Trump Started Trade War Because He Was Angry
 

According to two officials, Trump's decision to launch a potential trade war was born out of anger at other simmering issues and the result of a broken internal process that has failed to deliver him consensus views that represent the best advice of his team.

On Wednesday evening, the president became "unglued," in the words of one official familiar with the president's state of mind.

A trifecta of events had set him off in a way that two officials said they had not seen before: Hope Hicks' testimony to lawmakers investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 election, conduct by his embattled attorney general and the treatment of his son-in-law by his chief of staff.

Trump, the two officials said, was angry and gunning for a fight, and he chose a trade war, spurred on by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Peter Navarro, the White House director for trade — and against longstanding advice from his economic chair Gary Cohn and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...icials-n852641

As hard as this is to imagine, you just know it's true. Feckin' Dotard.

Me thinks it has to do with the vote in PA next week. Get the base's blood up to turn out. A lot of steel mills in PA!


""Democrat outraises Republican in final stretch of Pa. special election""
https://www.news8000.com/news/politi...tion/710118991

Barney

For a while I wondered if Trumps tantrums were the culmination of a 28 day cycle.

Unfortunately his periods or on a much shorter cycle.

Sweden's Electrolux, Europe's largest home appliance maker, said on Friday it would delay a planned $250 million investment in Tennessee, after US President Donald Trump announced tariffs on imported aluminum and steel.

http://www.businessinsider.com/elect...-tariff-2018-3

I think the Lying Dotard understands economics even worse than Whell, if that's even possible.:p

Just making stuff up as he goes along.

Everyone at work has been talking about how the US needs a trade war.....:rolleyes:

Fat Donnie Trumpolini twitter rages at the Europeans over their response to his massively stupid trade war.



Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump

The United States has an $800 Billion Dollar Yearly Trade Deficit because of our “very stupid” trade deals and policies. Our jobs and wealth are being given to other countries that have taken advantage of us for years. They laugh at what fools our leaders have been. No more!
9:43 AM - Mar 3, 2018

and as if that wasn't enough, he pulls out his ignorance and waves it around...



Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump

If the E.U. wants to further increase their already massive tariffs and barriers on U.S. companies doing business there, we will simply apply a Tax on their Cars which freely pour into the U.S. They make it impossible for our cars (and more) to sell there. Big trade imbalance!
9:53 AM - Mar 3, 2018

Dumb fuck. As if any German wanted to buy a Chevy or a Dodge.:rolleyes: He must be getting economic advice from Whell.:eek:

Oh, won’t BMW, with its 10,000 US workers in Red State SC, respond well to that! What a moron Donny is. Well, at least he’s finally making lots of Repube enemies. Impeachment getting closer...

Not to mention a large Mercedes plant near Tuscaloosa, AL and a VW plant in Chattanooga. Somehow I'm starting to think Lying Donnie Dotard isn't a stable genius.

Stupid is as stupid does. I never thought any president would beat Gee Dubya's mean spirited dumbfuckery but this moron takes the cake, the pan and the oven. It's like the GOP decided to meld Louis Gomert-Texas and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and run the scion of that mash up for President. :p

There better be some federal prison sentences for these assholes when all is said and done. Godspeed Bobby Mueller, godspeed. :p

Add Steve King - Iowa in a three-way of wingnut idiocy. And Jim Jordan of Ohio if you're into four-ways. And Devin Nunes for a five-way. I think Bob Dylan had these clowns in mind when he wrote Idiot Wind:

Idiot wind
Blowing every time you move your mouth
Blowing down the back roads headin' south
Idiot wind
Blowing every time you move your teeth
You're an idiot, babe
It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe

Perfect song for these times. It describe President* Dipshit to a 'T'.

Most of the cars sold in the US are assembled here. Parts content from both the US and abroad is so globalized that there really is no such thing as a wholly American, Japanese, German made vehicle anymore.

Trump is so ignorant it's beyond description. Where would you start? The problem is that it doesn't matter because his loyal subjects are even more ignorant and simpleminded than he is. Consider that he is their Oracle of Truth.........

God help us all.

"Jimmy Kimmel Says He’s Filing A Federal Complaint Against The Trumps"

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...b0600b830004f6

""Most of the merchandise Kimmel purchased was made abroad, and two items didn’t list a country of origin at all. Kimmel said such an omission could lead to potential fines of up to $500,000 if it turns out these products were made overseas.""




Barney

So, what's the answer then? We put a 2.5% import tax on vehicles imported into the US that are manufactured overseas. Compare that, for example, to the 10% that is applied to vehicle imports in Germany. Its OK for Germany to apply taxes to protect its auto manufacturing, but not OK for the US to protect its interests in a similar manner?

For the record, I don't agree that imposing / increasing tariffs are the answer. I think no tariffs imposed by any country is the right answer, but I don' think that's a realistic scenario. I also don't think T-TIP was the right answer either, and T-TIP was made less relevant with the future of the EU in question.

However, encapsulating trade in the political process gets pretty ugly. The closer we can get to free trade without gov't interference - which results in special interests being well served but creates havoc elsewhere - is the best bet. Will it ever happen? Skeptical.

The dotard just tanked the markets with his trade wars. He ignores the best advice to please his idiot base. When will the Repubes wake up and throw him out on the street, or in the Pen, where he really belongs. You know they have enough evidence on him, when will they finally turn on the moron?

Shiller: The dotard’s trade wars will bring economic crisis.

Another highly respected economist who Whell will now call a “lefty”, lol.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnb...ent-forum.html

The Yale economist criticized U.S. President Donald Trump during a Saturday interview in Beijing, calling the U.S. commander-in-chief "a showman" who "obviously relishes" celebrity, but acts in a way that's "totally unbecoming for a president."

Yawn. Another day, another case where a faux crisis is skewered:

Stocks traded sharply higher on Monday, bouncing back from strong losses in the previous session as trade tensions between the U.S. and China appeared to ease.

The Financial Times reported China has offered to buy more semiconductors from the U.S. to help cut its trade surplus with the U.S. The Wall Street Journal also reported that U.S. and Chinese officials are working to improve U.S. access to China's markets.

Investors "have apparently recognized that a trade war is in no one's best interests and therefore extremely unlikely," said Jeremy Klein, chief market strategist at FBN Securities, in a note. "Specifically, the President merely wants to fulfill a campaign promise while China will only enact token countermeasures to appease its citizens."

We now return you to your regularly scheduled faux angst. :rolleyes:

Predictable. Whell “knows better” than a Nobel winning economist. :rolleyes: Do you actually pay money for your Limblow newsletter subscription? Lol.

Faux News!
Stocks trading higher is to do with Dotard backing off on the steel and aluminum tariffs on trade with N. Korea. One word for you, Samsung.

Donald Trump advocated for US import tariffs before he ran for public office. I would like to post a fresh link to the interview but now it is buried in search noise on YouTube. An old PC post of mine has a link for the genuinely curious.

IMO trade tariffs have utility. They can nudge nations to use their resources efficiently before they go shopping outside for more.

The Chinese have outsmarted the West which initially underestimated them.

In about three decades a massive transfer of Science and Technology from the West has taken place. The West especially US apparently did not expect that and was surprised by the rapidity of the transfer.

Now the Chinese are building infrastructures all over the world to facilitate trade favorable to them. It is called One Belt, One Road (OBOR).

They are using the Chinese diaspora in this project. Said diaspora is sometimes used to disguise somewhat the source of Chinese goods. The Chinese have been on a buying spree of and investment in important Western companies.

Additionally they have invested heavily in STEM education both at home and abroad.

We awoke late to the broad scope of Chinese trade moves.

Trump tariffs are symbols to give his base something. But the Chinese are too far ahead in the game they can placate us with some moves. e.g buying more of our semi conductors.

One Belt, One Road Initiative.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Be...oad_Initiative

Two reasons as to way IMO.
First, the US only thinks one to two years ahead at best. In reality a six month in general words only approach. Only caring about the next election cycle. Unless it has to do with Tax cuts for the top earners. Where China plays the long game thinking a hundred years into the future.
Second, seeing just how much we rely on the Chinese to finance our lavish governments spending, a blind eye is best used on others practices. One does not argue with the bank over it's business practices when you have an outstretched hand now does one?




Barney

I can't help it if the "nobel winning economist" guy was wrong. LOL!

Love your faux response. :rolleyes: Did you even read, or even glance at, the article I posted? Doesn't look like it.

Looks like another day, and another faux crisis fades further.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/27/us-s...he-agenda.html

International markets received a boost Tuesday after a strong day on Wall Street, with both Asian and European indexes posting gains during their respective trading sessions. Markets have bounced back over the past day, with investors attributing this to an alleviation of concerns over potential trade tariffs.

Last week, President Donald Trump signed an executive memorandum that would inflict tariffs on up to $60 billion in Chinese imports prompting China to retaliate, however news has emerged that the nations are open to discussions that could allay a trade war.

As others have observed, the threat of tariffs is apparently being used as an inducement to accelerate discussion and facilitate agreements on trade.

It seems you believe that the Dotard carefully strategized this whole tariff brouhaha, as opposed to it being a frustrated reaction to all the shit blowing up around him in the White House as reported in the OP's link. It seems to me that he lashed out and his staff was forced to again clean up the mess he created with his impulsive and infantile behavior. If you believe he has a thorough understanding of trade policy that manifested itself in new tariff policy via tweet (and without any internal review by government lawyers or his own staff), you're even more gullible than I thought you were.

We can always count on Whell for a good laugh in the morning.

Sorry to disappoint you but why should I? It was widely known what flipped the market trend and in fact some GOP'ers were gloating over how Trump's tariff's are already working.

Yeah, I do. There's no question about that. In order to believe that its anything other than that, you have to discount months and months of statements that were made about trade before the November 2016 election.

That said, I think Trump is less about carefully strategizing than he is about making instinctive, sometimes impulsive, decisions. But I'll leave it to you to put credence in a sloppily sourced report that suggests that the decision to move forward with tariffs was nothing more than the result of a temper tantrum.

Because you posted a comment about it. But thanks for letting me know that you post comments about stuff you don't care to read. :rolleyes:

I guess it depends on your view of what strategizing means. I'd characterize his actions as spouting off impulsively without good information or advice and lying while he did it (about whether we had a trade deficit with Canada). He's a clueless, incurious, narcissistic clown on a good day. On a bad day, he's worse.

Whell, despite his denials, once again proves he’s a Donny True Believer, and thus a freaking idiot.

Might want to check the markets today, Whell, especially the NASDAQ. The markets hate uncertainty; with Donny in the WH, uncertainty is the norm, sadly.

I choose to not read what you read and comment on what I read.
And I subscribe to WaPo, NYT and WSJ. Do not watch any TV nor listen to radio.

Edit: I challenged your information from what I had read.

You make sense to me. When I think about the rate problem between improvement and regret my mind cannot improve on Ayn Rand's writing in "Anthem". That book draws a contrast between sweeping vs. leaf blowing, and daylight vs. artificial light, that is worth putting to action by hand instead of by wallet.

China begins its part of the trade war, hitting the Dotard’s base hard. One of these days, hopefully soon, they will wake up and realize what an incompetent fool their Dear Leader is. Market futures sliding yet again. Whell might even wake up one day to reality, though that seems unlikely.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china...--finance.html

The US has legitimate grouse, but needs to work with Europe in confronting China.

So, not only has the Dotard wiped out all the market gains this year, he’s in danger of wiping out all the gains since his incompetent administration began. Will the Repube establishment finally stop their public support of this idiot?

The costly trade war will do it if anything will.

Trump administration targets Chinese electronics, aerospace and machinery goods with $50 billion in tariffs.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...on-in-tariffs/

Hang on the ride, folks. This is gonna get ugly.