Trump readying another 267 billion in Chinese tariffs

[Rickshaw Man]

Well the politicans are "pussy footing and sucking up" to China because there is a clear demand for stuff for China. The West is supposed to be ruled by democracy, dictated by the will of the people who live there. If the people in the West didn't want Chinese stuff and has no demand for them, WHY would the politicians need to "pussy foot and suck up" to China? They would be flatly rejecting and even banning Chinese goods. They are "pussy footing and sucking up" to China because people demand it, people want the stuff and the West unfortunately can't compete with China, not anymore. The big USA is afraid of the Chinese exports because otherwise why put up the tariffs? And tariffs on everything? I can understand putting up tariffs against goods that are heavily subsidized by the Chinese government to ensure fair competition but WHY on everything else? I agree with @Humpy, tariffs is an admission of defeat in free competition. The US is admitting that they can't compete with China anymore so the only way to "protect" themselves is the last resort, just refusing to buy the products arbitrarily. This is very sad. USA is losing, not winning.

No the USA is admitting it won't pay its workers less than a dollar an hour. China gets away with cheap labor, so China can compete.

 

[piezoe]

I wish it weren't so, but there is something about the title of this thread, "Trump Readying ... " that I find humorous.

 

[JSOP]

No the USA is admitting it won't pay its workers less than a dollar an hour. China gets away with cheap labor, so China can compete.

China's labor is cheap because their productivity is high and manufactures more efficiently. If tomorrow USA introduces all-robot workers to manufacturing, USA would be paying its workers less than a yuan (I will let you figure out the exchange rate) an hour even.

 

[piezoe]

No the USA is admitting it won't pay its workers less than a dollar an hour. China gets away with cheap labor, so China can compete.

In a world that is shrinking because of technology, each country must find its own way of "competing". For the time being and for some countries this will be cheap labor. The U.S. has been trying and failing to compete on labor costs by holding wages below a living wage. The U.S. must recognize that it will have to compete on a basis other than labor cost. Most, if not all, of the other industrialized nations have already recognized this necessity, and so they are doing as well as the U.S. in competitive global markets, but their people are doing better. In this respect the U.S. is failing. Later in this Century, living standards and wages in emerging economies will have risen to be roughly equivalent to those in today's fully industrialized nations. There will still be chaotic, destitute nations, of course, but perhaps fewer.

Attempting to use a late 19th and early 20th Century remedy (Tariffs) for trade imbalances in the 21st Century is an absurd anachronism!

 

[ironchef]

And as for taking over Chinese companies, who cares? You can set up shops directly in China to do business. What's the big deal of taking over companies?

For most high tech or high skills companies like chips, auto, drugs... you need a local partner (at least when I was involved a few years back) and technology transfer to set up shop. If you tried to export to China, they imposted tariffs, e.g. on autos.

 

[ironchef]

Attempting to use a late 19th and early 20th Century remedy (Tariffs) for trade imbalances in the 21st Century is an absurd anachronism!

OK, so, tell the rest of the world to eliminate their tariffs and restrictions like tech transfer.

 

[Nine_Ender]

LOL Well to be fair, tariffs is like making the good players pay to enter the competition while it's free for the other players to enter.

A big chunk of the US stock market bull is the success of large multinationals in international markets. Widespread tariffs will impact these firms in a large negative way unless they move significant portions of their company to other countries.

 

[JSOP]

For most high tech or high skills companies like chips, auto, drugs... you need a local partner (at least when I was involved a few years back) and technology transfer to set up shop. If you tried to export to China, they imposted tariffs, e.g. on autos.

With those high-tech products, technology transfer is unavoidable no matter which country USA sets up shops in. This is why USA does not manufacture its weapons in other countries although it is concerning that USA still imports hardware used on fighter jets' system from China.

 

[piezoe]

OK, so, tell the rest of the world to eliminate their tariffs and restrictions like tech transfer.

I suppose someone has to lead the way and be better off for it. Let every country compete on he basis of quality, ingenuity, usefulness, design, price and amiability.

 

[Humpy]

Surely Trump is just reviving Mercantalism from the 19th century. The US is big enough to live in its own bubble and make anything it needs but at a higher cost. Smaller and poorer countries can't afford this luxury.