Posted on 01/29/2009 10:41:31 PM PST by TigerLikesRooster
US-EU trade war looms as Barack Obama bill urges 'Buy American'
The prospect of a trade war between the US and Europe is looming after "Buy American" provisions were added to President Barack Obama's $820 billion (£573 billion) stimulus package.
By Alex Spillius in Washington
Last Updated: 12:27AM GMT 30 Jan 2009
The EU trade commissioner vowed to fight back after the bill passed in the House of Representatives late on Wednesday included a ban on most purchases of foreign steel and iron used in infrastructure projects.
The Senate's version of the legislation, which will be debated early next week, goes even further, requiring that any projects related to the stimulus use only American-made equipment and goods.
The inclusion of protectionist measures has quickly raised hackles in Europe.
Catherine Ashton, the EU trade commissioner, said: "We are looking at the situation. The one thing we can be absolutely certain about, is if a bill is passed which prohibits the sale or purchase of European goods on American territory, that is something we will not stand idly by and ignore."
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Ping!
#$%(@%@!!!
First, Geithner poked the Chinese in the eye by accusing them of manipulating their currency.
Next, Obama and Pelosi are deliberately initiating protectionist trade wars with our closest allies.
Wtf are these idiots high on?!!!
Oh boy.
> US-EU trade war looms as Barack Obama bill urges ‘Buy American’
One week into his new job President Barak Obama is making friends.
If we adopted the VAT in place of the corporate income tax we’d help our domestic manufacturers compete.
Even big US corporations know that protectionism will kill us.
Hark. I hear the footsteps of the “Protectionism Now” crowd.
“Wtf are these idiots high on?!!!”
The world will soon stop loving him!!
This will be the shortest honeymoon on record!
They all supported Obama and the Obamacrats. Now they are upset??
Wow...all that hype and ‘love” from the world for what?
Now everyone will finally miss Bush and acknowledge that we have a real, certified idiot who runs the country.
Canada is worried about those too, our biggest trading partner
Thats what we need. A hidden tax thats added at every stage of production. wonderful hidden taxes, yay hidden taxes!
um, no thanks =o)
Protectionism? I believe the needs of all infrastructure and government projects should look to only American firms for any work that needs to be done. That's only common sense.
infrastructure? thats about 3% of the bill.
How about we adopt the tax laws of Hong Kong or Singapore? Zero percent corporate taxes for income earned overseas sounds like a good plan... That would REALLY stimulate domestic production for export!
The VAT is refunded on any goods exported. It is imposed on imports. All of our competitors use it. So everything they export to us gets the VAT rebated to the manufacturer. Everything we export to them gets the VAT added to its price. So our manufactured goods compete with a two way disadvantage.
Not to mention that our corporations pay a corporate income tax on everything they sell. Our competitors using the VAT have no corporate income tax.
When it comes to trading with nations that we are nearly on an even keel with, I support open trade. It’s countries that have wages that are ten percent of what ours are, that bother me when we trade with them across the board.
I think these policies of Obama with regard to Europe are short sighted.
If foreign governments quit doing business with American companies, well.... devastating isn't the word. That's what we'd invite by doing what you suggest.
“Zero percent corporate taxes for income earned overseas sounds like a good plan... “
That is precisely what the VAT does.
Exactly. It’s not a matter of free trade or not-free-trade if we are talking about stuff being bought with tax money. While it’s bad enough that the government is collecting it, shipping it overseas makes it worse.
I believe it was Steve LaTourette who first pointed this out.
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