USA urges China to cut trade by $100 billion

Last week, President Trump announced a 25 percent tariff on all imported steel and a 10 percent tariff on imported aluminum. Documents seen Wednesday by AFP also indicated the United States has proposed WTO reforms that would punish member countries which fail to abide by certain rules-a move seen as aimed squarely at Beijing, which the Trump administration says is not a market economy and should not have been admitted the WTO. First, it will be a huge blow to Canada, which exports 17 percent of steel to the USA, then to Brazil (14%) and to South Korea (10%). He also supported imposing retaliatory tariffs on Chinese products.

Even though the quantities of steel are small in comparison to other countries in the region, Trump’s decision will surely affect the already weakened Croatian economy.

“Given the tightly woven integration between Apple and Foxconn in China, we believe there is minimal risk to this relationship, cost increases, and backlash to Apple selling its iPhone devices within China (domestic competition remains a lingering worry), which is a key market opportunity for Apple over the coming years”, Ives says. Swedish manufacturer Electrolux halted its plans to build a $250 million production plant in Tennessee, attributing its decision to Trump’s tariff announcement. The resultant trade war lengthened the economic depression in the U.S., and other countries, and is seen as a cause of the Second World War. By exempting Canada (the No. 1 steel exporter to the U.S.) and Mexico (#4), Trump has tempered the price increases USA manufacturers will incur.

Mr Trump tweeted that China had been asked to develop a plan to reduce its trade imbalance with the USA by US$1 billion, but the spokesman said he had meant to say US$100 billion. “We can do this in a way that is peaceful and will improve and strengthen the trading system”. It isn’t going to change the price of a auto. Ben Sasse of Nebraska said, “Trade wars are lost by both sides”. The Chinese production of steel is more than the U.S., Russia, Japan and Europe combined.

Despite mounting trade-related jitters, the near-term outlook for the US economy remained rosy in this month’s survey.

Trump’s action has turned into a day-to-day drama of how the tariffs will specifically be implemented and their short- and long-term effects.

On March 2, the President tweeted “we must protect our country and our workers”. That could cause job losses and canceled investment.

The Republican Party won’t mount an effective opposition to new tariffs: While the president has been quite clumsy in mustering an worldwide coalition to achieve his trade goals, he has been masterful at neutering Republican opposition to them. “And we are making efforts to avoid that”, he said.

But if there is a better way to begin fixing the deeper wound to our economy from unfair trade practices, we all should be open to suggestions from wherever they may arise.

ECB-European Central Bank President Mario Draghi on March 8 added his voice to those criticizing the USA threat to slap import tariffs on some products and called on governments to work together, rather than end up in a tit-for-tat dispute. “NAFTA’s really been a boon for us”. Mr. Trump has said that if a deal isn’t reached on Nafta, he will pull the US out of the accord.

The Trade Expansion Act of 1962 authorizes the President to adjust existing duties and import restrictions for any commodity “being imported into the United States in such quantities or under such circumstances as to threaten to impair national security.”3 As interpreted by a longstanding Department of Justice Opinion, the trade-security power is not subject to traditional administrative rulemaking requirements of notice, comment, and hearing-though in this instance, the Commerce Department voluntarily undertook these measures”. His columns appear in The Albuquerque Journal.