White House Announces Tech Tariffs, Investment Restrictions on China (axios.com)

The White House announced this morning a plan to levy a 25% tariff on $50 billion worth of Chinese tech goods -- with the exact list to be announced next month -- as well as tech investment limits for Chinese nationals and entities. From a report: It also plans to pursue litigation at the World Trade Organization relating to Chinese intellectual property abuses. The big picture: It's a show of force that has surprised some sources close to the White House who believed Trump would defer any aggression towards China until after the North Korea summit. A source close to the White House who has a keen understanding of the internal dynamics on China told me that this is an "initial move in a long negotiation that shows the Chinese Trump is very serious -- and a move to balance the criticism that he was soft on ZTE."

Comments

"a move to balance the criticism that he was soft"

[denisbergeron]

And "with the exact list to be announced next month "

China don't have to worry, next month they will list what and when is going to be effectif hten, China will buy another hotel to Trump and every sanction willbe drop !

No suprise

[MountainLogic]

The tech community in general is more educated and mere diverse (in some ways) than the general population and hence much less will to support trump. Plus tech CEOs are not psychologically the types to kiss the kings ring so yes, he is about to screw tech for both fun and profit. Probably he will use as leverage to extort more personal gain out of Beijing.

Re:No suprise

[b0s0z0ku]

A lot of tech people and engineers tend to actually lean conservative and "law-and-order" vs being freewheeling liberals.

The liberals tend to be the scientists, professors, and artists for some reason.

Re:Trump

[llamalad]

It's a hoarding/bunker mentality versus a focus on quality of life.

On one side, there's the folks who want to keep economic and physical resources on hand and maintain and develop manufacturing capability to ensure self sufficiency.

On the other, you've got the folks who want to enjoy as many of the available ancient vises and modern conveniences as possible.

Both sides have good arguments supporting them. On one side, what happens if international trade goes to hell? And on the other, why live like a Great Depression survivor when that crisis may never come?

As with most things, the most successful strategy is probably a middle ground between the two extremes.

His daughter's business must need something

[edtice1559]

I'm sure they will negotiate a solution where her business gets a concession and this goes away. The good thing about corruption is that it's predictable and it's much easier to run a business in a predictable environment.

Re:Trump

[BlueStrat]

Look, protectionism isn't a "new" idea. It has been tried over and over throughout history. In fact, it has been more the norm than the exception. It hurts the economies of both importers and exporters, and leads to job losses and lower living standards.

Tell that to the Chinese as they've been using protectionist policies against the US for decades and engaging in tactics like flooding Western markets with super-cheap goods by "dumping" products at artificially-low prices subsidized by the Chinese government at a loss with the sole purpose of destroying US industrial and commercial sectors.

The Chinese have in effect been waging a trade and economic war against the US for decades. This response is long overdue and relatively mild in comparison.

Strat

Re:"a move to balance the criticism that he was so

[tlhIngan]

Seriously, though, T is confusing and confounding other nations because of his flip-flops, surprise "temporarily exemptions", vagueness, etc. Today's proclamations maybe be irrelevant tomorrow via a new Tweet. Most world leaders are relatively careful, systematic planners and don't know what to make of his style.

I'm not going to even say T's unpredictable style "doesn't work"; for it's too early to judge. I'm merely saying that it's baffling the h$ll out of world leaders and negotiators.

Maybe there is a method to his madness. I wouldn't bet on it personally because it resembles trolling to me, but can't rule it out yet. It's an interesting experiment; I just hope us lab-rats survive it all.

It's confounding only because most business negotiations are done in secret. When it leaks out it makes a lot of sense.

Trump has done a few things differently than most presidents. First, he's refused to divest himself of his businesses - usually a president puts their business in a trust so any decisions they may won't have potential conflict of interest.

It's why Russia is a big deal - it's one of the few countries where his businesses have done really, really, really well.

Or why ZTE suddenly deserves a lot of support (China dumps a half billion into a Trump hotel).

Next thing you know, Mexico will build a Trump hotel and it'll be "wall? what wall?" or if Mexico wants to build stuff using American equipment, "NAFTA GOOD!"

The problem is, these negotiations are done in private and under the privy of no one, so what looks erratic really turns out to be negotiation tactics to get a better deal.

Trump bends the way the dollars flow.