Posted on 03/08/2018 1:19:21 PM PST by Lonely Bull
March 8 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump on Thursday, joined by steel and aluminum workers at the White House, imposed his promised industrial tariffs -- 25 percent on imported steel and 10 percent on foreign-made aluminum.
Trump signed the tariff proclamations Thursday afternoon in a meeting with industry workers and officials -- ushering in fiscal penalties that have drawn ire from world leaders and sparked fears of a possible trade war.
"A nation that does not protect property at home cannot protect its property abroad," Trump said.
The White House said Canada and Mexico will initially be excluded from the tariffs, which will take effect March 23 -- and will contain a clause to recognize relationships with other countries and offer some flexibility, while not imposing a national security or economic threat to the United States
(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...
Careful. Some guy with a mustache and a cigar starts kissing anyone who speaks French in his presence.
I will bet that this is what he has already been doing in the background.
THIS was a political move to help shore up the Rust Belt he started winning over in 2016. If Trump plays his cards right, not only will these tariffs even out our $888 BILLION trade deficit, but it will solidify Republican chances in once Democrat-only city, county and state elections!
I figure this is what he is really working towards!
Is this federal judge proof?
Not exactly remaking. From its inception and throughout the 19th and part of the 20th Century, the GOP stood for protectionism. I’m mostly against it, but I agree with Trump’s actions in this case.
-PJ
I have learned not to underestimate the treachery of the left.
Our trade imbalance is ridiculous! We HAVE been hosed by other (mostly Communist!) countries for waaaaay too long!
How soon the rest of the globe forgets that a STRONG America benefits everyone. Our rising tide lifts ALL ships!
Socialism is the EASY way out. For a while. And then you’re either killed by your ‘betters’ or you starve to death.
And some welcome this with open arms? MAGA!
“As an aside, I have been a hard core free-trader for years, but I have come around.”
Me too. I had looked at Free Trade as a way to break the unions, in addition to responding to our draconian environmental and safety regulations.
But Trump is dealing with those issues - environmental and safety regulations are being handled by his cabinet, union thugs will be reigned in by court decisions, as his judges take to the bench.
By the time Trump leaves, this country will be MUCH MORE POWERFUL than it has ever been, and people who hate this country (i.e., union leaders) will be put in their rightful places.
Fair trade...not free trade. Amen!
Trump is right on tariffs — That’s why he was elected
President Trump is simply doing what he said he would do during the presidential campaign – protecting American workers and safeguarding our national security, all at the same time.
The Trump administration, in fact, has a clear and important goal in mind: to protect U.S. jobs and industries that we must have in this country for vital national security reasons.
First, as Peter Navarro pointed out recently to Fox News, the U.S. aluminum industry is down to less than 10 percent of fulfilling our own domestic demand. Six smelters have stopped production since 2013, leaving our nation with only five remaining.
And only two of those smelters are in actual working order. Our steel industry has shed thousands of jobs for decades, and is under real threat of someday being destroyed in the coming years unless it is protected in some reasonable way.
Second, our nation’s security is at stake if these industries were to disappear. As one senior White House official explained to me just this week, this could be a matter of life or death for our country.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/03/08/trump-is-right-on-tariffs-that-s-why-was-elected.html
blob:http://video.foxnews.com/15d05f9b-bab3-4c8e-bbe6-d97f23937c24
Excellent summation!:
“Fair trade...not free trade. “
We must be willing to leverage our national might to drive fair trade.
Sure, no tariffs or restrictions anywhere would be the ideal, just like World Peace is the ideal.
But that’s not the world WE live in.
I have the feeling that T Rex will do the negotiating as you noted below:
Not really.
The task is really quite simple.
Select the top three pardners to begin negotiations.
Select the top 5 products they export to the USA
Select 5 products where there are barriers.
At the table state bluntly, reduce your tariffs on these products or we will erect tariffs that will effectively end your exports to America.
You have 6 months
Donaldus Magnus!
When you are in a position of power, negotiation is rather easy. The US has been the world’s #1 military and economic power for decades. No nation in the history of the world has ever wielded as much power and abused it less. Its about time America used it’s standing to actually benefit itself.
I've been asking that question since the Chinese first began dumping billions of dollars in cheap crap into our domestic markets.
The lure of cheap goods and labor is a trap, which eventually robs a nation of its productive capacity, its wealth, and its sovereignty.
This thread full of economically ignorant big government populists....”We love liberal policies until we don’t”. I thought the line here was “Let’s just get government out of the way”. More central planning than Adam Smith here. This won’t bring back steel. Not in any meaningful way. Dismantle the unions by targeted regulation changes and get the stranglehold off of raw materials production. Let’s show the world what we can do once again. This was a bad move by Trump. Oh and blue collar Democrats are a fickle bunch, liberals are liberals. Even Churchill lost an election right after WWII.
Trump is only giving the ChiComs a small dose of their own medicine. Let's see how they lihe it.
Like real estate deals, the best ones are when two parties walk away happy from the closing.
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