The following commentary is excerpted from current articles in
The Washington Post and the
Wall Street Journal.
"President Trump Thursday imposed tariffs on imported steel and aluminum from the European Union, Canada and Mexico, triggering immediate retaliation from U.S. allies against American businesses and farmers."
"
For Republicans and conservatives more broadly, this represents a repudiation of decades of free-market, pro-free-trade policy. 'Trade protectionism resurrects 17th-century economics to our national detriment,' says Alex Nowrasteh of the libertarian Cato Institute. 'This trade war will result in higher prices for all Americans, fewer employment opportunities, and less investment in the United States. Only a handful of politically connected cronies will win and many more of us will lose.' ”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the levies “totally unacceptable,” adding it was “inconceivable” that they were related to national security, as the Trump administration argues, and said that Ottawa will impose a 25% tariff on steel from the U.S. and a 10% tariff on aluminum and a wide range of other U.S. goods, including some food and agricultural products. “This is protectionism, pure and simple,” the EU’s top executive, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, said Thursday. The EU is also planning to hit back with its own levies on U.S. exports worth $7.5 billion. Britain issued an unusually stern rebuke. President Emmanuel Macron has couched Trump’s tariffs as a “nationalist retrenchment” reminiscent of Europe in the 1930s.
The countries hit by tariffs include some of closest U.S. allies and trading partners, and biggest suppliers of metals- Canada accounts for about half of the raw aluminum imported by the U.S. and about 21% of the finished steel imports by the U.S. It’s a major provider of steel plate and hot-rolled coil steel used widely throughout manufacturing. Mexico supplies 9% of finished steel imports, but also provides 11% of semi-finished steel. These are generally big slabs of steel that U.S. mills buy to make finished products like sheet steel and pipe. The EU provides 17% of U.S. steel imports, and is a major supplier of stainless steel, high-value steel used by the automotive industry.
A
WSJ editorial suggests that “about three jobs would be lost elsewhere in the economy for every U.S. motor vehicle job gained” and “GDP would decline by 0.1 percent as higher costs, net job losses, and declines in producer and consumer spending power work their ways through the economy.” The study also finds that export competitiveness would decline, dragging down the total value of U.S. exports by 2% when the President’s goal is to increase exports.
Comments
The National Security work around thingy afforded to a president related to tariff imposition.
https://www.vox.com/2018/3/8/17097206/trump-tariffs-congress
I'm going to have accept that at the moment, I'm in the big dumb camp regarding what POTUS is attempting to do with tariffs towards Canada, Mexico and the E.U. I do have opportunities to watch and listen, but I have not found an intellectual statement from the POTUS that provides a solid guideline. If such a statement exists, please link me to same here.
Now, I'll guarantee that I'm up to my buttocks with work; but would appreciate those willing and able with a little bit of time, to help a tiny bit as to:
1. what is the "game plan" with this tariff? Yes, a very broad question with a lot of possible answers.
Personal observations: I ask with the machinations from the White House; is there a real plan for anything? Am I watching someone who finds only glory in the ego of the office and a "crap I can doing anything I want" personality? How much damage is taking plan towards relationships with countries we've had good relations with for many years?
Just in before I leave: EU countries are writing their tariff list at this moment and reported to include very specific target product items from the U.S.
I'm done with this. Just so frustrating to me.
Thank you for your time.
Catch
What the F are they doing right now?!?!?!
Wring their hands, say "this is bad and shouldn't be done", maybe do a tsk-tsk for the cameras, and then go about fundraising for their next election, obviously.
I would be very surprised if any legislation comes out to address this w/enough votes to override a veto. Or if it was a 'clean' bill that only focused on tarrifs and didn't try to do other unrelated things.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/05/is-china-straight-up-bribing-donald-trump-zte
Sadly, true. Facts are fungible. And if you don't like mine, feel free to concoct your own -- because why not?? Nothing matters anymore! I'm reminded of that quote from (I think Dante) at the end of Platoon' -- "hell is the absence of reason." Sigh.....
@Maurice I was not directing my comment at you specifically, or I would have indicated such. It was a general response to what I view as a valid assessment by VF about the state of the world.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2018/06/04/the-gop-made-two-rotten-policy-bets
Kochs are working to stymie as well.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-trade-policy-violates-almost-every-strategic-rule/2018/06/04/989ca43a-6812-11e8-9e38-24e693b38637_story.html
"[T]he Koch brothers’ political network is stepping into the breach, launching what its executives are framing as a multiyear, multimillion-dollar campaign to knock down the new trade barriers." "We’ll be supporting those folks who will be champions, not just passive supporters.”
"[T]he Koch groups said in a Monday statement of principles that the U.S. should embrace new free trade deals by updating the North American Free Trade Agreement and moving to forge pacts with the United Kingdom, the EU, and Pacific Rim nations."
"The Koch network is hardly the only business group decrying Trump's trade moves. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the National Retail Federation, among many others, have denounced the tariffs as growth-killers. But the complaints haven't yet morphed into an effort by those groups to exact a political price from policymakers who enable protectionism."
https://washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2013/08/07/the-politics-of-jeff-bezos/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.5294feb639a7
https://theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/07/amazon-donald-trump-america-jeff-bezos