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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."

18 of 547 comments (clear)

  1. Yeah by Ryanrule · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Can’t be sad about this one.

    1. Re:Yeah by iggymanz · · Score: 4, Insightful

      a traitor to the american way of funding the massive expansion of communist countries?

    2. Re:Yeah by sexconker · · Score: 5, Insightful

      They seem to be working for the countries that impose them on us.

    3. Re:Yeah by julian67 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Your going to be seeing this again and again until one day you won't remember if your right or wrong and start to worry that your loosing you're mind.

    4. Re:Yeah by LostInTaiwan · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Any idiot can start a war, but to win a war we need leaders with vision and teamwork. Do you see any of those traits in the current Trump administration?

      As much as I love to see a vibrant domestic manufacturing sector, I don't think most American cares. We decimated our own manufacturing sector with our financial sector and tax codes favoring speculative investments in real estate and the stock market. Did the recent BIG Trump tax reform changed any of that?

      I view China as an adversary to the democratic societies, and I am itching for the US to take action against the rising authoritarian capitalistic China. Yet, I am not stupid. Any war with Trump in charge will be a disaster for us. Trump's courage is defined by his Vietnam War deferments while his business acumen is defined by his four bankruptcies. Unless war is like reality television, I fear for the worst under Trump.

    5. Re:Yeah by quantaman · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Agreed! We are in a trade war, however everyone wants the US to lay down and accept their raping of us. Trump realised the Trade war has started and is not going to lose without a fight (in fact obviously the US can and will win, if we fight.)

      Obama was fighting for the other side, meaning he is a globalist and not a nationalist. Trump understands that it is no use being a globalist as you will just be abused by nationalists, until you are 3rd world country with no influence.

      People even on here seemed to have embraced the hate Trump crap so much that they cannot see straight. Comments about Trump dying in jail or being executed with his family, and then they call Trump a fascist. There was a song by Michael Jackson "I'm starting with the man in the mirror." might be good for some of the teenagers posting this stuff to listen to and contemplate.

      You really think Trump has the expertise to win a trade war? Trade deals are decided on the fine print and you've got a guy who can't even read the all-caps. He still thinks the US has a trade deficit with Canada!

      He's just obsessed with trade deficits because it's an easy to understand number, but trade deficits aren't necessarily a bad thing, it just means you're selling them more than you're selling them. But if you can actually use the things you're buying then it's actually a good thing.

      Of course if you don't believe me try reading his idiot of an advisor without laughing.

      --
      I stole this Sig
    6. Re:Yeah by thegarbz · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Do tariffs ever work long term?

      Depends on why they are put in place. To pop up a dying industry? Nope, they don't work. To level a playing field caused by a difference in artificial costs by your own policies (e.g. health and safety, or environmental regulations) definitely.

    7. Re:Yeah by denzacar · · Score: 4, Insightful

      He still thinks the US has a trade deficit with Canada!

      It's worse than that.

      He BRAGS about knowing jack shit - and then making shit up when faced with facts.

      He's literally offering lies and delusional fantasies as reasons and motivation for things he does.

      --
      Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
  2. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  3. Re:Good by jimtheowl · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "..the blind, hateful liberals.."

    There is no need for this trash talk unless your are a hateful person yourself.

  4. Re:Good by sinij · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Against good-faith trading partner, it is boneheaded move. Against China, that is anything but open market themselves it is not.

  5. Re:Good by sexconker · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.)

  6. Re:Good by CajunArson · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.
  7. It will be interesting times... by CraigCruden · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The economies are so interlinked that any real trade war could create unstable and unpredictable times.

    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 ... that anything could happen... the problem is it may not be able to be predictable.
    Anyone that claims to know what will happen ... is more than likely just pretending to know and guessing.

  8. Too little too late by rsilvergun · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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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  9. Re:So this comes with a min wage increase right? by gravewax · · Score: 4, Insightful

    China also make most of the top end range as well as the cheap shit.

  10. Re:So this comes with a min wage increase right? by Holi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You mean like this cheap tablet?

    --
    Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
  11. Re:I think this is more a question for us by jeff4747 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.