Trump did NOT get an MBA. He got an undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He likes to say he got a degree from the Wharton School of Business because most people associate that with its MBA program,
but Trump only has a B.S. degree and took undergraduate classes in the Wharton School. Huge difference.
16
everything must be about conflict for him to be the hero...... but hero's often fail.... and we will fail with him.
2
Why isn’t the focus on why GDP growth is not shared equitably? Free trade results in faster U.S. GDP growth than protectionist policies. Trump and his advisors, with their mistaken mercantilist thinking, are not addressing the real problem- how is it that the last 50 years of GDP growth went largely to capital rather than labor?
3
“…benefiting countries like Mexico and Vietnam more than the United States.”
And this is a great outcome for the U.S.
While some current Chinese manufacturing might shift to the U.S., the large majority will shift to other low wage countries. Unlike China, these countries have not chosen to become global rivals/adversaries to the U.S., and are too small even if they wanted to. In fact, many are allies or potential allies.
Access to the U.S. market should be considered a privilege. We should choose which countries have access based on their strategic value or threat to the U.S.
Let’s reward countries like Mexico and others in Central America, which could ease the immigration crisis at our border. Let’s reward Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Philippines, countries with which we cooperate and share strategic regional interests. There may even be a chance to work with several more advanced African countries.
Thankfully, we never entered into an unwieldy TPP, so we now have the greater flexibility of dealing on a country-by-country basis.
Our tariff policies are an important part of an ABC trade policy…Anybody But China.
2
@John
Who do you think rewards them with investment? Not the US government, it is private industry. And many have determined that their growth market is China. They honestly don't care beyond the return sheet.
3
@MHB
Yes, definitely private investment.
I think that many companies invested in China in the hope of accessing their market, but I think the last 10 years has demonstrated that the potential will never be realized.
More importantly, though, I think that most investment in Chinese manufacturing was made in order to lower production costs. China also has developed a fairly deep and integrated industrial base.
The tariffs will drive production to other low-wage countries, which will develop their own industrial bases.
1
A lot of people drank the kool-aid back in 2016 about protectionism (and let's be honest, it wasn't just from the Trump camp.) But the problem with this tariffs and trade war approach is that it is driven by unrealistic expectations. First, we are so busy counting chickens that have not hatched in the form of manufacturing jobs that we are ignoring the damage to many sectors. As goods prices rise, what happens to retail? Shipping? Warehouses? Trucking? We are counting imaginary jobs against the cost of real jobs.
Second, US alternatives or even non-China foreign alternatives aren't going to spring up like mushrooms after the rain. A lot of US manufacturers have integrated supply chains. Making changes to a supply chain is not like flipping a light switch for most industries, and some businesses will not survive the switch. Even if the businesses do, what about the workers? If there is going to be disruptions for 6 or 12 months, that will mean layoffs for 6 or 12 months. How many people can shrug off a layoff that long? (and 6 to 12 months is pretty optimistic.)
People bought into Trump's magical thinking, and now we'll see what happens when that magical thinking meets reality.
20
I’d like to know what “trades” carbon footprint is? This week has been all about trade and pictures of huge cargo shipping containers have been everywhere. Assuming all the millions of big ships, trucks, forklifts that all burn fossil fuels to haul all that stuff around the planet all in the name of trade, it’s got to be huge. Aside from a tariff is a tax, that’s all I know about trade otherwise, leaving me therefore to ask only simpleton’s questions like that. But I suppose none of that matters since I have a solar panel on my roof and let’s try to encourage trade anyway we can so I can save a few bucks every 10 or 20 years on a washing machine hauled all the way over here from China.
3
Before the long essay on this, here's my crisis analysis today; The American worker is now paying much higher prices for Chinese goods. That worker is paying a Tariff consumption tax. He is also selling less exports which will risk his job and certainly his company and farmer's gross. So that person is paying more for goods and making less money on what he sells. It's not good.
19
It's too bad the current administration has alienated itself from our traditional allies. otherwise we would have a unified front against Chinese trade practices.
I wonder if we will be paying subsidies forever to the corporate farmers hurt by the tariffs - and any other trump voting bloc. 12 billion last year, 15 billion this year with farmers like Chuck Grassley first in line with their hands out.
7
The trend towards globalization will continue due to the corporate web of trade that now exists, the desire for cheaper goods, the web of communications that now permeates every society and the ease of travel around the world. Trump may rant, impose tariffs that will hurt the American consumer and bash our trading partners and companies that do not comply with his isolationism, but it will not stop the global trend. Trump wants to influence Iran, North Korea, China, Russia and the EU as well as emerging countries, but we will never do it working alone and setting ourselves apart.
Eventually, the world will find it can do very well without us, thank you, and that will be the end of us as a power as a leader and force for growth. Would this be a good thing? Perhaps. Our rapacious past has not always been good for the world and our arrogance electing Trump has brought us to this point.
12
All I know is that grocery store food prices go up every time I do my weekly shopping. Every time. Are we winning yet?
17
I'm going to buy a new washing machine in a few months.
I'm not a farmer, but I think I deserve some relief because my finances are also suffering due to the tariffs.
I'd like the government to pay the difference between the pre- and post-tariff costs.
However, I will settle for a personal check from Donald Trump. And I expect 100 cents on the dollar, mr. president. No cheaping out.
24
He didn’t get his way all the way, so now it’s time to hit the highway.
It will evolve as follows
The Tariffs Man Trumpeto.. by increasing Tariffs ... he will push inflation up.. which will force the FED to increase interest rate.. and when that will happen.. the stable genius will threaten to oust FED chairman Powell again and the FED will relent again...
BTW... the chickens finally coming to roost. We've exported our inflation to China for over couple of decades.
5
Simply put, he's a fool.
I could try to justify that statement, however, if folks still buy his story, there is little that I or anyone else can say. Save it for the elections.
His admin is keeping the market from collapsing by rigging the Fed and Tweeting. You must know how that will end.
12
@Robert, why DID your candidate lose in 2016 anyway?
Maybe we have the highest tariff rate, but we also have the most intellectual property stolen by China.
3
@T
Be honest, not a parrot. Republican led American business gave away our intellectual property when they exported our businesses and "Know How" to China for decades.
10
@T
Proof?
Remember what Trump said: "What you read and hear is not what is really happening."
7
An ironic point made by my very smart wife: it looks like Trump will try to provide some financial relief to suffering farmers likely generated from federal tax revenues. He'll claim credit for this "rescue" funded by taxpayers who fulfill their obligations while he uses every dodge and scam he can to avoid paying even close to his fair share.
24
@Woodtrain50
He could be trying to start a big fight with China so that when he gets thrashed in 2020, he can say that the Chinese intervened to help the Democrats.
6
What Trump is going is historic - the Chinese have been trading unfairly for decades - Trump is the only one standing up - do you understand that, if companies do come home, Trump has saved the American dream? It’s the best move by a President since the Louisiana Purchase. See the results and strategy and not who is pulling the levers.
5
@SAL
You obviously don't understand global economics.
9
@SAL
No one forced American companies to do business with China. Their greed pushed them to China and forced them to accept Chinese conditions. They could have chosen to stay in Mexico or another Latin American company and maybe reduced the amount of illegal immigrants we have in this country. They chose poorly and now we all pay the price.
No one in Trump's Team sees what is coming...a new world currency with China as the sponsor. We are giving them a gift. Period. That's what you are going to remember about Trump.
17
Clearly Trump does not know how tariffs work and who pays for them. Gramps clearly doesn't understand the intricacies of supply chains for high tech manufacturing. It can take years / decades to qualify all of the suppliers of a product, be it a medical device, a pharmaceutical product, a jet engine or what have you. In this age of specialization different regions of the world develop unique capabilities based on the workforce, the manufacturing infrastructure, the surrounding suppliers and natural resources, etc.
He should ask "Tim Apple" how long it would be until iPhones could be manufactured in the US using nothing but components manufactured in the US using materials sourced only from the US. My guess would be 10yrs + to never. (China produces ~ 40 times the amount of rare earth metals than the US).
Even for the simplest thing as his "beautiful wall along the southern border" would require cement from a Mexican company (Cemex).
The Trump Tariffs are going to do much more damage to the US economy than inflicted earlier this year by the Trump government shutdown.
36
how can the US have tariffs on countries it has Free Trade Agreements with? Canadians are incensed.
7
I see - so this is where we finally start to get tired of all the winning.
6
Tariffs: a fun way to play chicken with other people's money.
5
I am of two minds.
For years we've seen American manufacturing move overseas, with the resultant loss of jobs.
However, a lot of those jobs were the sort of mindless moving of objects to here and there among machines that, now, can either be done by another machine (robots) or, where possible, very poorly paid humans. American workers could not be paid a low enough wage to do these things and still either live in America or allow the factory to produce items that Americans, given prevailing wages, could afford to buy.
This situation is because American manufacturers, hoping to keep wages down and prices low, have steadily moved their factories overseas, or to Mexico. This process has gone on for more than 50 years.
To expect to reverse the process with tariffs is both naive and short-sighted. You can try, but it will cause great disruption, especially if done quickly. This disruption may have higher social costs than you either anticipate or wish to deal with.
This is not to mention that the American economy is highly interlinked with the world economy. A move to make the US economy more insular will be doomed to either failure or a huge number of unforeseen consequences.
8
Hey Folks. What is really scary is that many of the Fox News listeners actual think the same way poor John Murray does. Possibly even our current President believes that the Chinese pay his tariffs. I suspect the President knows better, but suspect a lot of his voters don't. We aren't even arguing over economic theory, just the actual facts of where the tariff is paid and who pays it. It does go to the US government. That much they all appear to understand. Just the little question of who writes the check to Uncle Sam. It seems simple enough, but if we can't even agree on who actually writes the tariff check to the US, our basic HS educational system is really in the toilet. Scary
24
I find this tariff debate and so many of the comments being posted fascinating. In years to come this may become one of many text book case studies of how it is in fact quite easy to fool large numbers people for long periods of time. Despite easy internet access to multiple, verifiable sources of information, a lie such as "the Chinese will pay the tariffs" can become an 'alternative-fact' simply by someone with a big enough platform and a loud enough voice repeating it over and over and over and over...and with expert observers, essentially powerless to do anything about it
9
“Make your product at home in the USA and there is no Tariff.”
Yeah, farmers! Make your crops in, oh, wait, never mind.
23
So now there's a very large variable the next time the economy tanks. Not only will they have to negotiate how to re energize the economy but what part the tariffs are playing in the downturn. Oh well, as always, doing Putin's bidding.
7
Hey Trump!
America is tired of winning.
Please resign.
22
So the Trump Tariffs will be the process to have the middle and lower classes (Trump's Base) to pay for the massive tax cuts the very rich has received.
Only Trump could tell his voters that this is good for them and only Trump's Base will actually believe him.
36
When I hear the man of 10,000 lies and his like-minded advisers attempt to assuage our fears the tariffs could kill jobs, a stench, a waft of an odor begins to permeate the statements. A familiar odor. A barnyard odor.
The when reputable economists weigh in, economists whose careers are not dependent on the whims of a carnival barker, the stench begins to dissipate and we are told the real story-we may be in for a bumpy ride that may cost us jobs, will certainly increase the price of goods thus diminishing our disposable income and then profits at the retail level suffer.
Ford Motor Company has already stated what the tariffs have done to their profitability. Soon, will our leading exporter, Boeing, also be hit more than the current problems of an aircraft have wrought?
Those companies will not relocate back on our shores. After all, Trump states we are at full employment so who will be available to work what may be menial labor jobs for pittance wages and little in benefits. The employment numbers may change as the war on trade progresses adversely.
If companies relocate here, good. Good for the country and its people. But, Vietnam, India, Mexico and other countries are also calling.
9
In India, lot of foreign Exchange is given to investors from abroad. Like Mr.Trump protectionism,will cut down the number of imports into India.
This Go it alone approach favored by the Trump administration may well encourage the Chinese government to look for new sources of demand for Chinese goods and services by deepening its investments in the one belt one road initiative to deepen its trade and economic relations with the rest of the World, further isolating the United States from its traditional trade partners.
3
The President ought to start focusing on domestic problems and stop trying to reset the global economy.
1
@Citizenz: Please, no.
He ought to start focusing on reruns of Survivor and cheeseburgers.
5
Republicans have lost all credibility by supporting a president who uses tax-producing tariffs as an economic tool. Also, China will hold out as long as it wants since they are still an authoritarian communist government. Thus we lose. Just wait for the next recession, it’s not far behind.
6
Trump is a tariff guy.
He always said so.
Never expected anything else.
Tariff’s are actually smart GOP strategy.
-> Make American consumers pay taxes to fund their tax cuts for millionaires.
Still it won’t prevent Trump from running up trillion dollar deficits, but the GOP will find someone else to blame for that, no doubt.
8
Chinese made T-shirt Walmart ...$8
US made T-Shirt...$20
Tariffs are going to have to be well over 100% to make US made cheaper than a Chinese made.
5
Uh oh. At this rate the dollar store will become the two dollar store, Dollar General will be Two Dollars General. Oh well, I remember when Woolworth's was the "5 and 10 cent store".
13
When he isn't double daring China to call is bluff, from what I've been hearing ( nothing but NPR for a few days) he is praising such paragons of democratic rule and Turkey's Erdogan and and Hungary's Orban.
He is heedless because for him, everything is does is an act of spite AGAINST someone - and he values the theatrical act more than the substance.
SO it was one thing when he was manipulating others on behalf of the Trump Corporation. Now he is causing chaos on a massive scale with no clue as to what the consequences will be for this country. This is not a man with a Plan B. He didn't actually have a Plan A, he just went for the ratings or as he was sold on something by FOX or went on the Attack to wipe out everything with the Obama scent.
He wrecks businesses: now he has set his sights higher. And while he is manhandling the ecoom, his boys Bolton and Pompeo are escalating the double-dares to Iran, hoping for an excuse to bleed more of the US GDP on endless wasteful wars.
34
Hoover would be proud! Thank you Mr. Trump, you will make American Great Again! Oh, what a wonderful War!
10
Trump needs the revenue from the Tariffs to offset the tax cuts.
Donald Trump is bankrupting this country the same way he bankrupted his companies.
As to free trade, China must be elevated to "Developed Nation" status in the WTO. China is gaming the system!
9
What is it about "Disaster" that Trump doesn't understand?
4
Trump raises the price to simply be an American.
2
Welcome to the new trump tax. With agribusiness socialism as a chaser. So much winning.
22
The tariffs raise revenue that will help to narrow the huge hole in the budget that the Republican tax plan created. The tariffs were part of the tax plan when the plan was on Paul Ryan's website. The Republicans took the talk of tariffs off the table to get the plan passed. Trump was committed to the tariffs; he introduced tariffs into the trade talks to legitimize them.
There will be tariffs on imports from countries around the world in years to come. They will only become an issue if Republicans lose the presidency and the senate. Then the Republicans will complain about the drag that tariffs pose to the economy. It's all about the trickle down policies that were always intended to create a bonanza for the wealthy and a flat tax on the masses.
13
@Bill. You've got a great crystal ball Bill. The corruption is alarming. Moreover, the GOP have a demagogue to really pull the wool over the eyes of society's largest common denominator.
3
Tariffs are only here to stay if Tariff Man is reelected in 2020. For progressives that think this form of war by other means actually helps Americans, Paul Krugman’s recent pieces are a good antidote. They are actually a tax on all Americans cloaked as a getting tough strategy against the rest of the world. Sad.
11
What is difficult for an outsider to understand is why so little comment in the American media recalls your president summary rejection of the TransPacific Partnership Agreement immediately after taking office. If you recall, the idea was to create a trade organization that did not include China. Instead, it would present the giant with a set of terms on which the trans Pacific community was prepared to do business. Trump clearly does not believe in collective action. His preference is to go one-on-one with China to end the "theft" of American jobs and technology. What is interesting is that not even his opponents are prepared to speak up for the Obama government's strategy of an international trade alliance to confront China. It suggests that Americans generally no longer believe in their ability to persuade other peoples to join them in common action for the common interest. To an outsider that is a sad outcome indeed
14
Ian,
Some of us understand this, but it's a an ever shrinking minority. Thanks for writing from north of the border. I must say, if Trump goes to war with Iran, I am seriously thinking I will have to seek asylum in Canada. The US is really deteriorating a lot faster than I imagined it ever could.
10
@Chesapeake
Trump and the mustache and pompous better not be banking on trad allies to help them attack Iran. If anything those will back Iran I think will find.
2
Here's an idea, or two.
Cap executive pay at a reasonable multiple of workers' compensation, so that the profits at, say, Boeing, or GM, or Verizon, or Apple, &c., are more equitably distributed around the company. Nurture the middle class.
Stop outsourcing jobs to India and the Philippines, bring those jobs back to the U.S. and compensate them fairly--as we so easily could, were CEOs not robber barons.
And in the nearer term, STOP Trump from usurping powers that are delegated to Congress. Jeez, he is a madman and a petulant child! WHERE are the GROWNUPS in American government today?
18
Throw the dog a frisbee...
We need to address mass shootings, corporate welfare, affordable housing for the middle class, war and military adventurism, surveillance and artificial intelligence, mega-monopolies, wealth inequality, infant mortality, and many issues that actually impact us.
BUT we have NO representation on any of these issues, only on frisbees that pull our attention away.
7
Naturally, and now Trump gets to pick individual winners, by granting get special exemptions to his favorite corporations because they work to fill his pockets.
9
Although all news outlets are using the word, the stock market 'plunging' seems hyperbolic to me. If you look at a one year graph, the up and down of the past week does not particularly stand out except to be typical noise. It seems to have hovered around 25,500, plus or minus 500 or 1000 or so, all year long. It dips last year in December, for some reason, but looking at historic norms, not a plunge even then.
It's probably way overvalued, but who knows.
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=dow+jones+industrial+average&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
1
Why even have a President if you have John Bolton as Foreign Policy Advisor and Larry Kudlow as Economic Advisor. Have we sunk so low that we now have two out and out Ideologues telling an Empty Suit how the World works. Scary, very scary.
16
Too much arithmetic and waaaay too complicated for Trump's cult.
No matter. . . he's already told them that China is ". . .Paying billions of tariff dollars in the US Treasury."
Trump may be shallow in so many ways, but he's far craftier than Jim Jones or the Maharishi ever were when it comes to separating the rubes from their paychecks.
7
Australia is lucky. All we need to do is casually mention (well, threaten) with two words - "Pine Gap". If we pull the plug on that facility, then the most valuable intelligence the US collects will be gone, just like that. It's a priceless tool, and effectively puts the US over a barrel in terms of negotiations with us, but other countries are not so lucky. Admittedly we only threaten Pine Gap in extreme circumstances, when all other avenues of negotiation have failed, but if Pine Gap ever ends up on the table - a possibility with Trump in the White House - then you can effectively wave the ANZUS agreement goodbye. And if Pine Gap goes, and the US staff in it are sent packing, then America is in very, very big trouble.
1
@Flossy Too bad my country doesn't have a hole card. Oh well, we do have Trump...
@Flossy
You are lucky but instead of gloating. Perhaps you should remember that when we fall, you’ll be left in close proximity to China and I’m pretty sure that we won’t be in any hurry to help you. I may despise Trump but I am still an American.
Simple test. Look at the "made in" label of everything you're using and everything you're wearing. For those things that are assembled or resourced from China imagine them costing 20% to 25% more than you paid for them.
In a world where there is no real inflation occurring what if Trumps plan is to use tariffs to create price inflation? The Chinese are paying for the tariffs as these costs are being pushed into suppliers and consumers.
1
International diplomacy is an expansive arena. Playing chicken with tariffs is no only lose, lose it fosters a resentment that will impact relationships and situations down the road. Xi is the leader of the nation with the world largest population and the 2nd largest economy. There will be no "backing down". Someone in this administration better start thinking about win, win scenarios or we all lose.
13
@Basic
I'm always surprised that in terms of single markets to sell in - and that's what sanctions and trade wars are about - that Americans don't recognise that the second, and, at least on some metrics the largest, economy in the world is the European Union.
The EU isn't 'a country' but for the purposes of international trade, it is.
2
If we have a "free global economy", China should have the same global employee benefits, global rules on work environments, age & hours laws? In our not so distant history, the Michigan Auto Unions enforced huge "tariffs" -meaning big salaries($50+/hour), benefits and retirement requirements on the assembly line- on USA cars from Ford, GM and Chrysler, and the USA lost our manufacturing market to other countries. What does global trade mean, if we do not demand that these countries to have the same employee benefits, thus the tariffs on China make up for this inequity. Are we complicit in human rights violations, if Global does not apply to Employee health standards and benefits?
6
@Lee Sands
Very interesting.. I never thought of this. World economy is always exploitative in the manner that you state.
First let's get something small out of the way - A ''tariff'' is an indirect TAX on the consumer.
Not only is it a tax that the American public did NOT vote for in this republican administration, but now that they are being implemented and expanded, more and more people and businesses are going bankrupt, or are losing their way of life/jobs.
The administration is then turning around and trying to use Socialism to prop up its base by subsidizing farmers with billions and billions of tax payer dollars.
We also do not know who in this administration, or the president/his family and/or backers are getting even more rich at the American people's loss, by knowing beforehand who are going to be the winners/losers. (whole sectors)
It is theft in plain sight.
107
@FunkyIrishman Yes, tariffs are a tax on the consumer. But - fundamentally, is Trump right to confront China on their unfair trade practices. Most people would say Yes.
Else where will we be in 10, 15, 20 years time? Impoverished and a trade deficit over $1trillion per year? With no jobs.
So maybe we should get over the tax / tariff debate, and on this matter, support POTUS.
3
It is only socialism if it helps democrats. If it helps republicans it’s a subsidy.
13
@David C No, there is no support for an ill-thought out debacle.
5
I think just to be on the safe side we should declare an embargo on Chinese goods. That’ll pretty much take care of the global economy.
5
@Edward Then most of the retailers will have nothing to sell, then employees are laid off and collect public assistance, stores are closed and the local governments suffer.
Yup. The global economy would be bankrupt-just like many of Trump's businesses.
3
Under the Constitution, the Congress has the right to set tariffs not the Executive. It's time for the Democratic House to reassert its authority over tariffs and put an end to the destructive trade war that may implode the economy. Trump has continued with absolutely no Congressional push back to usurp their authority as a co-equal branch under the Constitution. We are on the cusp of an autocracy under "the rule of Trump" unless the House starts to rescind the tariffs and impeach Donald Trump for his authoritarian actions in setting tariffs, violating the emoluments clause, refusing to provide any documents per the oversight role of Congress, his collusion with Russia as part of his blatant and continuing obstruction of justice as revealed in recent actions and the Mueller report, and his felony charge by the Southern District of New York for conspiracy to commit election fraud. The darkness and the utter madness is upon us, and Congress if it wants to uphold its oath to the Constitution must do so. Inaction is capitulation to autocracy.
24
When Trump declared his first bankruptcy after running his company into the ground, he blamed it on somebody else and told everyone what a great businessman he was.
When Trump declared his second bankruptcy after running his company into the ground, he blamed it on somebody else and told everyone what a great businessman he was.
When Trump declared his third bankruptcy after running his company into the ground, he blamed it on somebody else and told everyone what a great businessman he was.
When Trump declared his fourth bankruptcy after running his company into the ground, he blamed it on somebody else and told everyone what a great businessman he was.
When Trump declared his fifth bankruptcy after running his company into the ground, he blamed it on somebody else and told everyone what a great businessman he was.
When Trump declared his SIXTH bankruptcy after running his company into the ground, he blamed it on somebody else and told everyone what a great businessman he was.
Trump has always promised to do for America, what he's done for his businesses.
"Trade Wars are so easy to win".
73
@John Doe Hopefully, you can now understand why Putin installed Trump into office.
1
Well if China gets rid of their tariffs then tariffs may disappear. China needs to mKe changes in the 21st century. There is nothing manufactured in China that is actually needed here. May be more expensive but China will be put in check. The US has a huge deficit problem. If we don’t address this , then one day rates will rise rapidly. China is a human rights abuser. They should also have to show how much real estate they own in NYC.
3
@Ralph Petrillo Excellent demonstration of MAGA thinking or was it intended as parody? it appears that @Ralph Petrillo is channeling the US President's thought processes.
7
@Ralph Petrillo
The United States is a human rights abuser. Have you forgotten child separation? Our legal system that favors the white and wealthy over the poor and people of color? Trump and his his policy makers should have to show their income tax returns and their stock portfolios. Because someone is benefiting from all of this crazy. It’s just not the majority of Americans.
How about stopping the tariffs on everything the US really has no interest in resurrecting factories to build, and concentrate on some alternative energy products that so many Americans have actually designed and are needed badly world wide to replace the need for fossil fuels.? Just a thought. Probably makes too much sense for the Donald (or maybe not enough cents).
6
Chinese factories flooded the market with cheaper solar panels a few years back driving down prices to the point that US producers couldn’t compete.
1
Problem is the Trump tariffs won’t have an immediate effect on the American economy as a whole. Sectors of the economy will suffer, such as the agriculture industry from the retaliatory measures, industries dependent on steel for example, and middle to low income Americans in general who are living paycheck to paycheck. However, if left in place the tariffs (i.e., new taxes) will have a deleterious effect for years to come.
So Trump and his slavish economic advisors such as Kudlow and Mnuchin - who also don’t know much about macroeconomics - think everything is great. The man thinks he is a genius because he took over a robust and expanding economy and hasn’t managed to destroy it yet.
I fear this absolutely clueless fool will do great damage to our long term economic interests. He has started a trade war, alienated us from our allies, needlessly slashed our corporate tax base and corrupted our federal budget with sky high deficits for years to come. If not corrected, in 10 years we could be in serious trouble.
13
Elect a Democrat President and the Trump insane undermining of our economy ends.
17
@Joel Stegner
Elect democratic senators and oust Mitch McConnell. Elect democratic governors and state legislatures. Quit focusing on the presidency. The only reason he has been allowed to go as far as he has is because republicans are complicit. Had the democrats controlled congress, he would have been able to do less damage.
They are here to stay only as long as Trump is in power. Once he's gone, unless we get another equally-ignorant, the tariffs will be gone away. Few politicians, even Republicans, are so ill-informed as to want tariffs, particularly in the amounts created by Trump.
4
It's patently obvious Trump is simply playing to his followers. He plays to their inherent racism and their fears. China is a case in point, his message is be afraid they are stealing our secrets and our jobs. He works that be afraid message constantly, and his simple minded supporters eat it up. China has stolen nothing from us, we have simply given them everything they needed so that they can make almost everything we used to make ourselves, but at a lower cost. The big 40 year giveaway to Japan and then to China was the republicans fanatic support of business profits. I feel sorry for the middle class Trump supporters, they are being
scammed by a pro. Wealthy Trump supporters laugh all the way to the Bank. The rich get richer and the poor better not work the streets panhandling.
20
Have you noticed how he gets behind anything that's negative? Instead of saying tariffs are unfortunate but neccesssary, he says they'll be fine. A trade war need not be avoided because "they're easy to win." Whoopee! No doubt he thinks wars with Korea and Iran will be an absolute blast.
And it's not just the president. Instead of saying he wants justice from Cuba, Bolten says he can't wait for the lawsuits. Joy, joy joy. Happiness comes, not from cooperation or mutual interest, but from the misery of others. But that is the caliber of the people running this country.
17
Are you assuming that Trump is here to stay?
2
Relax! Get a grip!
This is about rebalancing the trading rules between the U.S. and China.
If and when China stops appropriating U.S. technologies some relevant tariffs will be reduced or completely canceled.
If and when China stops or greatly diminishes its illegal subsidies of military owned industries some...OK you get the picture.
At one time Democrats and Union leaders would bray, "buy american" now its more" buy chinese". What a turnabout
2
Me thinks you must be a trumpian! The article focuses on many of the failed negotiating tactics with other US trading partners, not just China. Furthermore, it's not at all clear that big business and high-tech industries are going to come back to the United States to make anything. Rather they will go to other smaller countries like Malaysia, Vietnam, or Mexico. This is because since St Ronnie got everyone drinking the kook-aid of supply-side economics, and Trumo has the corporate tax system on supply-side hyper steroids, don't expect American businesses to take losses if they can park the work elsewhere. China we all agree can be a bad actor, but there are equally many bad actors in America's long-term economic headwinds. I have no confidence that Trump is the man to succeed despite his instincts about the American worker.
6
@Chesapeake
Assure you. No fan of Trump. Am of course supporting some policies.
Never said all jobs were necessarily coming back but hopefully off shore manufacturing will be spread less to China and more to other deserving countries.
Trump may not prevail but all Americans should hope so.
@clarity007
An epidemic of Chinese IP theft?
Is it? If you exclude as ‘Chinese theft’, espionage for military and national security purposes [1], cases where non-Chinese employees of US companies (themselves often American citizens) steal industrial secrets and approach Chinese companies with a view to selling them and – most importantly - practices such as ‘forced technology transfer’ - unpopular but entirely legal Chinese business conventions [2], then what’s left are deliberate instances of industrial espionage for commercial gain carried out by – or reasonably attributed to – agents of Chinese companies or Chinese government entities. There are FEW of these reported. Cases as yet unproven, GE’s jet engine secrets and the Micron semiconductor affair are no more than allegations at the present time so don’t count. So, there is, in the public domain, one SINGLE genuine case – American Superconductor vs Synovel China - of proven, organised Chinese industrial espionage. Perhaps other readers have uncovered more than this one single case..
[1] which the US has more than a modest reputation for.
[2] if you can’t stand the heat...
3
Someone could make a killing in the stock market if they bought when Trump threatens China...then sell when he pulls back on the threat...not mentioning any names.
13
@doug mac donald Does one of those names begin with Mnuchin?
2
These tariffs, like the man who proposed them, are an abomination. Trump the Destroyer continues along his erratic and his harmful path. His economic "policies" are incoherent, just like anything he utters or tweets. I'm despondent at the corruption and incompetence shown by the Trump regime.
5
His latest bout of ignorant bullying done nothing has except damage our economy and weaken the US on the global stage.
5
Give the Dictator-in-Chief enough time and enough criminal Republicans and he will elect himself Emperor-for-Life, shred our Constitution, cancel all allegiances and steal this country blind.
Even his ignorant base should see that by now. They too will be thrown under the bus - Trump doesn't care. His promises are as worthless as his logic.
6
For more than two years, economists have been offering Trump public tutorials on the differences between a VAT and a tariff and a national sales tax...
From one perspective – that of raising tax revenues significantly, and without all of the social engineering that progressives try to lard on – distinctions without differences...
Why not a national sales tax of 5% – and another 10% on everything that’s imported...
Every state and municipality has figured out that they can get close to a 10% sales tax – except within 30 mile of lower-tax state...
Beyond that, they’ve figured out how to tax human imports – i.e. tourists and business travelers – another 20% on top of that...
http://fortune.com/2015/08/03/travel-taxes-summer-vacation/
More fundamentally, taxing a consumer’s consumption or a company’s revenue – instead of a consumer’s income or a company’s profit – is far simpler...
It’s along this line that Warren proposed small-percentage tax on wealth vs a large-percentage tax on income...
Middle-class people already pay a wealth tax – on their homes...
Along this line, keep internet sales state-tax exempt – but levy a 5% national sales tax...
This paper had no problem when Obama sneaked one in for his eponymous care...
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/17/opinion/the-myth-of-the-medical-device-tax.html
Levy a 5% national sales tax on meds...
On list price...
That’d fix thinks stat...
We need the money...
At least Trump does – look at the poor guy’s tax returns...
1
Republicans are lemmings, pushing each other off the cliff of austerity with no leader able to tell them to stop. Their leader is in the back of the pack, shoving the rest of the troop off the cliff.
3
You can't believe anything he says.
3
...He is treating the USA as another of his companies, so ....a 7th bankruptcy in his name won't mean anything.... Didn't the Republicans wanted a "business man" in office????
So, US citizen...embrace for impact!
2
If so, then so be and time to search out other world markets where a free and “fair” market for all parties is accommodated, and abided by.
Stop dealing with the communist regimes like China. And forget about North Korea, their errand boy!
2
@Moe
does that actually mean 'find another market, - read, impotent losers - more amenable to American domination and bullying'?
I rather think it does.
3
Who knew that “Republicans” really love taxes if they feel like they can con people into thinking someone else will pay them? Apparently, everyone that voted for them and The Dotard.
4
trade wars are quick and easy - another lie from don the con.
let's be sure he can't start a shooting war...
4
trump is the most unqualified, unfit, uninformed individual ever to rise to a position of power in our government. And his benighted base still worships him.
7
The USA used to be the good guys. Sigh.
5
It is worth noting that in the last year - after Mr Trump imposed his first round of tariffs - the US trade deficit with China INCREASED from $375 billion in 2017 to $420 billion in 2018.
15
Almost all universally accepted economic studies show tariffs in the long-run destroy rather than create wealth for a country.
While there are still impoverished countries and people, overall, free-trade has been a factor in lifting more people out of poverty in the past half century than anything has in the history of humanity.
Given what we know, there is as much chance that this "will turn out very well" as there is of the sun rising in the west starting tomorrow.
10
@JHM Then he and FOX will simply declare that East is now, and has always been, West, and anyone who says otherwise is just fake News.
1
@vandalfan
Eastasia is the enemy. Eastasia has always been the enemy.
Tariffs are imposed to protect domestic industries from foreign competition that may have lower labor and raw material costs. Where are the domestic (that is US) companies that are ready to step in and fill void when foreign producers are priced out? Who can supply the Walmart’s of this country with the stuff China now provides? People, there is no domestic industry ready to step into the void! It’s all been downsized, right sized and furloughed - ain’t there no more.
14
If a trade agreement with China cannot be reached within the next 60 days Congress should override Trump and repeal all of the tariffs he has imposed. They are hurting American manufacturing and agriculture and are a tax on American business and citizens. I do know we need to get tough with China in protecting our intellectual property for American companies operating in China but there has to be a better way, i.e. diplomacy by well trained diplomats and not bullies.
3
The way to get tough with China would be to prosecute the companies that benefit from cyber theft, IP infringement etc. Just like we were doing with ZTO until the president personally intervened.
1
This will hit Trump supporters right in their collective wallets. It may be a while before they realize what’s hit them (although some are starting to wake up).
Unfortunately, the rest of us are along for the ride. And any ride with Trump as the driver over the years has ended the same way: the vehicle ends up in a ravine, Trump escapes unscathed and runs away, and someone else has to clean up the mess.
Be patient - it’s coming soon to an economy near you.
11/3/20. VOTE.
5
We're building a house, our retirement home. We need kitchen cabinets. Virtually all cabinets come from China. No one knows what will happen to the price of cabinets. We don''t need them for three months, have no where to store them for three months, and are afraid that if we don't buy them now the price will increase 25%.
Thank you President Trump.
7
@Doug
According to Mr Trump, you'll pay nothing more. This is because China will drop the price of your cabinets to offset the effects of the tariff. So, no, you won't be paying the tariff, China will! In fact, they might cut the price a fraction more, so that the Trump company gets an arrangement fee, too. Everyone wins. These trade wars are good, aren't they?
It must be very unnerving to have Mr Trump as your president.
Many Americans don't want to admit the truth, the USA is no longer competitive against global competition in manufactured goods. China produces multiples the number of engineering and IT professionals than the USA and in many categories like 5G their technology is surpassing that of the USA.
6
If the new NAFTA passes be prepared for generic drugs to skyrocket. That is the biggest deal with mexico in the new NAFTA trade deal. Many of these generics that will be passed will become permanent. so be prepared. I have not discovered what the drugs are yet. Since it has not been released(has to be voted on)I cant find what those drugs are. Not good for u.s.
1
Which Democratic candidates for president are promising to remove tariffs if elected? I haven’t read much discussion about trade among the candidates.
1
“Mr. Trump and his economic advisers say the administration’s trade policy is aiding the American economy, companies and consumers. And despite the tough approach, the administration continues to insist its goal is to strike trade agreements that give American businesses better trade terms overseas.”
Details please. Show us your data and why. Are you trying to actually open the market so we can sell more or simply protect the authority of the patent office?
Who is it aiding???
Who is it hurting? (Farmers)
There is an attitude that Americans don’t have any access to sell in these markets. By being protectionist your end consumer is limited. Instead of protectionism why don’t we find a way to open the markets so Americans can create things and services to sell global.
The republicans used to be free trade now they look like xenophobic closed border protectionists.
1
Making our products at home to avoid tariffs sounds like a plan, but please tell me how many of us at home can make shoes, clothes, household goods, pots and pans, and everything we need and use....except food.
Now, Mr. Trump can live on home made burgers an serve them to his guests while the government is shut down for lack of work on building a wall.....you cannot wear, cook in, decorate or protect your feet with a wall. Mr. Trump's ideas are all that seems to be made in America these days....and tweets.
2
Maybe he figures that's how he pays for the wall! Making the tax payer pay for it.
1
"Trump’s Tariffs, Once Seen as Leverage, May Be Here to Stay"
Here to Stay?
Not if TrumpGone 2020
4
First let's get something small out of the way - A ''tariff'' is an indirect TAX on the consumer.
Not only is it a tax that the American public did NOT vote for in this republican administration, but now that they are being implemented and expanded, more and more people and businesses are going bankrupt, or are losing their way of life/jobs.
The administration is then turning around and trying to use Socialism to prop up its base by subsidizing farmers with billions and billions of tax payer dollars.
We also do not know who in this administration, or the president and his family are getting even more rich at the American people's loss, by knowing beforehand who are going to be the winners and losers. (whole sectors)
It is theft in plain sight.
4
A back door regressive tax hike which disproportionately effects people who make less, that is billed as a tool to fight for the common man. Anyone still buying the snake oil at this point, has only themselves to blame.
6
Well, that's one way to curb global warming. Slap tariffs on everything, which will raise prices and greatly reduce consumption. This will shut down down factories due to reduced demand, and reduce resource extraction. All of this in turn will reduce the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere. It will also reduce the amount of waste headed for landfills. It's a brilliant move By Trump, our new environmentalist president. As far the resulting job losses due to reduced economic activity, maybe he will set up a welfare system like he is doing for the farmers. After all, he claims that China is paying for the tariffs. Just like Mexico is paying for his wall.
8
“I think this will turn out very well.”
Yup, same as:
Trump Steaks
Trump University
Trump Vodka
Trump Airlines
Trump Magazine
Trump Board Game
Trump Casinos
Trump Mortgage
GoTrump.com
Trump Ice
Trump Travel
Plus the numerous failed real estate deals and his money-losing golf courses.
To say he has no idea what he’s doing is a gross understatement.
14
Yes, tariffs are “costs.” But they do not somehow destroy our money. They do not take our hard-earned dollars and burn them in a big pile. Tariffs are simply federal taxes. That’s it. The extra costs paid by importers, and consumers, goes to Uncle Sam, to distribute as he sees fit, including, for example, on Obamacare subsidies. It wasn’t long ago the media was complaining because Trump was cutting taxes. Now it’s complaining he’s raising them. Confused? Me too.
And the amounts involved are trivial. Chicken feed. President Trump just hiked tariffs from 10% to 25% on about $200 billion in Chinese imports. In other words, he just raised taxes by $30 billion a year.This tax increase that has everyone’s panties in a twist is a rounding error.The total amount we all paid in taxes last year — federal, state and local — was $5.51 trillion. The tariffs are simply a means to an end. The president is trying to get China to start buying more of our stuff. He knows China, which now has the second-biggest economy in the world, responds to incentives more than to nice words. These tariffs give China an incentive to open up. Right now we export less to China than we do to Japan, South Korea and Singapore put together. That’s the point. So the effect of China’s new tariffs on the U.S. are yet another rounding error. Even if China banned all imports from the U.S., that would amount to only 0.6% of our gross domestic product. And we’d sell the stuff somewhere else.
2
“Make your product at home in the USA and there is no Tariff.” What a dumb thing to say. Most companies have spent years learning the subtleties and intricacies of manufacturing in China. We can't just wake up tomorrow and say "Let's just build it here!" Aren't there more important things he could be focused on. Although, keeping him away from important things is a good idea. We have to put up with him for another 616 days. But who's counting?
4
It is clear that American consumers will pay the tariffs,
making the cost of products somewhat higher.
But note that a higher price also means a higher
sales tax~!
That is: a tax upon a tax...
4
My son is an engineer for a multinational corp.
that sells well known multiple brand names of electric and gas power tools that are mainly manufactured in China. Since Trump announced tariffs on China imports, my son had been busy checking quality control at a few Vietnamese factories, but not even one in the USA.
11
@Manuel Suarez
Do you feel that's preferrable? Vietnam doesn't have a president for life or facial recognition in major cities and aren't building artificial airbases in international waters.
@Snake6390 Did I mention my preferences?...I'm just pointing out that putting tariffs on China is not going to bring back any jobs to the USA, nor reduce the imbalance between imports and exports. If we don't buy from China, well buy from elsewhere were labor is cheaper. (Do you realize that the USA has military bases all over the world?...)
3
If these tariffs (new taxes) are permanent, how do working people maintain their former standard of living, assuming they were living on the edge, from paycheck to paycheck?
9
@Doug Lowenthal That's the crux. We'll either have to do with less, or pay the regressive federal sales tax. Either way it's a lower standard of living. Be a flag-waving patriot and take solace in that Chinese may suffer more. Me, I'm stocking up and buying the critically acclaimed TCL 65R617 that I had my eyes on for a while before the tariff hits the consumer goods.
A permanent tariff will give American companies the profit margin they need to compete with foreign manufacturers. They will also have the advantage of lower transportation and shipping costs as well as the PR advantage of hiring and buying American. Yes, prices will be higher, but a greater number of people will have more money to buy things. The psychological boost to the nation will be immeasurable but it will translate into votes for Trump. How far we have come from the days of Obama when he proclaimed “Those jobs aren’t coming back.” But even Democrats should be happy because, as we know, they care so much about the middle class.
1
Of course “those jobs” haven’t come back. Where’s that textile industry in the Carolinas?
2
@Edward
I'm looking forward to paying 25% more for washing machines, TV's, cabinets, etc.
2
@Edward, please revisit your Econ 101 class, the corporations will just find another country with cheaper wages then the United States for 'most' manufactured goods, and in all probability those corporations will be owned by the Chinese government, and they will just avoid the tariffs through a third party country.
4
The tariffs are just a part of his war on behalf of the rich against the poor and middle class. Not only is it a tax on our country, but it is effectively a regressive tax, affecting the poor and middle class far more than the rich. It will balance out the loss of revenue from Trump's tax bill, and further his agenda of reversing years of economic advance for the average American.
22
Trump seems not to understand that China is different than the U.S. China's government simply directs its banks to issue more money to fuel its economic growthy, with the result that the country is expecting economic growth of more than 6% in 2019, compared with the U.S., which is forecast to have economic growth of less than 3% during the same period. Thus, Trump's his statement that China's economy is "not so good" is just one more misleading comment -- or outright lie.
The fact that neither the Republicans nor Trump's advisors have been able successfully explain to Trump how China's economy works is frightening.
50
What's frightening is the belief that the Chinese government is able to ride over basic economic reality. Eventually the wheels fall off all command economies.
The history of tariffs is one of economic losses.
When the U,S. auto industry had very little competition, they made cars that had to be replaced every three years, cars that did not last, were expensive to keep up, it was planned obsolescence.
Then Honda made a small inexpensive little car, that was reliable, easy to fix and got good gas mileage, the CVCC and women loved them. No more waiting on the freeway for the tow truck to show up, and affordable. As those women moved up in the economic ladder, the stayed loyal Honda buyers.
Later many Americans discovered cars like Mercedes and BMW were better quality, and they became loyal buyers. The same holds for almost any product. Now the U.S. manufacturers want the opportunity to keep those products out so they can profit at the expanse of the American buyer.
Tariffs are a tax on the consumer, there will not be 'enough income to reduce the national debt, it will just reduce consu9mer spending, and even increase the debt. Those that are loyal do Dishonest Donald, are part of his criminal enterprise, no better than him, just looking for a way to swindle the taxpayers.
95
@David Underwood BMW makes the most unreliable cars are in the world. I have no idea how people came to believe otherwise.
We make Teslas now.
Well, I guess all of those consumer goods from China that stock the shelves of Wal-Mart must threaten our national security. Given the median household income of a typical Wal-Mart shopper is less than $40,000, we can let the tariffs fall on them.
Iowa farmers export about 1/3 of their crops. I guess they won't mind if China raises tarriffs on Iowa corn. The republican party used to be about free trade. I guess Mitch et al would rather kow-tow to Donnie than grow more backbones. As for me, I'll buy the dip and profit when the stocks head back up. I can't say the same for the average American family. November 2020 is not that far away folks. Make America Free-Trade....Again.
38
tariffs are consumer taxes. this entire situation arose due to greed. now the people that elected the people that created this situation are demanding that the same people bring back their jobs. this is hilarious. and every dotard tweet makes another insider richer that bought the short ahead of the tweet
20
'I have no idea what will happen.'
- Trump
For once he lands at the truth.
147
@Blue in Green
Sad thing is our President’s quote could actually be applied to just about any issue he’s ever been involved with.
Donny No Plans.
11
Trump's complete lack of understanding of what he is doing with his scorched-earth trade war policies makes it painfully apparent why he refuses to let Americans see his college grades.
152
@koobface He knows exactly what his policies will do, but for some reason, people think he is trying to fix the economy instead of destroy it. Apparently, Americans don't 'get it' even when it is obvious.
3
This might make sense if there was any indication Trump understands how trade works and had a strategy in mind. The reality is that Trump has never gotten beyond being a school yard bully and a thug.
“Nice little economy you’ve got here. It would be a shame if anything happened to it, a tremendous shame. I’m sure we can work something out - we have a great relationship, the best. But who can tell? We’ll see.”
41
@Larry Roth Exactly. I have no idea how people can't see who this guy is. They think he's a good guy, but he is a Goodfella.
So much for the party of free trade... Republican businesses will scream as chaos widens to them
19
Of course this will heavily impact a large majority of his supporters who, naturally will continue to think he's the cat's meow.
27
I used to be a tariff fan, thinking it would help labor. But then I learned how they actually work:
1. Tariffs are basically a regressive tax on consumers. The import company pays the tariff to the government, and passes that cost along to retailers and from there to consumers, who pay more for the product.
2. Yes some jobs in the protected industries are saved or added, but since consumers have less to spend in other industries, there is an offsetting job loss there.
3. Since we have more workers in less efficient industries, our overall productivity is reduced, costing incomes and jobs net. So all of us take a hit to protect the few.
If we want to help those left behind by globalized free trade, we can talk about early access to Social Security and Medicare, relocation packages, and tuition or trade school money, funded by tax hikes on the rich and corporations.
A couple of points regarding Trump's claims:
A. The tariffs are NOT paid by China. They are paid by the U.S. company doing the importing initially and U.S. consumers ultimately.
B. Our trade deficit is actually going up in $ terms and as % GDP since Trump took office. This is a function of his deficit increasing policies (tax cuts for the rich) as well as trade policy.
C. If we want to give labor more of a share of the income vs. capital, we can do that efficiently via raising taxes on the rich and transferring the money; that is better than trying to manipulate pre-tax outcomes.
273
@David Doney
You are missing a very IMPORTANT part in your analysis. While free trade is a net positive for the economy overall, you cannot look at the issue without considering inequality.
The net gain from free trade has mainly benefitted the 1%, so while the US has gained more wealth which in theory could have been spread across the population and made everybody better off, that has not happened.
Your idea of taxing to transfer wealth will not work in a country like the US, where people's objection to taxes is almost a religion.
The heart of the problem is a broken political system, which has given all the power to the rich, meaning workers have no bargaining power because the whole system is rigged against them. Thus they are not able to get a bigger piece of the pie, when the pie grows.
Until you fix the political system, tariffs may be the easiest approach for American workers to gain a higher salary.
6
@Vieregg
You did well until the final sentence. There is nothing in tariffs, or even Tariffs, that will necessarily increase wages, any mre than the influx of wealth increased wages.
The party in office is busy eroding worker rights, fighting against the livable wage.
Business owners will be protected by the downturn in consumption, which will increase unemployment.
8
Anybody who thinks these tariffs will be "hidden" is a fool.
"A fool and his money are soon parted."
15
Even commenting on the nonsensical non-policies of this lunatic trump seems pointless. That's pretty low.
30
The combined goods and services trade deficit with China in 2018 was 378.6 billion dollars in 2018 according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative. U.S. Bilateral trade deficits (that is deficits with any single country) are unimportant unless the country with the surplus is doing something with its surplus that we don't like. Currently China holds over 1.2 trillion dollars in U.S. treasury bonds, because it uses some of its surplus to buy them, making it easier for the U.S. to run a budget deficit. Currently China is buying about 40 billion dollars in treasury bonds annually. Much of the remaining surplus is used to invest in U.S. businesses.
7
These tariffs if in fact helped to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. could be a big positive, if we had a trained workforce to handle it. But we don't. Take for instance Apple phones made in China by Foxconn. They employ 1.8 million just to make their products.
We lost the ability to much of our manufacturing capability starting decades ago, and it will that that much time and longer to train and grow that workforce again, and that's just Apple.
13
@cherrylog754, In addition even then the workforce would be smaller due to automation.
1
@cherrylog754, Foxconn doesn’t have 1.8 million employees. In 2017, the number was 803,126. Foxconn is a multinational company headquartered in Taiwan, with manufacturing facilities in China, Europe, Brazil, India, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico and South Korea.
Almost all of the components of the iPhone are made in other countries (including the US) and brought into China for assembly. Contrary to the popular impression, China only earns about $10 from each iPhone. US, Japanese and Taiwanese parts manufacturers earn far more. Apple, of course, reaps a large profit on top. The current situation is extremely advantageous to the US and it is difficult to imagine that many US workers would want very low paid jobs assembling iPhones. Or that US consumers would want to pay the needlessly increased prices!
Trump is an economic illiterate and his advisers appear no better. This trade war will surely end in disaster, as they have inthe past.
https://theconversation.com/amp/we-estimate-china-only-makes-8-46-from-an-iphone-and-thats-why-trumps-trade-war-is-futile-99258
2
@cherrylog754 - Of course, if the claim that unemployment is down so much currently (one does wonder, given that Trump kept claiming that under Obama the unemployment rate was arrived at by "cooking the books" and we all know how much Trump projects)--anyhow, if unemployment is currently as low as is claimed and if we're reducing both legal and illegal immigration, one does wonder just where the workers to do all these wonderful jobs are going to be found. There are--and have been for awhile--worker shortages in a variety of fields such as the skilled trades. We desperately need a massive infrastructure program to repair, replace aging roads, bridges, water and sewer systems, locks and dams. These projects will require laborers as well as engineers, planners, and other kinds of workers. Just where are we going to find all of them?
1
Trump tariffs are being used to pay for the huge tax cuts to trump and the wealthy and big businesses under the Trump Tax Cuts Act.
21
The taxes may last a little while but not forever. Compare this to the mansion tax of NYC. Enacted in 1989, it impacted all sales of property in NYC in excess of $1 million. Thirty years later, $1 million doesn’t buy what it used to but the Democratic leaders of NYC (and Bloomberg was a RHINO) have failed to adjust that number up from $1 million. I’m no fan of the tariffs but the mansion tax has taken many billions out of the pockets of NYC residents and the Times is okay with this. I’m guessing only those taxes enacted by Democrats are okay.
1
I hope the tariffs don't cut into my massive middle-class tax cuts. I'm not sick of winning yet.
20
Tariffs are nothing more than a tax on the consumer. Trump is lying, again, about the reality of this trade war.
32
Seen as leverage by who? From what I've read in your paper, Trump never really had a negotiating goal, he just wants to "beat" the Chinese and reduce the trade deficit with tariffs.
7
And Trump is going to bail out the farmers that will be hurt by this “war.” Isn't that kind of a socialistic move? Hmmm...
83
@Jim no it is a political move. farmers are used to subsidies so they may not even notice.
1
@Jim Saying one thing and doing another. At least, someone gets it.
1
Trump always boasts were in a position of strength, always touting how well the economy is doing under his iron fist. That just isn’t going to last forever and not forgotten quickly either. We will be paying for this for many years after the president is dead and buried.
12
@Hans Delbruk, I am more worried that the President is going to be dead and buried to. I am quite skeptical if our system of government will survive this wanna be king and his enablers.
4
This is a man who has no understanding of economics whatsoever. He's had multiple bankruptcies and managed to fail at operating a casino in New Jersey (how on earth do you actually do that!). He thought that the Chinese paid for tariffs when it is actually done by American businesses and consumers. If the government runs a surplus it will be because everyone else is in the red...some victory.
40
@PeterS Into the red, interesting. That's exactly where Putin wants America to go: into the arms of the Red Don.
2
@Dad Yep...
Trump's tariffs ( TAX) are a 2% tax on the average American Family. Like the Rest of GOP Trump hates taxing wealth bit has no problem taxing life's necessities. Trumps's mantra "Only poor people pay taxes".
26
Who consumes as much as Americans? China wants to play capitalism now so they need to play fair.. The technology exists and if the will does too we can just throw up another massive metal shed somewhere to make what we want and we won’t be back to China because there won’t be a reason too.
China isn’t a free democracy, has a weak middle-class that doesn’t consume, carelessly pollutes,etc..
We can outlast them, I don’t think they can outlast us. Game on.
@Jonathan S
If the tariffs go into effect, an average family of four will pay an increase of 767 dollars a year. Have you seen what America throws out? paper towels, (use cut up old rags ), paper cups and they throw them on the sidewalks. NAFTA will be worse if it gets passed. generic drugs are going to skyrocket. that is with mexico and the increase are going to be permanent
3
@Jonathan S
Take some time to read the history of China...the US will outlast them...I think the US squeals first.
6
@Jonathan S, wowsers! where to begin ... "China wants to play capitalism now so they need to play fair" who is going to force them, you? "throw up another massive metal shed somewhere" somewhere as in where? China has been investing in a major way in African and other countries that have resources. Things are not as simple as they look! "China isn’t a free democracy" ... exactly! If their government tells Chinese to say ration their food, they'll comply; Americans not so much!
5
Donald check in first with farmers six months from now, be prepared to give them more farm aid making them Reagan's newly minted welfare queens. When the inflation rate begins to rise hold onto your hats it is going to get bumpy.
19
@Steve
yes and where is all this money coming from to give to farmers. china buys most of the lobster from main too.
As well as pork from u.s.
4
Questions:
1. When do farmers scream uncle? and vote him out? They are getting killed.
2. When do working class Trump supporters cry out in pain?
3. When do markets tank? Is the market being manipulated? Wouldn't be surprised.
4. When does the Republican led Senate start doing their job, work for a change and tank these awful tariffs?
Are we the Banana Republic we feared we'd become? Sure is looking that way.
43
@adam stoler
I think many Trump supporters will vote him out if they see an alternative that will help their pocketbooks. There are at least a couple of presidential candidates that look like they will - if they get the nomination, that is.
2
@Adam stoler maybe with climate change we will be able to grow bananas??
1
@adam stoler Have you never heard of the Plunge Protection Team? I thought everyone knew that. The market has been juiced for over 40 years!
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-treasury-explainer/explainer-plunge-protection-team-to-convene-amid-wall-street-rout-idUSKCN1ON0WG
So, when do the traditional Republicans agree that Trump is nuts and it is time to jettison him? They may be paying lower taxes, but they won't be making as much money in the long run.
9
China isn’t special they’re just cheap labor.
They better hope we don’t go looking for someone else who wants to make our stuff.
There’s no shortage of countries with oppressive regimes, desperate people, like China..
2
Where is Brutus when you need him?
13
@Prudence Spencer the line was "et tu Brute?" which implies that others were already tormenting Julius..... so far no republican is yet tormenting Donald and that's what it is going to take.
@Prudence Spencer the line was "et tu Brute?" which implies that others were already tormenting Julius..... so far no republican is yet tormenting Donald and that's what it is going to take.
WalMart, low low prices with high high tariffs...on literally everything on every shelf...sorry blue collar families, trump needs to feel manly.
107
It seems that Trump is intentionally doing everything he can to mess up our country. What is the plan?
25
@Phyllis Mazik I believe that IS the plan. he has heavy bills to pay..... and to me it all leads to Russia.
3
Trump is raising import taxes again in good Republican fashion.
12
China will be crushed in short order by these tariffs. They have no way to retaliate, as they import very little from the US.
Xi may try to spin it, but he will have to agree to some sort of deal.
32
@Jonathan
Well, they could stop taking our garbage. They could stop buying our T-bills. They could close their market to American goods, and kick out of the country American manufacturers. They could start a military conflict in the South China sea; after all, without trade what would China have to lose? They could buy soybeans from South America, bankrupting American farmers forever.
Fox News may try to spin it, but trade is not such a simple, one-dimensional subject.
289
@Jonathan
they buy over 8 million tons of lobster from maine. and they buy our pork in bulk. Who is going to buy that.
51
@Sherry
they have already stopped taking all of our plastic. they used to buy a lot of our trash. not anymore.
32
There are huge number of things outside of tariffs that could be done to promote growth for American companies. One major example is an extensive infrastructure plan for the U.S. that mandated only American steel. Perhaps a little less tweeting and a little more real bi-partisan legislation might be a better use of time.
193
@Dennis W
What steel companies? most of them in Pittsburgh have not been reopened. that is what he promised . And scott Pruitt wrote in the contract for the keystone pipeline since the project had already started the rest of the steel will come from china.
8
@jennifer t. schultz You are focused on the old large style steel manufacturing facilities that produced from raw materials. Today there are more small steel manufacturing facilities producing product from scrap. American steel production in total has been trending up since 2016.
2
@Sherry
"Make Amazon indicate country of origin"....now, there's an interesting idea. Walmart as well?
4
As much as it makes me cringe to say anything positive about this president, perhaps this will accidentally have a positive impact on the environment as people (hopefully) consume less.
20
@MichelleM
Recessions start from the bottom up. Those most vulnerable who were hired last will be the first to go. They won't see the "positive impact".
14
@MichelleM More likely production will shift to countries with even fewer environmental regulation that China. I would be to ready to cheer just yet.
6
The Constitution specifically arrogates authority to Congress over the issue of trade tariffs; Senate Dems should be making more noise about this unconstitutional action by Donald:
Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3, commonly known as the Commerce Clause
Democrats should be running Senate candidates in red states who vow to reign in this president's lawlessness on the issue of tariffs, if voters will only defeat the 22 GOP'er Senators up for election in 2020.
31
@R. Law
"Democrats should be running Senate candidates in red states who vow to reign in this president's lawlessness on the issue of tariffs,"
agreed 100%. Grassley should be retired, and other farm state GOP Senators that are up for reelection should be running for cover. What am i missing?
3
This is a Republican-led tax increase on the American consumer. Where is Grover Norquist?
431
@Jim
This mainly hurts the poor and middle income Americans. Why would he care. It is a very regressive tax the king he and the GOP love.
Anyone who ever though that Trump cared about the Working Class.The jokes is on you.
88
@Jim
He’s actually doing stand up comedy now. No joke!
16
@Jim this is DJT's way to mitigate the impact of the tax cut. Generate more revenue from the least of these...including the people in red hats. MAGA!
12
Well of course the tariffs will probably stay since they are a tax that American consumers never directly see! Since when has government ever found a tax it did not like!
16
@Red Rat
Just who do you think ultimately pays the tariff, the tariff fairy?
9
@Red Rat Don't blame this on "government"; place the blame on Trump and his Republican enablers, where it belongs. Blaming these tariffs on "government" is a cop-out.
6
I'm really surprised Trump continues to reign in the Chinese abuse of the WTO trading system. Most Americans don't remember all the factories we had 30 years ago. Even if he improves the trade with China who do not have the environmental or workplace safety laws we do, most Americans will be oblivious to the benefits.
3
@Steph
You bring up a good point! We used to make everything here like computer chips. Why did that move to China? We made many more things here but farmed it out to China and other countries. Why? What led American business to seek production elsewhere? Perhaps we should look at our tax code that made it so favorable to outsource production?
Yes, the first excuse might be labor costs--how do you compete with basically slave labor. But, computer chips and other tech gadgets can be produced by automation and robotic devices. Labor costs for these items could be very low.
Perhaps politics played a role. For example, we heard the refrain many time that it is better to let other countries pollute their air and water. We have also heard that farming out labor was a form of foreign aide where we go some benefits. Hmm. Once again, unintended consequences has bitten us on our backsides.
1
@Steph What makes you think these jobs are coming to America. American corporations will just move to nations with even cheaper workers and even more lax regulations.
They use to go to Korea and Taiwan, then to Hong Kong, China is just their latest stop. China is not responsible for America's closed factories ,Corporate America is. The people Trump lavishes tax breaks on.
33
@Steph
I though that with the big tax break big pharma got I am waiting for allergan to move back here. . no such luck. they are staying in Ireland.
2
Tariffs, once enabled, tend to stay PROVIDED US Companies (and donors to political campaigns) like them
Example
"The Chicken Tax" , the 25% import tariff imposed on foreign made pick ups in 1964.
In retaliation for a European tax on US chickens.
That was 53 (!) years ago. The chicken war long ended, the 25% import duty stayed
And in the eyes of the US automotive industry, it saved it.
(The top three models selling in the US are the Ford F series, the GM Sierrra, and the Dodge Ram),
As otherwise pickup and large SUV production would have gone the way of the Focus and the Cruze.
To China
1
Since NAFTA became law, U.S. made trucks have been partially assembled in Mexico which is not subject to the Chicken tax. This keeps the total costs of the trucks down, which enables the U.S. manufacturers to sell more trucks both in the U.S. and international markets. It also benefits U.S. workers who are involved in the manufacturing, because more trucks get made and sold. President Trump's continuing ignorance of basic economics is shocking.
4
Trump will be gone in another 18 months and US can and should go back and honor the trade agreements it signed.
Going forward, there should be tariffs but worldwide and applied by a set of metrics.
1. Democratic. A tariff based on a countries political freedoms. Freedom from religion, of press, speech, voting.
2. Pro-worker. Allow unions with the tariff based on how easy it is for workers to unionize, public health care, public pensions, work rights.
3. Pro-environment. Per capita green house gas levels.
Metrics from those three factors would provide the basis for world tariff system.
58
@EaglesPDX The war will be in full swing by then. Everybody will rally behind our new Leader Supreme.
2
I had been wondering what could possibly happen to bring this recovery into recession...Banking? Natural disaster? Housing scandal? Fed? How about a self-induced-hyper-inflation where consumers find themselves faced with a 25% jump in prices and they, literally, stop buying? If there's a slowdown in durable goods (kitchen appliances), might that slow housing? I'm no economist, but I bet that would do the trick.
98
So, technically we'll always have a little bit of Trump with every purchase. Forever.
31
“I think it’s going to turn out extremely well" he says. Like anything he does, it won't turn out well. Thanks trump supporters.
186
Dictators start by isolating the countries they rule.
We might be heading in that direction.
240
@freeasabird we ARE headed in that direction. trump is doing what W wished he could do.
6
“I think it’s going to turn out extremely well. We’re in a very strong position,” Mr. Trump said in remarks from the White House lawn.
You wonder how many times citizen Donald J. Trump used that line when he was the biggest loser in the US, as s tax filer in addition, to the numerous bankruptcy fillings.
It’s the mindset.
You can’t fix that.
308
The US doesn't have the manufacturing capability to make the products for which we are applying tariffs. The factories don't exist, and US product suppliers won't build factories because US labor costs are so high that Americans can't afford products if we did make them. US suppliers will simply take their manufacturing to Mexico or Asian countries other than China.
We're stuck with the tariffs because Trump has no long term plan or strategy to satisfy American cravings for low cost products. The overall trade imbalance in low cost products will continue, whether with China or other countries.
Best fix ... 2020.
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@dpaqcluck
"...satisfy American cravings for low cost products." Back in the day, "we" didn't have so much "stuff". We (in the 1950's) lived in smaller homes, made do, had one bathroom for the whole family, and one car. It was just fine - and there's no reason we can't reduce our out sized, collective carbon footprint again.
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@dpaqcluck: Some of us would not be unhappy to see those supply sources move to Central America. It might solve some of the problem we have now with impoverished, undocumented migrants.
It also might be desirable from a national security standpoint. I am old and remember when the Pacific and much of the Atlantic were cut off as safe trade routes because of hostile naval warfare.
I also am well aware that China is building a large submarine fleet. As a warning to us one recently surfaced within torpedo range of one of our super aircraft carriers, without our people having had a clue that it was there. We once thought that battleships were invincible.
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