Trade Wars and how to win 'em

[Brian Peacock]

Way to miss Tero's point, which is very straightforward. American exports of wheat, corn and soy beans may be hit with retaliatory tariffs by European and other nations, thus directly hitting their sales. It is quite possible that the overall losses to the US economy from this (and consumers paying more for goods made of steel) will significantly outweigh any benefits to the economy vis the US steel industry. The law of unintended consequences is not something Trump understands... No need for blustering waffle about left vs right ideologies, and who supports free trade or not, just standard economics 101...

But if that happens then the government could spend honest tax dollars on subsidies for producers - to protect jobs of course.

[JimC]

Tax dollars they have fewer of, these days...

[Brian Peacock]

Sure, but it's better than wasting it on poor kids' cancer treatment or welfare handouts for left-handed lesbian tofu crotcheters.

[pErvinalia]

Merkin wheat, corn, and soy are largely GMO and thus forbidden on EU territory...

Really? (that they are largely GMO)

[pErvinalia]

Tax dollars they have fewer of, these days...

No no, they'll be pouring in when the economy booms after freeing the Marxist shackles that Hillary and her like have place on the magnificent wealth creators in the US.

[Tero]

Merkin wheat, corn, and soy are largely GMO and thus forbidden on EU territory...

Really? (that they are largely GMO)

Yeah but we
feed it to the cows and pigs and sell those to Asia
simple

[Svartalf]

Merkin wheat, corn, and soy are largely GMO and thus forbidden on EU territory...

Really? (that they are largely GMO)

I won't swear about wheat, but maize and soy are infamous for it.

[Scot Dutchy]

Merkin wheat, corn, and soy are largely GMO and thus forbidden on EU territory...

Really? (that they are largely GMO)

I won't swear about wheat, but maize and soy are infamous for it.

The EU does not want to take the risk so all is banned.

[Tero]

Trump can be so confusing. He claimed he wanted better trade deals. He did not want ANY trade deals. Hr simply wanted to put up tariffs country by country, then use this as some kind of leverage. Typical rich guy negotiating. Use your size to force deals:

The 14 months since Trump stomped into the White House have been a different kind of raw for the Japanese establishment—and increasingly unappetizing for a government that prizes strong U.S. ties above any other relationship.

Dating back to the 1980s, Trump was among America’s most vocal Japan critics. In 1989, the real estate mogul said Japan “systematically sucked the blood out of America” and called for a 20 percent tariff on all its goods. On the campaign trail, candidate Trump called for Japan to pay more for Washington’s security blanket—saying “we can't afford to do it anymore”—and raised the specter of Tokyo developing its own nuclear weapons.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story ... rld-217767

[cronus]

Trump is easy to understand. What's mysterious about 52 card pick-up?

[Tero]

Trump was going to use leverage and ”negotiate”. Now he is just using tariff wars. Anyone can do that. But it does not work. It’s only good for growing food and keeping some farming at home, even if food is cheaper to import.
http://money.cnn.com/2018/04/03/news/ec ... index.html

[Tero]

You do not mess with Republicans on the prairie:
China trade wars

Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse called the move "the dumbest possible way to do this."

"Hopefully the President is just blowing off steam again but, if he's even half-serious, this is nuts," he said in a statement.

"China is guilty of many things, but the President has no actual plan to win right now. He's threatening to light American agriculture on fire," Sasse added.

The US has threatened to levy import taxes on more than 1,300 Chinese products, including TVs, dishwashers and printers. In turn, China vowed to target key US exports, including soybeans.

[mistermack]

A trade war needs to last decades to be effective.
Your own industries need certainty before they invest to take up the slack of more expensive imports. And that doesn't happen overnight.
How can you be sure that the next president won't reverse the measures, and leave you with investments that will never get paid back?

That's why Trumps measures are a waste of time. You will just get the damage, without the payoff.

[Tero]

Trump: If Farmers Get Hit, They’ll Understand
No they don’t. Iowa, Nebraska. A mumber of republicans not supporting you.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/tr ... understand