The proposed tariffs are an exercise in ego, not economics.
President Donald Trump apparently believes that "trade wars are good, and easy to win."
They are neither. And, in fact, Trump's plan to slap a 25 percent tariff on all steel imports—something the president is considering as a way to help American steel manufacturers by protecting them from international competition—might indirectly boost China's steel industry while punishing some of America's top allies and trading partners, along with the very American workers the president supposedly wants to help. If the tariffs trigger a trade war, something analysts say could happen, then China probably stands to gain further.
Trump loves to talk about how China has been "killing" U.S. manufacturing, and to blame China for dumping cheap steel into the American market. In reality, the U.S. imported $976 million worth of steel from China in 2017 (up from $906 million the year before), which means China accounted for barely more than 3 percent of all steel imports.
The United States imported far more steel from places like Japan ($1.65 billion), Brazil ($2.44 billion), and South Korea ($2.78 billion) last year. The largest exporter of steel to the United States is Canada, which sent more than 5.6 million metric tons of the stuff worth more than $5.1 billion across the border during 2017.
The new tariffs will be applied to all steel imports, which means close allies like Japan, Korea, and Canada will be hurt by the tariffs more than Trump's favored enemy of China.
"Hitting China and Canada with the same tariff doesn't penalize China relative to anyone else," says Dan Ikenson, director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. "That doesn't, and shouldn't, sit well with exporters from countries that have done nothing wrong."
Think about it like this. Trump's tariff will build a protectionist wall around American steel manufacturers, but it won't entirely stop the flow of foreign steel into the country. Because the wall will be the same height for all imports, the cheaper Chinese steel that Trump likes to vilify will still have an advantage over all other sources.
Meanwhile, American businesses that rely on steel imports will have to pay higher prices, which will be passed along to consumers. All steel-made products will be more expensive if the tariffs are imposed—and the same is true for aluminum products if Trump follows through with his threat to impose a 10 percent tariff on them. That's part of the reason why the stock market dropped 420 points immediately after Trump's surprise announcement of the tariff proposal last week. As Matt Welch explained on Friday, Barack Obama's tariffs on Chinese tires cost American consumers an estimated $1.1 billion in return for preserving 1,200 jobs in the domestic tire industry, while George W. Bush's duties on foreign steel destroyed some 200,000 jobs in other sectors, exceeding the total employment of the American steel industry.
Michael Froman, former United States trade representative during the Obama administration, tells Vox that there's little doubt China is engaged in some unfair trading when it comes to steel and aluminum. The problem, though, is that Trump's tariff proposal "does very little, if anything, to affect China."
"Instead, we're hitting our closest allies and partners with a set of tariffs under the justification of national security," he says.
Those same concerns are causing some Republicans in Congress to challenge the president's proposal. On Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said "China wins" if tariffs increase prices for American consumers or create conflict between the United States and its major trading partners.
"You're punishing the American consumer and our allies. You're making a huge mistake," Graham said on CBS' Face The Nation. "Go after China—not the rest of the world."
That's really just the start. China could respond to the Trump tariffs by imposing their own import taxes on American-made products like soy beans, airplanes, or computer technology. If China doesn't respond directly, other countries might. A trade war that draws new protectionist tariffs from the European Union aimed at American exports would harm both trading partners, and indirectly boost China.
Already, European Commission President Jean-Claude Junker has promised to "not sit idly while our industry is hit with unfair measures that put thousands of European jobs at risk," and Chrystia Freeland, Canada's foreign minister, has threatened to take "responsive measures to defend its trade interests and workers."
If the trade war escalates to the extend that current trade agreements are jeopardized, it could drive a wedge between the United States and it's major allies. In that environment, Ikenson warns, China could get away with more rule violations due to the lack of "a coherent, unified response."
In other words, Trump's tariffs and the trade wars they could initiate might indeed be "good and easy to win," but not for the United States.
#1: A K A Stone To: Deckard (#0)
You should move to Amsterdam where you can do all the drugs you want doper.
A K A Stone posted on 2018-03-06 06:59:16 Reply Private Reply
#2: paraclete To: Deckard (#0)
Yes he is proving himself to be the Manchurian candidate
paraclete posted on 2018-03-06 07:06:01 Reply Private Reply
#3: Deckard To: A K A Stone (#1)
Why does Trump want to help China and penalize our allies?
Trump loves to talk about how China has been "killing" U.S. manufacturing, and to blame China for dumping cheap steel into the American market. In reality, the U.S. imported $976 million worth of steel from China in 2017 (up from $906 million the year before), which means China accounted for barely more than 3 percent of all steel imports.
The United States imported far more steel from places like Japan ($1.65 billion), Brazil ($2.44 billion), and South Korea ($2.78 billion) last year. The largest exporter of steel to the United States is Canada, which sent more than 5.6 million metric tons of the stuff worth more than $5.1 billion across the border during 2017.
The new tariffs will be applied to all steel imports, which means close allies like Japan, Korea, and Canada will be hurt by the tariffs more than Trump's favored enemy of China.
You should move to Amsterdam where you can do all the drugs you want doper.
I don't use drugs dimwit - Try and stay on topic. Is that too complicated for you?
Deckard posted on 2018-03-06 08:04:00 Reply Private Reply
#4: Deckard To: A K A Stone (#1)
Were you for Obama's tariffs, or are tariffs only "good" when Trump says they are?
Deckard posted on 2018-03-06 08:23:17 Reply Private Reply
#5: A K A Stone To: Deckard (#4)
I was for Obama's, bushes before he pussed out. I'm for Pat Buchanan's type of thinking. You know America first and screw the globalists. It is noted that you put foreigners over Americans.
A K A Stone posted on 2018-03-06 08:36:34 Reply Private Reply
#6: misterwhite To: Deckard (#0)
What an ignorant buffoon. China is dumping steel into other countries, depressing their steel prices also. So the price of steel imported from other countries reflects this.
misterwhite posted on 2018-03-06 09:13:32 Reply Private Reply
#7: Gatlin To: Deckard, A K A Stone (#4)
When you finish that calculation, tell me with absolutely no tires being produced in this country and we become slaves to foreign tire producers for tires, how much do you think with their monopoly, they will raise the prices and charge us for each automobile tire? Say: $1,000, $2,000, $3,000 or how much? Exaggeration? No! We have seen the thousands percentage increases with big pharma in our country doing business that same way with their monopolies.
Hey, boy….wake up, it does happen.
Now you look at the jobs loss versus dollars saved with the steel and aluminum industry to see how long before no steel or aluminum is produced in this country, how much money is saved and what the effect will be.
What happens to this country with foreigners to whom we are totally dependent on for all tires, steel and aluminum get pissed at the U.S. and stop sending those products to America? Embargo” Hmmm? It could happen in your world of thinking you know? And speaking of “world,” so far as your hated New World Order is concerned….will these embargos now give new meaning to that terrible monstrosity and create a “New, New World Order?” Hmmm?
And BTW:
Don’t believe these assholes with a bigger agenda than you, who use a more warped rational the even you. You notice they use the LARGE number of 200,000 jobs to scare everyone while they never published any resultant dollar losses or savings.So let’s go to the Internet …
Am I making any sense at all to you. GLOBALIST? If not, then you surely are brain dead.Boy, you better start listening to Stone….he is so much smarter that you are and he is trying to keep you straight.
I yield back the remainder of my time to you, Stone, I have caregiver chores to do. This is not my usual work, it was thrown together rapidly since I am in a hurry….hope it made sense.
Trump knows what he is doing!
Gatlin posted on 2018-03-06 09:46:33 Reply Private Reply
#8: Deckard To: Gatlin (#7)
By the way - how much is Trump paying you to carry water for him? You've kissed his ass for so long - you might as well get something out of it.
Deckard posted on 2018-03-06 10:19:01 Reply Private Reply
#9: Deckard To: Gatlin (#7)
Seems to me that you are on record as supporting the globalist agenda with your hatred of the Constitution.
I presented an opinion piece on why Trump's ideas may not be in the best interest of the nation. Apparently any criticism of Der Führer or his policies is not allowed on this site.
LF has turned into a regular echo chamber with the Trump cultists in charge.
Deckard posted on 2018-03-06 10:23:10 Reply Private Reply
#10: A K A Stone To: Deckard (#9)
In other words you're a dork who wants to live in a lawless drug state.
Globalists are for so called free trade. Patriots are for tariffs like the founders. I get it you are a phoney.
A K A Stone posted on 2018-03-06 10:27:28 Reply Private Reply
#11: Deckard To: A K A Stone (#10)
Can't stop lying, can you asshole?
BTW - here's another article from a CONSERVATIVE publication, The Washington Examiner.
Trump's tariffs are a very bad idea, but at least they will annoy China
President Trump is making a mistake with his plan to introduce 25 percent tariffs on steel imports and 10 percent tariffs on aluminum imports.
Doing so risks an economically damaging trade war with close allies like Canada, the European Union, and Japan. Moreover, if the president is serious about maintaining his tariffs for "a long time," he'll drive up the cost of car purchases and building projects. He'll also reduce efficiency in high-end economic sectors where the U.S. enjoys a comparative advantage, such as airplane construction.
In addition, this choice risks undercutting U.S. alliances the world over. This is especially true in the Indo-Pacific region, where U.S. commitment to free trade sets us apart from China and offers the U.S. growing access to lucrative export markets.
In essence, Trump is rewarding hundreds of thousands of workers in the steel and aluminum industries and punishing hundreds of millions of Americans. The policy is both morally and economically illiterate.
Here's some info about the Examiner:
When Anschutz first started the Examiner in its daily newspaper format, he envisioned creating a competitor to The Washington Post with a conservative editorial line. According to Politico, "When it came to the editorial page, Anschutz's instructions were explicit—he 'wanted nothing but conservative columns and conservative op-ed writers,' said one former employee." The Examiner's writers have included Michael Barone, Tim Cavanaugh, David Freddoso, Tara Palmeri, Rudy Takala, and Byron York.
The Examiner endorsed John McCain in the 2008 presidential election.
Conservatives are questioning Trump's policies too - not just libertarians.
Your knee-jerk and vitriolic, spittle-flecked posts that claim I'm a globalist are outright lies. And your insinuations that I am against the War on Drugs so kids will get hooked is slander at its worst.
Be honest for once in your life - can you do that?
Deckard posted on 2018-03-06 10:37:28 Reply Private Reply
#12: Gatlin To: Deckard (#8)
There was no counterclaim, evidence on even an accusation that anything I posted is false.
Your continuing use of seemingly offensive adjectives with your name calling in your futile attempt to induce rejection or condemnation in any single point I posted without objective consideration speaks to your mentality and partiality.
Attack my SALIENT points, asshole….not me personally. >p>
Gatlin posted on 2018-03-06 10:43:13 Reply Private Reply
#13: A K A Stone To: Deckard (#11)
You are also a proponent of turning America into a drug state.
A K A Stone posted on 2018-03-06 11:01:04 Reply Private Reply
#14: A K A Stone To: Deckard (#11)
A K A Stone posted on 2018-03-06 11:02:17 Reply Private Reply
#15: Gatlin To: Deckard (#9)
The opinion you presented was shoddy and failingly so irrational that you sounded life a four-year-old telling his mommy that he had to go to the bathroom.
I am definitely not a globalist and I strongly support the Constitution.
You presented an asinine opinion that was remarkably irrational and definitely was never in any way in the best interest of our great nation. It was decidedly in the best interest of foreign nations....and that’s why different people are correct in branding you a, GLOBALIST.Bring Hitler or Nazi into a discussion is the final sign of total capitulation. But then, you were doomed from the beginning with our outrageously weak remarks.
LF is always the way it has been. Stone has never changed his management of the forum or the admissibility of varying view points in any shape or manner. He has been extremely tolerant with you and others of your ilk....much more than I ever would have been.Look in the mirror, asshole....it is YOU that has changed. You have let your obsessive hatred for this country to cause you to fall deeply in love with other nation and look out for their inerests....you support those foreign nations against America, the land most all of us still love.
Are you understating any of this, GLOBALIST?
Gatlin posted on 2018-03-06 11:08:11 Reply Private Reply
#16: Gatlin To: Deckard (#11)
STOP using that “copy and paste” SPAM.
Use your own MIND to speak your piece.
Gatlin posted on 2018-03-06 11:12:30 Reply Private Reply
#17: Deckard To: A K A Stone, l Gatlin (#14)
Why, because I post some articles that are critical of his policies? Whatever dude - you think anyone who who is critical of Trump in any way is a neocon. Come on man - how stupid is that?
Your reasoning skills are a joke. Same old false dichotomy you have always tried to pull. If you don't support Trump - you love Hillary.
If you disagree with Trump, you are a neocon.
If you support a third party, you are a commie.
If you want to see the War on Drugs end, you are in favor of heroin vending machines in elementary schools.
If you want to see cops held acocuntable for their actions, then you are a cop hater Yada,yada, yada.
You are also a proponent of turning America into a drug state.
You just can't stop lying, can you asshole.
My position is that your miserable War on Drugs is an abject FAILURE and it's time to try something different.
Prohibition of alcohol created the same problems as we have now, yet we learned from that.
Apparently you've never heard the saying "Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it".
Deckard posted on 2018-03-06 11:14:27 Reply Private Reply
#18: A K A Stone To: Deckard (#17)
Because you are parroting neocon Lindsey Graham talking points.
Criticize Trump for something legitimate like not making it a higher tariff.
A K A Stone posted on 2018-03-06 11:17:20 Reply Private Reply
#19: Deckard To: Gatlin (#15)
OK, got it - Dissenting OPINION must not be tolerated in the Trump regime.
...you support those foreign nations against America, the land most all of us still love.
Wow - so anyone critical of Trump's policies "hates America"?
Good grief - you are just as much of a knee-jerk reactionary and liar as Stone.
Deckard posted on 2018-03-06 11:19:38 Reply Private Reply
#20: A K A Stone To: Deckard (#17)
I conceded that you might not want to get kids hooked. But you have no problems letting them grow up being told drugs are the best thing ever and if they are illegal they are somehow being oppresed.
So you are just to dumb to know the consequences of your wet dream.
A K A Stone posted on 2018-03-06 11:20:05 Reply Private Reply
#21: A K A Stone To: Deckard (#17)
We're you so stupid you thought the war on drugs would eliminate immoral drug use? If so that is really dumb.
A K A Stone posted on 2018-03-06 11:21:42 Reply Private Reply
#22: A K A Stone To: Deckard (#17)
Well you are in favor of legal heroin.
A K A Stone posted on 2018-03-06 11:22:46 Reply Private Reply
#23: Deckard To: A K A Stone (#18)
Never once quoted Graham - your penchant for making shit up continues.
I posted a link to a CONSERVATIVE site that legitimately questions the policy proposed by Donald - and yet you continue with your PMS tirades.
Deckard posted on 2018-03-06 11:24:10 Reply Private Reply
#24: Hondo68 To: A K A Stone, deckard, gatlin, tater tard, Keynesian losers (#14)
Wildfires plus Trump's tariff/tax on Canadian lumber are screwing Americans again.
Gee our trees caught on fire, so now Americans have to pay the Trump tax for a stick of lumber!
If Americans want to wash the soot and ashes off of their clothes, they get stuck TWICE by Trump tariffs when buying a washing machine, once for the steel and aluminum, and then again with another Trump tariff when they buy the washer itself.
Trump is an economic ignoramus, which might explain why he went bankrupt so many times.
A pair of cucks discuss tariffs & economics, the Trumpkin loses, epic FAIL!
Hondo68 posted on 2018-03-06 11:25:32 Reply Private Reply
#25: A K A Stone To: Deckard (#19)
You can have an opinion. We are just exercising our free speech to tell your ideas are weirdo ideas a lot of the time. Not always. But often.
You are a globalist because you are worried about so called allies selling us steel but you don't care I'd Americans are out of work and end up going on welfare. As long as you can save a penny on a can of beer.
Interesting that a drug proponent would worry about tariffs affects on the beer drug.
A K A Stone posted on 2018-03-06 11:26:06 Reply Private Reply
#26: Deckard To: A K A Stone (#21)
Trump's plan to execute drug dealers should do the trick, right?
Deckard posted on 2018-03-06 11:27:22 Reply Private Reply
#27: A K A Stone To: hondo68 (#24)
Buy American then.
A K A Stone posted on 2018-03-06 11:27:56 Reply Private Reply
#28: Deckard To: Gatlin (#16)
Piss off- I posted that to show that CONSERVATIVES are questioning Trump's policies.
Deckard posted on 2018-03-06 11:29:18 Reply Private Reply
#29: A K A Stone To: Deckard (#26)
Execute heroin dealers and crack dealers and fetenol dealers.
Slap pot heads with a 100 dollar fine.
A K A Stone posted on 2018-03-06 11:30:46 Reply Private Reply
#30: Gatlin To: Deckard (#19)
Gatlin posted on 2018-03-06 11:31:30 Reply Private Reply
#31: A K A Stone To: Deckard (#28)
Neocons. Not real conservatives like Pat Buchanan and Donald Trump.
A K A Stone posted on 2018-03-06 11:31:41 Reply Private Reply
#32: A K A Stone To: hondo68 (#24)
Trump never went bankrupt. He is in fact a billionaire.
Thanks to his taxes you got food stamps, free healthcare and pills to sell illegally.
A K A Stone posted on 2018-03-06 11:33:22 Reply Private Reply
#33: A K A Stone To: Deckard (#28)
A K A Stone posted on 2018-03-06 11:35:49 Reply Private Reply
#34: Gatlin To: Deckard (#28)
Adults, well most adults, have learned to speak their own mind.
What is your problem….since you have not.
“Copy and Paste….that’s what you continually do.
Gatlin posted on 2018-03-06 11:35:52 Reply Private Reply
#35: Hondo68 To: Gatlin (#34)
Now he's probably unemployed thanks to wildfires & Trump's tax/tariff on Canadian lumber and rising home prices.
He's most likely one of Donald's illegal alien DACA sanctuary Dream Students, anyways.
Hondo68 posted on 2018-03-06 12:04:18 Reply Private Reply
#36: Deckard To: Gatlin (#34)
At least I post a link to my source - unlike you who constantly passes off others' work as his own.
Look Parsons - I'm not saying you don't have some good points,. Maybe you do.
But you and Stone both berate others for having an opinion that is contrary to your own narrow-minded view - thinking to yourselves that you are the only ones who are ever right.
Let me ask you something Parsons - what's it like in that fantasy world of yours where anyone who disagrees with you is an asshole because they don't swoon over every word that comes out of your smug, insufferable and self-aggrandizing word-hole?
Are you this much of a snotty little prick in real life as well?
Deckard posted on 2018-03-06 13:31:17 Reply Private Reply
#37: A K A Stone To: Deckard (#36)
Are you this much of a snotty little prick in real life as well?
A K A Stone posted on 2018-03-06 13:51:11 Reply Private Reply
#38: Deckard To: A K A Stone (#37)
Originality was never your strong suit.
Deckard posted on 2018-03-06 13:55:17 Reply Private Reply
#39: A K A Stone To: Deckard (#38)
Showing your to be kind of a hypocrite.
A K A Stone posted on 2018-03-06 13:56:01 Reply Private Reply
#40: Deckard To: A K A Stone (#39)
Deckard posted on 2018-03-06 14:04:23 Reply Private Reply
#41: calcon To: Gatlin, deckTARD, hondope68 (#34)
Stopped posting or reading here because the two "resistance" fighters were dumbing down every thread but I see hillary and Wassermann still haven't found jobs.
I guess I'll have to come back and watch as the resistance fighters cry like little girls when Trump is reelected in 2020. (UNLESS OF COURSE HE DECIDES TO REMAIN POTUS FOR LIFE)
TRUMP IN 2020!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
calcon posted on 2018-03-06 14:17:09 Reply Private Reply
#42: Deckard To: calcon, Gatlin, A K A Stone (#41)
What followed immediately after the tariffs were announced was a 30% plunge in the S&P 500, a slump in the dollar and a rally in bonds that slashed 10Y yields in half.
After receiving the verdict, both from the market and the WTO, the United States backed down and withdrew the tariffs on December 4, 2003
Deckard posted on 2018-03-06 14:20:59 Reply Private Reply
#43: A K A Stone To: Deckard (#42)
I would have thought you would be on the right side on this issue. Your character is further degraded.
A K A Stone posted on 2018-03-06 14:25:57 Reply Private Reply
#44: A K A Stone To: calcon (#41)
A K A Stone posted on 2018-03-06 14:31:34 Reply Private Reply
#45: Gatlin To: Deckard (#42)
That was the candy-assed, chicken-livered Bush.Gatlin posted on 2018-03-06 14:38:12 Reply Private Reply
#46: Gatlin To: calcon (#41)
Seeing your name on the post made me smile.Welcome back ...
I well remember when that happened.
Jump back in now with both feet.
They are still easy.
Gatlin posted on 2018-03-06 14:41:51 Reply Private Reply
#47: Gatlin To: Deckard (#36)
Do you want me to embarrass you with a link to the last time.
You know I can and that I will....I am one “kick ass and take no prisoners” guy.
Gatlin posted on 2018-03-06 14:47:58 Reply Private Reply
#48: Gatlin To: Deckard (#19)
You got nothing, dipshit....otherwise you would have changed your modus operands.Dissenting opinions are welcome and will be debated.
Crazy irrational comments merely to engage in a personal attack will be pounced upon.
Gatlin posted on 2018-03-06 14:53:23 Reply Private Reply
#49: Gatlin To: hondo68 (#24)
Gatlin posted on 2018-03-06 15:00:40 Reply Private Reply
#50: A K A Stone To: Deckard (#36)
A moment of sanity.
Which points do you think might be good?
A K A Stone posted on 2018-03-06 15:04:06 Reply Private Reply