I'm certain that those on the Left will claim that this has nothing to do with Trump's tough stance.
I'm certain that those on the Left will claim that this has nothing to do with Trump's tough stance.
That should make the village idiot's daughter happy.Not to mention Moscow mitch's rich Chinese father in law eh??
I'm sure that the Cons will crow and flap their arms, crying that the bigly orange manly man thumped his chest and made those craven heathen Chinee bow to his irresistible will.
Of course, that ignores the fact that China is only reducing tariffs on SOME goods--as well as the fact that those tariffs wouldn't be there at all if the Orange Asshole hadn't fucked up our trade relationship with his bully-boy tactics.
But go ahead, Trumpers, cheer for your hero who made a dumb mistake that cost Americans tens of billions of dollars!
As I've said many times before - I believe Trump's dealing with China might be the lone bright spot of his administration. And I continue to believe that. And its good Boilerman finally understands that the government picking winners and losers in the economy is sometimes a necessay step to deal with nations who cheat at trade.
More good news - Trump is beginning to realize the TPP trade agreement proposed by Obama isn't the worst thing in the world either. Turns out you get alot more leverage when you team up with other nations to pressure China instead of going it alone. His administration has begun their own efforts in this regard which is a good idea and one I wish him success on. (Might be nice if he figured out this same concept in dealing with Iran too - but I digress)
I don't think it's actually possible to "cheat" at international trade that's performed voluntarily between autonomous partners. The language used is fundamentally wrong--the United States does not trade with China. Individual entities in both countries trade with each other. That's a critical distinction. In voluntary trade, if one party feels they're being "cheated," they can just not buy or sell the good or goods in question. Simple.
Trump should get out of the way and let free trade happen or not happen, according to the wishes of the private sector players involved. The hilarious thing is that removing barriers to free trade has always been a pillar of conservative ideology!
Originally posted by: Kevin Lewis
I don't think it's actually possible to "cheat" at international trade that's performed voluntarily between autonomous partners. The language used is fundamentally wrong--the United States does not trade with China. Individual entities in both countries trade with each other. That's a critical distinction. In voluntary trade, if one party feels they're being "cheated," they can just not buy or sell the good or goods in question. Simple.
Trump should get out of the way and let free trade happen or not happen, according to the wishes of the private sector players involved. The hilarious thing is that removing barriers to free trade has always been a pillar of conservative ideology!
Yes, but many "entities" in China are not profitable on their own accord and are subsidized by the Chinese government. We spend tax dollars building the military industrial complex. CHina spends tax dollars propping up general manufacturing. Thats only one reason why their products are cheaper than ours. And government subsidies are not an attribute of free trade
Also, China steals our technology and patents and makes their own produicts with that stolen knowledge. Thats is not an attribute of free trade.
And perhaps most eggregious is CHinese companies will literally counterfeit US compay goods and sell them. If you buy a Gucci handbag from Alibaba theres a really good chance it was not made by Gucci - but rather some sweatshop in SHnaghai by people with no relation to Gucci on any level. Thats is not an element of free trade.
So in summary, China does iindeed cheat. Crossing our fingers and hoping they would change the above behaviors has not yielded much change. Hopefully tarriffs and other crackdowns will. We shall see.
As far as selling goods goes, I don't care if Martians buy them. As far as buying goods goes, we should be able to tell if something is genuine or a copy/knock-off. And as far as industrial espionage is concerned, I would lay 1000-1 that we spy on China and steal their trade secrets.
China props up its manufacturing with subsidies--but don't we do that with massive tax breaks? Does any corporation pay as much as the average Joe in the street does (percentage-wise, obviously)? Aren't there all sorts of write-offs and exemptions available to manufacturing corporations?
And why do we do those things? To protect our manufacturing (and farming, etc.) sectors and keep them profitable. Both sides do that. The fundamental misunderstanding that Trump and Trumpers suffer from is the wrong view that trade is a zero-sum game. It isn't--both sides can "win." They should make as much of the stuff where they have a comparative advantage as possible--and so should we; then we should trade our surpluses with each other. Everybody wins. No rhetoric, no politics.
