Article

2018-03-12 Economy

‘Our Factories Were Left to Rot:' American Workers Thank Trump for Ending ‘Betrayal' of Unfair Trade

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Besoeker 2018-03-12 02:32|| || Front Page|| [11129 views ] Top

#1 US steel workers don't understand that they are just pawns for a bigger game.

And Europe shouldn't play it. My advice for the EU would be not to retaliate. Europe should enact safeguard duties to ensure it doesn't get flooded with cheap Asian steel. When George W. Bush instituted tariffs on steel imports in 2002, EU safeguards fully mitigated the risk of redirected imports and supported gradual but robust growth in the EU steel industry.

Trump wants to bully Europe into concessions and we should simply ignore it. Ignoring him is what Trump hates most.

Posted by European Conservative 2018-03-12 07:56|| 2018-03-12 07:56|| Front Page Top

DC-3's offloading more "bullying" at Flughafen Berlin-Tempelhoff, 1948.

Posted by Besoeker 2018-03-12 08:25|| 2018-03-12 08:25|| Front Page Top

#3 A quick reminder what we are

Posted by European Conservative 2018-03-12 08:31|| 2018-03-12 08:31|| Front Page Top

#4 Excellent EC. As long as we've not forgotten know who the REAL bully is.

Posted by Besoeker 2018-03-12 08:35|| 2018-03-12 08:35|| Front Page Top

#5 Yes that's something both of us should not forget.

Posted by European Conservative 2018-03-12 09:31|| 2018-03-12 09:31|| Front Page Top

#6 And you know that Trump won't change my view on America. I simply don't like him. We have the freedom not to.

Posted by European Conservative 2018-03-12 09:33|| 2018-03-12 09:33|| Front Page Top

#7 Europe should enact safeguard duties to ensure it doesn't get flooded with cheap Asian steel.

I thought that's exactly what Trump is doing.

Posted by Abu Uluque 2018-03-12 11:12|| 2018-03-12 11:12|| Front Page Top

#8 No. Trump is buying votes from rust belt states. The cost is high and paid by the rest of us. It's election politics, not economics.

Posted by Iblis 2018-03-12 12:55|| 2018-03-12 12:55|| Front Page Top

#9 looks like economics to me, he already won.....just sayin'

Posted by 746 2018-03-12 13:46|| 2018-03-12 13:46|| Front Page Top

#10 EC, I dont like the idea you ascribe to that elites rule and plebs do as theyre told. You may enjoy that in your "old world" but here in the "new world", we dont ascribe to outdated systems

Posted by 746 2018-03-12 13:48|| 2018-03-12 13:48|| Front Page Top

#11 Call it buying votes if you like, but it looks like he's getting people working instead of on welfare. I think that's a net positive.

Posted by rjschwarz 2018-03-12 14:55|| 2018-03-12 14:55|| Front Page Top

#12 Tariffs penalize the import cycle. Why not a fee on the end consumers? Steel, OK. Imported stainless dinnerware, let the buyer beware.

Posted by Skidmark 2018-03-12 15:06|| 2018-03-12 15:06|| Front Page Top

#13 Look how far gone we are. The idea that we should change the rules that benefit the rich to benefit our own workers instead is taken as some sort of insult. Wow.

The Europeans are scared shitless. They've profited handsomely from trade for decades. That plus the free US security enables them to fund a lavish welfare state. When this free money from the sweat of American workers dries up, Europe is going to be in real trouble. Hence all the hysterics. They can't imagine a world in which they have to pay their own way.

It's like a spoiled child who became a spoiled adult, and is now 30 years old and getting kicked out of his parents' basement. The concept of going it alone is terrifying.

Posted by Herb McCoy7309 2018-03-12 16:09|| 2018-03-12 16:09|| Front Page Top

#14 Well said HM.
We finally empowered someone that speaks 'business bully'. I hope he can hold out.

Posted by Skidmark 2018-03-12 18:19|| 2018-03-12 18:19|| Front Page Top

#15 No. Trump is buying votes from rust belt states. The cost is high and paid by the rest of us. It's election politics, not economics.

Uh...NO. He is pushing the reset button. Some peoples pet paradigms are going to be changing. For too long this nation has taken it up the bung hole on trade. Time to change a few things.

Posted by Chesney Oppressor of the Geats3318 2018-03-12 19:02|| 2018-03-12 19:02|| Front Page Top

#16 Nobody is "scared shitless" here if the U.S. charges tariffs on steel. We'll cope with that.

What really worries us (and I might say most economists in the U.S. as well) is that Trump may kill the WTO, which would be truly catastrophic for global trade. And unfortunately many Trump supporters don't realize that this will hit America just as hard as it will hit the rest of the world.

That's why I recommend to keep calm and do nothing in order not to escalate the situation.

Trump has threatened to charge a 25% (or higher) tariff on European cars. This would be a flagrant violation of WTO rules because the Most Favored Nation principle means that you must charge the same amount of tariff to all countries with MFN status. So if you charge a 2.5% tariff on Japanese or Korean cars, you MUST (by WTO rules the U.S. signed) charge the same tariff on German or French cars. There is absolutely no justifiable reason to put a 25% tariff on Mercedes or BMW cars.

Trump may try his schtick with his national emergency nonsense, but this would certainly not work with cars.

He would simply kill the WTO which would lead to an explosion of protectionism and retaliatory tariffs all over the world.

The result? Global depression.

Multinational trade deals may kill jobs but they also create new ones. The thing is that they create more than they kill. And that includes jobs in the U.S.

Posted by European Conservative 2018-03-12 19:13|| 2018-03-12 19:13|| Front Page Top

#17 For ~150 years we did not have an income tax and funded our govt by tariffs and duties.

Was there a trade war then?

Posted by mossomo 2018-03-12 21:21|| 2018-03-12 21:21|| Front Page Top

#18 European Conservative, if the WTO is so great why would everyone drop out just because the US did? Why wouldn't they keep going as the US self-destructed?

Posted by rjschwarz 2018-03-12 22:35|| 2018-03-12 22:35|| Front Page Top

#19 Good question. Pascal Lamy, former Secretary-General of the WTO and EU Trade Commissioner actually thinks that a "Plan B" would work.

From an interview in the German Zeit (my translation)

Lamy: The big issue for the meetings with the Chinese is the subsidies granted by the government to their producers. The big issue with the Americans is that they are causing too much damage to the WTO, that they are boycotting the proceedings there. On the other hand, European politicians should build alliances with Brazil, Indonesia, Japan, Switzerland, Norway, Australia and New Zealand. There are plenty of countries that want a sensible middle way and that all have a problem when the United States destabilizes the WTO. The USA can then be explained in peace and quiet: We have a plan B.

ZEIT: A plan B?

Lamy: Yes, a WTO without the USA. So think twice about it, Mr Trump, before you smash the World Trade Organisation! Because if we have a WTO without the United States, you are sitting outside in the cold.

Posted by European Conservative 2018-03-12 22:53|| 2018-03-12 22:53|| Front Page Top

#20 Btw this is quite a balanced interview (quite critical about China) and worth reading.

Could do a translation tomorrow

Posted by European Conservative 2018-03-12 22:56|| 2018-03-12 22:56|| Front Page Top

#21 That would be lovely, European Conservative. Submit it as an article under International-UN-NGOs on Page 3:Non-WoT, if you would be so kind.

Posted by trailing wife 2018-03-12 23:23|| 2018-03-12 23:23|| Front Page Top

23:29 Lumpy Groluper2322
23:23 trailing wife
22:56 European Conservative
22:53 European Conservative
22:35 rjschwarz
22:32 rjschwarz
22:28 rjschwarz
22:27 rjschwarz
22:25 Anguper Hupomosing9418
22:25 charger
22:24 Muggsy Ebbaque8603
22:16 Anguper Hupomosing9418
22:15 Anguper Hupomosing9418
22:10 Frank G
21:48 Classical_Liberal
21:24 746
21:21 mossomo
20:40 Zhang Fei
20:33 SteveS
20:16 charger
19:23 Alaska Paul
19:23 European Conservative
19:17 Besoeker
19:13 European Conservative