Free Republic

Apple could be used as a 'bargaining chip' in the trade war, Chinese state media warns Apple has benefited from cheap labor and strong supply chain in China which has helped it boost profit and get to a $1 trillion valuation, the state-backed People's Daily said. The U.S. firm should share that money with Chinese citizens, the article urged. Apple could be the target of "anger and nationalist sentiment" amid the ongoing trade war. Apple has benefited from cheap labor and a strong supply chain in China and needs to share more of its profit with the Chinese people...

HAMBURG (Reuters) - China may have to start buying U.S. soybeans again in coming weeks despite the trade war between the two countries as other regions cannot supply enough soybeans to meet China’s needs, Hamburg-based oilseeds analysts Oil World said on Tuesday.

For decades, China has waged a trade war—targeting U.S. industries and stealing jobs from ordinary American workers. President Obama’s weakness on trade—along with the left’s obsession with identity politics—helped put Donald Trump in the White House. Now we have a leader who puts American workers first but his factious trade team appears clueless about how to bring effective pressure to win at negotiations or if necessary unilaterally reorder our trade with China to be fair. To prevail in any international confrontation—whether it is disarming North Korea, stifling Russian aggression or fixing trade aggression—the president needs to know the enemy, cultivate...

Why is Trump fighting the trade war? Here's why. Critics of Trump's trade policies think everything is okay if we don't do anything. The chart below shows that everything is not okay if we don't do anything. This is a chart of capital spending in the U.S. from 1968 through to the present. It is a straightforward presentation of monthly data from the Commerce Department. There is nothing clever, nothing tricky about this presentation or about the time frame chosen. The Commerce Department started this series in 1968. It superseded another series on capital spending. http://www.americanthinker.com/images/bucket/2018-08/208085_5_.jpg Source: U.S. Department of...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top White House adviser warned China on Friday not to underestimate U.S. President Donald Trump's resolve in a brewing trade battle between the world's two largest economies, showing little concern over Beijing's threat to impose retaliatory tariffs on $60 billion worth of U.S. goods. "They better not underestimate the president," Larry Kudlow said in an interview on Fox Business Network. "He is going to stand tough." China on Friday said it was prepared to place additional tariffs on 5,207 goods imported from the United States, ranging from liquefied natural gas to some aircraft. The move was...

In a trade war, we are told, foreign manufacturers are not affected at all by tariffs imposed by the U.S. government. Only U.S. consumers will pay more. Yet, mysteriously, if a foreign country imposes tariffs on U.S. exports, it is a catastrophe for U.S. manufacturers and “farmers” (giant conglomerates). So we are told that U.S. exporters will suffer from a trade war. However, foreign producers importing to the U.S. will not be affected in the slightest. That is not sound analysis, but propaganda. Saying that tariffs hurt U.S. consumers and U.S. producers, but tariffs have no effect at all on...

China said on Wednesday that "blackmail" wouldn't work and that it would hit back if the United States takes further steps hindering trade, as the Trump administration considers slapping a 25 percent tariff on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods.

Mexico and the United States agreed last week to step up talks on revamping NAFTA in hopes of reaching a deal on major issues by August. The two countries will hold a bilateral meeting on Thursday, a spokesperson for the United States Trade Representative said Tuesday. "In every meeting arrangement, the United States is focused on completing the best possible trade deal as quickly as we can," Emily Davis, the spokesperson, said. On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC that he hoped an agreement on NAFTA was coming "very soon." "We hope to have an agreement in principle, clearly,...

Billionaire plutocrat and GOP mega-donor Charles Koch says President Donald Trump’s tariffs on aluminum, steel, and thousands of Chinese-made imports are “ridiculous” and “unfair” to foreigners. Koch, who funds a network of organizations with his brother, David Koch, told the media during a conference with donors over the weekend that Trump’s ten percent tariff on imported aluminum and 25 percent tariff on imported steel was not fair to foreign countries and foreign workers. The Trump administration has said the tariffs on imported goods are necessary to protect American jobs and industries from foreign competition where foreign-made products are sold much...

Just a strange question that's been rumbling around in my mind and I wanted to get some intelligent folks to discuss it, so I came to FreeRepublic, as always. A few weeks ago, President Trump (and no, even as a third party guy, I don't get tired of saying that) enacted tarrifs on China. In an act of sheer desperation, China reportedly devalued their currency by 45%. Currently, we owe China $5.6 trillion. Does this mean that we now owe them $3.36 trillion? Does it mean that we would be able to borrow from the Fed and private sources $3.36...

https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/07/30/charles-koch-trump-tariffs-ridiculous-unfair-foreigners/

Why trade deficits are not a sign of economic trouble, and trade surpluses are not necessarily a sign of economic health. The problem with all this trade-deficit talk is that nobody seems to know what trade deficits are, what they mean, or what causes them. A trade deficit is nothing like a budget deficit. Each year’s federal budget deficit adds to the total debt owed by the federal government. Trade deficits don’t do that, which is one reason why “trade deficit” is not a very useful term. A trade deficit is just a bookkeeping entry, not a debt that has...

More than half of Americans approve of President Trump's decision to send billions of dollars in aid to farmers affected by new retaliatory tariffs, according to a CBS News poll released Sunday. Fifty-six percent of respondents said that they support the plan, including three-quarters of Republicans and a third of Democrats, according to the survey, which was conducted from July 26-28. The Trump administration announced on Thursday that it would send as much as $12 billion in emergency relief to farmers affected by recent retaliatory tariffs implemented as part of an ongoing trade war. Trump has faced criticism for imposing...

“This trade war is cutting the legs out from under farmers,” said Senator Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) on Tuesday, “and White House’s ‘plan’ is to spend $12 billion on gold crutches.” Referring to Donald Trump’s tariff brinksmanship with China, Senator Sasse was decrying Donald Trump’s request to Congress for compensatory farm subsidies. Sasse insisted that “America’s farmers don’t want to be paid to lose” — but regardless of what farmers want, we should want free trade. Tariffs are taxes, after all. Consumers ultimately pay for them all. Now, Trump’s requested “crutches” may amount to nothing more than just another fine...

One thing came through loud and clear in President Trump’s press conference Wednesday with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. When they announced an alliance against third parties’ “unfair trading practices,” they didn’t even have to mention China by name for listeners to know who their target was. Cooperation between the U.S. and EU will squeeze China’s protectionist model, and even before this agreement, there’s been evidence that China is already running up the white flag.

Since taking office, Trump has shaken one international structure after the other in his mission to put "America First" and abandon the liberal world order. The Trans-Pacific Partnership, Paris climate accord and NAFTA are just a few of the agreements he has either withdrawn from or questioned their legitimacy. Both Democrat and Republican officials are pushing back, worried that undercutting traditional alliances will harm the economy and make America less safe. On Donald Trump’s first day as president, he declared a change in America’s direction. "For many decades, we've enriched foreign industry at the expense of American industry, subsidized the...

President Trump didn’t start a trade war with China – he’s trying to end and win the trade war that China launched against the U.S. As the president has frequently pointed out, the Chinese have been undermining the world trade system for years, and no country has been hurt more by China’s unfair actions than America. America’s trade deficit with China is so large it almost defies comprehension. Since 2012, our yearly deficit in the trade of goods with China has consistently topped $300 billion. Last year, it was over $375.5 billion. In the first five months of this year...

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...

Sorry for the vanity but Rush did a 180 on trade today and I am proud of him. Rush confessed he was wrong all of these decades about trade, live on air just a few minutes ago! He also admitted Perot was correct and the the one sided trade the US( and its workers ) have been subjected to was wrong and it was erroneously pawned off as 'free trade'. He said he was duped by economists. I just listened in amazement committing free trade heresy live. It was a great radio show today! Awesome! Rush is off my S...

President Trump’s chief economic adviser said Thursday that European Union Commission President Jean Claude Juncker pledged to back the U.S. trade fight against China. The commitment to take on China’s trade abuses was made as part of the breakthrough zero-tariff deal struck this week by Mr. Trump and Mr. Juncker, said Larry Kudlow, director of the president’s National Economic Council. “The United States and the E.U. will be allies in the fight against China, which has broken the world trading system,” Mr. Kudlow said on Fox Business Network’s “Varney & Co.” He said that China attempted to enlist the E.U....