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US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU

bbc.com

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Re: US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU

#511

Post by AlexandrB »

tootie wrote: post #98
iteratethis wrote: post #75

This won't bring home manufacturing but let's say that it will... The US doesn't have the people to do the actual manufacturing. I saw a video recently explaining how sectors like the military, construction and the automotive industry each have 100K+ positions that they are unable to fill. A return to manufacturing adds to that shortage. Apparently there's some 7 million young men of working age that are...missing in…

The best option would be to close the gap with immigration but alas...

Why is that the best option instead of raising wages until those jobs are attractive to domestic workers? There's this weird back and forth where people bemoan stagnating wages for the working class but at the same time cheer on importing labor that is willing to work for those stagnant wages.

In any other market, the balance of supply and demand is reflected in the price. But for the labor market the perpetual solution put forward seems to be juicing the supply side so that the price does not move up to a new equilibrium.

Re: US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU

#512

Post by mystified5016 »

ggm wrote: post #87

I think a lot of people assume the economic consequences like these have not been understood by the WH. Although I don't like this administration I beg to differ: they know what's going to happen, and they expect the coming storm because they seek what follows. They want to repudiate foreign held debt, or devalue it, by revaluation of the USD and they will wear what they think of as a one time economic shock to get t…

There may have been a hint of strategy at one time. But the sheer level of gross incompetence coming from every side of this administration does not really lead one to believe that "global 4d chess trade war" is within the actual abilities of this administration to grasp.

Re: US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU

#513

Post by yifanl »

_heimdall wrote: post #505
roxolotl wrote: post #479

Aside from everything else one thing what strikes me as particularly insane is how it’s not even defensible as a protective measure. My favorite everyday olive oil comes from Tunisia. They now have a 38% tariff on them. There are no out of work olive farmers in the US. The orange man wanted tariffs, the orange man is going to get tariffs. Now we have to hope the American people aren’t so dumb as to still be convinced…

> There are no out of work olive farmers in the US. Is that because we can't grow olives here, or because we don't have federal subsidies propping up a domestic olive industry that can compete with corn and soy? I ready don't know the details well enough there, but it feels like this could just be selection bias at play.

Surely the null hypothesis isn't "The USA would have a domestic industry for every crop known to man if not for external factors"

Re: US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU

#515

Post by Saline9515 »

dostick wrote: post #506

This historical period will be remembered by being a cause for legislation to introduce strict testing for mental illness in government positions. Ask any psychologist and it’s clear what it is, but they won’t say it publicly because of Goldwater “rule”. fact is they have the most dangerous and destructive mental illness known, and they captured the power exactly because of their disorderly mindset. Yet for months an…

So which illness it is?

Re: US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU

#516

Post by jcfrei »

ggm wrote: post #87

I think a lot of people assume the economic consequences like these have not been understood by the WH. Although I don't like this administration I beg to differ: they know what's going to happen, and they expect the coming storm because they seek what follows. They want to repudiate foreign held debt, or devalue it, by revaluation of the USD and they will wear what they think of as a one time economic shock to get t…

In my opinion you are giving the US government far too much credit. Trump has through his usage of social media created a weapon that he can strike at anyone that stands in his way. With all branches under Republican control there's simply no one left who can stand up to him without having his political career destroyed. We've seen this story unfold so many times in countries around the world - Turkey would be one recent example where the misguided policies of Erdogan have left the country with record inflation rates for years.

Re: US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU

#517

Post by roxolotl »

_heimdall wrote: post #505
roxolotl wrote: post #479

Aside from everything else one thing what strikes me as particularly insane is how it’s not even defensible as a protective measure. My favorite everyday olive oil comes from Tunisia. They now have a 38% tariff on them. There are no out of work olive farmers in the US. The orange man wanted tariffs, the orange man is going to get tariffs. Now we have to hope the American people aren’t so dumb as to still be convinced…

> There are no out of work olive farmers in the US. Is that because we can't grow olives here, or because we don't have federal subsidies propping up a domestic olive industry that can compete with corn and soy? I ready don't know the details well enough there, but it feels like this could just be selection bias at play.

You can grow olives in the US and there are some farms in CA. The quantities produced are orders of magnitude off though and given the time it takes to grow olive orchards we cannot replace our imports of olives in a reasonable time period.

There's a lot of examples like this. Coffee, and bananas come to mind. You can only grow those in Hawaii, or maybe Flordia, and there's absolutely not enough land to sate our imports. The whole theory behind international trade is that some countries do things well and others don't. In the case of food the reality is more that others can't.

Re: US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU

#518

Post by tiahura »

hayst4ck wrote: post #297

The golden prize for America's enemies is to remove the US dollar as a global reserve currency. Since trade is conducted largely in USD, that means other governments must purchase USD to trade. This is the core of trade deficits. Foreign countries buy US dollars so they can trade with other people. That guarantees the deficit since they give us something in exchange for USD, which they do not then spend on goods we m…

The world disagrees with your assessment that this is going to be bad for the dollar. See recent movement of 10Y.

Re: US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU

#519

Post by franktankbank »

jsemrau wrote: post #503
iteratethis wrote: post #75

This won't bring home manufacturing but let's say that it will... The US doesn't have the people to do the actual manufacturing. I saw a video recently explaining how sectors like the military, construction and the automotive industry each have 100K+ positions that they are unable to fill. A return to manufacturing adds to that shortage. Apparently there's some 7 million young men of working age that are...missing in…

>Apparently there's some 7 million young men of working age that are...missing in action. Self-isolated, gaming, addictions. And you never wondered why that is?

The only question is how to get them employed where our economy needs them. Honestly I've worked in Manufacturing and it is fucking gnarly. Clean factories don't exist. Many of the men I worked with had some sort of mild mental disorder tending towards aggression. Constantly short serviced machines and price gouging by any contractors involved. There is a lot to figure out and before you end up with a hospitable work environment. I'm doubtful tubby mcgamesalot is going to hold down a job stamping metal parts all day getting his lunch eaten or pissed in.

Re: US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU

#520

Post by _heimdall »

I'm surprised by how many concerns there are here related to how the tariff amounts were calculated.

It seems like they used a pretty simple algorithm to do it. Isn't that a good thing? Countries were treated the same and the tariff was decided primarily by the trade imbalance (with a minimum of 10%). Would we rather them use a combination of completely incomprehensible calculations and backroom deals?

Its open season for debating whether tariffs will work, or even what the underlying motivations are. Attacking the use of a simple algorithm across the board just feels lazy and either emotionally or politically charged.

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