The Trump administration is readying tariffs on another $200 billion in Chinese imports, ranging from burglar alarms to mackerel, escalating a trade war between the world’s two biggest economies. ... The administration said the new levies are a response to China’s decision to retaliate against the first round of U.S. tariffs.I normally wonder what sort of moron would think that China would not respond to an opening salvo in a trade war, but these are not normal times.
The markets are not amused. And, of course, China will retaliate for any more tariffs.
I'm pretty sure that there's no exit strategy from this. Probably worse than Chimpy, The Donald, no doubt, has conflated his manhood with his trade war. Herr Dopenfuhrer will view any result short of what he perceives to be a win as unacceptable.
More likely is that the global economy will tumble off a cliff. Not because of the business cycle, but because of the impetuosity of the World's Oldest Toddler.
So much winning.
6 comments:
Don’t forget that Germany is controlled by Russia...
trump's exit strategy is similar to how he dealt with the small-business contractors he bullied into submission over the years. Give him what HE wants and he'll go away.
trump consistently shows a Zero-Sum world-view of Winner vs. Loser, and he always wants to play the Winner. even when he lies, cheats, steals, and gets caught doing all three. It's why he has so many lawyers and bagmen to buy his way out of legal jams.
it's gonna frustrate him to find out China isn't some self-employed woodworker desperate to get any kind of payment for services rendered just to put food on his table.
If you separate his trade war from his personality problems, it looks ugly and dumb.
The main problem being he doesn't have any real or coherent demands for the countries he's attacking to meet in order to satisfy him on a policy level and resolve the issue.
The EU's "outrageous tariffs" amount to about 3% on average (and there's the question of whether he knows that a VAT is not a tariff), China's trade surpluses are embedded in supply chains that have US inputs, and Canada is not, in fact, a national security threat.
Those countries, though, aren't laboring under whatever misconceptions he has that have brought him to these decisions, and their retaliation is focused on end-product items that don't disrupt their own supply chains and items that will inflict harm upon his voting base.
Basically, he's getting his ass kicked in the trade war he started, which would be funnier if we weren't the ones actually doing the losing.
-Doug in Oakland
I think I may understand Donnie’s “strateeegery”. He views trade as a zero sum game, so when he adds a 10% tariff on $34 Billion, that’s $3.4 Billion for the U.S., the tariffs paid in China are paid by companies, not the U.S. Gov. So, why another $200 Billion proposed, well let’s see. The new tariffs are at least 2 months out, which gives time to bargain (note, I do not believe China will bargain on this, but Donnie does) before the hit. When they hit, that’s another $20 Billion to Uncle Sam, and China can’t match it. China can’t impose another $200 Billion in tariffs because there aren’t enough imports to tax, so Donnie figures he’s more ahead. The problem is Chinese treasury holdings and the fact that screwing up U.S.-China trade will crash the global trade system and cause a huge recession. But, hey, Donnie has an extra $23.4 Billion to play with.
Dear CP88
Your understanding of Donnie Dimplebutt's “strateeegery” suggests that he thinks a $Billion$ means a lot to a government. Maybe it did back when he was "studying hard" at NYMA but those days are long gone.
montag, I simply point out that to a simpleton, in a zero sum game, $23,400,000,000.00 looks kinda nice. To the government, it's pocket lint, but...Donnie is wired to crave money.
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