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Wait - I thought the goal of "countering a global competitor" was to save jobs and thus money for US? Otherwise, what's the point?

• davidw 9y ago
  "Cutting off your nose to spite your face", I guess.
• JumpCrisscross 9y ago
  > Otherwise, what's the point? Encourage behaviour change. Same as with Iran. Everyone lost, economically (in the short term), as a result of the Iran sanctions. Those short-run losses were deemed sufficient compensation for the possibility Iran would agree to limit its nuclear program. Similarly, if China agreed to loosen access to its own market and stop forcing American companies to give up their IP to Beijing, that could be better for all in the long run.
  • fspeech 9y ago
    The market access you are referring to presumably involves setting up factories in China on a wholly-owned basis without forced technology transfer. That is all good but in what ways would that reduce the trade imbalance? So even if China agrees to that it would stay the perennial whipping boy, no?
    • JumpCrisscross 9y ago
      > even if China agrees to that it would stay the perennial whipping boy, no These tariffs were sloppily executed because they're for a domestic political audience that doesn't understand economics. Better tariffs would involve terms for release. If you do X, we release the tariffs. What China has to do to get these measures reversed is nebulous, but even the tacit link to forced tech transfers and the blocking of China's domestic market adds another variable to Chinese policymakers when considering additional measures.