Just remember, he' a "very stable genius"! He said so himself.
But what about the decade in which he lost over $1 Billion?!
That's MORE than $1,000,000,000 US Dollars -- that's GIGA bucks. Not Kila-bucks, not Mega-bucks but GIGA bucks!
Now here's Randy Rainbow's "A Very Stable Genius" on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-LTRwZb35A
13
This is a war we must win. I’m shocked that the NYTs is rooting for America to lose to China.
30
The mere fact I am reading about this in the Times tells me the Dems still do not know how to fight.
They had better step up their game and fast.
13
The true cost for all the ignorance, arrogance and incompetence will be born in 2020. He will affectionately be referred to as a one term wing nut. He'll be charged with obstruction of justice, and New York will force him to pay over a billion in back taxes and fines.
13
We are living the real life version of Wizard of Oz.
The man behind the curtain is a shabby little man, failed business man, con man and a liar.
We have 65 million scarecrows who seem to lack any brains.
We have a cabinet full of tin men with no heart.
We have a senate full of cowardly lions who lack courage.
If only we could tap our shoes and go back to real world again.
37
I notice the absence of God and patriotism on these pages. Why is that?
3
Try explaining this to Trumpistas.
It has joined the lexicon of Republican lies like “soak the Rich” and “immigrant rapists”.
Anything the man and Fox says is true. Pull the R lever when you vote.
Widespread ignorance and propaganda are hard to defeat.
4
You should reprint/repost all of your biting editorials you've published over the past thirty years about how the Chinese have been cheating, lying, stealing, and violating every trade agreement they ever signed. Oh, you don't have any. Yet when Trump takes action instead of supporting him you criticize.
8
Just another lie in the string of trump lies. Yawn......the working folks, the people who live paycheck to paycheck will feel the burden. The Wall Street investors won't blink an eye. Life goes on! Believe in trump at your own peril. If you are losing your farm and still a trump supporter, I would say tough luck!
10
While I hate the idiot in the WH, this article is of course biased and glosses over the salient facts...that this country has allowed China to walk all over us for decades, through both dem and repub administrations. They steal our IP and other data, they restrict access to their markets while happily enjoying open access to ours, and have benefited tremendously from the unfair advantages we and other countries have permitted. Now it sounds like China was trying to retrade some of the things already agreed on. Yes there is pain on our side as well as theirs, but if we continue to bend over for China they will continue to cheat and steal, so it is time for a much tougher posture with them. Will it work..the jury is still very much out..but this is one of the very few areas where I don't disagree with what DT is trying to accomplish. We should all be hoping for this to succeed.
11
Liar, liar, pants on fire! Just another huge one from a president determined to punish the American people! He cannot see beyond his Pinnochio nose.
4
Why the total in ability to call a spade a spade with this man? It does not matter that he is POTUS he is not “willfully peddling a falsehood for political gain” he is LYING I say it again HE IS LYING. To me the man’s greatest and only gift is his sheer force of personality that steamrollers the weak into a frenzy to vote for him and cowers even the NYT into weasel words. Time to call him out American or the respect the rest of the world has had for your will continue with every lie he tells
4
Trump's Tariffs are all very consistent with how Trump has paid back his supporters, the working class rural voters who put him in office.
Trump is treating them like he has treated everyone else who has done anything for him, his entire life - Trump is screwing them over. Just like he screwed over the investors in his casinos. Just like he's screwed over hundreds of contractors and suppliers for building projects, golf courses, and other Trump ventures. Just like he's screwed over hundreds of people who put their savings into "Trump University" educations. They learned only one thing at Trump U - don't trust Trump, he's a fraud and a cheat.
Now the voters who put Trump into office have a chance to get that same education, and just like the hundreds who lost their savings, or the hundreds of contractors and suppliers who lost money (or went out of business), it will cost them, too. Trump screws over everyone who does any business with him... including just voting for him.
Trump's Tariffs are the latest Trump fraud perpetrated on the public - a tax on Americans, paid by Americans, punishing Americans, and costing Americans jobs.
10
Econ 201. Please. We are dealing with mental illness here. People need to bone up. Read Masterson, take a seminar. We are not dealing with policy here, we are dealing with symptoms. Of course, none of this is illegal: "We know now that under our shambolic democracy, a man as unfit as Mr. Trump really can legitimately acquire all the terrifying powers of the presidency . . . "*
*Farhad Manjoo, 3/25/19
2
Donald the Delusional strikes again...
Until Trump's cult is broken, this will be the state of our nation... An idiot surrounded by sycophants and fellow charlatans, supported by a cult following of desperate and delusional Americans.
The only way the cult is broken is when they personally are broken by his policies and actions. As a reference, this took well over a decade in Nazi Germany.
7
Funny how the "proud" maga hat wearers don't seem to have a problem with their savior's HATS being made in China!!! Do they just not understand the concept of hypocrisy? Is it Stockholm Syndrome or do they just not give a crap about the hypocrisy because he makes liberals' heads explode? They couldn't care less that his stupid overlong red ties are from China, that the stemware in his bars is not American made, that he hires illegal immigrants and then falsifies paperwork to hide this fact. That ivanka's junk is made in China, that melania's family came here precisely because of chain migration policy, that he's damaging our nation beyond repair.
Hate crimes are exploding, we suffer mass shootings weekly, farmers are filing bankruptcy in record numbers, he just wiped out any relief his piddly tax "break" has provided for the middle class, he's on the verge of starting a war with both Iran and Venezuela as he cuts the military funding to build his 10th century NOT paid for by Mexico wall and has just raised taxes on the average American by 25% and industrial costs by the same, making it much harder for American industry to compete on the global stage.
But as long as liberals' heads explode he's their man. They couldn't care less that he's destroying our great country a little more everyday. Our democracy is slowly dying by a thousand cuts, we might not be able to resurrect from the ashes that are left, to repair the willful damage done but...liberals.
6
Wow, another falsehood from the fertile mind of the Con man and Chief. Why not his core voters accept everything he says. Just spread a little more manure on the ground though tweets and they will come. After two years you can only come to one conclusion, they LOVE his lies, it gives them the nourishment they crave.
6
I too own an electronics manufacturing company and Bruces points are 100% accurate.
The real issue is that demand for devices will simply decrease as costs rise dramatically and non-tariff based manufacturing countries will reap the biggest rewards of our totally screwed up China tariff policies. Winners; Vietnam, India, Israel, Korea. Losers; just the United States.
What I have learned is that once a distributor gets their price, it is almost impossible to get them to lowered later. And I can understand the philosophy in that as parts and assemblies come in at greater cost to them, both lower demand (which drives the cost of building inventory) as well longer inventory turns, provides distributors with ample reasons not to lower prices in the framework of real-time policy changes. And for the record, distributors have been raising prices ahead of policy changes to hedge their bets.
So while the threat of tariffs have already wrecked havoc on small Made in the USA manufacturing, now that we are fully there, the gutting will take place. And once we are gone, we are never coming back because the costs to rebuild operations will be too high.
Kudlow should at least admit it and resign on principle. If this were a democratic president running a record ball at US manufacturing, he’d be raising hell.
As for the rest of you proud Americans who patriotically claim you would rather pay more for the privilege of buying American. Wake up before we’re all gone.
9
Only an idiot believes that the businesses being taxed by Trump's tariffs will not simply raise their prices to offset their losses.The American consumer will pay the cost of Trump's tariffs. And that, would be you.
109
I emplore people to never trust the New York Times on issues of trade. They are full-blown Neoliberals, believing that if you minimize the cost of everything through trade that everyone benefits. But they miss some of the most important problems created by the current world trade system.
Clearly the tariffs are not the best solution, but as a punishment for not providing better access to their markets by our businesses, it is a very good approach.
People buy a washing machine at most once a decade. We have plenty of wood in the US to make doors. And circuit boards from China should be more expensive, and iPhones? Who gives a damn about the cost of a stupid iPhone? Apple's margins are high enough to take up the brunt of the tariffs.
There's not enough space here to explain how much damage Neoliberal trade agreements have done to the US as a country. They've nearly destroyed it already.
I'm not going to be your broken record anymore. I'd just advice people generally to ignore the NYT with regard to trade issues. They don't know much.
9
This article is misleading because it fails to mention the their is an additional cost to china that is even higher. American importers will start importing the same products from different countries and once they begin these new supply lines and relationships they may not return to China.
3
Tariffs are paid directly to the U.S. treasury. Some imported goods will rise in price but unless the U.S. is committed to stopping China from absconding with U.S. technology, illegally subsidizing military owned industries and blocking participation in key markets the U.S. will continue to lose blue collar jobs.
At one time the left nominally try to protect jobs but not so much any more. Rather embarrassing Trump is preferred over supporting the working men and women.
Biden's claim that China is not a competitor makes one wonder whether he is simply ignorant of the fact or being paid off.
5
"Mr. Trump continues to repeat the false claim that the money will come from China, even though he has been told repeatedly that this claim has no basis in fact. He is willfully peddling a falsehood for political gain." The false now debunked rallying cry that Mexico would pay for the wall never mattered in the end to his loyal supporters. This new claim about China won't matter to them either--unless of course they can't afford to buy at Wal-Mart's any longer.
7
Trump base is heterogeneous. It is certainly made of many people who has been suffering and sincerely believe that Trump is fighting for them. Then they are the racists who are dreaming of the resurgence of white domination. But a substantial segment are those who believe that their good fortune is only the product of their hard work and not a combination of certainly work but luck, network, and the many people who help along the way. The last segment almost always vote Republicans. As long they are not affected by his policies, they will continue to support him. They call themselves patriots but it always me over country.
3
Our unsustainable standards of consumption comes back to roost once again in the U.S.
1
"It comes either from the firms that make, move and sell the products or from the pockets of the buyers. ... But a tariff is a consumption tax.. "
What about the premise that consumers can choose whether or not to buy, and ultimately the market sets the price? If the price we are willing to pay doesn't change just because there is a tariff, then the supply chain must absorb the tariff to sell the product. This is especially true with discretionary purchases. So it isn't as simple as the author of the article contends.
5
Send Trump back to Wharton and make him actually learn how tariffs work and how they impact the business cycle . A basic course in macro economics wouldn't hurt either. The impact of his actions are already going to resonate for years...
And Oh yeah, ethics.
13
It's not a new tax on Americans - that tax has always been there - but the scale of that tax is changing every time Trump increases the supposed penalties on China.
He, and his base, really don't seem to have any idea just how tariffs work. He has claimed his tariffs have brought in "billions" and so they have. What they have not done is cost the Chinese a cent.
The Chinese don't pay US import tariffs and never have. Importers pay them and pass that cost along. Every time he raises the tariffs that passed-along cost gets higher.
In other words, that means you and I pay for Trump's misunderstanding of how an economy works.
12
With a half trillion dollar trade deficit the US consumer can either continue buying from China at the given rate and pass the massive debt on to the children who have no say in this burden or follow this President's lead and force China to deal with us.
8
I've been supportive of tariffs with Chinese exports for years but for reasons Trump doesn't care about. Because China has virtually no environmental regulation or labor laws, it costs much less to produce things there (that's why Snap-On Tools USA is now just Snap-On Tools). So not only does China have an unfair business advantage, it also means we're virtually exporting worst-case scenario pollution and labor exploitation. In case you think that pollution can't make it back here, consider that 10% of air pollution in California is from coal used to generate electricity in China.
My suggestion is we insist that the playing field is leveled. If Chinese manufacturers adhere to at least the environmental standards that follow, we could drop a portion of the tarriff--it would cost more to produce those things but it would work out better for everyone. There is, after all, a reason things from China are much cheaper. As for labor, that's much more complicated, but it's still something we could approach.
8
A tax on those least able to pay it.
6
You can't have it both ways. You can't bemoan the loss of manufacturing jobs overseas and also lament the cost of goods going up.
Business can primarily increase their bottom line by either increasing prices or decreasing costs. Competition limits how much you can increase prices, so most of the increases to the bottom line in the last two decades has come from automation and greater use of foreign labor.
Foreign labor is cheaper primarily because of the lower cost of living overseas, measured in US dollars. People in China can live comfortably on a tenth of the wages necessary for the same standard of living in America.
That's where tariffs should come in. They should be used to eliminate the lower cost-of-living advantage in other nations. In other words, if cheaper labor overseas reduces the cost of a car 25% below what it would cost to make that same car in America, then the foreign labor cost advantage should be eliminated by adding a 25% tariff. That eliminates the advantage to manufacturers of moving manufacturing to another country.
Yes, it would make items more expensive, but it would restore middle class jobs and wages that enable Americans to afford those higher prices. Free trade, on the other hand, with no tariffs to eliminate cost-of-living differences in other countries, will impose continued lower wages and benefits on Americans until our falling wages match the increasing wages found abroad and everyone in the world has the same cost-of-living.
11
So now Republicans can have it both ways. Taxes are "bad" but tariffs are "good." Look at the good things Trump wants to do with that tariff revenue, maybe. Infrastructure, healthcare, feed the starving of world. Gee whiz. That's what Democrats have been saying and are still saying we can use taxes for: doing good things for the struggling working families of America who aren't rich, which Republicans smeared as "redistribution of wealth" and "punishing success." Tariffs are the "sneaky tax" because Trump and Republicans don't have the courage and honesty to raise income taxes or Social Security taxes or any other tax that the middle class can see on paper. This is why I have no apologies for wanting Medicare for All, tuition-free higher education and student loan forgiveness, subsidized childcare and such. Those are things working people who aren't rich benefit from, in real dollars, today, not some pie-in-the-sky "trickle-down" that may or may never come because all the greedy hands between the tax cuts for the corporations take most it for themselves.
6
The editorial staff of the NYT recognizes that there’s a case to be made for engaging China’s mercantilism. The problem they identify is that Mr. Trump is lying about who will bear the cost.
Most people, regardless of their political affiliation, recognize that this is what is called “puffery”, ie an exaggerated claim that no one would take seriously. Anyone who has ever negotiated anything knows that puffery is routinely employed by all parties.
The majority of Mr. Trump’s supporters were similarly under no illusions about his claim that Mexico would pay for the wall. What they took seriously was that he was willing to fight for them. That’s why he hasn’t lost the support of his base even after it became clear that Mexico would never pay for the wall. They recognize that he continues to represent their interests.
China has coerced technology transfers from foreign companies and restricted access to its markets while enjoying essentially free access to the US market. There have been benefits to American consumers, but a smaller group of Americans has suffered job loss and/or pay cuts as a consequence. More concerning over the long term is the erosion of the US’s competitive advantage. Many Americans realize this and support Mr. Trump’s willingness to fight for them.
Trump derangement syndrome has become so much a reflex of the left that even a cause they agree with is denounced because of its originator.
10
In the 80s I lived in NY city with a fashion designer. We watched the mills that produced the clothing products all move overseas. A number of artists were employed for seasonal design work that was then taken to Asia for production. I would be happy to buy made in the USA products even if I paid a premium. I bought what I thought was USA jeans for three times the cost of Levi jeans until I found out the actual manufacturing plant was in Mexico. Where something is produced and where the components are from need to be transparent. I want American products and I'm willing to pay a premium to support American workers. The tariffs will not be a tax on me because I don't need or want many of the products made in China. We gave away our factories, betrayed American workers, and enriched greedy business owners. We need to quit wasting time on these wasteful products and focus on making products for a warming world.
17
The process in the article isn't quite accurate. For all imports a US Company uses a Licensed Import Broker. They are the only people that can file with US Customs. To be one requires passing a hideously complex exam and be licensed. They are presumed to know the law and all the tariffs. The broker submits paperwork to US Customs and typically posts a bond to the government. The importer declares the goods imported and looks up the Tariff for each type of item and computes the tax. There is a PDF you can download that explains all of the tariffs (it's everything ever imported). The paperwork get compared to the manifests by US Customs when the good arrives and US Customs then can release the goods. The bond posted by the broker allows the release without waiting for the "check" to clear. The Importer actually pays the Duty within a period of time. The importer then Bills the US Company plus a fee for using the Bond. The US Government does not generate a "Bill". The documents are ONLY filed electronically and the process is very accurate and swift. When goods go to a free trade zone the duty is suspended until the manufactured goods leave the free trade zone and duties are then due.
US Customs scrambles to raise all the duties with an effective date and the process remains the same. He who imports pays is the law. Been that way since about forever.
3
The whole purpose of drumpf's fake 'trade war' is to move money from the middle and lower classes (via higher costs) to the government (which collects the tariffs) in order to distribute to the rich (through corporate subsidies and handouts). I'm astonished this wasn't obvious to every one from the get-go.
9
@Jamila KissesIf you were to take the time to view the National Debt, and do the math of dividing the figure by the 340 million citizens of America and then send in your check for your portion of it, I'd tend to see your point.
1
If Trump controls the tariffs applied, what is to stop him getting paid off in off shore accounts?
3
Trumpism is cutting off more of your own nose to spite your own face every day.
6
Trump keeps repeating the lie that China is paying the tariffs, even though they are a massive tax paid by American consumers.
I wonder whether --
a) He is so ignorant and stupid that he really believes that tariff money is pouring from China into the US Treasury, or
b) He knows it's a lie but is confident that his supporters are so ignorant and stupid that they will believe him.
It has to be one or the other.
9
"It’s a good idea to raise taxes to pay for foreign aid, infrastructure and health care."
I can't argue that tariffs don't raise prices, however you just lost your argument with the above statement. Every tax or tariff hurts someone.
Call me back when the government starts to spend within it's means and stops borrowing. Tell me whom that helps?
3
Do Americans want to see their standard of living continue to decline? It is 100% attributable to that “giant sucking sound” Ross Perot predicted in the early 90’s. At the time many of us were angry at the cost of wages paid to American workers by the unions. We felt it was driving prices higher. We welcomed consumer products that were made in Mexico and Asia because we enjoyed the lower price. What we didn’t realize was the hidden cost in loss of American jobs and industries along with the opioid crisis that followed. And then the WTO let China in. Big big mistake. We ended up paying Communist China to rebuild their country. Now they will use our money to try and over take us. All of this is because of the “stupid people” from the past administrations. The made some very bad decisions at the detriment of the American people. You never ever destroy your manufacturing base. This is rule number 1. Trump understands this. Hopefully it is not too late. May God bless America!
5
Trump tarifs is a tax on middle class and poor Americans. A simple look at the products that the tarifs target shows that they are primarily consumed by middle class and lower slices of society. Add to that, that in retaliation China mainly targets exports of American farmers. And the rich are applauding the aggressive trade policy of Trump, because they don’t pay its price.
2
Will the main stream media point out that our President is either directly lying about how tariffs work, or he hasn't the slightest idea how the work?
No they will not.
4
The illegitimate occupant of the Oval Office has never told the truth about anything in his entire life. He's told over 10,000 lies since usurping power from Hillary with Russian help. So why should we expect him to tell us the truth when it comes to tariffs -- perhaps about to become his biggest blunder ever in his long history of financial, economic and business blunders.
He's already driven dairy farmers in Wisconsin into bankruptcy and caused the liquidation of their generationally-owned farms. He's hurting farmers across America, most of them, his own supporters! (What are those farmers who continue to support the Illegitimate One thinking?!)
He's created the largest TRADE deficit in world history (promising that his tariffs would lower that number.) He's created the largest BUDGET deficit in world history. And he's created the largest NATIONAL DEBT in world history. And, he's managed to do all this when the Obama economy he inherited was roaring and strengthening by the month.
Taxing consumption (which is what a tariff does) is exactly the wrong thing to do. Reversing the 2017 Tax Bill (a give away to the super rich and big corporations) and Elizabeth Warren's wealth tax are the way to go now!
If we do not moderate the immoral income and wealth inequality soon, the people will eventually demand an end to capitalism! There could be another blood French Revolution right here in the USA.
4
Wow! Reality strikes Trump's well deserved title of 'brutus ignoramus' in-chief, lousy businessman, cruelty gratis by raising the cost of living...of the very folks that so wildly supported his demagogic promises (with his full knowledge that his offering was 'pure air', bluffing bittersweet lies to pocket their support). But one thing is to blame an incorrigible man-child for such 'shooting-from-the-hip' nonsense; another, the full complicity of supposedly expert people surrounding him to fulfill his misdeeds. And this includes the republican Senate. If this isn't political depravity, was is? To the public out there, wake up, and stand for your rights before it's too late...but for the crying.
4
“Americans responded by buying more domestic washing machines” Meanwhile, those GE washing machines are manufactured by GE Appliances, a Chinese-owned appliance manufacturer headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, owned by Haier, a Chinese global appliance manufacturer based in Qingdao, China.
Meanwhile, the USA subsidies private companies like Tesla, SpaceX, Amazon dot com, and gas and oil companies, Apple Inc, Microsoft and Google with enormous tax breaks (corporate welfare).
Meanwhile, China doesn’t need to steal intellectual property, American capitalist give US technology to foreign companies as part of their “investment” in joint venture companies across the world. (See GE aviation joint venture China)
And thank you NY Times for pointing out that the “constraints” on foreign businesses investors is informal, these foreign investors willingly agree to the terms and conditions during the negotiations process, especially America capitalists wishing to do business in China.
7
A great deal of what we buy from China is garbage anyway—cheap plastic doodads, unnecessary toys and gadgets, crummy clothing. We need less consumers and more conservers.
4
Bottom line still remains the same relative to the impact of tariffs: either businesses will complain of not making their excessive profits, or individuals will eventually start complaining of price increases. Trade offs, that is all it is... The wealthy don't even care as their economic condition is unaffected, but middle and low income people will be squeezed. Nothing new there. What Trump and the GOP fail to understand is that America isn't going to replace Chinese goods with American made goods. We don't have the capability or technical knowledge to do so, and we can't compete on cost. Eventually, it will all fade away, and China will continue to export more to the world. They are eager to provide products, and Americans are eager to buy them.
1
The President is peddling a falsehood? Now that's something new and different! Has he ever peddled anything else?
1
“... Mr. Trump tweeted on Friday that the federal government would collect $100 billion in tariff revenue and that he would use some of the money to purchase American agricultural products, which would then be shipped to “poor & starving countries.” ..."
Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day, teach a person to fish and you feed them, and their children, and their chidren’s children, for their lifetimes.
Giving expensive, and heavily subsidised, US food to poor countries doesn’t actually help, makes it impossible for local producers to survive, disrupts the global markets AND puts prices up in the US. (Why would farmers compete when the government will give them guaranteed prices)
It may sound counter-intuitive but the best thing for poor and starving countries is to buy things from them, encouraging employment and discouraging emigration.
114
@Thomas: It boggles my mind that people like Jeff Bezos see a future where a trillion people have colonized space.
5
@Thomas
And in any case, Trump isn't going to ship American agricultural products to "poor and starving countries..."
Trump feels no concern for the poor and starving in our country, much less other countries. The policies of his education department and Health and Human services are trying to get rid of free school breakfast and lunch programs for poor children and trying to throw disadvantaged and hungry people off food stamps.
The comment was little more than a horrible joke.
50
@Thomas
Thank you, Thomas
Was hoping someone would speak to this foolish idea on the ‘dumping’ of excess and its consequences
18
Mr. Trump? More like Mr. Magoo, a self-congratulatory oaf blissfully unaware of the chaos he leaves in his wake as he wanders aimlessly through the policy world.
One day, just for an exercise (in futility), my wife and I went to REI to see if we could clothe ourselves without buying anything that was not produced in Asia - nothing, that's nothing.
4
Strike a deal, strike a deal but not today Donnie and not at the expense of the agricultural community here in the good ole USofA. On NPR many of them are making statements that they are going broke just like you. Mr. Billlion dollar loser.
2
There’s a difference between thinking about yourself as a consumer and thinking about yourself as a citizen.
The Times shills for unrestricted globalization, at the expense of American citizens when necessary. But most Americans disagree.
In a trade war, most Americans will know which side they are on and support the President.
As with immigration, so with trade: globalization proponents are strengthening Trump’s re-election prospects, whether they realize it or not.
6
Donald Trump is getting other people to pay for his grandiose claims ? I don't believe it. Isn't Mexico paying for the wall ?
Now Trump's rural base is seeing the dark side of their prideful vote. This is what happens when you substitute wisdom and courage for hate and ignorance in your president.
2
As always, doing Putin's bidding. This win-win for Trump/Putin causes excess cost to the American economy as well as dinging the Chinese economy. Trump gets to act the tough guy by doing things no one else did because no one else should do them. The Trump low information voter buys the whole schtick and gets him a bump in his approval rating. Something the Mueller report forgot to mention is the entirety of the Trump Administration is being the fear of Russian exposure.
3
Wait until you see the price of tomatoes get higher than ever. The Trump adminstration is going to apply a 25% tax on tomatoes imports from Mexico. Pizza is going to be an "De Luxe Item".
2
From the very beginning of DJT’s tariff war it was readily apparent he was being disingenuous, didn’t understand how tariffs worked or both.
His wildly fluctuating amounts the tariffs would bring to the U.S. ranged from tens of millions to hundreds of millions. The U.S. was going to be flush in cash if “his” deal went through.
Yeah.
So...where is the money really coming from to bailout the farmers? To send their crops to those poor starving people? To use the leftover funds for infrastructure and other projects?
Two thirds of the American people appear to understand that his calculations are just another lie. But many don’t understand why.
One third don’t believe him and don’t care, are giving him the benefit of the doubt, are blinded by their ideology or don’t have a clue what the issue is.
The bottom line, however, is it’s just another way to TAX. Regressively so those with less pay more.
Perhaps the NYT’s will put this in a simple bullet point format to help explain it more simply to more people.
And perhaps that format will go viral.
It’s worth a shot.
2
We don't need goods from China. Back in the 60's all that came out of China was threats to the US from Mao suit wearing communists. We had a great economy in the 60's.
2
Editorial board, please write about the tariff rates for importing American products into China, during Obama years. Please write a column of how much the rate used to be. It was between 22 percent to 27 percent on virtually every product.
3
Trump's tariff taxes on consumers help pay for those massive tax cuts for the wealthy and mega corrupt corporations but they also pay for the billions in welfare to farmers (Trump supporters) who are caught in the middle. With seven bankruptcies under his belt Donald Trump is a disaster. Wake up America.
3
It would be a serious strategic error for the Times and the DNC to preach to the American public about raising taxes, directly or indirectly. It may expose a long history of Democratic spending and tax increases on all classes. Look under the ragged rugs made of political euphemisms for clews.
3
I really don't care about Trump's tariffs on China.
1
Well I hope you don’t plan to buy a washer or dryer while Drumbo is President.
4
So long as the money isn't coming out of DT's pocket he doesn't care where it comes from.
5
Effectively Trump is using the US consumer and business ecosystem as his economic troops, and his strategy harkens back to WWI, when troops were ordered to march into machine gun fire, for the sake of a few feet of gain or loss each day. The generals, of course, stayed back in their luxury headquarters.
The Chinese government may in the end bend to what we want, but not at the price of losing face to western powers. This is ingrained into the psyche of China since the times of the Opium Wars and ever since. The Chinese government doesn't want recession, but it doesn't need to worry about real elections, either. I don't see a successful (for our country) result in sight, based upon Trump's approach.
I wonder if anyone is keeping track of Mr Trump's close confidants. It would be interesting to know if he tells people close to him of his tariff moves so they can play the futures markets by shorting stocks. It certainly appears given the way the stock market drops each time he makes these tariff moves if anyone knew beforehand this was going to happen AND knew how to work futures contracts, it would be possible to make some money. Given a story I read recently concerning his past efforts in the markets to use his name and the threat of a takeover to drive stock prices - to his benefit - I would not put it past him now. It certainly would not be out of character.
2
Donald Trump is a Human Inflation Machine.
Tariffs
Gas Prices (Rose about 75 cents since the first of the year and expected to be at least 10 cents more than last year.)
Meager pay raises and Trump Tax Bill cannot offset these increases at the end of the day.
4
The negative effects on the farm business and communities are also affecting the food industry itself. We’re already seeing the inflation at the grocery. The import-export arms of this sector are getting yin-yanged on what seems a weekly basis. They just don’t know what will happen next out of the White House (the current swine flu crisis isn’t helping either). Bottom line is that we have a President who sure knows how to pour gasoline on a fire.
5
The middle class and poor are the personal ATM for the rich in power.
7
Yep, China is paying the bill for the tariffs, just like Mexico is paying for the wall. The guy is the greatest con ever.
7
In the long view, this will work to drive down the US economy. If the Chinese are serious, they can simply sit and watch the Trump tariffs drive small businesses and farmers out of business, drive the cost of day-to-day goods up, and so ramp up inflation, driving down the value of the dollar. And the Chinese will be busy replacing US sales with sales to other countries. This "war" will not stimulate the US economy, it will undermine it. The Chinese just need to be patient. I suspect they have figured this out.
6
One of the largest groups to bear the burden of the Trump tariffs is farmers, yet they continue to support him. How can we continue to function as a country when Trump’s base will forgive him everything including their livelihood?
6
It’s known as patriotism. Look it up.
1
This of course the mind set of a Supreme Narcissist. Unfortunately Trumputin also afflicted with the well know Dunning Kruger Effect. He is a supreme example of that also -- Look it up folks. Essentially -- a person who thinks they know everything, but in reality does not know what they do not know. Dual affliction believed to be a rare genetic anomaly. We have a deeply tainted person sitting in our Oval Office. Read the "Mueller Report", Read "House of Trump, House of Putin". For a real treat - read recently published "Commander in Cheat" -entertaining, informative and damned scary. Dump Trump, Ditch Mitch, get rid of Barr. Register, contribute, flip the Senate, increase House Democratic majority. No apathy. Vote Take our country back.
7
Of course Trump doesn't understand any of this. This is a guy who has a college diploma (and not the one he'll try to make you think he has) thanks solely to Daddy's money, not to any effort at study and knowledge accumulation on his own part.
Today's Times has an article on the ability of a wasp to perform a feat of logic called transitive inference: A is bigger than B; B is bigger than C. Which is bigger, A or C? The wasp knows. I wonder if Trump can figure it out.
I would agree on the A is bigger the B etc. But do you have the ‘proof’? Trump would challenge it whether you have it or not and he will ask for your birth certificate.
1
Apparently his supporters are comfortable with the status quo
1
UNLIKE statewide or federal tax increase That all DEMOCRATS love , that affect everyone including the poorest of us...Tariffs only affect people who buy the products....we're not talking everyday necessary items. So unless your in the market for a new iphone, computer or car, you are good to go....In the long run this will save American jobs...maybe even the writer's of the story..
3
As a Moderate, the anger on the Left is completely discrediting any reasonably-argued opposition, resulting in the most chaotic and incoherent objection to this POTUS.
The NYTimes, so long in the tank for the Progressive Left, no longer writes from an objective p.o.v., resulting in a predictable flow of the same stories, the same attempts to discredit the Trump Administration, the same eagerness to find flaws in each policy.
The wealth gap so well-documented in economic studies is an outgrowth of years of low interest rates, an unwillingness to address the taxation of passive income, and a clear preference of Americans, in all corners, to seek low-cost production. This has pushed manufacturing jobs overseas (not helped by our corporate tax rates historically), continued with low interest rates when clearly some excesses in the financial sector deserved market-based destruction, and widespread indexation of equities that no longer address the indefensible salaries of CEOs and the increased use of equity compensation that further concentrates wealth.
The Progressive response is identity politics and Socialism with increasing references to draconian penalties on carbon-based energy. It is, therefore, curious to see the NYTimes take up the cause of the working class and farming sector, large swaths of Americans deemed too stupid by Hillary Clinton, as the incessant drumbeat to "beat Trump" continues.
Our answers lie in moderation: moderate policies, moderate politics.
5
Most democrats are moderates.
2
I appreciate the Editorial Board’s very clear deconstruction of the president’s lies about who bears the burden of his unilaterally imposed import taxes. I urge the Times and all journalists who are committed to increasing the public understanding of reality to start using the term “import taxes” instead of “tariffs” in headlines describing the president’s actions.
7
Call me overly pessimistic re the Republican treatment of taxes but do you smell another tax refund/break for the rich to make up for any drop in American paid taxes?
The fashion industry in which I work manufactures most of it’s goods in China. The infrastructure needed for this industry does not exist in this country and cannot realistically be recreated here. The profit margins are slim and we work hard earning every dollar. The so called tariffs are simply a tax on us. We can’t just raise our prices to our vendors so we have to eat it. A tariff is a tax on the American business without representation. And what does the “pro-business, low-tax” Republican Party do? Nothing. We can also see that the President is a terrible and lazy business man, one of the worst ever. He is slowly asphyxiating our democracy and economy. He could care less about us little people. It’s insane.
193
Perhaps stores should include a line item when we by Chinese products breaking out “Trump Tariff Cost” right before sales tax, so consumers know who is really paying for his Art of the NO Deal mentality.
5
The Republicans scream that all the campaigning Democrats are socialists. I have a difficult time understanding how Trump can justify subsidizing farmers (faulting blame China for subsidizing their ailing industries) and not be seen as using socialist tacitcs to protect his family farm constituents and his major campaign financiers in agri-business corporations who suffer a tariff war.
Conversely, Maine lobstermen are losing revenue in the international growth marketplace by as much as 35% to as high as 80%, due to China's retaliatory tariffs on lobsters. No supportive action from Trump here.
Canada exploits Maine's lobster restrictions by selling theirs to China, increasing Nova Scotia's prosperity.
American lobster companies are opening Canadian businesses and selling Canadian lobsters to China and the EU, adding to Canada's prosperity, hurting America's. Ironically, Nova Scotia lobsters air ship to China and EU from Boston, Newark NJ, or New York.
Additionally, Chinese companies, in effort to corner the industry, are buying Canadian lobster companies, owning their lobster industry from Nova Scotia traps to Chinese tables.
The American lobster industry is unlikely to recover fully to due to the market diversifications benefiting Canada and China. Meanwhile, Maine's lobster industry stultifies with a limited US growth market, lobster price decreases, job and income losses and diminished economies for Maine and the US due to the tariff war.
5
Suddenly the elites are so worried about the welfare of the average American whom they generally dismissed as the deplorable remnants of the flyover states who just couldn’t adjust to the changed reality of the new global economy. In Strzok’s now famous words we are smelling up the lines at Walmart. Now these same liberal hearts are just bleeding for the average Joe who supposedly is being put upon by Trump’s tariffs and trade policies. Well, guess what. Unlike the various special interest groups that the libs cater to, we’re not expecting a handout from the government, and we’re willing to make sacrifices for what we believe to be right which is something the liberal constituencies are unable to understand with their hands and mouths always open. In this case we believe it is necessary to stand up to China even if that means we are discomfited for the short term. It’s known as making sacrifices for one’s country which we realize is generally frowned upon these days. Trump is doing the right thing. So liberals can save themselves the effort of feeling sorry for us. We don’t need you.
6
@Edward “We’re not expecting a handout from the government, and we’re willing to make sacrifices for what we believe to be right”. Pure, unadulterated delusion.
2
OK, tariffs are a bad idea.
Tariffs impose a price. But previous administrations have attempted to get the Chinese to adopt more fair trade practices. Without success!
So, what do those who don't like Trump's tariffs propose the U.S. do to get the Chinese to stop some of their unfair trade practices?
5
@PJS
Copywriting in the USA has been severely corrupt since inception and the Chinese found away around the Corruption, they told to screw the whole thing !
Fix the Copyright policies and the institution and TAKE AWAY the ownership of said copyrights from those that got thenm thrru corruption
can't do that ? then the concept needs to be trashed and corporations go down in an extinction phase out
Corporations world wide need to be reined in and controle by complete oversight !
when a Corporation breaks any laws, a CEO is supposed to get 10 Years, with that you see an end of War and Poverty, because the Corporate World had fought hard and dirty ot keep that from happening, their profits go way down in a peaceful world, were no one is starving, they wouldn't have some one to point to and tell you thats what they keep from happening to you, while that's exactly what they did to the folks their pointing at, simply so they could point at them !
It was called the Trans Pacific Trade Partnership. Trump squashed because it came from President Obama.
1
This is why I love the Times. It's kinda like God's justice that you exist.
2
God is absent from these pages, but secular humanism is in.
1
I use to think trump was an idiot. Then I took a course in Macroeconomics this spring. Now I know he is an idiot and I am very scared. This guy is tap-dancing on a land mine
13
"Past behavior predicts future behavior'. Trump's many failed businesses/bankruptcies are likely to be repeated at a national level. I also add that past behavior of his followers can also predict their reaction. They will undoubtedly cheer the fact that China will pay for these tariffs. ( Just like Mexico is paying for "the wall")
6
You mean that they will cheer the “lie” that China is paying for the tariffs.
3
Looks like the Times Editors think that it is kosher to oppose whatever Trump does to curry favor with the digital subscribers who are mostly Trump-haters.
If China is treating Intellectual property like a baby treats diapers and if Chinese workers are getting wages that are just $3.60 an hour versus the desired $15 here, why would you be opposed to a policy that MAY cause short-term confusion and pain but will lead to long-term benefits like forcing China to comply with rules of FAIR trade?
Also, if you are on the side of Unions and higher minimum wages and if you feel Climate Change is a huge threat to our existence, why would you be opposed to BUYING LOCAL STUFF that will create more local jobs and reduce carbon footprint caused by International shipping?
The Editors are not thinking, period.
7
@PiSonny If you believe there is such a thing as a car that is “LOCAL STUFF”, or a washing machine, or just about any modern product, you’re beyond hope. Component manufacturing shifted overseas decades ago. Taxing US consumers is not going to make factories closed 30 years ago re-open.
5
Trump is trying to make up for the pusillanimity of previous Administrations. This "trade war" should have been fought decades ago. Agreed that Trump willfully misrepresents who actually pays for tariffs, namely, the American consumer. But, that's because consumers continue to buy Chinese goods. Tariffs must be raised to the point where consumers will not buy Made-In-China. That will result in unemployment in China which is China's only real Achilles heel...keeping its 1.4 billion population employed. Will there be unintended consequences/side effects. Absolutely. But, this is existential hardball.
5
You seem to assume that American consumers have a ready alternative to purchasing made in China goods. That assumption is incorrect for many industries.
2
China will pay for these tariffs just like Mexico will pay for the wall.
3
Is it possible that Trump is somehow secretly gaming the stock market by selling and or buying as appropriate in advance of his tariff announcements?
6
I can't believe you are saying Mr Trump spoke falsely. I thought the Mueller report indicated Mr Trump has never uttered anything but the gospel truth from the time he was born. Even when he walks on water, only truth comes out of his mouth. How can you say such mean things.
Trump lies period. We are paying higher prices for his easy to win trade war. I really really hope that everyone everywhere will get out and vote. Trump not only needs to lose he needs to be the biggest vote loser in history, just like with his income as reported in the NYT this week.
7
It is shocking news but apparently President Trump "is willfully peddling a falsehood for political gain." There's the rub. It turns out that's nothing the President says is ever truthful. It is impossible to conduct normal commerce under the cloud of perpetual mendacity.
But this is what we have, not only for ordinary American citizens who must decide how they should vote but also for foreign governments that must decide whether or not they can reliably do business with the United States.
Here at home, entrenched mendacity combined with profound ignorance produces terrible policy
3
Will Ivanka's line of Chinese-made consumer goods be exempt from this tariff? Inquiring minds want to know.
8
Interesting that according to the study cited, the corresponding tariff revenue taken in by the US government is $82m yearly, and the cost to consumers is $1.5b.
4
I find it odd that the Times editorial board instantly recognizes tariffs as taxes on consumers, but has consistently failed to point out that corporate income taxes have the identical effect: raising costs to consumers without directly taxing them.
Both are hidden levies and act as constraints on growth.
6
I am really confused. If you are against higher tariffs, how can you be for higher corporate taxes? The impact on consumers — conditional on how much is passed-through — is identical with both.
Also, before the income tax was introduced in the early 1900s, weren’t tariffs the primary source of revenue for the US government?
5
@Whatever
those foriegn Corporations aren't polluting our Waters and Lands
They are NOT abusing Our Citizenry with lousy pay
Do I really need to to continue ?
1
I'm incensed that Trump is paying off farmers negatively impacted by his tariffs with my tax dollars. He's using my tax dollars to placate his base. He's using my tax dollars for his personal political gain. This guy is a true grifter.
329
@Michael
A political Ponzi scheme from President Chump.
21
The definition of insanity involves doing the same destructive thing over and over expecting different results. The President is doing this across the board, currently with Tariffs. It is obvious he has not the intelligence to understand the admittedly complex interactions of tariffs. What is more disturbing … He refuses to listen to his advisors . But then again I suppose the last two years of see no evil , hear no evil etc by his "advisors" leaves the country run by an out of control uneducated narcissist. One wonders how the prestigious University of Pennsylvania ever gave this "Billionaire"fellow a degree in business. Sleep well America
1
I met a doctor who is pro Trump and he is a supporter of tariffs on Chinese goods. The same doctor tells me that he owns Alibaba stock which he proudly described it as “the Japanese Internet”. So he will believe the twitter in chief lies about tariffs.
Having said that tariffs are not always a tax on Americans if Chinese companies reduce their price to keep their American clients. That is only if they do.
It maybe that China is not playing fair but they would not be export of jobs to China if American corporations were playing fair with American workers instead of pursuing cheap labor and extreme profits for the sole benefits of their stock owners and CEOs.
5
The Times editors don't seem to understand the purpose of tariffs. Aside from reducing trade deficits their purpose is to bring back manufacturing to this country and raise the demand for workers in the country, which should raise wages. The editors - and most media writers on the subject - don't seem to realize that if wages are to be raised, prices will first have to go up. This is true also for raising the minimum wage - is that movement supposed to be quashed because prices would go up? Ultimately the benefit to workers in the form of higher wages will mean more to them than the increase in prices. If people don't have good jobs, the reduced price of imports is not benefiting them.
Trump is probably not really interested in increasing wages - as an employer himself he does everything he can to keep wages low - nor does he have the expertise to design an effective trade policy. But to object to anything that raises prices is profoundly anti-labor.
3
This is more complex than the editorial makes it appear. Prices may go up, but there have been 1800 new jobs created. These workers are putting more money into our economy with their new purchase power. American farmers may have to change the crops they are producing so they are more salable in the US.
I'd rather buy a US made product if there is regulation on its manufacture. It is too bad that the average person has to make up for this tax rather than the corporations who gleaned a favorable tax break this year. That is the problem.
I am not an economist nor a fan of Trump. Maybe some economist out there can explain the repercussions of this policy.
4
So what are we to do? Should we continue to ignore China's government artificially supporting competitive advantages making other country's goods less competitive? Or should we continue to allow them to steal our intellectual property and then manufacture goods for sale to us using that intellectual property? Or what about making their unwillingness to open China's markets to many of our goods? They are able to take full advantage of our free economy while not reciprocating. I'm not in the "do nothing" crowd. Of course we will pay more if tariffs go up. Maybe we will buy some of those goods from other countries or American manufacturers. Possibly higher prices yes, but at a loss of business for China and perhaps a shift to fair terms..
5
What is so wrong w the government wanting more goods made here? More jobs for us. Does no one else have issue w American goods being made for under minimum wage, and that money going to another country?
5
Seems to me if we are being hurt by this trade game then so are they. If the US people are the ones paying then the same must be said of the people in China, who apparently can’t afford it do it very long do to their already low standard of living. On this we all lose. But if the US folks simply realize it’s better to buy Union made American products we all win. By raising the cost of foreign made inferior products to match superior American made products even the silly penny pincher can support his or hers country and neighbor. On this we win and products that were once made here can once again be made in America! Stand firm and support made in American.
3
people - tariff is a Tax.
6
It is not surprising that 55-60% of Americans see Trump for what he is, a failed businessman con artist. What is surprising is that 40-45% are still sticking with Trump.
7
While facts are there and Trump's tariffs will be difficult to bear for American consumers because of higher prices, this really does not matter in today's America.
The average American does not understand the facts. Trump will loudly blast the country with his spin. And Trump will 'win'. Our supreme master of the message will have his tariffs in place which many businesses will love because of the higher pricing of their goods. Those Trump supporters 'hurt' by the tariff/trade war will be bailed out by the federal government at the direction of Trump.
They will gladly suffer FOR Trump and never blame him.
Trump is happy, Wall Street is happy and Trump still has his votes.
5
@Elizabeth
Yep. Easy marks.
2
Why does the NYT repeatedly refer to Trump’s lies as “falsehoods”? Lie is such a simple, strong word. Falsehood softens, however slightly, the impact of what the President is doing. Plain English, please.
297
For many folks, paying more will be more than just buying less. Spending less will include reducing purchases of services. It's not an option for them, it's a survival move.
Since many of the rich have good tax lawyers, the deprecation on many purchases will result in a increased right-off. But not for those struggling.
1
Who in their right mind would sign a deal with Donald Trump? He never met a contract he would honor. His commitment to a deal is as fleeting as a Higgs boson.
113
@judgeroybean, that’s a good one.
4
@judgeroybean
Higgs is much better than Trump.
It does exist.
Trump lives (if does) only with himself and in the minds of those who support him.
3
@judgeroybean ...so true.
Reneging on agreements (Iran, TPP, Paris Accord etc) makes it clear to the world that trusting America is tenuous at best.
Please don't say "It's not America, it's our illegit POTUS" and look in wonder at his 40+% approval rating that never shrinks. Trump appears as America's president, even if Putin grabbed the steering wheel away from American voters to install a useful idi.. .
2
It's infuriating to see or read interviews of farmers and others who continue to support a man who has proven to be unfit for office on all levels. We are all paying the price environmentaly, financially, politically and emotionally by Trump and the people he surrounds himself with by their gross ineptness, inexperienced off the cuff statements and decisions. There is no one deserving of respect within the Administration. Ragtag opportunists and those with Tea Party diplomas are running the country. When will the rise in gas prices be mentioned? Who benefits most from the rise of barrel of oil?
6
It is so shocking as to how our present leadership misleading the people on tariffs issue by indicating as if they are punishing China while the case is on the reverse punishing the Americans.The senate must act now and make some kind of resolutions in this regard.
2
Please, Use fewer words and more shopping basket pictures showing prices of common items before and after tariff imposition.. Keep it simple, and visual. Tariff goes on, prices go up.
Keep economists and effect of it on Trump supporters out.
6
China will pay for the tariffs. Mexico will pay for the wall. The debt will decrease due to the tax cuts making the economy grow. Any promissory note signed by a Trump entity. These things have a commonality. Trump uttered them and they concern money that will not be seen.
4
Wasn't it Mexico that was paying for the Wall? Is it China thats paying for the tariffs? The President know that if he repeats the same untruth over and over, some will believe him. And his bully pulpit allows him to broadcast it with abandon. Shame on those of us that fall for the same line each time.
12
“I am shocked, shocked, I tell you, to find that...” our president is lying to the American people!
And for what, a tax hike that strikes heavier on the poorer people are. One would think that our president does not like poor people.
8
This is what action on climate change will look like.
4
This editorial states that "Mr. Trump continues to repeat the false claim that the money will come from China, even though he has been told repeatedly that this claim has no basis in fact."
A "lie" is defined as "a statement known to be false made with the intent to deceive".
Trump, knowing his claim is false that the money for his new tariffs will come from China , is therefore knowingly LYING.
This editorial, however, like so much of the media, does not just come out and, in blunt, everyday language, label Trump's claim for the lie it is, and convey with that blunt language the visceral anger everyone reading it should and would feel at being lied to.
No. This editorial described Trump not as lying, but as just
"willfully peddling a falsehood".
Can you feel the power and emotion behind that ?
The New York Times is absolutely essential to our democracy. It has to tell it like it is.
7
I am not saying this to defend Trump whom I judge to be an intentionally deceptive person. Approaching it objectively as a publisher or John Q. Public speaker. Falsehood refers to the veracity of the utterance. Whether a statement is fact or fiction. However, to label someone a liar there is the burden of certainty the speaker KNOWS he is speaking falsely and means to deceive. We generally believe that to be the case of Trump. To get to that conclusion in a more formal setting, one must be inside the speaker’s head ( which we cannot be ) or conduct a fair trial to determine beyond a reasonable doubt such is the case. So, NYT, errs on the side of caution because it has not confronted one-on-one , nor is anyone else , gotten the access and answer from Trump.
3
Whether it is his trade policy or how he does business..Trump just does not understand how capitalism works---he gets crony capitalism but not the Adam Smith version.
1
Is it a coincidence that the tariffs went up on China right after Trump's conversation with Putin?
3
The Chinese have shown over the past two decades that they have no interest in playing fair or even negotiating over their abuses. Absent tariffs, exactly how does the pointy head set think China can be forced to play fair? If we can't demand fairness when the economy is roaring, exactly when are we supposed to do it?
1
The pointy heads already have a mechanism for dealing with unfair trade practices: file a complaint with the WTO.
Of course, that would require making a case and working with allies. That would require measuring the harm and crafting remedies. In other words, patience and diligence, the opposite of bombast. Not exactly a Trump forte.
If that seems tedious and slow and ineffectual, consider the alternative: disruptive, capricious, and ineffectual. Take your pick.
What exactly is the most egregious unfair Chinese trade practice, by the way, in your view? And what proof? What will be different if we “win”? I find very few people who favor this idiotic trade war who can answer that question with specificity.
Trump’s “proof” of cheating is the trade deficit, which absolutely no one who knows the basics of international trade accounting accepts as evidence of anything except that Americans buy more that they sell with China.
What’s really going on is Trump tilting at windmills, using his vacant accusations to fuel his narrative that he’s constantly under attack. To be besieged, one needs enemies, and Trump parades them daily: immigrants, Democrats, Mexico, China, the media, the deep state. Ghosts and vapors all.
Meanwhile, Rome burns. Healthcare, climate change, income inequality, the cost of college, the opioid epidemic, the continued strangulation of our economy and politics by the corporate and wealthy: none of that is addressed except when exacerbated.
2
HAs anyone else noticed the timing of this "bold move"? It seems interesting that this great decision was made just as the Mueller investigation and the calls for contempt charges and all that was coming to a head> It's something like when the border issues came to the forefront and drove the Stormy Daniels story right off the front page.
I sense a pattern here.
5
@Marty
I know it's a little odd to reply to my own post, but I feel I should apologize for the typos. In my defense, it was early, and the morning coffee hadn't quite kicked in.
I don't believe that the tariff money will be paid China. People are saying that it will come from Mexico.
4
Conservatives brag about Trump walking away from a bad deal to show how tough a negotiator he is. 'He won't accept just anything to get a deal like his predecessor.'
Fine.
But walking away from a deal is just part of a strategy - it's not the end in itself. When are we going to the results of this tough guy strategy?
Or maybe it's just posturing to look tough?
6
Interesting thesis, tariffs will be passed onto consumers, just like increases in corporate income tax. Finally the NYTs recognizes reality. No one, not even Trump, want tariffs, we all want free trade, but China are not “good guys” like Biden insists, and they have abused the US for too long. If your approach of appeasement had never been tried with China, I would say you are right, don’t impose tariffs but that policy has failed, China has hurt our middle class. You may hate the president, but you should support his stance now as this is the only way left to force China into fair trade practices. You know it, even Schumer knows it. Or perhaps you are happy that jobs for the middle class continue the leave the US so you can have cheap consumer goods.
1
@Mark V The inconvenient truth is that the rise of Chinese economic dominance began when Americans started buying Chinese goods because they were cheaper than US-made ones. People wanted "Cadillac wages and Volkswagen prices", to quote one of my curmudgeonly neighbours, may he rest in peace.
The same thing happened in other Western countries.
We did it to ourselves.
11
@Mark V I'm going to play the devil's advocate here.
How can on blame China for the decisions made by U.S. based firms that make a decision to outsource manufacturing to China?
China was a willing dance partner to the manufacturers who sought low-cost labor and to the consumer that desired lower-cost goods.
Perhaps China did actively lobby businesses, however, much of the blame rests with those businesses who, if the tariffs are long term and reduce their profits, will relocate supply and manufacturing to countries that Trump is not aware of.
4
Plus we left the pollution of the manufacturing over there too.
2
Great article.
You know what the media should focus on is how Trump does not care at all about the middle class and below. The NYT and other great papers and magazines and broadcast outlets must educate everyone on the importance of exercising their voting rights and participating in our democracy before Trump and his republican cult under his, Barr and McConnell leadership destroy our country. People must understand that if they don't vote they are voting for The Con Man in Chief. Democratic party must also focus on awakening the 40 % of the voting public that fails to register to vote.
7
I'm beginning to doubt that Trump actually got a business degree from the Wharton School. Maybe he just printed a phony diploma like that Time magazine cover at one of his golf clubs. His tariffs are actually creating inflation by adding $66.2 billion a year to the prices of consumer goods that we import, while retaliatory tariffs imposed on our exports by our trading partners affect $131.2 billion worth of U.S. goods. General Motors and Ford say his tariffs have already cost them $1 billion each, which they have passed on to car buyers, while farmers have lost their most profitable Chinese market for U.S. agricultural exports. And while Trump brags that his tariffs are creating manufacturing jobs at home, the pitifully small number of jobs created are not worth the cost -- $900,000 for every job in the steel industry (13 times the average salary of a steelworker); $815,000 per job for those who manufacture washing machines -- and offset by job losses in other sectors. Overall, economists predict that up to a million jobs American jobs will be lost, compared to a few thousand saved or created by the tariffs. Bottom line, the chief victims of Trump's trade wars are his supporters, farmers and blue collars workers in red states.
12
@Christy
Follow the money: Where is the slush fund that this drains into, and who does it benefit?
1
I am not a fan of China or other countries with low cost labor that our manufacturing sector embraced. That said, we, well Trump, points his tiny fingers at China, at this point in time, and blames them for the trade imbalance. Well, China's hands are not clean, however, the Chinese did capitalize on the need for manufacturers to meet the demand of low prices for the consumer and high profits for the manufacturers and retailers.
So, as Trump blames the Chinese and attempts to heap praise on the manufacturers there will, in time, be another outmigration of manufacturing to low cost countries that are below Trump's "radar".
And we the consumer will still gravitate to the lowest price, always.
1
I agree with everything stated in this editorial. Tariffs are a tax and a regressive one at that. The American people are paying the tax and those that supported Trump are paying more.
The Chinese have been cheating on trade by subsidizing their domestic industries, paying low wages and stealing technology. They have promoted an uneven playing field. Additionally they repress ethnic and religious minorities and others in their population.
All of that said, tariffs and a trade war are apparently the only way to get the attention of the Chinese and Trump's predecessors were apparently unwilling to take these effective measures.
I suggest that, in the absence of alternative approaches, we hope for the best. All the while we should hold Trump's feet to the fire vis a vis lying and try to assure that human rights, living wages and technology safeguards are suitably covered in any deal. If the American people have to pay this price, lets at least make sure we make it worthwhile in terms of real progress.
3
Ignoring the agent and the parity problems, maybe this will minutely slow our consumption and our carbon crisis.
1
Wait--I thought all taxes, especially taxes on business, were good and desirable.
I suspect Trump understands what tariffs are about. Many of his followers certainly don't. A few months ago, someone shared a post on Facebook. The post expressed satisfaction that the Chinese will have to pay to the tariffs.
2
I cant wait for the Presidential debate between Trump and (fill in the blank), where Trump lies outright about what a tariff is, insults his opponent, ends by saying “I’m doing this for the farmers and manufacturing workers in the U.S.—and no other Democrat has ever done a thing for them before me”— and just talks over everyone until it’s time to move on to the next question.
The Democrats had better have a real plan to help farmers and mid-western workers prosper and thrive. One that helps them earn more money—as opposed to merely offering Medicare For All, and College loan relief. Most Republican voters want more money that they’ve earned on their own, not more money as a result of say, personal savings due to lower health-care premiums or free college.
The innumeracy and inability of the average voter to look at taxes clearly is all too human. Look at the number of people, who thought that their taxes had increased because their tax refund was lower than lat year’s refund.
Trump has embraced farmers and factory workers and they have an emotional bond with him. They are even willing to suffer economically because they think that, in the long run he’s on their side.
Democrats should fight the good fight in exposing the con game being run on the Trump voter, but also need a bold plan to address the financial plight of farmers and factory workers.
At the same time, just increase Democratic voter turnout in suburban Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Etc.
10
None sence. President Trump is the first one to deal with the alarming trade deficit we have with China. It's over three hundred "billion" a year. Most of the wealth China accumulated is a result of "wealth transfer" from the US to China, form of trade deficit. And that causes a tremendous national debt we have which is twenty two trillion.
The other issue is intellectual property, and this is one way to press on the Chinese. The government had to start somewhere. But the last three previous administrations just paid lip service.
Obviously, Trump doesn't understand how tariffs work. All increased costs are borne by US industries and consumers through higher prices, the added margin going directly to the US government as if it were a tax. The only discouraging effect these tariffs will have is reduced demand for Chinese goods because of higher prices, which translates to a drop in volume. That may not be insignificant, but it's not as brutal (or brutish) as Trump's tariffs are.
3
Anyone who knows anything about trade and tariffs knows that they increase the price of goods and the cost is passed on to the consumer. The only people who don’t understand this reality is Donald Trump and his supporters because they lack the intellectual capacity to comprehend the concept. They also do not understand that Trump cannot take moneys collected through tariffs and arbitrary do what ever he wants with it, like subsidize the farmers who are being punished for his ignorance. The moneys collected, belong to the people and are retained in the general fund and are distributed through budget legislation.
6
Trump is not undermining anything by claiming tariffs are paid by China. He is using the willful ignorance of Americans to get himself re-elected.
Lying works. People choose to believe that tariffs are not sales taxes paid *by them* instead of tribute paid by the Chinese government; just as people choose to believe that the tax package passed actually cut their taxes.
We could have acted as adults and explored ideas like VAT taxes to replace labor taxes, since the VAT would have effectively taxed foreign goods at the same rate as domestic - taxed foreign labor. We'd reduce the penalty paid on manufacturing wages. But we are apparently not adults.
Because taxes are bad. Tariffs are good.
6
We've all heard of "The BIG Lie." Donald Trump is the past-master of lies--BIG and small. However, as consumers see prices rise and their budgets strained this BIG LIE will be exposed for what it is--a tax on America. Moreover, with China prepared to retaliate American companies and farmers that depend on trade with China will also be squeezed very hard. Once again "No Deal" Donald operates as he always has as the bully who can beat his opponents into submission. Of course, with his record of bankruptcies one wonders if we're now about to experience 2008 all over again as the world's two biggest economies accounting for 40 percent of global trade both contract and perhaps fall into recession. As with the Great Recession we now have a potential economic shock that coupled with Trump's huge tax cuts on the wealthy and financial deregulation may once again precipitate a cascade of bankruptcies and defaults on loans.
4
This policy makes every bit as much sense as Mao's "Great Leap Forward" -- an ill-conceived image campaign that killed millions of Chinese farmers by slow starvation.
Due to retaliations for Trump 's tariffs, U.S. farmers have already watched their harvests carried away by floodwaters instead of by container ships. Yet many still trust Trump the same way that many rural Chinese trusted Mao even as he led them off a cliff.
There is no limit to human folly.
8
Trump and his Republican enablers push through tax cuts that benefit mainly the already rich.
They then impose new taxes in the form of tariffs on imports that will raise the cost of consumer goods that will mostly be paid for by the middle class and poor.
Cut taxes for the rich, raise taxes on the poor. Just like in the days of the old European Royalty. You know, the ones we rebelled against.
And then flat out lie about who will pay these new taxes. What a swindle. Wake up, America. Vote them out.
9
Luckily for Trump his followers will buy his lies and never bother to educate themselves as to the facts. Any analysis saying that they are paying for these new taxes will simply be written off as fake news.
Trump is vile but his disciples who are so easily led are the real problem today in the US. It is poetic justice that they are the ones paying a disproportionate share of this new tax while the wealthy get a huge tax break.
2
It’s all just so simple that even a Trump loyalist could understand it: NOT.
Country A sends goods to Country B. Regardless of what they’re sending, Country B starts making money selling and distributing these goods with taxes received from the distributors. Country B’s citizens buy these goods for an established price. Country A’s government and manufacturing facilities receive X amount of profit or loss. Cool! Well, maybe!
Now either Country A raises prices, or Country B Taxes a higher rate. Who pays more? Simple math? YOU!
Enter Tariffs! Country B decides to charge Country A an additional tax on goods. The entire supply chain now has to charge additional fees to cover the expenses. Who loses? Everyone, but especially YOU!
WAR: Country A now does the same thing to Country B. Again, who wins and who loses? Are you still with me Trump Supporters? Of course you’re not. You still think Trump was brilliant in losing 1.17 Billion Dollars in 10 years for Sport!!
7
@Eric Cosh
You are forgetting that country A can cut prices to make the price the consumer pays the same as before the tariff, which some Chinese suppliers have done and are doing.
"Mr. Trump continues to repeat the false claim that the money will come from China, even though he has been told repeatedly that this claim has no basis in fact. He is willfully peddling a falsehood for political gain."
I do not understand why his Republican base permits him to continue telling this lie and all of his other lies. The Republican Party still refers to itself as the Party of Lincoln. This distinction has become a dishonor to the name of Abraham Lincoln.
I think that from this time forward that Bernie Sanders and the Democratic Party should refer to Donald Trump as "Lying Donald Trump" in order to differentiate him from his son "Lying Donald Trump, Jr."
2
Thanks for reporting the economic reality of tariffs and who pays. Unfortunately, Trump's base has no clue as to what you are talking about because they have no interest in fundamental economic facts. They just want a blowhard to tell them he is taking care of them. Americans long ago gave up critical thinking as a personal responsibility. This is why our democracy is in such trouble. Democracy depends on hard work by its citizens. Once they stop caring enough to do the work, they end up living in a dictatorship and wondering what happened.
3
A selective non onerous tariff on the worst of slave labor countries, coupled with other policies like increase productivity and gov't support is the way to go.
The way not to go is what the ego maniac demagogue Trump is doing. Tariffs on everything whether the importer is friend or foe, slave labor county or not.
3
TRUMP IS Acting like a mad dog chasing his tail, by claiming that China will pay the tariffs he has imposed. When the fact is that it is the US consumer who will pay the Trump Tax to the tune of some $550 to $750 per year per household. Not to worry, members of the 99%. The 1% will get a tax write-off. Meanwhile, Trump continues chasing his mad dog tail and barking, making himself the top global laughingstock.
Oh come on. He's winning the trade war and standing up to China. Criticisms like this merely strengthen him.
1
If the tariff is considered as a special tax to American, especially to the lower income, there should be a tax relief for tax year 2019, funded by all the extra tariff raised on Chinese goods.
The tariff cannot be used as the financial resources to cover the deficit due to the lower tax for the rich.
Or Trump has already got a plan to spend this extra billions dollars, and of course, he or his family will be the biggest beneficials.
The tariffs show how lazy and ignorant Trump is. With more effort he could set up a scheme to limit the absolute number of Chinese goods entering the US. So for example, a cap on washing machines. This would cause serious disruption for Chinese manufacturers and turn supply chains to other producers including Americans without the price increase a tariff delivers. Such a scheme would necessitate some effort to ensure alternate suppliers for US companies suddenly without sources. It would also hurt Chinese distribution for a long time after resolution. But that’s too much work for a president who spends so much “executive time” watching cable TV.
1
The pre Trump republicans wanted a VAT to offset the corporate tax cut. Trump thought it was too hard to explain and said no
The Tea Party wing worries about debt. The only solution is more revenue
Democrats want more tax money to do their ideas but fear asking regular people to fund it
Trump loves to hurt democrats, especially colored poor, to “encourage” them to work rather than freeload
Tariffs are his answer. They act as a national sales tax with an excuse he can sell to his base as a patriotic duty. He just lucked into but that’s fine
How does it work out? We’ll know in six years as he leaves office. Probably fine since it is a tiny percent of US, or China, gdp. Companies will adjust. Republicans will pass more tax cuts to soften the blow. The poor will get poorer.
Trump must get hard just thinking about it. Duped them all.
Yes, China will pay the tariffs... right after Mexico pays for the wall.
6
I figured that sooner or later we would face a threat to our national security or strong economy that Trump would not be competent to handle. Turns out that Trump managed to create problems in both areas all by himself.
1
All major US corporations are fiscally registered in Europe. That is Apple, Amazon, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, Starbucks, netflix, and others. All in the Republic of Ireland under fake fidiciaries to exploit European tax loopholes meant to profit European companies inside Europe and they cheat to pay zero taxes.
Will Trump creat tarifs for US corporations, all of them registered in the EU to reimport to the US ?
No.
But the cash money is recuperated via London and its ties with the US mostly illegal according to european laws , offshore banks in the Caribbean.
Like a trail of thieves.
1
Here is a thing I don't get: Is it possible there is one person, one single person in the world, who doesn't understand tariffs are a tax on the buyer? I mean, there has to be some limit for stupid, hasn't it?
2
Another win for the anti America GOP, American corporations make money off of cheap labor and now there is an opportunity to tax Americans for products. Who ever votes for Trump and the other GOP minions are living a life of delusion. Why would anyone believe the zombie lies of a vulture.
Stand up and fight back at town hall meeting and at the ballot box. StAnd up
Sometimes long term gain requires short term pain. Just how do you suggest we respond to the immoral and criminal economic policies that the Chinese engage in?
1
The sad thing is that the average Trump supporter actually believes that China pays the tariffs. They have no clue as to why prices are soaring, and if pressed probably find some way to make it Obama's fault or Hillary's fault.
Even when they are laid off as a direct result of a tariff adversely effecting the industry they work in, it is anyone's fault but Trump.
This is the same mentality seen in Germany leading up to WW II and in the people at Jonestown. This placing any individual above law and reason is dangerous and destroys freedom and democracy.
1
In these times of a looming climate catastrophe and seriously declining biodiversity the real and long-term focus of trade relations is to deal with these physical trends as a priority.
One way of dealing with this reality is to have nations pay for the damage they do by developing a balance of payments system that includes not only the existing financial debts and credits, but also those ecological costs. In Verhagen 2012 "The Tierra Solution: Resolving the climate crisis through monetary transformation" a balance of payments system is proposed that includes the financial and ecological costs and benefits as part of a global governance system where its monetary system is based not a gold standard but a carbon standard of a specific tonnage of CO2e per person. I consider discussions of the Green New Deal and its increasing support globally as positive developments towards such Tierra global governance system where the present unjust, unsustainable and, therefore, unstable international monetary system is transformed in the service of dealing with the looming ecological disasters in climate and biodiversity.
States a global thinker who has integrated those physical and social challenges in many of its writing about the Tierra system: “The further into the global warming area we go, the more physics and politics narrows our possible paths of action. Here’s a very cogent and well-argued account of one of the remaining possibilities.” Bill McKibben, May 17, 2011
The greatest hidden tax on Americans is the tax of dumping ‘negative externality cost’ taxes on us, the U.S., and the world!
2
Mexico pays for the wall and China will pick up the trade bill.
A win win situation.
What could possibly go wrong?
Our President is a genius.
2
China is not the only country in the world that makes goods purchased by American consumers.
Nowhere does it say that we must only acquire Chine made products.
There is South Korea, The Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, India, and on and on.
Some are more pro-active than others in supplying goods than others.
But with the tariffs we open up the market to other sources and have no need to put up with Chinese demands.
China does not play fair, they play for China to win. They are a communist dictatorship. Their government controls the economic activities not the other way around.
The United States has no need to put up with the 'Chinese way.'
Thanks to the New York Times, what many of us suspected and Many knew was confirmed, that Donald Trump is actually a terrible businessman. What his base still doesn't seem to have figured out is that Trump does not care who he hurts, including his own base, just so long as he has calculated that he can con and dupe and trick his way to some kind of victory for himself. That is clearly what is going on here and why Trump, as usual, is outright lying to Americans. Here's a kicker for you, though. I learned yesterday from some reporting, that ,it is none other than China from whom Trump is borrowing the the money he is subsidizing farmers and the like, those who have been harmed the most by his tariffs. Not only will Americans pay more for products, Trump has reversed Obama's having lowered the deficit to give us now a new record deficit...and he's doing so in party by borrowing money from China to pay for his bad tariffs policies. Now, let's go listen to his base repeat his whine about how China has been taking advantage of the US ... even as they support their now needing to pay interest to China for the money Trump has to borrow to subsidize Americans harmed by his tariffs. Trump is a lousy businessman but a good liar because he does it shamelessly.
1
Your editorial seems to miss the fact that companies are nimble and they are moving their plants to other countries. As for taxes, I would argue that the NY Times writing off their $1 billion loss on the Boston Globe as a tax on Americans. An incredibly poor decision by Times management resulted in a reduction in their taxable income. The decrease in the Times' taxes payable has to be made up by other taxpayers. The Times fails to realize China is not our ally and while I don't know how this will turn out, it's good to see the president is not a present day Neville Chamberlain.
The reality here is China will never give in to what trump wants so what's the end game? He really has boxed himself in politicly because all he has for 2020 is his base and they love this tough guy stuff so he cant back down however staying in hurts the majority of Americans, his base the most. As a side note the same goes for Iran and NK, they will never agree to his demands so what's his end game? The great deal maker seems to have put himself in a no win deal, lets see what he does!!!
2
Yadayadayada. It's $75 billion out of a $17 trillion economy. The Uber IPO stole more from the gullible than this tariff will steal from the masses. The question should be whether or not it will do anything to curb China's obviously unfair trade practices. I don't think anyone knows the answer to that.
Bring the pain, Donnie, bring it. Because it's falling first and foremost on your base. My dad used to tell us that there is one sure way to get a mule's attention - a 2x4 across the nose. So, swing away. Then, kill their medical insurance. That'll teach 'em. Or, likely not.
All this winning! Sick yet? I sure am. Sorry, I know you can tell. But, enough of this idiocy.
2
He is running the country the way he runs his business downhill.
2
"The mechanics of tariffs are not complicated...
[Mr Trump] is willfully peddling a falsehood for political gain..."
Look, we know the New York Times prides itself on objectivity and decorum. However, as perhaps the nation's paper of record, it's time to stop the soft shoe descriptions of Trump's behavior. He's not "falsely claiming" something once or twice. It's his habit. He continues despite how many times he's been told his claims aren't true.
His persistent willfulness is what converts those "false claims" into intentional lies. Again, as the paper of record, the Times must start calling these claims lies. They're nothing but lies, and there's nothing accidental about them.
1
Finally, someone is doing something concrete about climate change. International trade contributes to climate change and pearl clutching.
Trump is "willfully peddling a falsehood". After two years, this is still how you call it??
1
Does the tariff apply to fireworks? Trump has corrupted the DC Fourth of July event to be a celebration of himself.
EVERYTHING Trump says turns out to be a lie. EVERYTHING !
I understand Trump supporters are slow, I just didn't know they could be this slow in acknowledging they bought a bill of goods sold to them by a grifter.
1
@Robert Westwind: They don’t have to tell me they made a mistake trusting Trump, as long as they vote for anyone but Trump in the privacy of the voting booth...
1
Headline.
Trump’s Tariffs Are a New Tax on Americans.
Your headline should read: new tax on working-middle class Americans because they're the one's who'll feel the pain... not the 1% or Trump and his rich buddies...
Time for Trump Supporters to wake up and smell the Tariff's and the fact Trump don't care about 'em!
1
Guess who took some of the subsidy Trump increased our deficit to pay to farmers hit hard by his stupid tariffs? Chuck Grassley. Yep, those Republicans just hate handouts, and taxes, and deficit spending, and welfare and all those libs living off the government teat, and health care for all Americans...but Grassley is gleefully taking part in Trump's $12 billion handout, calling it 'equal treatment'. Republicans: It's different when we wants a government handout.
3
This is how Trump lost a billion dollars in the 80s & 90s. He makes decisions - business, economic & political decisions - based on his "gut" - rather than facts. And in his business career, over decades, his mistakes led to catastrophic losses.
But Trump is stubborn. He's convinced - without evidence - that he's a 'genius.' That he has peerless understanding of business & economics. And his electoral victory in 2016 has further convinced him he's also a "political genius."
Unfortunately, this is delusional.
But in Trump's world, his gut is not to be challenged. Previous presidents surrounded themselves with experts, academics, career civil service & diplomats. Previous presidents always had smart, experienced people to advise them. Trump's staff & cabinet are stocked with amateurs without knowledge of their fields or qualifications (De Vos, Carson, Perry), or they're idealogues & zealots (Miller, Bolton). Or they're outsiders like Sean Hannity & Tom Barrack who don't possess the knowledge to capably advise him. These people don't understand economic policy, foreign policy, domestic policy - or law.
Trump, a small time real estate 'tycoon' & reality tv star who'd suffered huge losses & multiple bankruptcies, had no qualifications to be president & has spent the last 2 years refusing to learn his job or seek help from trustworthy advisers.
His ego problems won't permit him to ask for help.
He's driving the country off a cliff.
We appear helpless to stop him
1
If he reduced tariff's , the NYT headline would read...
Trump Tariff Cuts Hurt the Poorest Consumers in Emerging World Hardest.
When it comes to questions of free trade, you're about as likely to get an unbiased, objective analysis from the University of Chicago, as from President Trump.
"Willfully peddling a falsehood for political gain" - sums up this presidency.
2
It's too bad that the majority of our dumb country, too busy watching "Wrestle Mania" or "The Bachelor," can't even grasp the simple economic lesson presented here.
2
President Trump is doing what 5 other Presidents have failed to do, he has established a line in the sand. This is a distinctly different tact than any previous President has done.
We don't want the Chinese as adversaries but unfortunately in business that is what competitors become. Trump is attempting to level the playing field against almost insurmountable odds.
Almost every news media is attempting to undercut his efforts, in addition you have a hostile partnership with the Democratic Party. That party is pulling out every stop to resist. Imagine the word RESIST, we all know what it means, disgraceful.
The NYTimes is also selling out the country due to their hatred of Trump, imagine that, the NYTimes as the " Enemy of the people ".
3
Instead of his fake and ghost-written "Art of the Deal," our Biggest-Loser-in-Chief should read Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" for a lesson about real leadership:
“There are five dangerous faults which may affect a general:
(1) Recklessness, which leads to destruction;
(2) cowardice, which leads to capture;
(3) a hasty temper, which can be provoked by insults;
(4) a delicacy of honor which is sensitive to shame;
(5) over-solicitude for his men, which exposes him to worry and trouble.”
He suffers all but the last of these as he appears to have no regard to any of those he would presume to lead, including the American people.
He is a narcissistic, thin-skinned, conniving coward who is recklessly treating important international trade negotiations like a surreality game show.
2
A suggestion for the New York Times.
Please take all the information here and create some nice pretty pictures, graphs and charts for our president. Try to remain monosyllabic and use color wherever possible. And, while it may be impossible to do so because of the opaque nature of the Trump Organization, try as hard as possible to include an attention-grabbing subhead on each page such as "And here is how it would impact the Trump Organization."
Maybe even consider taking the paywall down permanently for the White House too.
2
I'm sorry New York Times - you're as bad as the President. Nominally you are correct, but in practice who pays a tariff is a function of the elasticity of demand (See Khan Academy at https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/microeconomics/elasticity-tutorial/price-elasticity-tutorial/a/elasticity-and-tax-incidence). In addition, you'd have to calculate in the benefits to American businesses and workers who compete against China (and are getting a subsidy in a sense), plus the larger strategic issue of having an aggressive President who is playing hard ball with a very tough competitor.
1
Trump is a serial liar.
He has no other goal than to destroy this country and the planet.
1
I am happy to pay 12% more for a washing machine knowing that it generated 1 800 well paying jobs for fellow Americans
The president is telling another lie? News flash.
1
So Trump should do nothing like the Democrats and Republicans before him? Just accept China's misbehavior?
How French of The Times. Appease the Chinese. The Editorial Board, who possibly never do their own laundry, are so concerned for the poorest among us.
Many of those The Times is concerned about use laundromats. That is, they're renters, not owners. Even owners only replace their machines every decade or so.
Yes, our consumers may pay a little more, but what do the Chinese use their profits for? A massive military buildup and advanced technology possibly able to sink our Navy anywhere in the world using hypersonic missles. Advanced nuclear weapons.
This is more that a trade war. If China becomes economically and militarily dominant, more, even most, democracies may fall.
1
@Dhg: Trump should have honored and strengthened the TPP that was exactly implemented to have leverage over China's. He ditched it instead because it was an Obama legacy and probably also because Putin told him so. Besides, Trump has never been a team player, on the contrary, like any con he sows division and chaos wherever he goes, so he can enrich himself when everybody else is focused on the chaos. I'd like to know the Trumps' recent market activity for starters...
1
Why does Trump, who has to answer to unhappy voters at election time, think he has significant leverage over the Chinese government, which doesn’t have to answer to anyone? He couldn’t even convince little North Korea to do his bidding. Walking away from the bargaining table, as anyone who has purchased a new house or car knows, only works when one can afford to walk away. Trump can’t. I’m starting to understand why Trump has never been a good businessman.
1
The author's argument on buying American made dryers misses a Huge point. That $815,000 per 1,500 jobs created remained in the US, much of which was spent in the US, and taxed in the US. Either that's good, or the author would prefer the wealth losing trade deficit?
Both are wrong. China is paying the bill. Economics 101 involves Cost, Quality & Service as the three drivers of deciding what product to buy. If the product costs more, less if it is purchased. That is, if China continued to charge $1,000 for the Sofa, it costs the consumer $1,250 now, and they very well may buy it elsewhere. So China drops the cost to $750 (not exact, but for the ease of the example) there's $250 in Tariffs, same cost to Consumer, and China maintains market share.
Yes, the American consumer paid the tariff. Who really paid it? With myriad goods and services, and the fickle behavior of the consumer, and exact measure would be difficult, it's a mix of the two.
The biggest difference is that we can afford it, China can't. Chuck Schumer & Trump agree on fixing the China trade as the American worker has been getting shafted for decades on this.
1
Whenever possible I purchase Chinese. They make good quality products and the retailers are very helpful.
I normally cheer on the underdog. In this case, because of Trump's unfair tariffs, China has became the "underdog". I don't care that Chinese products will cost me more for the foreseeable future. I will do my part to help them get over this until we elect someone into office that knows how economics actually works.
It's hard to debate lies, so ignore them. A tariff could work in theory, if it increased domestic jobs enough to offset the tax effect of the tariff. We could have a legitimate debate on tariffs if we could analyze factual data that could either support or refute that theory. The problem is that, aside form being wrong on the facts, Trump is intellectually incapable of winning such debates. Thus, the lies. But this is only part of the bigger lie. From tariffs to tax cuts for the wealthy to destruction of our health care to destruction of the Departments of State, Education, Energy and the EPA we are eyewitnessing a systematic attempt to destroy our economy. If only we had a report that could explain why this is happening.
So much for Trump's "yuge" tax cuts for 99% of Americans.
I do not know how many "American" products I have in my house which were not made in "America", but were made in China. One would think Rivereware, a company that dates back to the early days of this country; well guess what?, when I bought a set of their product, it was made in China, not Boston. To be honest, in my home office, only most of the books and magazines were published in the US. But, everything else, came from China.
I mention this because tried and true "American" products are not "American" at all.
Trump just imposed, what amounts to, a 25% VAT on virtually everything an American buys, except fro fresh fruit, fresh meat, and most packaged food goods.
As fro all those "American" products coming back to "America"? They won't, nor will the jobs. Why? Because the costs will be borne by consumers, as the 25% new tax is passed on.
Meanwhile, the Trump Administration will manipulate the CPI, to hide the inflation this will cause, so the Fed doe snot increase interest rates from so called "Tariff Man".
5
Retailers should list the cost to the consumer on the item invoice as a serarate item, a tax, right along with the sales or local taxes.
5
As those who were adults in the 70's age, the memory of inflation, protectionism, and the resulting economic malaise fade. And then people revert to trying the same thing all over again. Same applies to Socialism. Humans, it seems, must find out the truth for themselves with every generation. We may retain historic memory, but it doesn't seem to be of any interest to the majority.
Trump has a pattern familiar to the banal sales pitchman - Tell them what is about happen, repeat it. When it happens, regardless of what happened, claim that it is exactly as you predicted. The crowd falls for it every time.
That's what he did with "who will pay for the wall - mexico" chant and now with Chinese tariffs. The actual payee is the same in both cases - American citizenry.
6
Trump speaks mostly to his base. That's why he can lie brazenly. I remember when I was in high school I learned about the concept of supply and demand. Tariffs will result in restricting goods which will make them cost more. I'm sure some of the people who sit behind him at his rallies went to high school. So they should know what I'm talking about. But in their fervor to support him apparently facts don't matter. China controls the state media because it's a totalitarian government. So when the cost of American products cost more in China they can spin it anyway they want unlike here we have freedom of the press. Even so there is a major American media network that often leaves out critical information to their viewers and listeners. This is done deliberately to support President Trump. There is so much misinformation that they are right up there with the Chinese state run media.
7
When is a tax not a tax? Why, when it's a tax on anyone but us.
Sad to say, those who have no tax pay no tax.They are now edging closer to 100,000,000 strong and growing.
Why work if others work, they ask? Read St. Paul's letters to find out why. Yes, charity begins at home when we're raised, but responsibility begins when we're old enough to find a job.
1
What?
Suggestion to the Times: Send out a team of reporters cross country to chronicle the actual damage Trump's tariffs are causing everyday consumers and business owners. Make it a monthly series of stories about how families are being forced to pay higher prices for essential products and groceries, how small businesses are being forced to downsize or close down, how farmers are struggling with declining commodity prices, lost marketshare and incomes. A good dozen or so stories should do it, each covering 2 or 3 families and small businesses. It won't take long for such a series of stories to spread far and wide. You can title the series 'The Soft Underbelly of Trump's Tariffs' or 'Trump's Tariffs – Bait and Switch'. You will win a Pulitzer for the project. Thanks, and keep up the good work.
8
@Rob
Or maybe you will find that the increases are so small that they are hardly noticed. I know it is fashionable to jump on the hate Trump train but in reality he has taken on the problem of China head on instead of leaving it for the next President like his predecessors. We have been in trade wars with China since the Nixon administration and will more than likely continue well after the Trump administration. The most serious problem is the theft of intellectual property and unless solved will cause greater harm to the US than tariffs ever will.
Besides , in reality we should be buying American anyway.
If goods produced in China become too expensive, it will become more profitable to produce goods domestically. Bicycles, circuit boards and wooded doors can be made in the USA.
This will lead to higher paying U.S. manufacturing jobs.
The Board is disingenuous when it falsely claims that taxes on U.S. corporations are paid by U.S. corporations, but taxes on Chinese corporations are paid by U.S. consumers.
The combination of lower U.S. taxes and higher Chinese taxes will bring more production back to America.
America will be great again.
3
The times editorial board are journalists, mostly young that are not economists. Your points are correct and this editorial is wrong.
While the prickly issues like China's unfair trade practices or the IP theft or espionage of the US state and industry data that directly affect the Americans and still remain completely unaddressed, Trump is simply threatening politically expedient and electorally exploitable trade and tariff war against China which will only add to the suffering of common American consumers and business, specially when Trump has no import substitution plan worth its name to lessen America's dependence on the Chinese imports.
5
Blah, blah, blah. Trump is looking at a twenty year horizon, not tomorrow. The only expediency here is the NYT and it’s anti-Trump narrative: All the news that fits, we print.
Indeed, the tariffs end up raising prices to everybody. The reality is somewhat nuanced, as documented by PBS in their May 7 Frontline episode "Trump's trade war with China".
No doubt China has abused the WTO system by failing to followed rules. No doubt China's abuse has been perpetuated by greedy American companies and greedy consumers demanding lowest price. No doubt both of these failings have exacerbated the loss of jobs in basic manufacturing by way of shunting them to China and replacing domestic USA workers with robots.
The question we should ask ourselves: Is it worth paying a bit more for items to ensure jobs? The question corporations should ask themselves: How much profit and pay is really proper for the C-suite?
It just might be that this is the best climate change policy coming out of this administration. Put a tax on everything and slow this economy down. The unintended consequence just might be a little less suffering as we move towards 420 ppm.
1
If the result of tariffs is to raise prices in the U.S. shouldn't that cause the rate of inflation to increase? How much has inflation increased because of the tariffs?
Yes Tarriffs are inflationary. But more than that, it will yield more domestic manufacturing leading to higher wages. Which is also inflationary. But I think that is what the country wanted.
Surely consumption taxes are better than income taxes, especially when they can be targeted at trade-sensitive items.
Trump is looking out for America, China's President is looking out for China, the US political parties are looking out for their majorities or high government posts.
The fact that consumers feel the pinch should wake us up that we have given control of our economy to someone else.
Technology drives economies and militaries. Along with some brave folks, it helped us win WWII. China honors their techies, we honor elected officials who either attack or defend our government.
China has been tilting the trade table in their favor for decades claiming "developing country" status. They no longer need to, both because they are on track to be the biggest economy and their emphasis on technology already gives them an advantage.
The problem is not entirely China, it is us. Televised "hearings" do not sell "over there", but cars and TV's do. China just started to grab the most successful car company (from America) and that will bring the best space launch firm as well.
Yes, "untilt" the table, but -- Compete or Die!
1
Yes, the tariffs are bad for business, bad for consumers, and the president has lied yet again. But none of those things indicate that the tariffs are bad for American Democracy and its citizenry (a broader, more important category than the narrow one of “consumer.”)
Individual shopper choices will not reverse the Titanic’s course toward even more devastating climate disaster and a dystopian globe of surveillance autocracies. The crew members must change course. If President Ahab inadvertently steers us away from disaster, I’ll quietly applaud.
1
Well explained. Now make it simple in a diagram and bullet points. Too many people don’t want to work to understand taxes and tariffs.
6
@Nancy Fairchild: "Too many people don't want to work to understand taxes and tariffs". And that includes our blathering president. He's the one that needs the simple diagram - and he still probably wouldn't understand it.
2
Add the tariff costs on to the tax increase I was gifted by Trump, McConnell and Ryan and the increase in gas pries thanks to the Iranian oil embargo. Making America great again.
11
I'm not a fan of Trump's trade policies but it's no small irony that the Nytimes sees imposing a regime of tariffs that will cause an increase in largely items that can me manufactured in the US by US labor is bad whereas a regime of regulations on US companies, imposing $15 min wage and new taxes which will make US companies less competitive, drive small business out of business AND make consumers pay more is good.
2
@Chris
Wrong. First, the manufacturing jobs ARE NOT coming back to the US. Second, higher prices without more income = less consumption. More money in people's pockets = increased consumption. Economics 101.
4
No clearer indication is need to see that the President is willing to ignore the interests of the population in favor of his own. His supporters, however, will cheer his continued fall upward.
1
I have said time and again, that Trump's tariffs are no more than a tax - a tax on those who can least afford it.
I'm pleased that others now see it through my own lens - but it saddens me to know that we are being ripped off by the con man in the White House.
We get nothing for it other than additional expense. He gets his tax relief for billionaires paid for. I don't exactly call that a good "deal".
9
Dog bites man, Trump continues to push false narratives, what else is new. That the GOP stays onboard with this strategy has become part of our new reality. We are all living for the next election.
5
No question tariffs are a tax, but the economy is handling Trump's little tax increase with little fuss. Because of the relative trade disparity, it is having an impact on China - while diversifying supply chains benefitting other countries. So it is an interesting experiment, politics aside. Now lets assume the administration does negotiate a deal to address some of the underlying substantive issues. Trump has proven we can adapt to a consumption tax. Perhaps it is time to consider an equity adjusted Value Added Tax (VAT or BAT).
Rural America put Trump in office and by continuing faithfully following, they empower and enable him and his rapacious oligarchy. It's obvious to everyone but the faithful that he is unfit and that his policies, if they can be described by a title that makes them seem considered, are accelerating the desolation of our rural communities. But sometimes the victims of abusive relationships are unable and unwilling to leave. They are truly victims who deserve compassion, but we cannot help them while they are blinded by love and loyalty.
8
"Americans responded by buying more domestic washing machines, creating about 1,800 new jobs."
Trump's tariff is such a tragedy. Imagine what will happen to the middle-class when the play field is leveled around the world.
C1omplete the sentence "each new job costs $815,000 (that is eight hundred fifteen thousand). Such a deal.
An excellent commentary. Thank you. But we must be cautious about making generalizations about those most affected by this tariff war. We will ALL pay, not just Trump supporters. Remember the "deplorables" kerfuffle, which contributed to candidate Clinton's loss.
2
Looking at the big picture ;ie climate change, anything that constricts human consumption is a helpful thing. I hope Trump presses the brakes on the economy even more.
1
Several points to be made:
1. The tariffs are regressive - hitting low income folks hard a tax on working people
2. The statement was made that the cost of each additional job that was estimated to be created was $185,000 - this is $185,000 per year - not one time.
3. Trump is thinking about a program to support farming by buying farm produce and shipping it to low income countries - this will have the effect of lowering farm incomes in these countries.
Way to go Trump administration!! I am exhausted from all the "winning" we get from this administration.
8
The reality is that tariffs work and have been used by nearly every country for a long time to protect local manufacturers and aid in balancing the budget. The US has needed these tariffs since the 70s but instead blundered by imposing quotas instead on vehicles from Japan and other countries. That was a disaster and the most visible result was the decimating of the US luxury car market, with 'high end' cars from the major Japanese manufacturers flooding the US market, which till then had been accustomed to the Japanese providing cheap cars at the lower end of the market. Detroit will never be the same again.
The US became a respected nation partly on account of its industrial prowess. Today we have nearly reached the point that we need to be importing steel to build our infrastructure projects and military equipment. We cannot be a great nation if this continues. Yes, we have to pay the price in higher prices for consumer goods, but do we really need so many TVs in every garbage pickup? We can start repairing devices and reducing our carbon footprint. That would be a great start but it would mean digging a little deeper in our pocketbooks. Are we really that selfish that our living standard is more important than the health of our nation and the environment? We need to face these issues when discussing whether tariffs are good for us or not.
How would we have reacted if these tariffs were instituted by Obama?
2
Vivian, the lost Chinese jobs will not come back to the US. The low tech manufacturing jobs have already moved to other emerging markets. The US needs to ensure every American has access to an education that will allow them to reach their full potential. That’s how to move our economy in a direction fair to all Americans.
1
@Vivian
Well, I don’t think Republicans supported his investment in the solar panel industry.
1
Obviously, it is not a bad outcome for the Republican party if small farms are absorbed by the corporations that fund the Republican party. That's the whole point of the party, to loosen rules about bribery and cash in on big lobbyists and corporations. That's why there are so many monopolies now and rural America is doing so poorly. They might not like tariffs, but they aren't going to cry over bankrupt farms, because those voters won't do anything about it. They're pushovers.
Trump's actual policy is despotic power, and this is a great example. Suddenly the president can do whatever he wants with tariffs and no one is stopping him. That didn't happen before.
6
From the 1990s on, it is the American consumer, not any president or political party, that has determined our trade policy with China.
It always comes down to our DNA: get labor free ( as in slavery) or as cheap as possible.
We'd rather slash our own economic health in the long term with slow small cuts than pay a little extra to employ a fellow American.
4
I am not a fan of Trump. But if there is one thing future generations may thank us for is for his effort to address China’s illegal economic methods, IP theft and state subsidies of industry. If nothing is done we will have a much weakened Caterpillar or Boeing and our children will work Chinese work hours and the world will look more like a dictatorship. I am fine with pay a bit more for my washing machine or cellphone if we can avoid that outcome.
3
@Decville
And they may not. Judging from trump's track record, I don't have much hope for the success of just about anything he does.
11
@Decville
But, it could lead to another Great Depression.
2
Please don't accuse China of unfair practices.
Like all rich countries the US is abusing its dominance to impose unfair trade conditions on poorer countries. It is evading those conditions that populists in the rich countries call unfair.
6
@Wim Roffel
Or look at US history. Plenty of unfair trade and labor conditions here in the US (until the union and the laws stopped them)
3
And after the tariff war is over, do you think price increases attributable to tariffs will go down? No! This will only in the long run benefit the businesses that pass along the cost to consumers. Increased prices become the new normal. Just like when the increased price of oil leads to higher airfare, decreases in the price of oil do not trickle down in the form of cheaper airfare to consumers. Ask yourself: why did the stock market do so well today?
310
@Don Pirrigno
Don't need to wait until the trade wars are done. The tariff was on washing machines, but the price of dryers also rose. Why? Because most people buy them together and it was easy for the companies/stories to raise both, so them did.
56
@Don Pirrigno
You're wrong. Prices fluctuate all the time in a global economy, but mostly they have gotten lower and lower for Americans over the decades:
"The typical American consumer/factory worker in 1959 would have had to work more than a month (4.5 weeks) at the average hourly wage then to earn enough income to purchase a Sears washer-dryer combination. Today’s typical, and very fortunate consumer/worker would have to work for less than 4 days, not more than 4 weeks, to earn enough income to purchase a washer-dryer combination. Measured in the amount of time working at the average hourly wage to earn enough income to purchase a washer-dryer combination, the “time cost” of those two appliances together has fallen by 83%, from 181.8 hours in 1959 to only 31 hours today."
http://www.aei.org/publication/appliance-shopping-1959-vs-2012/
5
@Ed: I think that both you and @Don Pirrigno are correct in different ways. Many things cost less today than they did years ago (in terms of the amount of work required to pay for them). But manufacturers or retailers will raise prices over the course of weeks and months in the present day. And people have to buy things in the present day.
28
What a brilliant move this is by Trump. That tax cut he gave the wealthy increased the deficit like nobody's business, so he had to find a tax increase to make up for it, and that's exactly what these tariffs are. They will generate the revenue America needs to make up for those tax cuts. (It's just that they will be doing so on the backs of the American consumer.)
329
@Boneisha
The tax cut is costing a TRILLION dollars a year.
At 25% tariff, to raise a trillion dollars, you have to tax a revenue stream of $4 Trillion.
But we only buy about $500 Billion at most from China.
So that would raise only $125 Billion (out of YOUR POCKET) at most.
43
@Joe From Boston Actually, the Trump Tax Cut original cost was estimated at 1.9 trillion from 2019 to 2028. However, estimates are now implying it will be more like 2.3 trillion total over that 10-year span, so this Trump Tariff Tax will pretty well cover it. The beauty of it is that most of the gains will fall to the rich, and the poor and middle class will foot most of the costs. I seen the fingerprints of Steve Munchkin all over this one.
35
@Boneisha I think your comment, as well as the other two replies made so far, are overestimating Trump's maneuvers. I don't think he is calculating new tax revenues from tariffs to offset the earlier tax cuts. No, I think he simply believes and has it set in his concrete head that "China is ripping us off" and "we are losers," just like he used to say about the Japanese. So, he's "going to be tough" on China, "I'll show them," and "all other presidents were weak," "I am strong." Of course, he is the simpleton and the idiot.
17
You might not be giving Trump enough credit. It's possible that he is fully aware that his tariffs will be paid by non-wealthy Americans, and he fully supports that approach. After all, regressive taxes are very much in line with Republican economic dogma: Higher taxes for the non-wealthy can fund more tax cuts for the wealthy.
But Trump still has to lie about it, and claim that China is paying for it (just as he insisted that Mexico would pay for his border wall). If China is paying for the tariffs, it's a "win" for Trump. And that victory should keep his base sufficiently inflamed and enthusiastic to prevent them from noticing that they're bearing the burden of his "war." Using someone else's money for a "win" is a typical Trump tactic.
416
@Ted Economics says they’ll shift from Chinese products to other, less expenses options including domestic manufacturing. The return of manufacturing is already happening.
1
@Todd: As noted in the article, regular Americans have paid over $800K to create each one of those jobs. If you want to have Americans pay money to create jobs in America, why not tax the Americans who already have the most money? And you could do that without placing other drags on the economy, which work to reduce employment and slow overall economic growth.
49
@Stan Sutton
The entire heart of the Republican Party is summarized by Tax Cuts for the Rich, controlling 'wage inflation' (eliminating raises for workers), and feeding their base with a bucket of lies to undercut the American System and replace it with a pure, direct, plutocracy. If you want those with more money to pay taxes, you have to change who is running the nation and overcome the massive Republican control of the courts, the state legislatures, and increasingly the media.
This is made more difficult because Republicans are loyal to their party, not to truth, country, humanity, planet, or God.
40
This is not just a tax, it is a regressive one. The goods China manufactures are cheaper, not of high quality and have a planned obsolescence of a year or less. In other words "attention Walmart shoppers, everything in the store is 25% more expensive today". They are the ones who will feel the pinch the most. They are the ones who will be filling the government's coffers. They are the ones who will make up for the Republican's tax give away to the rich. Maybe they deserve it because, judging by the bumper stickers on the trucks in the parking lot, they were the ones who gave us Trump.
461
@Rick Gage
Indeed, Rick. Especially in the rural and quite poor hinterlands of the US, e.g West Virginia, Walmart is the main go-to shop.
With prices going up by 25% on all products Made in China though, I doubt the Trump's base will make the connection that he is responsible for the fact that these tariffs hurt the least well off among them them the most.
31
It is called, "A sucker being born every minute" , that's what his poorly educated are, and he counts in it.
30
@Rick Gage
Isn't it sad?
Those people who can't afford will suffer most?
I live and can live without government help can only watch their sufferings from above.
12
It's just so sad that Trump supporters can't comprehend that we are the ones paying for this not china.
156
We’ve seen this pattern all along. Even a video clip says it all. “ I like using other people’s money.”
Actually what he meant was, “I like LOSING other people’s money.”
New Yorkers have known this for years. Now, the rest of the country is getting a taste, bitter as it may be.
597
@David J
Well said.
I have learned in the last two years from NY Times and what Trump has said and done, that he is a real parasite of the New York City, the whole world and now the US government.
Trump is a cheat, a con man, a thief, a criminal, a traitor, a immoral creature, and a Parasite!
Why many of my fellow Americans still say that he is no different from other politicians for partisan ideology?
I am a biology major, I believe in brain-washing, addiction, and neuro-hormonal pathyways. Many of my "friends" are "trained" to hate Obama, Hilary, gays, and abortion by Fox News, Limbaugh, and "Christian" evangelicals.
Sad. But, I'd rather live without those "friends" and churches.
My conscience is clear and clean. I can still face my dead mother, that I stay away from those evil and dirty people.
31
@Mark Great post and important insight. I grew up in the same culture you describe. I attended the churches you describe. Most of my friends, family, and neighbors also embrace that same hatred that disgusts you. I hope and pray that you and your generation can somehow turn this massive movement around. Your Mother would be proud of you. I am proud of you!
14
@Mark
In these dire apocalytic news days, your simple post gave me a warm feeling. I am an African American woman every day I feel like I am bombarded by hate, evil politicians, and sheer insanity from the White House. I will also know that my future grandchildren will know that I was on the right side of history. As a mother I applaud your Mother for raising you in such a superb manner, tomorrow is still her day!!
21
Tariffs absolutely are a tax. All of it will be borne by Americans. I own a cottage industry manufacturing concern and these tariffs are going to tear me up. Trump claims he wants to create jobs, but he has targeted exactly the goods that will cost jobs, the industrial supply chain.
I'm in the electronics business and most of the parts we use are sourced from China. Smaller shops like mine buy through large distributors. They by 10,000 of a part and we buy a few hundred. The distributors will not eat those costs. They will raise their prices. There is no way I can eat a 25% rise in parts costs. I will have to raise my prices. That will have two effects. The higher prices will discourage sales, no question. But there is a bigger dilemma. My customers will wait it out. If I raise prices, they know that Trump will be gone and these taxes will go away. Then prices will come back down. In the meantime, my sales dry up.
These is no way electrons parts production is coming back to the US. It left 30 to 40 years ago. There are no plants. Even if there were, we couldn't make those parts less than the 25% tax increase. No jobs will be coming back.
Now the big mess. Foreign competitors will be able to get those parts tariff free. This will give them a huge price advantage on the global market.
No matter how you slice it, these taxes will not create jobs. They will cost jobs, lots of jobs, and drive up prices. All of it paid for by us.
756
@Bruce Rozenblit Bruce, thank you. This is the second such comment I have read from a reader who said the same as you did. Admittedly, I am new to this economic paradigm. It is reassuring that this op ed, you, and those who have businesses can tell the American people both the stakes involved and also when Trump is selling us a bunch of illusory goods (no pun intended). We are listening. But it is disheartening to realize that Trump's supporters, among those who will be hurt the most by these tariffs, will very likely cover their eyes and ears to the truth.
177
@Bruce Rozenblit Well stated, directly from the small business person's view and someone who doesn't brag about going bankrupt and losing other people's money.
148
thank you for sharing your post
over the last 25 years American manufacturing jobs and production steadily moved to China. Your electronic parts, Chaco sandals, Cannondale bikes, you name it—the list goes on. I am fully supportive of buying American made, but these tariffs will not magically resurrect major production facilities overnight and create jobs here. They are long gone. Sadly these tariffs hurt businesses like yours and will ultimately damage our economy.
113
Our president has been peddling lies to all of us for his own political gain. American shoppers (go to any hangar-sized grocery/market in the U.S. to see the plethora of stuff that feeds our addiction to buying) will be surprised to see that the Tariff Man has raised prices of a huge amount of Made in China goods. The U.S. firms that move and sell the products can't afford the new taxes. Or they will have to lay off their American workers, another deadly skirmish in the China Trade War. So the people will pay, or learn to walk away from unnecessary purchases.
Lower profits for faceless corporations or higher prices for buyers. Mr. Trump has lied to us since long before the day he ran for president. Low income American families will see that the prices of most of the Made in China products they buy will rise What they need will cost more. Trump has plunged us into a trade war. "Trade wars are good, and easy to win" (DJT, 3/18). How easy to win? Why do we Americans still have a tariff man in the White House?
3
Trump’s policies of trade war are costing the American consumer an estimated $1,400,000,000 per month. These costs will now increase under his 25% tariffs. Where, I wonder, is the Republican indignation over big government’s further intrusion into their lives & pockets?
As to Trump’s claim that the Chinese will in some manner unspecified foot this monthly consumer tax bill on behalf of Americans I expect they will pay when Mexico pays for his wall.
13
@Lewis Sternberg
Assuming your claim is true that's costing Americans a little over $4/month. Wow.
Instead for the $4/month we need to allow the Chinese to steal America's technology leadership. Get real.
The simple fact is that Trump (and US) has no leverage over China because China will just take its good elsewhere. Furthermore, the US will not get China to change substantive things, ie, how intellectual property is dealt with, without allies, eg, Great Britain, etc. AND Trump has lost these allies. The US is acting in isolation.
Trump, the great deal-maker. He never was, He has, and is, a con man.
9
@Gordon Alderink
Shoe's actually on the other foot. Multinationals can take their factories anywhere including outside China.
1
People who oppose Trump's defending the US from Chinese imperialism are simply blinded by Trump Derangementn Syndrome. Why should US companies be required to turn over US technology to the Chinese in order to trade in China? Up until now, the US consumer has been funding China's military expansion, both quantitively and qualitively, which has the goal of expelling the US from the Western Pacific, and, eventually, the rest of the world.
Of course the US purchaser eventually pays the import tax, but making Chinese goods more expensive decreases the amount of such goods imported, which puts pressure on the Chinese economy, leading, one hopes, to less investment in military goods.
That Trump does not have a PhD in Economics should be news to no one. That he is defending the US from its enemies, which most previous (and particularly Democrat) administrations have not done, is something the bien pensant need to internalize and welcome.
7
@james The stock Market says you are wrong. The deficit says you are wrong . We will be poorer wejerad and more isolated . Bad all around
3
@James Hook, line, and sinker. Btw, James, guess where Trump is getting the money from to subsidize American farmers and manufacturers his hard by his idiotic tariffs? China. So, we are adding to Trump's already record deficit (after it being lowered by Obama) with money borrowed from China, to whom you will be paying interest, to support Americans hit hard by the US President's policies. China thanks you. Boy, Trump sure is getting back at China by making Americans not only pay higher prices for goods but to pay China interest on money borrowed to pay American farmers hurt by Trump's policies. Brilliant, huh?
3
@james
If this turns into a real trade war, it's because China wants to dominate the world on the back of American consumers. Someone has to stand up to them. I'm sorry that it took Trump but that's life.
Against our intense and understandable dislike of Trump we also should weigh a certain truth from which we cannot hide. The US needs an enforceable policy of balanced foreign trade. As once proposed by Warren Buffett, it could be arranged via currency exchange control.
That would be to grant US exporters $ trade credits that importers must buy on a regulated exchanged before releasing $ to pay for their imports. Someone inflows vs outflows of investment capital might be worked into that equation.
That would solve our chronic imbalance problem without targeting any specific trading partner or category of goods and services. If other nations chose to "retaliate" by passing similar legislation, fine!
3
The consequences of tariffs are fare more far reaching than described.
Take the case of HP laser printers/copiers, I case I discussed yesterday with my class
Currently , HP is making low end, personal use laser printers in Mexico, middle end professional and office use laser printers in Mexico and Vietnam, and High end Multi Function Printers/Copiers/Fax (MFP's) in China
What will happen when a 25% tariffs kick in on the MFPs ?
1. Can HP transmit the 25% to the customers ? No, as
it would immediately loose market share to Cannon and
Sharp, it's competitors
2. Hence HP will put pressure on its Chinese supply line
to "eat" the tariff. As in the case of the washing
machine, about half will be "eaten" by China
3. But this situation will not last. To better compete with
Sharp and Cannon, HP will begin shifting production
of its high end multifunction office copiers from China
to Vietnam, where it ALREADY is making mid level
copiers/printers
No 25% import tax on products from Vietnam, and
wages LOWER than in China will put HP in a more
competitive position
I.e. industry will shift its supply line to lower wage, lower cost countries.
I.e. just as the US saw manufacturing move from the high cost US to lower cost China, China as a result of these tariffs and already higher wages than Vietnam and other low wage countries, will see manufacturing jobs disappear
1
I'm a liberal and therefore I am not tax-phobic.
I am all in favor of targeted taxes that raise revenue while advancing societal interests, such as taxing pollution (gasoline, single use plastics), and congestion pricing, to name just a few.
America has become addicted to cheap, throwaway imports from an authoritarian country with a dismal human rights record and this has harmed the global environment and has fueled income equality here at home.
Increasing the cost of Chinese made products will create better purchasing decisions by rational consumers.
They say even a broken clock is right twice a day, and I say that while I despise nearly everything the present administration has done, I think taxing imports from China is a great idea.
6
China has already started cutting back on bond purchases. The effect on on rates will be huge. Somebody give him a box of crayons and keep him in his room watching Fox news for the rest of his term.
31
@RAW
As one of the largest holder of US Bonds, China has a lot to lose. But let's say that they do stop. That will only lower the US$ resulting in the US being a more dangerous competitor long term.
@RAW What, you mean the US population will have to start spending in accordance with its income, instead of giving more and more "free stuff" to more and more people, whose only contribution to society is to vote for people who promise more "free stuff?" Wow, sounds like a tragedy, no?
1
@RAW
China stopped buying US debt sometime after the election: partly to curb their own economic issues, and in part because they didn't want to try to catch a falling knife.
with that, now their investments in the US (as a whole) is mostly refocused on gov't proxy purchases of US assets (like the Foxconn boondoggle in Wisconsin, for example), and old school, soft money, corporate stock takeover stuff.
1
Trump wants America to make bicycles, circuit boards, and wooden doors. But, a quick search revealed, “If a country is trying to grow strong in a new industry, tariffs will protect it from foreign competitors. ... The protection of tariffs, quotas, or subsidies allows domestic companies to hire locally. This benefit ends once other countries retaliate by erecting their own protectionism.” - The Balance.
And from Wikipedia, “Some scholars have implicated protectionism as the cause of some economic crises, most notably the Great Depression.”
16
@rebeca1048
Here's the legislation that did it
"Smoot Hawley Tariff definition US history
What is the 'Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act'. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, known formally as the United States Tariff Act of 1930, was a piece of U.S. legislation raising import duties to protect American businesses and farmers".
" To protect American businesses and farmers"
Yes, it did not end well the last time this was tried.
10
@rebecca1048...it would be wonderful if some manufacturing could come back to the US. But first, Mr. Trump would have to finally follow thru and develop a workable infrastructure plan. Our current infrastructure could not support the manufacturing growth that he has dreamed up.
1
@rebecca1048 If there had been NO trade between the US and China, the Chinese would still be a Third World country and would not be successfully militarily challenging the US.
Excellent article. But at the end you say: "There is widespread agreement, both in the United States and among America’s allies, that China is engaged in unfair practices". This sounds a lot like the "high confidence" of the intelligence community. It is not enough to state that things are unfair. Spell out the case and show the proof. The WTO has forums for resolving these issues. The fact is we do not have the manpower nor organizational ability to compete with China. So instead, it seems, we use our manpower to create a humongous trillion dollar monstrosity that can destroy the competition. Is this going to MAGA?
9
@DanGood
what we also need to remember is that China's rise to an economical superpower was helped by a great deal by money from the west. The same money is also what tries to prevent measures that would jeopardize the investments.
4
@Truthseeker At one point Walmart alone accounted for a very high percentage of China's exports. As I recall the figure was 10%. Walmart lobbied hard in the Clinton years for China to be in the WTO. So, yes, the rise in Chinese fortunes can be said to be "made un USA".
2
Trump's mantra is: I win, everybody lose including his supporters who will now pay more for their purchases that are made in China.The farmers are particularly vulnerable but does Trump care? No because he thinks punishing China will win re-election in 2020.
22
@Elizabeth Wong: It is amazing that Trump even matters. That he matters is all that matters to him.
2
The discussion of tariffs makes no sense in isolation from the bigger picture of global capital, local labor, and the interrelations of capital and government.
Global capitalists take advantage of cheaper labor outside of the US in order to undercut prices of similar US made goods. Consumers presented a choice, without a clear value distinction in the product (they seem equivalent) will buy the less expensive product. That has the effect of both ending those jobs in the US and driving down wages.
Tariffs leave the jobs where they are but Raise prices for consumers. So US consumers don't even get the benefits of losing their jobs and lower wages to cheaper foreign labor. US consumers get the worst of all worlds through this approach.
And to what end? Are the trade disputes about actually improving wages for Americans? No. Increasing jobs for Americans? yes and no. Opening markets means American goods sold to china. That supports a Big Ag system which ultimately is unsustainable and inexorably moves toward crushing small US farmers.
On the Tech front, the dispute is about protecting US patents. This gets into the nationalist aspect of global capital.
The promise of the global capitalists was that international trade interdependence would help keep international peace at a minimum. Ultimately the international labor markets would develop into roughly equal wage levels as technology and capital equalized between countries. That does not seem to be the path we're on.
6
@trebor: Patents are only standing to sue alleged infringers in certain courts. Patent litigation can easily outlast patents. For individual inventors, they are usually a waste of money.
1
The dollars come right out of the pockets of U.S. consumers.
I was looking for a washer/dryer combo in Dec 2017, I purchased a Samsung combo at $899.00 each, with a $100.00 gift card thrown in by Best Buy.
The U.S. brands I was looking at were selling for similar amounts.
After trump started the trade war I checked the prices on the same Samsung Washer/Dryer combo. the price had moved up to $1069.00 each and a gift card.
You would think that this would be an opportunity for U.S. manufactures to pick up sales and market share now that they had a lower price.
Their response, they raised the price on their comparable washer/dryer combo $150.00.
the bottom line: Either way, the U.S. consumer paid the tariff and got nothing out of it but higher prices.
41
Very interesting. Again short term gain by Americans. The Chinese are playing long ball. Thinking 100 years out.
2
@Phil Exactly the same as US steel prices - rose to be just under the tariffed prices on Canadian and Mexican steel. These are moving through the supply chain quickly now
1
I am surprised and disjointed that the organizations created at the end of WWII have not been called to task for allowing China's unfair trade practices. We don't have control of the UN, the WTO, World Bank Group or the I.M.F but the U.S. is a major contributor to funding their programs and the Congress appropriates funds to for our share which is typically our proportionate share of World Domestic Product. There really is no reason for a bilateral trade agreement. It is superfluous to the missions of the agencies established at the end of WWII. China had to petition to become a member of the World Trade Organization, World Bank, U.N. etc so I believe we should register our complaints with the international community and apply sanctions, fines where required when the trade violations are committed.
These bi-lateral trade talks appear to be for theatrical value. Tariffs are the worst possible means for controlling trade. They don't work and only cost consumers the world over in a reduced standard of living.
The U.S. seems to be backing away from the multilateral institutions that it was a leader in establishing. It is not wise.
Clearly, Mr. Trump has been ill-advised on global economics.
14
@james jordan the NYT will never publish a though article about the major US corporations all established in Europe and cheating to pay zero taxes while invading the market and destroying the European economies.
The NYT is only interested in the US Americano policies .Not on the effect of the dishonesty of the US economy in the world. may be the NYT will publish a paper once in a while about the rest of the world but they are tourist guides. Like the one today about Truman Capote and Ischia in Italy.
Purely colonialist elaborations that do not even respect the ideas of Capote. Go there it's cheap and good ! That's basically the American universal message about every nice place on earth . For 70 $ you have a room with sea view and a 5 course meal ! imagine !
Just like a broken clock is right twice a day, forcing the Chinese to play fairly is sensible. What was inexcusable were all the years the Republicans and Democrats told American workers it’s your hard luck. The jobs are gone and not coming back. Deal with it. The truth is that there is a return of manufacturing to America because of these new policies. It is true that moving manufacturing off shore is a national security issue and puts America at a huge disadvantage in technological development. These things are all correct and the neglect of American workers in the past has given Trump a huge advantage. The Dems need to admit they were wrong on China and trade, and instead, start really standing up for labor and workers instead of paying lip service. That’s the way Dems will win, not by defending China.
7
The premise of the Duties/Taxes idea which started years back was to repatriate American manufacturing in foreign lands. Or was it?
I don't think so because the new 2017 tax reform 15 percent foreign profits tax is still lower than the lowered national Corporate tax rate of 21 percent. There is still no incentive to return and worse, the exodus still looks attractive to business.
If the Republicans were honest about bringing back business and wealth, they would have penalized the Corporations and investment industry, not the consumers.
But now it's the wealthy ruling the nation as they abandon America. A good report might be a study of the foreign second homes and businesses as well as the centers of foreign money accounts to prove my theory that the nation is being abandoned with us paying the burden and making the wealthy wealthier as they leave. Can you correlate locations of income sources and living quarters?
5
Robbing Peter to feed Paul... The art of Donald's dealing!
16
I will never believe how any poor American could vote for this man.
47
@Aaron Leo. Wages have the risen for the 1st time ever with the bottom 20% of American workers. That’s why “poor American” will vote for him.
1
@Cjmesq0
I guess it is a good thing wages are increasing. Just in time to offset the increased prices caused by the tariffs.
Any additional revenue will go to pay for the deficit increased by the tax cuts for the rich.
What a great plan. Many more in the middle class will now be rich. Ha ha.
3
Am always surprised to learn what midwestern farmers think. The Heartland of American great ideals? Not. They voted for Trump, Cheney, Regan, Cruz, etc. When you vote your pocket book or your prejudices, you end up losing. They liked that Trump rolled back environmental regs. Great. From our food producers. More Roundup.
When you vote for a racist hustler, you get hustled. No pity from here in NJ. We’ve known he was a crook for 30 years. Were you not listening? But you listen to and believe another hustler born in Australia. News flash: Murdock and company are not your friends.
5
I’d rather pay a little more and get those products from a country that’s not a despotic communist nation bent on world domination.
7
@DRS
But are you OK with letting a "despotic communist nation bent on world domination" meddle in our elections?
Am I the only American who is tired of all Trump's winning? It's wearing me out..
47
I am shocked that people are against this. This is a 25% tax on mindless consumption of garbage, throwaway products that are made with slave labor and total disregard for the environment.
Trump, in effect, is standing with the people who trashed Seattle in 1999. Eat it, WTO.
If he somehow blunders into fully destroying the current economy, I will personally vote for his reelection.
4
@Eric.
Historically, the destruction of national economies goes hand in hand with the destruction of entire nations and peoples.
Wanting change is aspirational. Wanting destruction is sociopathic.
1
So you finally figured it out. It used to be that the Republicans would borrow and spend while the Democrats would tax and spend. Trump has finally adopted the worst of bot parties.
8
@Hank
At least the Democrats actually pay for their programs. Hence the term TAX and spend. Only republicans borrow and spend leaving the bill when it comes due to future generations. I can see how their policies are identical. Thanks for straightening me out.
1
"...Mr. Trump tweeted on Friday that the federal government would collect $100 billion in tariff revenue and that he would use some of the money to purchase American agricultural products, which would then be shipped to “poor & starving countries.” The rest of the money, he said, could be used for “Infrastructure, Health care or anything else.”..."
I like the feeding the poor idea.
When I was a child, I would wake up early and watch "Modern Farmer" on TV every Saturday morning at 6 a.m.
During one show, I watched as a large pile of wheat was burned deliberately to keep the prices high. This concerned me so I composed a letter to President Kennedy asking him to feed hungry people with the excess wheat. I don't know if the letter was mailed. It was a long time ago, but I did contact the Kennedy Library and asked if they had it. They said no. So I guess somehow the idea took hold. Years after Graduating High School I contacted my High School to get a Graduation certificate. My school records were missing. Someone found a brief transcript somewhere else.
@WITNESS OF OUR TIMES Did you read the article? That Tariff revenue comes from US consumers. This is Another regressive tax on average Americans. Used to what end? Whatever Stephen Miller whispers in Trump's ear. Probably anti-immigration militancy. This tax on consumers will in some way go to further benefit the wealthy. That's what Trump has actually done and will continue to do.
10
How many of these distressed small farmers will end up selling out at fire sale prices to big Agra, who is best able to weather these storms? Yet, I still hear some of these people defending Trump's actions. If anyone needed an example of "Stockholm Syndrome", this is it. The "family farm", already largely a fairy tale only trotted out whenever the GOP needs to eviscerate the tax laws even further, now enters the realm of pure mythology.
59
@stan continople
assets consolidate to the top, agents with access carve out a piece in the middle, the rest get crumbs.
1
The Times is wrong on this one. We have all suffered from China’s unfair trade practices and subsidized industries. It has devastated middle America as all the manufacturing went to China. Finally a President is standing up to China and it’s about time. Yes, it will hurt in the short run but in the long run it will benefit us all.
5
@Mike L
Historically, trade wars have been unsuccessful in achieving their goals AND have hurt everyone in both the long and short run. Our own manufacturers will lose crucial international markets and supply chains, perhaps permanently as other countries move to take our place.
Your transient emotional satisfaction at sticking it to China is not a rational justification for policy.
16
@Mike L
And what companies took their manufacturing to China? AMERICAN companies. Why? Because they could make bigger profits for their stockholders with cheaper labor.
I'm getting my teeny, tiny violin out so I can play for all the Midwestern farmers and factory workers who voted for Donald Trump. Because of Trump's insane tariffs, they will loose their markets, their jobs & they'll get to pay more for their groceries & appliances.
Oh, I forgot - we're already subsidizing the soybean farmers because of the tariffs. So we get to pay twice.
2
@Mike L
I don't get this. He brags that we have the best economy in the world since the dawn of our nation, the "bestest" wages in our history, the lowest unemployment rate, the highest GDP yet at the same time we're at the poorhouse door. The idiot is a walking contradiction and his stupefied supporters swoon at his feet. How are illegals stealing our jobs if we have the lowest unemployment EVER? How is China impacting our industry if we have the highest GDP growth EVER? trump mutters his insane word salad contradicting himself from the beginning of a sentence to the end and his brainwashed sycophants nod in agreement. Please explain how it can be both ways. he's like "A Tale of Two Cities" but he's not talking about the obscenely wealthy verses the poorest among us, he's talking about the SAME people who are supposedly struggling while at the same time they're making money hand over fist. The guy talks insane nonsense and the true believers swoon!
Yes, the tariffs are a Consumption Tax on all consumers, long a dream of the greedy so they would be free to swim in their riches. It was the likely goal all along, even before the Tax Cuts legislation when Speaker Ryan proposed "Duties" on imports. The name was changed to deceive and divert attention.
9
The guy in the White House should go back to Wharton and sit in on some of the economics classes he must have missed.
16
@Mike Westfall
They'd probably deny that he was ever a student there.
9
@Mike Westfall
He was only there as an undergraduate, and transferred there after two years at Fordham -- after Daddy pulled some strings to get him admitted. Both schools would probably like to disown him now.
3
America will pay price twice tariffs 1928 President Hoover Rip this country part. It took War begin back from death millions of life's possible tariffs would never start what do we learn.
America miss faith 2008 another Republican President Bush .Jr came close , give out Vouchers and not pay for War do we learn.
And how about President Donald Trump master Great Deal 1.3 Billion dollars learn last week pass Tax's. He bragging about Biggest Tax's to whom Million Aires and Billions got break Joe blow mid America no break stop tariffs against World. And give America Farm Break.
1
Hard to understand the Times’ point here, other than the customary Trump bashing. Bottom line: for years every sentient public official has known the Chinese are cheating and stealing, and finally we are making them pay a real price after years of empty threats. That should be applauded, but the Times and its followers are blinded by Trump-phobia.
6
@Jeff
And we will pay a higher price for those tbreats than China will. That makes sense how?
1
Can’t believe all the anti Trumpers whining in these comments...China has been eating our lunch for decades, getting strong by pilfering American know how & intellectual property...Nobody thinks China is literally paying these tariffs...But tariffs might pressure China to give in on these negotiations...My goodness the commenters here seem to be rooting for China to continue their economic dominance over the USA...
I would like to think even the most extreme liberal still roots for the home team...Even if you hate Trump, as I do, I still hope he is ultimately successful in these negotiations with China...
3
@Good Morning Should
As a liberal, I do root for the home team -- by acknowledging reality: that, historically, trade wars have ended very badly for the countries that started them.
12
Free movement of goods across border is a way to foster world wide economic progress. The greater the movement of goods and the more competitive they become the ultimate benefit is to consumers. There are too many products that our once self sufficient system no longer produces. We are part of a world trading pattern and we cannot isolate ourselves from it. We need formal trade agreements that strengthen intellectual property and establish trading zones that are comprehensive. Trump is a bull in a china shop, with no real skills at negotiating, but very good at posturing and making enemies. We need rational economics not drama lessons from a bad actor.
Our agricultural sector is not immune from competition and farmers who voted for Trump have put themselves in great danger of losing market share to other nations. Big scale farming is far too volatile already with climate change and loss of communities with worker populations often needed seasonally. Subsidizing farms products never works unless we can foster monopolies as the have for corn syrup and sugar which forced changes in what we eat and raised consumer costs because of powerful pro tariff lobbies. It is a good example of how bad policy becomes permanent error and injures consumers. Dumb and dumber is where we are heading with a Trump administration, one very skilled at convincing the irrational, as we shall likely see again in 2020.
15
Just remember, when DT was in school, he would blurt out things that would be nonsense, and his high school friends would try to correct him, and tell him that it wasn't true. DT would just dig in, and stand firm with his own view of his nonsense.
11
"...Mr. Trump tweeted on Friday that the federal government would collect $100 billion in tariff revenue and that he would use some of the money to purchase American agricultural products, which would then be shipped to “poor & starving countries.” The rest of the money, he said, could be used for “Infrastructure, Health care or anything else.”..."
So Trump confirmed he is taxing us to offset the annual 150 billion dollars of budget deficit caused by his tax cuts giveaway mostly to the wealthy individuals and corporations.
Mnuchin's presence in the China negotiations gave it away. He's the Treasury Secretary.
Now the wealthy are receiving Welfare. We will pay for much more. Consider the sum of the 99 percent taxes versus the minimal taxes of the wealthy 1%.
The premise of all this trade debacle was trying to repatriate manufacturing. Republican conduct since then has been questionable as the much heralded new 15 percent Foreign profits tax was still lower than the reduced national tax rate of 21 percent. It was no incentive to return. After all the tariff talk, it's now obvious the Republicans are supporting business abandonment of home here and taking advantage of current trade to offset the big deficit they created.
Now the wealthy who know how to reduce their tax liability will have little to do with paying the needs of running the nation they benefit from in so many ways.
Trump is now in crisis management mode and is obviously duped by his advisers.
7
Who cares what he's claiming. He's doing the right thing in this case so get off his back. Short term pain for long term gain. It's that or be China's indentured servants from here on in.
7
@Sparky How exactly does buying less expensive goods from China equal indentured servitude? It seems that, from the president down, there is a gross misunderstanding of this very complex problem. For Trump, a trade deficit by definition means that the other country is stealing or "winning", and thus the US is "losing."
The reality is that, although the Chinese need to enforce IP protections and other things, the majority of the problem comes from decades of corporate offshoring. No one forced corporations to do this (although Wal-Mart has had a large role in driving production offshore by demanding lower and lower prices from suppliers). The Chinese are merely the suppliers providing what corporations wanted. This has resulted in a mixed bag -- cheaper products, higher corporate profits but lower wages.
Trump's tariffs do nothing to remedy the negatives, while eliminating the positives. Wages aren't going up, but cheap products will become more expensive. It's the worst of both worlds.
This is what happens when you elect a grifter with an elementary school grasp of complex international trade as president. Trump lacks the knowledge and intellectual ability to understand the complexity of the problem, reducing it to "China is taking advantage of us, so we must punish them." It won't end well ... for anyone.
12
@sparky
I could not agree with you more.
Check out the stock market, unemployment and the fear America has put into our enemies.
Stop digging at someone for making the changes he said he was to make.
Trump has changed the world and our economy.
To all you Trump haters out there, leave. The traffic with you here is unbearable.
“Mr. Trump’s tariffs also have prompted China to retaliate, and that is causing particular pain for Midwestern farmers who have lost a major market for their crops.” For farmers in the mid west, we (Democrats, Hispanics, CNN, blacks, the Clintons...) will always be the ones to Blame. They can lose everything, and still will vote for Trump.
11
"Trump’s Tariffs Are a New Tax on Americans." And they are a new source of money, obtained through taxation, to pass on to the wealthy.
Adding insult to injury, while the rest of us pay 25% more on our fake Prada goods, clothing, shoes, purses, and cars, the wealthy will see no increase in their authentic Prada goods and European made high end luxury clothes, shoes, purses and sport cars and Bentleys
Go figure, with the additional cash trump is collecting in tariffs to pass on to the wealthy, they'll be able to increase their house-sized-closets full of luxury wear to buy even more shoes putting Mrs Aquino to shame. Tariff money to pay for health care? Really? LOL!!! As if trump or the Republicans would do that.
What we really need are tariffs on imported luxury goods for the rich, regardless where it comes from.
15
Trump has told so many lies that I’m afraid he normalizes bad behavior in the presidency.
Somehow he manages to convince enough people that he is fighting for them vs China and then has the nerve that people will belie his lie that China will load the coffers of our Treasury.
People will pay higher prices after businesses pass on their higher priced Chinese goods to consumers.
Trump got away with selling fake degrees to Trump University students. He wrote a book about his success as a business person while being the biggest loser in America over a ten year period.
In this burgeoning trade war, when will Americans learn that trade wars harm both countries and should be avoided.
21
@JT FLORIDA
Minor correction to your post: Donald Trump did NOT write "The Art of the Deal". It was ghostwritten by Tony Schwartz. Mr. Schwartz has been very outspoken about how much he regrets creating this totally false image of Donald Trump as a successful businessman.
Tony Schwartz: “I put lipstick on a pig. I feel a deep sense of remorse that I contributed to presenting Trump in a way that brought him wider attention and made him more appealing than he is."
If he were writing the book today, Schwartz says he would call it "The Art of the Sociopath".
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/donald-trumps-ghostwriter-tells-all
2
@downeast60
Never a doubt about Trump writing a book much less reading a book. But Schwartz’s keen eye is so relevant now because we’ve all been able to observe Trump’s sociopathic ways.
But unfortunately we observe that each day so long as he’s president.
3
A tariff hikes the prices of imported goods and who pays for it depends on the elasticity of demand vs. the elasticity of supply based on the product or service in question. The result can’t be so easily dumbed down into “Chinese suppliers pay” or “American buyers are being taxed” by the tariffs.
Over the past two decades the Communist Party of China has used single-party state power to game and abuse the international trade system. It’s strategies include stealing intellectual property and massive industrial espionage designed to create national champions and wipe out foreign competitors.
Twenty years ago many economists thought Pareto Optimality demanded specialization and argued that Americans would be oh-so-foolish to object to the outsourcing of low wage manufacturing to Asia. The idea was that the US would retain the IP. Now who looks foolish...?
Today, many economists argue that it is oh-so-foolish to address the enormous trade imbalance with China via tariffs. However, this objection is made without proposing anything other than recommending that the present US administration work with allies. It would be a nice solution if it could be deployed in any reasonable time frame. But it can’t. And they know it. The thought really amounts to another means of conflict avoidance, not resolution.
The CPC believes autocracy is a better, more efficient system of government than democracy. We have nothing to gain by helping the CPC in its efforts to use trade as a weapon.
5
Trump supporters won't understand that the tariffs actually act as a tax on them. If the tax cheat, Head of the Trump Crime Family, tells them that China is paying the tariffs as taxes to the U.S. Treasury, they'll believe whatever he tells them.
12
What else is new? The trump boasted that Mexico will pay for the wall. The hypnotized votaries bought it hysterically
Now he is telling the victims that the Chinese will pay for the tariffs. Yet again the same victims are with great joys of jubilation euphoric.
Only in the Great USA is such a phenomenon possible
Cry for the beloved country
Progress is impossible if we continue to do things the same ways we have always done.
13
Maybe Mexico will pay the tariffs, like they did for the wall. Wait ...
18
Is China the only supplier of goods in the world? The tariffs will create opportunities for alternate suppliers, including many in our own US of A, to compete and gain market share. His policies are working. Our economy is strong. We have the lowest unemployment and more people off food stamps etc than at any time during the Obama , pro China years. Chill out NYT. Your editorial begs the question- whose side are you on?
1
@samuel
Yet he talks out of both sides of his mouth. Like "A Tale of Two Cities"..."it was the best of times, it was the worst of times" except he applies both of these diametrically opposed observations to the SAME people. The guy is a walking contradiction and his idiotic followers fall down in worship at his feet. The dumbing down of America is now complete.
This article is completely correct. Tariffs are bad as a general matter. This is Econ 101.
The problem is we still have to coerce China into a fair arrangement, because long term they are going to hack, steal, copy, undercut and manipulate advanced American manufacturing out of business the they did same with middle skill manufacturing. So if not a trade war, what? A real war?
5
This article just screams as to the reasons for the Democratic party's demise and the Trump Whitehouse. China has been absolutely destroying us on trade to the detriment of the US worker and the environment and to the profit of multinational corporations. And, the reasons are the poor working conditions, lax environmental & labor standards, and low pay - which allow US corporations to shift their production there to the detriment of the US worker. Tariffs FORCE US companies to reconsider moving overseas. To hear the NY Times editorial board sell the false narrative of the old GOP which leads to a race to the bottom for all workers is just stunning.
Not to mention that if the NY Times Editorial board can understand the climate change reports, they should also understand of the drastic need to cut our rates of consumption drastically. The American consumer needs to pay more for higher quality items produced under strict environmental standards that leave our children and grandchildren a habitable planet.
4
@MJ
Except we make junk here!!! I bought an American made Fridgidaire washing machine. It died in three years. I just replaced my American made Fridgidaire Gallery range, which is their supposed top end line, after putting up with its non functioning burners for the last 10 years. The oven door was falling off its hinges and the bottom element has burned out twice. Our first non American made car, a 2002 Hyundai, was the first new car we've owned since our first new car purchases beginning in 1975, that wasn't ready for the junk yard as soon as the ink on the last payment check was dry. Why would I keep buying this junk? I'm not blaming workers since I know that American quality can compete with the best in the world but American corporations are more concerned with squeezing the last penny of profit out of their products for their stockholders than they are about providing quality products. Since 1975 we purchased 4 American made autos from every domestic manufacturer. All went to the junkyard as soon as we were done paying for them. Our GM made Saturn was burning 2 quarts of oil at 60,000 miles even though the oil was changed religiously every 3,000 miles. Our Hyundai had 125K miles on it when we gave it to our son, he then gave it to a friend when it had 187K miles on it since it was still running. My husband works hard for his money and refuses to spend it on American made junk. If they want me to purchase their products they need to earn it. Not guilt us into buying it.
If this kind of erratic economic crazy is what it takes for the less aware among us to turn against Trump, then bring it.
There appears to be a subset of the American population who remain unmoved by moral and just causes. They just don’t care one whit if their neighbor loses his home due to medical debt or if children are taken from their families and shoved into cold cages. They don’t care if Trump answers to Putin or solicits campaign assistance from America’s enemies. They don’t care if international diplomacy is negotiated by Trump’s relatives and Mar-a-Lago guests over WhatsApp.
But they will notice if they pay twice much to replace their triple door refrigerator or washing machine.
They may not have a moral center or a heart, but, by god, they do have pocketbooks.
22
@Chickpea
"They may not have a moral center or a heart, but, by god, they do have pocketbooks."
LOVE this observation! And it couldn't be more true of the maga flag waving crowd. Kick them where it counts.
2
Trump's false claim is not about the truth but indoctrination. That is how infomercials work. If you repeat something long enough, some people will believe it.
9
Tariffs are a tax on the U.S. people? Well, duh. That's why the very first delegated power in the Constitution gives Congress, not the president, the sole right to levy tariffs. Even in Britain, it was up to Parliament, not the king, to levy tariffs. Now, it's unfair to blame this Constitutional usurpation on Trump. Congress gave up its exclusive tariff powers in several acts over the last 50 years, generally citing "national security" issues as the reason. BUT CONGRESS DID NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO DO THIS AND THESE ACTS SHOULD BE CHALLENGED IN COURT. Just because it is convenient for Congress to pass on politically treacherous tax decisions does not mean it is Constitutional (See SCOTUS Dred Scott decision regarding the Missouri Compromise for precedent). Please, someone impacted by this tariff, go to your local ACLU office and offer to sue Congress (or Trump) for failing to do its job.
3
@Dan Shiells
And then what? trump and mcconnell/republicans own the courts. Subpoenas don't matter, contempt of court charges don't matter. We are a lawless country being ruled by a dictator. The ACLU doesn't stand a chance.
It's simple:
China pays the tariffs = Mexico pays for the wall.
53
President Obama's "TPP" would've been far more effective, as a scalpel, in getting what USA want most from China; Intellectual Property control. It seems Trump administration is not impressed their sledge hammer approach is hurting American consumers really far more than Chinese.
As well, facts and potentially sore feelings should not get in the way to realizing, that historically Asians don't easily cow and especially versus a bombastic Caucasian American.
Further, has anyone told Mr. Trump, USA cannot match consumer goods volumes with China with which to close his bothersome trade gap?
China and other low wage countries are enabling Americans to enjoy moderate levels, what would otherwise be unaffordable luxury items, if not for importation from low wage workers to static wage American consumers.
The hidden irony among weeds of labor's discontent competing against certain nations, is a modern day reflection, just how slavery propelled USA onto world's economic stage. In that era and sometime after, USA had an absolute expense to production advantage over competitors.
12
@O’Ghost Who Walks
Exactly! The TPP was the mechanism that shifted economic advantage to the United States. Trump scraps it and now the signers of the TPP have moved on WITHOUT the United States. Trump spited this country instead of spiting Obama. U.S. Farmers will never regain their share of exports. Other countries have taken their place. Removing the tariffs won't be a return to business as usual.
38
@judgeroybean
@...Ghost Who Walks
I totally agree with both posts. President Obama's TPP was a recognition of the possible threat from China. His 'scalpel' would have been more effective than the hammer being deployed not. And yes, it was an Obama deal, hence it was scrapped without thought and out of spite.
1
@judgeroybean
@...Ghost Who Walks
I totally agree with both posts. President Obama's TPP was a recognition of the possible threat from China. His 'scalpel' would have been more effective than the hammer being deployed. And yes, it was an Obama deal, hence it was scrapped without thought and out of spite.
So much for any fable of Trump as the businessman president.
Trump has neither fiscal acumen nor political leadership.
31
As taxes go, these tariffs are very small, are placed on a limited number of products originating in one country, and easily avoided as one can substitute many items for those domestically produced and which foreign content is small. These tariffs are trivial compared to the "Tariff of Abominations" (1828) and the McKinley Tariff (1900). As well, The federal deficit will shrink. Lol.
Successful import substitution might enable a substantial increase in domestic job creation that would greatly override any insubstantive increase the price of some consumption items. The greater threat to consumer prices would arise if domestic sellers hide price increases under the tariff rubric.
There is no such thing as "free trade" anyway. A trade deal is just a deal, implying that trade is managed in conformity with that deal. Too many commentators confuse a trade deal with free trade, and they consider the lack of a "deal" to be a terrible outcome. No! A bad deal is a terrible outcome.
Any objective analysis of the globalization that has transpired over the past two decades indicates mixed results. Some have benefited economically and some have lost out. It hasn't been an unalloyed blessing, except perhaps for China which is now an existential threat to the US - and to the global order constructed largely by the US since 1945.
Compared to the threats of nuclear war and global warming, way too much "print" and verbiage has been wasted on the Sino-American trade issue.
4
Is there a way in which the money could actually come from China?
I think that was the way tariffs were collected in the early 1800s. Have the country of China or any other country that imports these items into the US pay a fee/tariff directly to the US Treasury. The items sold could still be priced as the parties want, but we would be collecting money directly from the country that imports them to us.
1
@Areader
The current inhabitant of the White House thinks that’s the way tariffs work now and he deludes his followers into thinking the US Treasury's bursting with tariff dollars.
Just another tax increase that will primarily impact lower income households
5
Someone should remind Mr. Trump that one in four US jobs is tied to retail. His tariff mess is going to hurt an already teetering retail sector.
25
I will gladly pay more for goods made in the United States or elsewhere. The time to stop supporting communist gulags for the manufacture of cheap goods like China has long past. The idea that free trade was going to transform China into Vermont was delusional at best.
Recently the Chinese have experienced a Ebola-like disease among its hogs killing 134m animals which is the equivalent of the entire U.S. pork production. China is the largest producer and consumer of pork nearly 440m hogs. This creates a urgency among the Chinese communist leadership for a resolution to this crisis and has significant implications all along the food chain. The U.S. needs to stop its addiction to cheap consumer goods which support Chinese global dominance.
4
Don't worry. Be happy. These tariffs will never go into effect. There will be a deal within two weeks. Neither side can afford to go through an extended trade war.
If used correctly, some tariffs could be useful. They shouldn't be used as a trade negotiating tactic, they should be used sparingly as a permanent device to provide American businesses with a real incentive to produce products and services at home rather than having them manufactured abroad by cheap labor.
Trump tweet 4:43 AM - 10 May 2019
"Talks with China continue in a very congenial manner - there is absolutely no need to rush - as Tariffs are NOW being paid to the United States by China of 25% on 250 Billion Dollars worth of goods & products. These massive payments go directly to the Treasury of the U.S...."
Shouldn't this be a Constitution, amendment 25, issue. The President, acting as a near unilateral agent for directing US trade restrictions with China, has publicly, with his own words, revealed that he is not aware of the most fundamental characteristic of tariffs: that they are paid by the importing party, not the exporting party.
Further he has speculated about potential uses for this non-existent cash transfer from China to the US. He is so sure that China will pay the tariffs, that he is thinking of ways it can be spent.
Assuming that Mr Trump's Tweet does not have its origins in his rumored mendacity, and represents his sincere beliefs, then he certainly does not have the capacity to be president. Amendment 25 seems appropriate. On the other hand if he is telling a lie, call it a "misdemeanor" and impeach him.
82
@sherm..I’m not sure why this type of tweet from Mr. Trump is not being seen as market manipulation. It’s not the first time that he’s stated lies in an effort to move the market,
6
I have proposes that every retailer print, in bold type, a line item on each receipt that shows the "Trump tax". Maybe that will get the attention of his supporters.
73
@bellboy They won't care.
10
@bellboy
It is a great idea.
But it will not happen when Trump is in power.
And his supporters will not care.
They'd rather die than abandoning him.
They are nothing but zombies, unfortunately.
Don't count on their awakening or regret.
1
So, a goodly portion of Trump supporters are said to be well-educated. I'm guessing that few, however, took an economics class that explained the realities of tariffs. This 25 percent tariff is going to hurt some Americans, and China has yet to retaliate against US agriculture in the latest escalation. So glad I've made my major durable goods purchases for some years.
11
@Chrisinauburn Do you know how to factor the overall net benefit ? China's economy is getting hurt much more ( in fact there is no evidence that the US economy has been hurt at all)and some Americans in the manufacturing sector are clearly benefiting. China is coming to a quick realization that there is a new negotiation ballgame being played in the USA. A few Americans may suffer, but we negotiate for the GREATER GOOD. What part of this is so hard to understand?
3
@samuel Trump is either a liar or doesn't understand the simplest concepts. What part of this is so hard to understand?
2
That's just the start; I saw another headline that said that China will retaliate aggressively to the tariffs.
Don't forget about all the global markets out there with free trade agreements who can buy the stuff without the tariffs from China, so they've an advantage in the marketplace; like on e-bay, etsy, amazon, Alibaba or where ever. USA citizens will be able to buy cheaper clothes online from ASOS and the many other online internet stores as well,j where the goods don't have tariff mark ups on them.
1
When the larder’s bare, and you don’t want a progressive tax to fill the ever-increasing federal debt and deficit, the answer is simple: a national sales tax on the people least able to pay.
The ones who shop at the Dollar Stores, soon to be the $1.99 stores.
It is even a more oppressive tax than a national lottery would be - there seem to be some well-off statistically ignorant folks in the country - as well as some well-off folks who get a thrill spending a Yuppie Food Coupon (which, in this alleged time of “low inflation” has risen to the $50 bill after decades at $20), on a chance, whenever they hear they have a shot to make $100 million on a trillion to one shot.
Everyone will be affected to some degree - there are too many things *only* made in China these days.
I would like some of the fact checkers with every Trump/GOP platform/speech/position paper on hand to check something I don’t happen to have the database to run down.
I seem to remember that Trump, that Ultimate Failed Businessman claimed not only were trade wars easily fought and won, but that their purpose was to stop “dumping “, the practice of selling products at less than what it cost China to make them, not selling products at less than it costs either nonexistent or hideously old, inefficient and mothballed factories to make them.
Add to this the geological world problem: there are metals and rare earths under Chinese soil that just don’t happen to exist anywhere else in easily extracted quantities.
14
Gee, if there was only some kind of trade treaty or regional agreement in place which would help the US and its allies to bring collective pressure on China to abide by international intellectual property laws.
Oh yeah, we had a draft agreement. It was called the TPP. And Trump promptly threw that out in his first days in office. Now he's left with zero leverage and US taxpayers are paying the price for his shortsighted foolishness.
155
David Frum from The Atlantic Monthly says Trump's move is weak. In a global economy you need to go to the bargaining table with other nations. The result will be about 6,000 items costing consumers more and it will drive cost of living. China will not lose in this deal. In a global economy - consumers lose and multinational corporations win. Until we deal inside the dynamics of today's global economy and not one leader's ego feeding anger in his base - we will be worse off.
11
I’d hate to think of what the NYT Editors would have written on June 7, 1944. No doubt it would have been highly critical of the Allied leaders since things looked very bleak 24 hours after the invasion.
Give Trump time. Wars are not fought in a day. China is testing whether the pressure from within our own borders will cause Trump to fold his hand. No one contests that China doesn’t play the trade game fairly.
Naive editorials like this only aid China’s cause. In war you stand behind your president. You don’t offer encouragement to the enemy.
5
@Matt Williams Perhaps consider that if Mr. Trump were truthful with the American public and spelled out the true cost of the war and how those who are the "haves" will help support the "have nots" during this difficult time of increased costs to low and middle income consumers along with farmers fighting to keep their farms, THEN he could persuade sacrifice. But that's not how this President operates.
26
Millions of Americans have already given Trump "time". His time is UP...He's a failure at his current position just as he was a failure in business.
I'll never "stand behind Trump" - NEVER.
5
I can’t believe there are people stupid enough to believe that these tariffs are being paid by the Chinese. The tax is paid by the importer, ie. the companies buying Chinese goods. Some of the increases may be absorbed by the importer but for the most part they will be passed onto the consumer in increased costs. US goods that include Chinese parts will become more expensive than say similar products produced in countries that are not imposing a tariff. Therefore Americans will pay more and export less. You must be tired of winning with Trump as your leader.
108
@Trento Cloz
The real traitors are those smart Republican senators, senators, congressmen, David Brooks, George W. Bush, Flake, Collins and the like. They rather betray their country and their countrymen for a win and partisan.
I am still holding my breath for their awakening.
2
... and there goes the soybeans industry
39
Not really - with increased costs due to climate change - for instance the almost-unreported effect of the winter/spring grain and calf crop when the Missouri River flooded after decades of ignored levee repair - and heavy late-spring rains along the Mississippi system, I think the new food fad in the US may well be “that Asian wonder, tofu!”
Soy extracts may also aid US candy manufacturers cope with a side effect of the Syrian war, the systematic destruction of the trees that, after a decade of growth, produce the gum arabic used in many processed dessert treats.
Soy gum is nowhere near as good, but it may prove useful to candy makers who don’t want to spend the money on advertising “sticky is better”.
(It’s been years since the world got out to the niche users, watercolor makers and the like, to stock up on gum arabic because one orchard after another was being done in by ISIL as a terror/cut money flow effort - though, like destroying oil wells, it is a shoot-yourself-in-foot strategy.)
3
Supposedly, we are going to pay more agricultural industry welfare to the soybean farmers to protect them and to buy their votes for Republicans.
17
What really hurts Americans is the deluge of cheap stuff that has replaced quality goods made by American workers. I am fine with paying more if that's what it takes to make a more level playing field for commerce. Thank goodness we finally have a president with a backbone who cares about ordinary working Americans.
3
@J. Harmon Smith You do realize that producers are not moving this work to the U.S., but rather to other nations like Vietnam, Mexico etc.
45
@Sam. Yes. The point is, if foreign producers -- on a level playing field -- can produce comparable goods at a better price, so be it.
2
My first car was a Swedish bargain - a new but-two-model-year old Volvo before those beasts became status symbols.
After 250,000 miles, I switched to Toyotas - the reason was the quality/kind of car I wanted wasn’t available from the Old Big Four.
It seemed you just couldn’t get an efficient, long-lived car, mostly made in the US, that didn’t suffer body rot or immediate engine failure.
I didn’t want a “foreign” car, I wanted one that would last me 200,000 miles, when I was doing 100,000 a year, or would last me a decade or more, now that I’m down to 12,000 per.
With the size/safety/performance I wanted, at a reasonable price point.
And Big Industry had pushed for tax laws that made it cheaper for them to let their old plants go to pieces, while building new plants overseas.
It once was near impossible to go to china with your PC.
Now it’s impossible to get a motherboard or video card (sometimes CPU or other major components not made there either).
The laws were changed for the benefit of those who controlled the wealth.
Don’t give me the ‘mercan made is better rap either. We outsource design we can’t to China to India these days, producing ... financial instruments and $20 MacDonald’s lunches.
11
Trump ‘loves the uneducated,’ remember? You’ve got to be pretty dense not to understand that tariffs on goods imported from China are paid by the Americans who buy the goods, not the Chinese. Further, by inflating the price of imports, tariffs allow domestic producers a pretext for raising their own prices.
That slim to none tax cut the Republicans gave the working class? It’s long gone.
179
@chambolle Yours is the first comment (not to mention that I've seen no article that actually focused on this fact) to address a basic and fundamental reality of business.
One example: Does anyone think Maytag, or Lowes, or HomeDepot, etc. will not raise prices on any washer/dryer/refrigerator, etc that is not affected by a tariff to a point just under the price of the tariffed good? It's the fastest, easiest way to increase their profit margin. And, as others have noted, those increases won't immediately (or ever?) fall if/when the tariff is removed.
1
God forbid Americans should have to wean themselves of their cheap-goods, Wal-Mart addiction. It is time we take it upon ourselves to stop buying things we don't need. If we don't, we may be looking at rationing.
16
@NICHOLS COURT Americans will wean themselves of cheap goods when they get an actual living wage from the oligarchs. And that will happen when Mexico pays for the wall.
9
@NICHOLS COURT
Pray tell, where was the computer your'e typing your comment on manufactured? And check the manufacturers labels. Your "high-end" clothing comes from China. It's just more of a rip-off price than the Wal-mart fare. Maybe if the working man was paid a living wage he could afford to buy American. Business greed got us to this stage not our "cheap-goods, Wal-Mart addiction".
14
Let’s all stop buying things.
1
"He is willfully peddling a falsehood for political gain."
It's the same as he did with the lie about the wall "Mexico would pay for."
Of course they wouldn't, and didn't. But that hasn't stopped him from trying to protect the first part of the promise even if it means going around Congress.
The Chinese tariffs and his pledge to hold out as long as he can reminds me of the government shutdown, another face-saving gesture to his base.
If Donald Trump spent half the time he spends coddling his base by governing for all of us, his poll numbers might be better. but its just as easy to mislead the public about what tariffs an and cannot do.
But economics is the dismal science and few really want to dig deep on the real impact of tariffs: who suffers, who pays, and why this could be a protracted fight.
The president won't like it one bit when people wake up and realize they're paying the cost of Trumps trade war, but I'm sure he'll find a way to blame all this on someone else--ideally an enemy.
Some things are as predictable as Northeast snow in January.
82
@ChristineMcM
Well said.
1
@ChristineMcM
"when people wake up and realize..."
who can focus on real world stuff when there's a coffee cup on Game of Thrones, and you won't believe what so-and-so is wearing, and here's a viral video of a kitten...
bread and circuses for all.
3
Americans won't like this... but they created the problem in the first place by buying into the propaganda and "bill of goods" sold them in the 1980's with the initialization of a global economy creating an interdependence upon Asian markets for goods and services at reduced costs as it is well know that Asia is a very weak market for labor protections. It's interesting to note that we now import so much of our consumer products from a Communist country even though over the past 70 years we've waged wars against the spread of communism and still do so today. We've essentially sold our soul as a nation for cheap products [which aren't really that cheap when one considers the overall social/political costs]. So that certain "investors" can "get rich quick" and pay exorbitant salaries and benefits to a select few in the U.S.
15
1. Trump places tariffs that effectively raise the prices of numerous basic goods that will harm the poor and middle class here in the USA.
2. Trump already helped pass a tax cut for wealthy Americans.
It is not hard to see who he is helping; nor is this a surprise.
219
@JSK-There's also the possibility his friends are reaping the benefits on the stock market. Trump's tariffs are like a casino bet--in this case we taxpayers and thousands of businesses are paying up; many filing Chapter 12 bankruptcy. And our payments are going into Treasury's coffers. What I'm wondering: who in the Trump inner circle or whom he owes favors and money to -- is benefiting from him using the U.S. government to pick winners and losers and set up others' assets up for short sale?
Before Trump Announced Tariffs, Icahn Sold Off Millions In Steel-Related Stocks https://www.npr.org/2018/03/03/590583598/before-trump-announced-tariffs-icahn-sold-off-millions-in-steel-related-stocks
9
@Ann
I would not be surprised at what you say, and suspect some of those people would sell short on advance notice of policy announcements. Like so much else, it may be hard to prove unless someone looks closely. Maybe some of them will get caught and prosecuted.
6
@JSK
Who will prosecute them? The Trump administration? The Barr DOJ? What we have here is a full blown oligarchy!
5
depends on your time frame, perhaps. China has a long history of industrial espionage. USA has ignored it. Doesn't that help our economy in the long run if they have to figure out Material Science problems on their own, instead of stealing from our National Labs, and leading R&D companies?
6
I would be more concerned about this if it were true that we could only source products from China. However, since that is not the case, then this hardly matters. Soon enough, either China will agree to more favorable trade arrangements or these items will come from elsewhere. We'll either purchase cheap products from another developing nation or manufacture them here, at higher cost but we'll be supporting local labor and industry.
11
@The Closer
Wouldn't it be great if we could manufacture these things here - at higher cost but supporting local labor and industry. Instead of a phony MAGA, it would be the Real Deal.
15
@Ellen. The New Balance sneakers I wear are made in America. They cost $149 a pair, and they are high tech, motion control sneakers. $149 a pair. People can buy made in China sneakers for much less than half that.
I want the extra support, and am fortunate enough to be able to just buy them. Most Americans are not so fortunate.
They are the ones that are going to be hit hard by this tax. And make no mistake, it is a tax on American consumers.
27
I would rather buy products from India, Bangladesh or Indonesia - at least those counties have some of our 4 freedoms and are not imprisoning hundreds of thousands for their religious beliefs
5
It's about time an American president stood up to China. Based on the increase in my wages, higher 401K, and actual positive benefits from the tax bill last year (vs. what those on the Left and the media said), I'll wait this out and let the Trump admin keep doing what they're doing. Hate to say it but they are winning with respect to the economy.
15
@TPey Winning? At what cost TPey? The trillions of dollar ballooning deficit and debt? The farmers taking billions in subsidies; US military actions currently on nine fronts with Iran and NK escalating daily; national parkland sold off to "big oil and gas" corporations to drill and frack on once protected lands; healthcare premiums and drug costs at an all time high; 40% of Americans work for less than $15 an hour, 5% work for minimum wage or less; NAFTA 2.0 still to be signed; environmental protections rolled back creating toxic air and water. BTW NO president has ever associated their administration with the stock market until Trump. One strong market correction will torpedo your 401K. Most Americans don't even have a 401K. And you call this winning? For whom?
28
@TPey
No. They are not. They are not winning. The can is being kicked down the road and will come back and hit us when we least expect it.
13
@TPey
And welcoming Russia's meddling in our election and obstruction of justice is okay with you? Not a problem as long as the economy is good.
22
Nobody built trade walls like the Eastern block post-WWII. Just to take a look at who we are aspiring to.
29