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Skirting U.S. sanctions, Europeans launch trade mechanism for Iran

reuters.com

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Re: Skirting U.S. sanctions, Europeans launch trade mechanism for Iran

#61

Post by NeedMoreTea »

fredley wrote: post #18
colde wrote: post #3

I'm surprised that Britain is even behind this, as they might have been a bit nervous about the US response, considering their ongoing Brexit. This is a great example of how current US foreign policy means a loss of soft power all over the world. I do think that this is a win for world stability though, trading tends to help relations, which helps stops all sort of unpleasantness. Whether this will be enough i don't…

> considering their ongoing Brexit One of the big campaigns for Leave was that the EU was dampening our ability to trade with the rest of the World. I guess maybe not then?

One of the realisations from after the result was Leave had no plan at all. Nothing admissible or written. I'm sure Rees Mogg had a plan, but it wouldn't have won votes, so that's staying in his head.

The Scottish Independence referendum had a plan running to hundreds of pages. Good bits and bad bits, but a good few people had put thought into what came next.

Leave had a bus, with a slogan.

Re: Skirting U.S. sanctions, Europeans launch trade mechanism for Iran

#62

Post by rusk »

morrbo wrote: post #55
rusk wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In terms of trade, how is it exactly they can complement each other? The geography is a bit of an issue for actual physical goods, and I'm not sure what the UK produces that the US needs. Luxury cars maybe, but IIRC most of these marques aren't even owned by the UK any more, except for perhaps the high end. Cheap Bentley's for American oligarchs? Services, maybe - but again most of the core banking will move away fro…

You've misunderstood. Practically speaking, the UK needs to buy shit, the US needs to sell shit. UK has effectively blocked out 1/3 of the world (Europe) from a trade deal because we'd never get one as good as the current free trade agreement with the EU. Our politicians won't be stupid enough to say "we've left the EU, but have made a worse deal with Europe than we had before". Similarly EU won't make a deal with th…

> when your cheap stuff comes from China

Yeah except neither party to this deal is producing "cheap stuff". Both consider themselves to be very much "top tier".

> edit - to clarify, the point i'm trying to make is that it really doesn't cost much to ship stuff halfway around the world, especially en masse

Yeah, if the stuff is "cheap". Like dramatically cheaper than what you can produce at home.

Re: Skirting U.S. sanctions, Europeans launch trade mechanism for Iran

#63

Post by rusk »

arethuza wrote: post #50
rusk wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In terms of trade, how is it exactly they can complement each other? The geography is a bit of an issue for actual physical goods, and I'm not sure what the UK produces that the US needs. Luxury cars maybe, but IIRC most of these marques aren't even owned by the UK any more, except for perhaps the high end. Cheap Bentley's for American oligarchs? Services, maybe - but again most of the core banking will move away fro…

Top exports from the UK to the US, in order, appear to be: cars, pharmaceuticals and mechanical power generators, works of art and refined oil: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44802666 Interestingly, the UK exports rather a lot more to the US than it imports from there. Edit: What is worrying is that investment in UK car building has drammetically reduced https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/uk-car-manufac…

> mechanical power generators

Well I never ... I wouldn't have thought that would be something the US would need to import ...

> works of art

Doesn't this refer to a lot of the branding work done by the likes of Starbucks, Amazon etc. which then get written off against tax or something (hence value is quite inflated).

Re: Skirting U.S. sanctions, Europeans launch trade mechanism for Iran

#64

Post by w0utert »

Qworg wrote: post #54
jonatanheyman wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and is now in a nuclear bomb program for the grace of god I have no love for Iran what so ever, but opposing them for having a nuclear program while not opposing the US or any other country who also has nukes, is so extremely hypocritical. I'm so astonished to see that argument over and over again.

It isn't hypocritical unless you see both types of government as equivalent - liberal democracy vs theological roughly democracy.

Remind me again which country has been the only one in history to actually use atomic weapons on their enemies, killing tens of thousands of innocent people as collateral damage.

Re: Skirting U.S. sanctions, Europeans launch trade mechanism for Iran

#65

Post by pmlnr »

jdowongns wrote: post #59
anc84 wrote: post #48

We should have embargos on the US for pursuing a climate change program that destroys the planet.

Yeah, except that the US has reduced emissions more than any other country and is highly competitive on a per-capita percentage basis.

Numbers, please.

Also, starting from the US emissions per capita, it's really not hard to reduce it.

Re: Skirting U.S. sanctions, Europeans launch trade mechanism for Iran

#66

Post by BLKNSLVR »

xster wrote: post #25

Their CFOs better not travel to Canada anytime soon :D

Yeah, it definitely has the appearance of undercutting the importance of Huawei's alleged actions of breaking sanctions the US has imposed on Iran.

Be interesting which side Canada chooses. They might even get a wall out of it.

Re: Skirting U.S. sanctions, Europeans launch trade mechanism for Iran

#67

Post by chris_overseas »

grecy wrote: post #6
nkozyra wrote: post #5

Good. I don't know how much longer Americans are going to buy the boogiemen we keep getting fed. Sovereign nations under the the U.S.' thumb, not being able to control their own destiny only works so long as we're complacent. I sense we're growing tired of war for war's sake, leery of ideological battles built for future blowback down the road. We see enough people profiting from these wars to wonder how much global…

I agree. I keep hearing the most wonderful things about the people of Sudan, I can't wait to get there soon and discover for myself!

I'm not sure why you're being downvoted. I returned from Sudan recently [0] and it is a fascinating country full of wonderful people and rich in culture - you will love visiting there! The Sudanese continue to suffer badly economically however, partly as a result of being on the US "State Sponsors of Terrorism" list [0] even though I firmly believe they no longer deserve to be there. Sudan still has many problems to tackle aside from this, but the US continuing to keep them on the terror list is without doubt only serving to make things worse.

Inflation is a huge problem in Sudan, largely brought on due to a lack of foreign exchange and trade (I had to take in enough USD to cover my entire trip). During my two week visit the Sudanese pound was devalued 39% overnight [2] and prices for common items rose noticeably during my stay. I came away feeling a huge amount of empathy for the locals who are finding it increasingly difficult to even afford basics such as bread there.

[0] https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10156632235706760&...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Sponsors_of_Terrorism_(U...

[2] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-07/sudan-rev...

Re: Skirting U.S. sanctions, Europeans launch trade mechanism for Iran

#68

Post by maxxxxx »

jdowongns wrote: post #59
anc84 wrote: post #48

We should have embargos on the US for pursuing a climate change program that destroys the planet.

Yeah, except that the US has reduced emissions more than any other country and is highly competitive on a per-capita percentage basis.

If you mean with competitive that the US is among the countries with the highest per capita emissions then you are right.

Re: Skirting U.S. sanctions, Europeans launch trade mechanism for Iran

#69

Post by y04nn »

Thinking that an embargo is going to solve the problem is misleading and it's only going to make things worst. The population is going to confort themselves that the occidental nations are evil, you give valid arguments to the dictatorial power, only the population is going to suffer.

Conversely opening the market creates bounds between countries and opens the population's mind that will impose the democracy by itself.

Re: Skirting U.S. sanctions, Europeans launch trade mechanism for Iran

#70

Post by arethuza »

rusk wrote: post #63
arethuza wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Top exports from the UK to the US, in order, appear to be: cars, pharmaceuticals and mechanical power generators, works of art and refined oil: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44802666 Interestingly, the UK exports rather a lot more to the US than it imports from there. Edit: What is worrying is that investment in UK car building has drammetically reduced https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/uk-car-manufac…

> mechanical power generators Well I never ... I wouldn't have thought that would be something the US would need to import ... > works of art Doesn't this refer to a lot of the branding work done by the likes of Starbucks, Amazon etc. which then get written off against tax or something (hence value is quite inflated).

I don't think the UK would be exporting Starbucks or Amazon branding?
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