Quote (ofthevoid @ Mar 6 2018 01:09am)

You're not grasping my point, which is we need to push them to get rid of their tariffs so we can actually have something closer to free trade. Reciprocal tariffs is a solution i'm thinking of, what's yours?

Quote (Goomshill @ Mar 6 2018 05:09pm)

He was elected on the promise to put in tariffs. Hes delivering on that. If the american public does an about face and starts accepting free trade again in 2020, yeah it would hurt trump. But thats not a bet you should make

Quote (thesnipa @ Mar 6 2018 05:12pm)

Ahhh yes the confirmation bias laden "he was elected on it" narrative. Like rolling back all Obama care in 100 days. Or how about the wall Mexico is going to pay for. Maybe ending Daca. Or how about his promise to rip up Nafta. etc etc etc...

most people thought a tariff on mexico = mexico paying for the wall when that bullshit was announced. people are dumb, the stock market going down and prices going up dont go unnoticed tho.

Quote (ofthevoid @ Mar 5 2018 07:09pm)

No one is saying importing cars from Germany is a bad thing, nor is anyone claiming that it's harmful for the individual consumer, but are you going to sit here and deny that american made goods are as competitive when those countries place tariffs on our goods in their markets? Do you not see how those tariffs make our firms less competitive abroad? 7.5% is a huge margin to make up and it's essentially pricing out our goods and services out of those markets.

In the long run what do you think will be the result of firms that have costs of doing business such as 7.5% more in taxes compared to a firm that doesn't face those barriers? If you are a policy maker that wishes to make our domestically produced goods more competitive internationally what steps would you take? Assume that costs have been minimized and when it comes to technology you can't make up the 7.5% what do you do? Shrug your shoulders and just say well economists say this is good and do nothing?

Also your graph is kind of misleading, when i think of citizens i think of consumers, obviously consumers will benefit from cheaper foreign goods. Trade deficits should be talked about in the context of producers considering they are the one directly impacted. The proper question should be is how are American producers impacted when they have to face tariffs in foreign markets.

The Germans make fine cars, and even w/o the tariffs would be beating our products imo, then why have the tariffs?

https://www.statista.com/statistics/256642/the-20-countries-with-the-highest-trade-surplus/

Outside of a few oil exporters on that list most of those countries are considered very strong economically.




You're not grasping my point, which is we need to push them to get rid of their tariffs so we can actually have something closer to free trade. Reciprocal tariffs is a solution i'm thinking of, what's yours?

Quote (Goomshill @ Mar 6 2018 06:22pm)

He campaigned heavily on protectionist trade policies and fighting free trade. Then he brought on Gary Cohn, fired Steve Bannon and durdled around on trade. The populist workers, unions defectors, rural americans were starting to get alienated when Trump was shaping up to be more big business and less little people.

You can disagree with the strategy or diminish the motivations, but people do notice when the stock market goes up and taxes get cut and their jobs still go to china anyway

Quote (IceMage @ Mar 6 2018 07:29pm)

Trump got those voters because of his economic/protectionist arguments... but I think enough will drop off in 2020 that he's toast. You can only sell bullshit for so long... and even if Trump's policies could bring jobs back(LOL), it won't happen in 2-3 years. Trump was a grievance candidate, but now he can't point to the last four years and say "these politicians did a shit job, the economy sucks, etc". When uneducated voters suddenly hear that the economy is great, and there lives haven't gotten much better, I don't know how he overcomes that.

Quote (IceMage @ Mar 6 2018 05:29pm)

Trump got those voters because of his economic/protectionist arguments... but I think enough will drop off in 2020 that he's toast. You can only sell bullshit for so long... and even if Trump's policies could bring jobs back(LOL), it won't happen in 2-3 years. Trump was a grievance candidate, but now he can't point to the last four years and say "these politicians did a shit job, the economy sucks, etc". When uneducated voters suddenly hear that the economy is great, and there lives haven't gotten much better, I don't know how he overcomes that.

Quote (Goomshill @ Mar 6 2018 05:22pm)

He campaigned heavily on protectionist trade policies and fighting free trade. Then he brought on Gary Cohn, fired Steve Bannon and durdled around on trade. The populist workers, unions defectors, rural americans were starting to get alienated when Trump was shaping up to be more big business and less little people.

You can disagree with the strategy or diminish the motivations, but people do notice when the stock market goes up and taxes get cut and their jobs still go to china anyway