4 ms·

Point of order: Does the US president have authority to "order" US companies to move out of China? (My instincts scream: no. At least not by tweeting...)

scohesc 7y ago
Not by tweeting, but I'm sure the US Government could through legislation implement something along the lines of "If you have any operations in america and the majority of your manufacturing/imports/etc. is in China, you have to move your manufacturing processes in x timeframe or subject to penalties."
- groundlogic 7y ago
  Sure, by a presidential order.
  - remarkEon 7y ago
    Yeah he could probably do it by connecting certain components to "National Security".
metalliqaz 7y ago
No he doesn't. It would require the law to change and he doesn't have that power. However he keeps increasing tariffs far enough I guess it's the same thing.
- joezydeco 7y ago
  This seems like the most likely plan, since that's the only lever Trump can operate. He could declare a 10,000% tariff on iPhones if he wanted.
tareqak 7y ago
I am not a lawyer. The role doesn't have that de facto power, but he could enact things that effectively make it the de jure law by forbidding US companies doing business with the US federal government from using anything that sources some or all of its goods and services that have a dependency on a Chinese supply chain. The anti-BDS rules that some states have is what I would consider to be the precedent here [0]. Given that the president also has frequent campaign rallies, he can persuade voters to boycott companies that again source components from a Chinese supply chain. His official campaign baseball caps aren't made in China though some unofficial ones are sold on Amazon that come from China [1]. I guess the same would go for US flags. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boycott,_Divestment_and_Sanctions#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boycott,_Divestment_and_Sancti... [1] https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/donald-trump-hat-china/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/donald-trump-hat-china/
Fjolsvith 7y ago
Heard an opinion that he used that phrasing in order for it to get translated into Chinese a certain way.

scohesc 7y ago

Not by tweeting, but I'm sure the US Government could through legislation implement something along the lines of "If you have any operations in america and the majority of your manufacturing/imports/etc. is in China, you have to move your manufacturing processes in x timeframe or subject to penalties."

groundlogic 7y ago
Sure, by a presidential order.
- remarkEon 7y ago
  Yeah he could probably do it by connecting certain components to "National Security".

metalliqaz 7y ago

No he doesn't. It would require the law to change and he doesn't have that power. However he keeps increasing tariffs far enough I guess it's the same thing.

joezydeco 7y ago
This seems like the most likely plan, since that's the only lever Trump can operate. He could declare a 10,000% tariff on iPhones if he wanted.

tareqak 7y ago

I am not a lawyer. The role doesn't have that de facto power, but he could enact things that effectively make it the de jure law by forbidding US companies doing business with the US federal government from using anything that sources some or all of its goods and services that have a dependency on a Chinese supply chain. The anti-BDS rules that some states have is what I would consider to be the precedent here [0]. Given that the president also has frequent campaign rallies, he can persuade voters to boycott companies that again source components from a Chinese supply chain. His official campaign baseball caps aren't made in China though some unofficial ones are sold on Amazon that come from China [1]. I guess the same would go for US flags. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boycott,_Divestment_and_Sanctions#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boycott,_Divestment_and_Sancti... [1] https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/donald-trump-hat-china/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/donald-trump-hat-china/

Fjolsvith 7y ago

Heard an opinion that he used that phrasing in order for it to get translated into Chinese a certain way.