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Trump Announces $60 Billion Tariff on Chinese High-Tech and Other Goods (techcrunch.com)
Following months of investigations by the U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, the Trump administration announced on Thursday at a White House briefing that the administration intends to place about $60 billion of tariffs on Chinese goods, with the bulk of them likely to be focused on the high-tech industry. The White House will announce a final list of goods subject to the tariffs in the next few weeks. From a report: "We've lost over a fairly short period of time, 60,000 factories in our country. Closed, shuttered, gone. Six million jobs at least, gone. And now they are starting to come back," President Trump said during the briefing. "The word that I want to use is reciprocal -- when they charge 25 percent for a car to go in, and we charge 2 percent for their car to come into the United States, that's not good. That's how China rebuilt itself."
Can’t be sad about this one.
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This is not good for anyone, as the slew of economists and economic reporters have been putting out there for the last few weeks.
But more than that it's every day Americans who are going to be paying for it. 20-30% more on every electronic device, gadget, previously untariffed good that was imported, all to do what? Temporarily prop up industries / companies here in the US that won't significantly change their employment levels, capital investment in manufacturing, or supply chains in time until these tariffs are lifted?
"..the blind, hateful liberals.."
There is no need for this trash talk unless your are a hateful person yourself.
Against good-faith trading partner, it is boneheaded move. Against China, that is anything but open market themselves it is not.
China imposes them on us. And the memo states that tariffs are to be put in place only when things are unfair. If China doesn't want these tariffs, they can drop their own.
The plan is to match tariffs, all the way down to 0. If you don't want these tariffs, you can ask China to drop their own, which would make us drop ours.
Fair is fair, is it not?
(Actually, it's not, because their workers are treated like slaves and they shit all over the environment. We should be imposing higher tariffs on them than they are on us while those things are true.)
Yes trade barriers are very bad.
Which is why these reciprocal tariffs against China will hopefully force China to abandon it's xenophobic, racist, and anti-free market trade barriers that it has maintained for years and years.
So Trump is clearly trying to end China's boneheaded move of having trade barriers against U.S. products.
AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
Then they will just buy $60 billion worth of airplanes from Airbus. We just pissed off Europe not long ago. And they will import chicken feet and other farm products from somewhere else.
I miss the days of decency and cooperation.
Fact: You're not old enough to remember such times.
The economies are so interlinked that any real trade war could create unstable and unpredictable times.
... that anything could happen... the problem is it may not be able to be predictable. ... is more than likely just pretending to know and guessing.
The US owes so much debt now, that if China starts dumping accumulated debt they could force a spike in interest rates that basically throw the US into a hard recession.
It could lead to a currency war as China could hit back with devaluation equivalent to the tariffs.
The Chinese banks are not very transparent - and if the current swoon turns into a worldwide stock market crash - could be the start of another Asian crisis (we just cannot know) if it is prolonged.
Companies cannot just turn on a dime and change manufacturing (i.e. move it to other locations), so it could spike inflation and it could also disrupt major American companies supply.
Or it could just be taken in stride. The problem is that the markets were already overly exuberant, and there are many bubbles that could be popped
Anyone that claims to know what will happen
the jobs aren't coming back. Not very many anyway. Any factories built here will be run by robots. On the other hand we might end up bringing back the pollution.
The trouble with tariffs is they don't work as half measures. If you want to do isolationism like Brazil does that's fine. But get ready for $1500 Playstations and $3000 video cards. That's why you can still buy a Sega Megadrive in Brazil without irony.
Oh, one more thing. Any chance these tariffs will be passed on to me in the form of services like roads, schools or healthcare? Given the $1.5 trillion dollar tax cut we just did (83% of which went to the 1%) I'm guessing no. It's just like the lottery. They claim the money will go to services but then they shuffle it around and turn it into tax cuts for the rich.
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China also make most of the top end range as well as the cheap shit.
Where do you think the parts are made that you will use to repair that formerly-cheap, now-expensive tech bauble?
You are welcome on my lawn.
You mean like this cheap tablet?
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
Please direct me to a 100% US-designed-and-built smartphone or tablet. Or for that matter, a 100% US-designed-and-built automobile.
Sometimes, there is no local option.
I prefer to buy what works for me. That maybe "local" or a "cheap" gizmo. I prefer not to mix emotions, patriotic or otherwise, with how I spend my finances. I prefer Japanese cars, European chocolate, Brazilian nuts, Central & South American bananas, Chinese iPhones & HP laptops, Indian leather, Mexican watermelons, and Canadian maple syrup to name a few.
On the flip side, I do focus on local when it comes to charity. Since that is an emotional expenditure.