The Establishments war on Donald Trump
See other The Establishments war on Donald Trump Articles
Title: A trade war Canada will lose to its larger, louder counterpart [Trump]
Source:
National Post
URL Source: http://nationalpost.com/opinion/and ... -its-larger-louder-counterpart
Published: Jun 3, 2018
Author: Andrew Coyne
Post Date: 2018-06-03 20:26:39 by Tooconservative
Keywords: None
Views: 5909
Comments: 44
Presumably Donald Trump was warned of the furious response he could expect from the United States’ trading partners were he to proceed with his threatened tariffs on their exports of aluminum and steel. He went ahead and did so anyway. This is one problem with trade wars: they seek to achieve in retrospect what they failed to achieve in prospect. Were he likely to have been deterred by retaliatory tariffs, of the kind that Canada, Mexico and the European Union have just applied to a fantastic assortment of U.S. goods, he would have been already. And yet, deterrence having so conspicuously failed, they feel obliged to carry out the threat regardless. It is difficult to see how the reality of a trade war is more likely to succeed than the anticipation, especially when dealing with a man who tweets “trade wars are good and easy to win.” Perhaps its advocates are right to believe that retaliatory tariffs will so focus congressional and public anger on Trump, notably in the states most affected, that he will be forced into a humiliating retreat. Perhaps Trump is right to calculate that people do not necessarily put cause and effect together quite so logically — his people in particular. They may even be moved to rally around their besieged (as they see it) president and country. Wasn’t it precisely to “fight back” against these scheming foreigners, with their long history of preying upon American naivety, that Trump hit them with the tariffs in the first place? At any rate, while we are testing this theory, matching the U.S. tariffs we decry as madness and ruin with mad, ruinous tariffs of our own, it is our consumers and businesses who will be the victims. This is the other problem with trade wars. In a real war, the guns are pointed at the other guys. But tariffs are self-inflicted wounds. This is a hard point to get across in the heat of battle. Suggest that retaliation is unlikely to work against them and certain to hurt us, and the response is a volley of patriotic oaths: We have to do something! So you’re saying we should just sit there and take it? You have to stand up to a bully! Why don’t you just take out U.S. citizenship then? It is neither appeasement nor treason to refrain from costly, futile measures that at best are unlikely to succeed and at worst will trigger an escalating series of attacks and counter-attacks. It is simply facing facts. The U.S. economy is more than 10 times as large as ours. Its exports to Canada account for two per cent of its GDP; our exports to them are 25 per cent of ours. Even in concert with the other countries targeted, it is unlikely that we can cause Trump to alter course, for the simple reason that he is Trump. A normal president in possession of a rational mind might well be dissuaded by the united opposition of much of the democratic world. Trump is not that president. If he were he would not have slapped the tariffs on us in the first place, in open defiance not just of economic sense or international trade law, but of the very “military security” invoked as its justification. This is a point that bears repeating. The sheer enormity of Trump, the impossible combination of every conceivable malignant quality in one man — comprehensive ignorance, pathological dishonesty, thoroughgoing corruption, and a seeming determination to use his time in office to cause as much damage in as many ways as he possibly can — is a constant invitation to denial. The mind does not want to believe what the eyes and ears are telling it, that an emotionally disturbed man-child has control of the White House. But it’s true. The nightmare is real. It is folly, then, to expect him to respond as other presidents might. What we can do is learn from this experience. Trump cannot be reasoned with, and he cannot be appeased; he can be flattered, but not with any expectation it will be repaid. His word is worth nothing, and while he can be frightened or bought, he absolutely cannot be relied upon. He will do what he will do, and there isn’t a lot the rest of us can do about it. This goes far beyond the odd tariff. It was evident from the start that Trump represented a total break with all previous norms and expectations of how a president should behave or what he should believe in. Among those norms, it is now incontrovertible, is much of the international order successive American presidents helped to build over many decades. Poster Comment: Trump will crush that Trudeau punk and make him cry. Trump wants to dump NAFTA and have one treaty with Canada, a separate treaty with Mexico. And they will lose a lot more than we will in any trade war. And they know it, just as they know that Trump will not be deterred or appeased or bought off.
Canada has treated our Agricultural business and Farmers very poorly for a very long period of time. Highly restrictive on Trade! They must open their markets and take down their trade barriers! They report a really high surplus on trade with us. Do Timber & Lumber in U.S.?— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 1, 2018
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 10.
#9. To: Tooconservative, Maple Syrup wars, Feel the Bern 2020, *2020 The Likely Suspects* (#0)
Feel the Bern 2020 Due to Trump's tariff on Canadian Steel & Aluminum, etc, the canuks have imposed a 10% tariff on Vermont Maple Syrup. Payback for Bernie losing? Many US producers will suffer. It's another Trump tax on all Americans. That's in addition to inflation which makes your dollars worth less. Another tax. Trump will have no one to blame but himself, if Bernie is elected prez in 2020.
Almost none of these tariffs have actually gone into effect yet. This is the threats stage, not the actual tariff collection stage. It's just mostly groaning at this stage. Wait and see who caves first. Trump will definitely win with Canada. Other trade partners like Mexico and the EU might be a little tougher. But because we are taking such a hard line with Iran now, the Saudis and Gulf oil sheiks are so happy that OPEC is essentially obeying our orders on how much to produce. The Gulf produces most of Europe's oil and Russia supplies the rest. No one even mentions this. We told OPEC we would prefer if they produced more at the same price. They meekly did as we asked, like last week. Because Trump didn't want consumer confidence eroding due to high summer fuel prices. We have immense power with the major oil producers of the Gulf. Did you happen to notice there wasn't a single riot or protest of any kind across the Mideast when we moved our embassy to Jerusalem? Not a peep other than the Palis (who the Arabs have thrown under the bus). And we have ourselves become the biggest oil and gas producer in the world. Bigger than the Arabs, bigger than Russia. And the entire international oil market is still traded in the petrodollar. That's not going to change either, in part because as long as Iran is a threat, the Arabs will never turn against trading oil in the dollar. Are you familiar with the phrase "balls in a vise"? You should probably be more worried about that than the price of maple syrup. Besides, maple syrup is crap anyway.
There are no replies to Comment # 10. End Trace Mode for Comment # 10.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#10. To: hondo68 (#9)
Due to Trump's tariff on Canadian Steel & Aluminum, etc, the canuks have imposed a 10% tariff on Vermont Maple Syrup. Payback for Bernie losing?
Replies to Comment # 10.
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]