Orders US firms out of China? I was not aware that the president had such authority.
He does not. Which doesn't make the headline inaccurate. But he does not have that authority, and no one right-thinking believes that he does.
Trump orders U.S. firms out of China after Beijing sets new tariffs
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Re: Trump orders U.S. firms out of China after Beijing sets new tariffs
#12Recently, I was in Germany (I live in Baltimore, MD) and was pleasantly surprised that a lot of goods are made in Germany. It is hard to find anything in our stores that isn't made in China.
Re: Trump orders U.S. firms out of China after Beijing sets new tariffs
#13> “Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing your companies HOME and making your products in the USA.” What a weird tone. Is that a thing in the US? Can the president (legally) order companies "home"? Doesn't sound like "land of the free" to me.
Maybe not home but can compel them not to do business with China, e.g. Iran.
Not unilaterally, without any process.
Re: Trump orders U.S. firms out of China after Beijing sets new tariffs
#14> “Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing your companies HOME and making your products in the USA.” What a weird tone. Is that a thing in the US? Can the president (legally) order companies "home"? Doesn't sound like "land of the free" to me.
If he can set 25% tariff on everything imported from China, what's stopping him from setting 2500% tariff on everything? Wouldn't that effectively and immediately stop all trade with China?
Re: Trump orders U.S. firms out of China after Beijing sets new tariffs
#15> “Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing your companies HOME and making your products in the USA.” What a weird tone. Is that a thing in the US? Can the president (legally) order companies "home"? Doesn't sound like "land of the free" to me.
No, he cannot, but he can say whatever he likes, as we've seen.
The constitution enables the institution of arbitrary import tariffs, but it offers absolute protection to American companies. Neither the president nor Congress is legally allowed to tax exports (Article 1, Section 9, Clause 5)
Re: Trump orders U.S. firms out of China after Beijing sets new tariffs
#16> “Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing your companies HOME and making your products in the USA.” What a weird tone. Is that a thing in the US? Can the president (legally) order companies "home"? Doesn't sound like "land of the free" to me.
Despite the headline no it's not actually an order it's just a suggestion...
Re: Trump orders U.S. firms out of China after Beijing sets new tariffs
#17> “Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing your companies HOME and making your products in the USA.” What a weird tone. Is that a thing in the US? Can the president (legally) order companies "home"? Doesn't sound like "land of the free" to me.
If he can set 25% tariff on everything imported from China, what's stopping him from setting 2500% tariff on everything? Wouldn't that effectively and immediately stop all trade with China?
No. American companies would still be allowed to sell to China. The constitution offers pretty much absolute protection when it comes to export tariffs.
Re: Trump orders U.S. firms out of China after Beijing sets new tariffs
#18It's hard to just pick up and switch when you are so entrenched. That said, I would love if more US companies built stuff here in the US. Yeah, prices might be a little higher, but at least we aren't exploiting the labor of vulnerable people in foreign countries anymore.
Vulnerable? Maybe. But they are taking less pay because they have no other alternatives. Buying nothing from them does not improve their situation. In fact much of the Chinese (or other low cost countries) economy has come from the vast amount of US dollars that have been injected for low cost goods. That has for sure raised things in those countries. Not for everyone but it's not like the 1950's either or even close. Ask anyone who grew up in the 60's and 70's what China was like back then.
Re: Trump orders U.S. firms out of China after Beijing sets new tariffs
#19It's hard to just pick up and switch when you are so entrenched. That said, I would love if more US companies built stuff here in the US. Yeah, prices might be a little higher, but at least we aren't exploiting the labor of vulnerable people in foreign countries anymore.
Many Chinese would thank you because you bought stuff manufactured by them. Without the opportunity to work on those "exploiting job", they'd be doing something with much less pay and much more hard works, and many of their next generations would be still doing the same job instead of having the opportunity to gain better education.
Re: Trump orders U.S. firms out of China after Beijing sets new tariffs
#20> It’s unclear what legal authority Trump would be able to use to compel U.S. companies to close operations in China or stop sourcing products from the country By unclear, they mean no legal authority.
Does Beijing have legal authority to compel the reverse, or does it rely on appeals to patriotism and backchannel enforcement to get it done?
It's a dictatorship, they will do whatever they want.