Tariffs Catch-All

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lawtig02 said:
This administration has been such a gift to China. I'm still very much in the camp that China is one of those enemies it's better to keep closer, but the reactionaries who now run this country have played into every single one of their traps.

1. You don't launch a trade war you can't win, and we can't win against China. Hence, the asskicking we're receiving.
2. You don't cede geopolitical influence to your chief geopolitical rival. Which is exactly what we're doing by pulling back from Africa, Eastern Europe, Central America, etc.
3. You don't alienate your primary suppliers for raw materials and goods needed to win the military and technology wars of the future.

Trump's brain is stuck in 1982. His advisors want to revisit 1938. But China is thinking about 2075. We (by which I mean the idiots who voted for Trump) deserve every bit of the humiliation we're receiving right now.
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On Ezra Klein's podcast he had Tom Friedman, who stated that he was in line with the use of tariffs, but basically said that everything trump is doing is wrong. Just as you mentioned, he's drove away our allies which was one of our strong points, gave us power and helped keep us in a position of financial strength.

They also talked about how China drives manufacturing, maybe we should work to drive manufacturing instead of taking the kill the competition with tariffs approach.
 
lawtig02 said:
Trump's brain is stuck in 1982. His advisors want to revisit 1938. But China is thinking about 2075. We (by which I mean the idiots who voted for Trump) deserve every bit of the humiliation we're receiving right now.
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One of these days our kids will be old and telling their grandkids of a time when the US was a global power and how we voted ourselves out of that position.
 
nycfan said:
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There was an online article - in Politico I think - in early 2017 right after Trump first took office. It was about a dying steel/coal town in Pennsylvania and the gist was that the Obama administration had a federal agency with an office in the town whose job was to help displaced factory and coal workers get retraining for new careers. And the guy who supervised the office told the reporter that relatively few people had taken advantage of the program, because they all just wanted their old jobs and careers back and were basically waiting for that to happen, especially since Trump had won the election and promised them that he would bring their jobs back. And of course that didn't happen in his first term and it won't happen in his second, mainly due to automation as mentioned here. But good luck convincing Trumpers of that - a big part of Trumpism is simply a massive effort to roll back the clock, not only on social and cultural issues but economically as well.
 
altmin said:
www.abc15.com

"It could break us": Valley farmer says Chinese tariffs have crushed the alfalfa export market

Alfalfa hay is mainly used as feed for cattle and is big business in Arizona, with Arizona farms exporting over $100 million of alfalfa overseas a year.
www.abc15.com www.abc15.com
In the Harquahala Valley, hay fields stretch as far as the eye can see.

Alfalfa hay is mainly used as feed for cattle and is big business in Arizona, with Arizona farms exporting over $100 million of alfalfa overseas a year.

Shannon Schulz has been farming in the Harquahala Valley for decades.

"There's no better way to raise a family than on the farm," Schulz said.

Schulz is unique in the Valley, as he not only harvests his alfalfa but also is part of the export process overseas. His main customers are countries in the Middle East, and China.

“Usually, this warehouse is full of hay. It’s not right now because business is just slow," Schulz said.

Business is slow because Chinese dairy farms have all but stopped buying U.S. alfalfa to feed their cattle after the country imposed retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports. China makes up about half of Arizona's alfalfa export market.

“With the current tariffs in place, which is in total about 66% from China to us, it puts our product out of the marketplace," Schulz said.

Schulz says that now Chinese farms are buying from other countries in Africa and Europe. For the alfalfa now growing in Arizona’s fields, by the time it's ready to be harvested, there may not be a customer to buy it.

Losing about half of his business overnight has not been easy.

“It could break us," Schulz said. "It could break a lot of farmers.”

Schulz says he voted for President Donald Trump and believes in the goals of his tariff plan, to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. and expand exporter access to foreign markets.

“In the long run I think it will be a good thing," He said.
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As an non-farmer resident of Arizona...good. Alfalfa is a heavy water crop. In a fucking desert. Arizona farmers use 74% of the state's water supply which is limited. They are literally using a limited resource to grow grass to ship to another desert (ME/Saudi Arabia) to feed fucking cows. How about no.
 
nycfan said:
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But according to Trump and his minions the rest of the world are practically on their knees calling and begging Dear Leader to back off his highly effective tariffs, and America is just bullying everybody into negotiating with us on our terms. In reality he's being publicly humiliated over and over. Only within his cult is he viewed as any kind of winner in this trade war, and that's largely because right-wing media isn't giving them anything like an accurate picture of what's been happening.
 
“At present there are absolutely no negotiations on the economy and trade between China and the U.S.,” Ministry of Commerce Spokesperson He Yadong told reporters in Mandarin, translated by CNBC. He added that “all sayings” regarding progress on bilateral talks should be dismissed.

“If the U.S. really wants to resolve the problem ... it should cancel all the unilateral measures on China,” He said. CNBC

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Well if China is to be believed, there are no negotiations going on. Seem like Trump and his folks were trying to say something else.

Interesting, because Wall Street seems to fall for the Trump Administration claims. I thought they were smart people? Anyway, see on the business side many companies reporting lower earning guidance. Isn't the stock market supposed to follow earnings?
 
BlueSmoke said:
“At present there are absolutely no negotiations on the economy and trade between China and the U.S.,” Ministry of Commerce Spokesperson He Yadong told reporters in Mandarin, translated by CNBC. He added that “all sayings” regarding progress on bilateral talks should be dismissed.

“If the U.S. really wants to resolve the problem ... it should cancel all the unilateral measures on China,” He said. CNBC

==========================================================

Well if China is to be believed, there are no negotiations going on. Seem like Trump and his folks were trying to say something else.

Interesting, because Wall Street seems to fall for the Trump Administration claims. I thought they were smart people? Anyway, see on the business side many companies reporting lower earning guidance. Isn't the stock market supposed to follow earnings?
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Well let the market believe him until I'm even on the year and have time to move everything to something safe.

I really doubt the average maga is directly involved in the markets, why should we all be punished for their mistakes.
 
lawtig02 said:
I absolutely HATE being in this place where I have to assume China is telling the truth and our own president is lying to us.
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The better play is probably to assume both are lying and watch what actually happens. Xi and his government are much more strategic than Trump in deploying relative truth as suits them, but still dishonest to the rotten core of the government.
 
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