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There's a lot of mainstream pressure to back off on the Chinese tariffs. Why exactly is that? Who stands to gain? Do we have a moral obligation to trade with C

There's a lot of mainstream pressure to back off on the Chinese tariffs. Why exactly is that? Who stands to gain? Do we have a moral obligation to trade with China so that they are raised up? No, I think not. They are already an incredibly rich and powerful country and have begun to challenge world democracies for influence. Will the tariffs collapse our economy? Why should they? There's a big world market out there and plenty of countries to trade with that share our values, or at least do not threaten us. Will the Tariffs make US companies less competitive? Why would it as long as the tariff is applied evenly to goods being imported. Will the Tariffs make the US consumer worse off? Our largest consumer expenses in the US are housing, education, healthcare, transportation and food. If electronics and minor appliances get more expensive, I don't expect that would have a big impact on most people's budgets. Will China go to war with us to protect their interests? They couldn't yet anyway. Maybe someone with more knowledge on this topic than me could explain who stands to gain (besides China) from getting rid of tariffs.

ThomPete 8y ago
I agree. People seem to believe there was some well-balanced system that Trump is just destroying for the fun of it. There was no free trade to begin with but instead a corrupt set of agreements to allow US companies to export jobs out of the country in exchange for cheaper products. I for one is grateful for the fact that we finally have a president who doesn't just allow China to run over us and provide them with all sorts of special treatment. Sometimes you need someone rude and obnoxious and tough to implement the necessary politics rather than just allowing the "experts' to run a game that's obviously been hurting america. Free market means both sides have access to each others markets. China haven't lived up to their side of the bargain. It's time to stop that.
- thefounder 8y ago
  >> Sometimes you need someone rude and obnoxious and tough to implement the necessary politics rather than just allowing the "experts' to run a game that's obviously been hurting america. America was not run by the "experts", it was run by politicians just like it is today. The situation was different, China was not this assertive nor this powerful, nor this rich. It seamed like/was a good trade-off to get cheap labour so that US companies could export competitively worldwide. It worked. To me it's just the way it was supposed to work. Situation is different now so terms have to change too. China is now a rich and great market for US products which was not the case 20 years ago. What you experience now is a bit of envy and naive confusion. "You" expected China to be forever the cheap way to produce US products and sell them worldwide. I'm pretty sure that both the experts and the less experts knew this day will come. I wouldn't mind if Africa would follow a similar path(except the communism/dictatorship). I don't think it would be bad for the world nor for the US. Some countries need to "cheat" a bit to have any chance of catching up with the developed world.
  - ThomPete 8y ago
    Thats why i wrote "experts" they weren't experts they were just pretending to know what they were doing pointing to all sorts of academic research which turned out to be wrong. Trump is running the country on gut-feel about a lot of things. His way of doing it which all the experts scream "dont" about. And not the experts didn't know it would come as they believed in globalism and had no problem exchanging american workers for it.

ThomPete 8y ago

I agree. People seem to believe there was some well-balanced system that Trump is just destroying for the fun of it. There was no free trade to begin with but instead a corrupt set of agreements to allow US companies to export jobs out of the country in exchange for cheaper products. I for one is grateful for the fact that we finally have a president who doesn't just allow China to run over us and provide them with all sorts of special treatment. Sometimes you need someone rude and obnoxious and tough to implement the necessary politics rather than just allowing the "experts' to run a game that's obviously been hurting america. Free market means both sides have access to each others markets. China haven't lived up to their side of the bargain. It's time to stop that.

thefounder 8y ago
>> Sometimes you need someone rude and obnoxious and tough to implement the necessary politics rather than just allowing the "experts' to run a game that's obviously been hurting america. America was not run by the "experts", it was run by politicians just like it is today. The situation was different, China was not this assertive nor this powerful, nor this rich. It seamed like/was a good trade-off to get cheap labour so that US companies could export competitively worldwide. It worked. To me it's just the way it was supposed to work. Situation is different now so terms have to change too. China is now a rich and great market for US products which was not the case 20 years ago. What you experience now is a bit of envy and naive confusion. "You" expected China to be forever the cheap way to produce US products and sell them worldwide. I'm pretty sure that both the experts and the less experts knew this day will come. I wouldn't mind if Africa would follow a similar path(except the communism/dictatorship). I don't think it would be bad for the world nor for the US. Some countries need to "cheat" a bit to have any chance of catching up with the developed world.
- ThomPete 8y ago
  Thats why i wrote "experts" they weren't experts they were just pretending to know what they were doing pointing to all sorts of academic research which turned out to be wrong. Trump is running the country on gut-feel about a lot of things. His way of doing it which all the experts scream "dont" about. And not the experts didn't know it would come as they believed in globalism and had no problem exchanging american workers for it.