Posted on 07/27/2018 5:53:27 AM PDT by Pinkbell
As trade tensions escalate between Washington and Beijing, the U.S. Senate quietly passed legislation on Thursday that would lower trade barriers on hundreds of items made in China.
With no debate, Senate unanimously passed a bill that would cut or eliminate tariffs on toasters, chemicals and roughly 1,660 other items made outside United States.
Nearly half of those items are produced in China, according to a Reuters analysis of government records.
The United States and China, the world's two largest economies, are increasingly at loggerheads over trade.
U.S. President Donald Trump has announced a series of punitive tariffs on Chinese imports in a bid to halt a Chinese surge in high-technology industries that threatens to displace U.S. dominance. China has retaliated with its own duties on imports from the United States.
The White House has not publicly taken a position on the so-called miscellaneous tariff bill, which has now passed both the Senate and the House of Representatives unanimously. The two chambers need to resolve minor differences before they can send the legislation to Trump to sign into law.
Supporters of the bill have said it would boost the economy by getting rid of tariffs set up to protect industries that no longer exist in the United States. The National Association of Manufacturers has said U.S. businesses pay $1 million a day on such import duties.
"It makes no sense because it is a direct and punishing tax on making things in America and for creating jobs in America," the trade group's president, Jay Timmons, said in a prepared statement celebrating the bill's passage.
Among the beneficiaries are companies that have moved production offshore. Hamilton Beach Brands Holding Co, for example, would pay reduced tariffs on Chinese-made toaster ovens, steam irons and other household appliances it used to make domestically.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
I’d like to think of this as the Carrot.
Maybe the items the tariffs covers items we don’t have a natural capability for due to regulation or some such.
If China plays ball and cuts tariffs on their side, perhaps all tariffs can fall.
We just found a new market for natgas and soy beans, after all. Mexico wants to fast track a deal. Why not China? They can’t maintain their massively leveraged economy without us.
Couldnt the President veto the bill? What the heck is going on with this Congress?????
In utter disgust after having had two creatures (who've since proven themselves reprehensible) foisted upon us, I officially changed my voter registration to Independent.
While the loathsome GOPussies may not give a damn, it felt like I'd treated myself to a long refreshing shower.
When the guillotine days arrive, the bastards might just finally realize how many and how profoundly normal people despise them.
Self important bastards trying to lower tariffs when they know Trump wants them raised? Why could they not have put up such a fight with Obama, or the other side?
These are all fellow travelers with Nixon, ect, he gain a lot from China trade. Don’t care that the heart of US manufacturing has been gutted.
Like the Senate post Julius, that became a cabal of self important jerks, that could care less about the average Roman.
Tar and feather needs to come back in vogue, yo......
Sounds like theyre trying to stab Trump in the back again and undo the good he has done.
Economy is growing 4.1%. Apparently they want it back at 1%.
Spot On. It's like the kid who killed his parents pleading for mercy because he is an orphan.
“....The Republican Party just does not get it. It never will.
In all my 67 years, I have never seen a party join the opposition party as one to go against the interests of the United States.....”
Once one realizes there is only ONE party in DC, the UniParty, things start to become a lot clearer as to why they do the things they do.
There is a republican faction and a democrat faction to fool the “unwashed”, but they are ALL the same socialist/globalist trash, The UniParty. The UniParty does NOT care about the American People and never has....as long as we remain their “cash cows” to fund their evil ways. It is a socialist/globalist monolith. Their 2-party campaigning during election time is just political theatre for the “unwashed masses”: their cash cows (that’d be us).
Trump stands in their way and they will do ANYTHING to remove him. Money and power is their game, and they’ll do anything to keep and control it....ANYTHING. Those UniParty members that do it’s bidding get richer and richer. Those that don’t, don’t last long. How else can a Congressman enter with just their salary and end up multi-millionaires in just a short time? The Swamp is deep. Draining it is a very cut-throat & dangerous game.
I agree with you, but sadly, they won’t do it, and Trump is fighting an uphill battle. Congress won’t support him. The “free” trade Republicans are attacking him. The left has become pro-free trade all of a sudden and is outraged that the President is trying to save American industries. They are the ones who pushed for union jobs, good pay, benefits, and a pension, and then they are okay with kissing these jobs goodbye if a company wants to move? The left didn’t use to be this way, but now they repeat the talking points from the MSM - anything to be anti-Trump. The theory all are using is in order to preserve the status quo and businesses that are benefiting from the system, we have to say goodbye to other jobs and industry permanently.
China must be laughing as well as the EU. They see they can ride Trump out because the house is divided. Congress is fighting the President harder for American jobs shipped to China than China is. Imagine if Congress worked with the President. Obviously, there will be short term pain for some farms and industry, but these bad trade deals took years. It will take time to get out of them. If Congress worked with the President, there would be a lot more pressure for a deal, and they could temporarily subsidize the industry negatively effected while this is ongoing.
hamilton beach transferred all manufacture off shore in the late 1980s . most other appliance manufacture was offshore by the mid 1990s . its almost thirty years later. kinda late dont ya think.
If Trump did nothing else, his revealing of the uniParty and the Deep State problems we have would have been enough.
He has also unmasked the media and many on our side we would have sworn we could trust.
We’re surrounded by Benedict Arnolds, fragmeisters, and enemies of the state. And this is not a state that deserves the enemies it has.
The Left has worked it’s magic.
I still say a few prosecutions of people like Soros and his network and a few others, would right the ship of state fairly quickly.
I also think our universities are full of seditionists from the top down.
Our K-12th grade schools exhibit evidence of child abuse almost daily.
We need a clean sweep broom.
“No surprise that most Republicans went along with choosing China over America. Traitors, all.”
I personally consider politicians of all stripes among the most pitiful and pathetic people existing in the modern world. It’s generally a group of people with huge egos who have not worked to develop any particular expertise or talents. They appear, as a group, to be more than willing to consistently chose self interest over the interests of the nation. So why do we allow them to remain in office?
So they all colluded to work against our president then ...I smell Paul Ryan (when house pasted it) and Rinos in Senate...that is my take. They should be a shamed of themselves
same goes with immigration, congress wants to replace us all with fresh communists from south of the border who breed like rabbits and will soon outnumber native born citizens bringing disease and overburden infrastructure....its bizarre, like a science fiction novel
Give up Republicans again do not stand with the president
I understand that we might prefer a Hamilton Beach product over a French product - each made in China. But HB does have the option of manufacturing in the US to avoid the tariff.
Perhaps these are small change items and not really the focus right now, but it sends the wrong signal. I expect a veto from President Trump.
Enact this law AFTER China makes concessions, not before.
Trump will veto it. Boy. No cure for stupid. Watch them override and destroy an excellent bargaining position.
Tammy Baldwin must be thrilled to have Ron Johnson campaigning for her. They don’t call it the “Stupid Party” for nothing.
How can you tell a e-GOP politician from a Democrat politician? You can’t.
President Trump should shine a spotlight on their opposition to his authority as he vetoes the bill. They should be defeated in November. At least with a Democrat in their seat, you know who the enemy is and won’t be stabbed in the back by a Fake Friend.
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