Biden Faces Dilemma on Trump Tariffs

Trade creates wealth, for both sides of the exchange. This is econ 101. Trade "deficits" are not actual monetary losses. And, yes, it has typically been Republicans who have pointed that out in the past. Can't remember a single Dem ever doing so, but Gingrich was always one of the loudest voices educating people about that, as have the bulk of conservative economists. Hell, pretty much every right-leaning economist since 1776. That's pretty much what Wealth of Nations was about. Yes, we are economically better off if we impose no tariffs, even if others impost tariffs on us. We make more money that way. Now, there could be other, non-economic reasons for imposing tariffs, but if we are purely talking economics, it's insane to ever use them.

Also, Trump's tariffs did nothing to help the trade deficit anyway. It grew under Trump.

 

Well, then, screw capitalism.

 

Why?

 

Because it is not serving the best interests of my family, community and nation if it does not support the national welfare.

 

The purpose of a business is to make money, nothing else. Anything other than that is just fluff.

What economic system would you like to replace it with?

 

I have a rather more expansive view of the purpose of humanity. I advocate no substitute but support restrictions to improve the national life, like tariffs.

 

The global market is not free by any sense of the word.

 

We are not talking about the purpose of humanity, just of a business

 

Of course not, does that mean that we in a country that claims to be free must join them in their lack of freedom?

 

The notion of what to do with tariffs is a matter of industry vs economy. Generally speaking, lower tariffs are better for the overall economy, but bad for specific industries. Lower tariffs means an overall reduced cost of living, and an overall reduction in the cost of running businesses.. but at the same time, it can be absolutely devastating for specific industries that have to compete with cheaper goods produced in foreign countries

For example, when you lower tariffs on steel, you create an environment where American metal companies have to compete with countries who sell steel at a lower price.. but at the same time, by allowing businesses to buy foreign steel at a lower price, you are also helping those industries who are able to import cheaper materials, such as automobile and airline manufacturing. This expands into cheaper goods for the American consumer. By reducing the cost of manufacturing cars, you are allowing Americans to buy cars at cheaper prices, but at a tradeoff that puts American steel workouts out of business. This impact becomes very visible in specific parts of the country where the steel industry is prevalent, where the impact of having those steel workers lose their jobs is felt with full force

"As railhead towns feel the steel mills rust
Water froze
In the generation
Clear as winter ice
This is your paradise
There ain't no need for ya
There ain't no need for ya
Go straight to hell boys
Go straight to hell boys"





A British band, but still quite relevant to the subject

 

He's not wrong.. at least ideologically speaking, free market enthusiasts are more prevalent on the right wing, and market protectionists are more prevalent on the left.. but of course that isn't to say any of this is absolute. The political parties associated with the left and right wings of the political spectrum do tend to intersect and fluctuate quite frequently

Reagan was a big advocate for lowering tariffs, and took economic advice from free market economists such as Milton Friedman. Reagan ran on a proposal known as the North American Accord, which was essentially a call to create a North American Union similar to the European Union. What Reagan advocated for was to remove tariffs and create open borders between the US, Canada, and Mexico. The final product of this proposal was NAFTA, which was negotiated during the Reagan presidency, through the Bush presidency, and then finalized and signed during the Clinton presidency.

This is a perfect example of how the two major political parties intersect and fluctuate on political issues. Reagan advocating for open borders is not something that aligns with the traditional Republican platform we are familiar with, and Clinton signing NAFTA wasn't something that aligns with the traditional Democratic platform. Democrats changing to support lower tariffs wasn't something that started in 2016, but Republicans advocating for higher tariffs did start in 2016, but even then so this isn't something that they support consistently, and the party actually ended up renewing the removed tariffs from NAFTA for another 16 years

 

OK ... 2nd article I linked on Biden looking to outsource rare earth mineral mining. Biden, and his prohibitive regulations are preventing US entities from competing in the free market. Biden keeps interfering with free market demand's anticipated expansions. Biden just effectively shut out US LPG exporters from the EU market by restricting domestic production, and signing off on Nordstream 2. Biden has no business sense, and no business drafting policy that aversely effects US GDP.

 

When it comes to international trade, in an unfree market, we have to impose policies that balance our interests.

 

Because we the people and our corporations are not capable of looking out for our own best interest?

 

Totally reported.... and it feels so good...

 

Perfectly stated.

The Trump admin kept claiming that the tariffs on Chinese goods were good for American workers, yet all they did was increase prices. And tariffs are paid by the CONSUMER, not the manufacturer.

Im all for American jobs, and I am also in a position financially that those increase in prices might hurt a little bit, but I can absorb most of that and not have to change my lifestyle. But most Americans want that cheap stuff made in china. And the trade war with China, created by the Trump administration has caused a lot of what we see in pricing right now. In dec Trump blacklisted SMIC, the largest semiconductor manufacturer in the world from receiving any US machinery used to manufacture those semiconductors, OR any parts to fix the current ones (originally made in the USA). So anything that requires a chip of any sort just got a lot more expensive. Trump is to blame for the current state of inflationary pricing based on that one simple move.

But by all means, lets blame Biden...

 

Nice for the RW to actually admit they were never for free markets.
Not that there is such a thing as a free market outside of a text book.

 

And except for the last 5 yrs, the RW was the side pushing for all the free trade agreements.
Reagan was one of the 1st to try and get NAFTA passed. That sucking sound of jobs leaving the country. And that is what happened.

 

trump road the coat tails of the strong economy he inherited.
And then f'd up the pandemic response to minimize the effect by dividing the country on how to handle the pandemic. His handling of the pandemic is why he got his arse booted out as an incumbent. He was an incompetent leader.

It's why the R party lost the WH, House, and Senate in just 4 yrs.

 

Not in a global market.

Company leaves, laying off workers, and sets ups shop in China. Laid off American workers buy cheap goods because they are earning less income. Cycle over and over and over.

So long as we trade in global commodity with unfair market forces, with our high standard of living and working standards, we will just continue to decline.

 

Capitalism at it finest

 

You know some funny farmers.

Have you ever heard of African Swine Fever? Apparently not if you think Trump was the only cause of decreased sales of soybeans and corn/ethanol byproduct to China.

I’m quite happy about the spot price of 2020 crop year corn going from $3.12/bushel when I started pre-selling last summer to the $6.80/bushel I’m getting now for stored bushels. Do your farmer friends hate money? Aren’t they happy China bought record amounts of commodities recently? What markets were lost?

 

The trade war was a bigger problem than swine fever as export were dropping before it got bad.

Oh, the farmers love money, that is why they loved Trump. He was redistributing money to them like a mad man to keep them happy. It has been a great time for both Soy and Corn since about Sept. Glad to hear you are doing well.

 

Fake News. Trump inherited an economy plunging toward zero, but, he caught the falling knife and expertly flipped it, producing the strongest gains in working and middle age income for whites, blacks, latinos, not just better than the rate over the last 20 years, but more gains than the TOTAL for the last 20 years.

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The trade war and swine fever in Chinese hogs developed simultaneously in late 2018. If there had been no swine fever China would not have been able to reduce imports of commodities—especially as long term as they did.

Well, don’t assume all farmers are like the ones you know. I’ve been advocating for stopping farm subsidies for years and was upset at Trump for doing what his predecessors did with throwing cash around. It’s very harmful to the farm economy long term.

Farmers are disproportionately conservative. Obama gave farmers money hand over fist and wasn’t particularly popular with them. A lot of farmers appreciated Trump’s attempt to benefit the farm economy through improved markets as opposed to subsidies only which has been the default since the 1920’s.