CHINA HAS TRUMP'S NUMBER

 

…China’s President Xi, Trump & the First Ladies in China

 

 

America’s Steel and Aluminum jobs were not lost due to China.

When will this US president ever start listening to his knowledgeable advisers?

 

 

President Trump just signed sweeping new tariffs on steel and aluminum, and he did it against the urging of economists, of our allies and most of the manufacturing, retail and home-building industries. This policy will likely destroy American jobs both in the industries that use steel and aluminum, and in ones that may soon be hit by retaliatory measures from other countries.

 

American jobs in the steel and aluminum industry have not been lost due to China.  They have been lost due to technological changes such as automation, not due to China’s dumping.  The other causes for the loss of US aluminum jobs have been mostly to places with cheaper electricity such as in Iceland, which is also not China.

 

Five American steel and aluminum smelters closed over the last ten years due to a lack of modernization (i.e. going to robots or converting to newer, lower-power manufacturing systems).

 

It is true that China does cheat by dumping steel and aluminum supplies using prices lower than the actual manufacturing costs, but that’s not why the US has had to shut down its factories.

 

Donald Trump has been spouting off about wanting to go after China for decades.  He has really wanted to stick it to China for years, too bad this tariff move won’t stick.

 

As one writer for The Post put it: “If this is how we show China who’s boss, China has just learned it has a pretty dumb boss.”

 

As of now, China isn’t even in the top 10 producers of US steel imports. The top country the US imports from is Canada, which apparently should be grateful it has been given a reprieve from these US tariffs.  But according to Trump that is, “at least at this time” for Canada.  If the NAFTA talks don’t go as Trump wants, both Canada and Mexico could be on Trump’s “thumbs down” list as well.

 

Misdirected metal tariffs are hardly the only way our dealmaker in chief has revealed himself to be a less-than-slick negotiator with China.

 

Trump is so ignorant that he tweeted: “China has been asked to develop a plan for the year of a One Billion Dollar reduction in their massive Trade Deficit with the United States.” 

 

So what?

 

Since Trump only watches the Fox channel and he doesn’t read his daily security briefings, he apparently doesn’t understand that our trade deficit with China last year was $375 billion, that’s $375 billion with a “b”.

 

If Trump is such a capable and tough negotiator, why is he starting out by asking to go after amending out trade balance with China by a measly 0.3%?  That’s equal to less than a one-day deficit.

 

The Wall Street Journal wrote that Trump had actually meant to demand a $100 billion change in the trade deficit.  But we all know that the WSJ is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who also owns the Fox News channel, so they are probably just doing their best to support their president.

 

It should also be noted that the president referred to China’s “massive Trade Deficit with the United States.”  Sorry again Mr. President, but China has a “trade surplus with the United States”, it’s the United States that has the deficit.

 

Had Trump really wanted to get “tough” with China in the name of promoting US interests and values, he has had many opportunities.  But every time Trump opens his mouth about China, he plays right into China’s hands.

The best example was the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). This 12-country pact had deliberately excluded China.  That was because it was to make sure the United States, rather than China, got to “write the rules of the road for trade in the 21st century”.  That was how the then-President Barack Obama had put it.

 

But one of Trump’s first orders of business upon taking office, was to pull out of the TPP.  That didn’t mean the deal died when the US left.  In fact, China is now stepping in and will probably end up being the country that runs the bulk of the future business with the 11 remaining countries.

 

But the situation between Trump and China continues to get even worse.

 

After the latest changes in the Chinese constitution allowed the current President Xi Jinping to hold his ruling power indefinitely, Trump didn’t criticize this authoritarian move.  Instead, he expressed admiration for Xi as “a great gentleman” who “treated us tremendously well when I went over there.” Xi.  Trump basically cheered that Xi had just made himself “president for life. . . . I think it’s great.”

In fact, Trump joked that, “Maybe, America will give that a shot one day!”

 

Basically, Trump was saying, “Not only do we not care about China’s increasing authoritarianism; we actually encourage it.”

 

The reality of Trump’s relationship with China is that he continues to show that they have learned exactly how to deal with Trump’s lack of leadership.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2018