The Guardian: Trump pushing for FART act.

[rifleman 70]

According to the Guardian, Trump is pushing for the US to leave the WTO and create the US Fair And Reciprocal Tariffs (FART) act which would allow Trump to impose tariffs without Congressional oversight. Thoughts?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/02/trump-fart-act-report-blows-through-washington?CMP=fb_gu

Atheism is a Non-Prophet Organisation

[BIGUN 1,486]

Quote

"It is no secret that POTUS has had frustrations with the unfair imbalance of tariffs that put the U.S. at a disadvantage. He has asked his team to develop ideas to remedy this situation and create incentives for countries to lower their tariffs. The current system gives the U.S. no leverage and other countries no incentive," Walters said.

"The only way this would be news is if this were actual legislation that the administration was preparing to rollout, but it’s not," she said. "Principals have not even met to review any text of legislation on reciprocal trade."

SOURCE: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/395102-leaked-trump-bill-would-abandon-key-wto-rules-axios

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[billvon 3,116]

Quote

"The only way this would be news is if this were actual legislation that the administration was preparing to rollout, but it’s not," she said. "Principals have not even met to review any text of legislation on reciprocal trade."

In other words, the White House is mad that the press is reporting on what the White House is doing.

Given that a trade war could tank the economy and cost millions of Americans their jobs, an administration asking for legislation to allow them to engage in a trade war more quickly, and with no oversight, _is_ actually news.

[BIGUN 1,486]

I am opposed to "Made in China." Have been for a long time. I'm not a fan of trade wars with our neighbors (Canada & Mexico) Most people don't realize there are no less than 1,200 american companies that have purchased manufacturing facilities in China. It has already cost millions of Americans their jobs. 2.7 million US jobs in a ten year period.

There is something fundamentally wrong with Apple producing an iPhone in China 'cheaply' and the favorite propaganda narrative is the savings will be passed on to US consumers. There is something fundamentally wrong when a phone last year was at ~$750; goes as high as $1,200 for its phone this year and Apple reports a record profit of $20 billion for the first quarter of 2018. First Quarter. That right there is 400,000 - $50,000 /year jobs. And, if they sustained that for a year... 1.6 million jobs. Just one company.

I'm actually more in favor of supporting the President in this trade war with China. There was a time when US Citizens tightened up their belt for the greater good. Imagine how fast China would sit down and negotiate a well-balanced trade agreement if every American quit buying "Made in China." Imagine how fast US Companies would change their business model if their overseas operations started tanking.

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[billvon 3,116]

>There is something fundamentally wrong with Apple producing an iPhone in China
>'cheaply' and the favorite propaganda narrative is the savings will be passed on to US
>consumers.

No more fundamentally wrong than China buying Boeing airliners because they are "better" than Airbus.

My company produced CDMA phones for a few years, built right here in San Diego. We had to because they supported CDMA and no one was going to believe that CDMA worked until we built a cellphone system with them. We lost hundreds of millions - and the phones were still twice the price of other cellphones out there.

Then we sold that division to Kyocera because they _could_ build affordable phones. And now every large phone manufacturer in the world supports CDMA communications.

But if you don't like China? Feel free to buy Samsung phones (South Korea) or Sony phones (Japan.) You can't get a US built phone, because no one will pay the 2-6x price penalty for phones built here.

>There was a time when US Citizens tightened up their belt for the greater good.

Given that we just had a tax cut that will give us the largest deficits in US history, I have to laugh at the idea of Trump supporters being willing to "tighten up their belts for the greater good."

>Imagine how fast China would sit down and negotiate a well-balanced trade agreement if
>every American quit buying "Made in China."

You mean the sort of trade agreements that Trump is currently trashing? Yes, would be great if we had them. Unfortunately, we have Trump.

[BIGUN 1,486]

Quote

Given that we just had a tax cut that will give us the largest deficits in US history, I have to laugh at the idea of Trump supporters being willing to "tighten up their belts for the greater good."

And, that sir goes right to the core of our culture. Not what's good for America. What's good for me right now. Can you even imagine if someone used the word, "Ration" these days?

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[billvon 3,116]

>And, that sir goes right to the core of our culture. Not what's good for America. What's good for
>me right now.

Yep. It used to be that no one was planning out further than about 10 years. Nowdays even 10 years is the unimaginably distant future; the next paycheck, the next election and the next sale are about as far as most planning horizons extend.

[jcd11235 0]

BIGUN

I am opposed to "Made in China."

Why? Everyone benefits from international trade.You can get high quality stuff from China, or you can get junk, or pretty much anything in-between, just like from US manufacturers.

BIGUN

Imagine how fast China would sit down and negotiate a well-balanced trade agreement if every American quit buying "Made in China."

Not very fast, since US businesses would effectively without computers, placing them at a serious handicap.

BIGUN

There is something fundamentally wrong when a phone last year was at ~$750; goes as high as $1,200 for its phone this year and Apple reports a record profit of $20 billion for the first quarter of 2018. First Quarter. That right there is 400,000 - $50,000 /year jobs.

You clearly don't understand how business works. Profits are rarely used to subsidize jobs. Labor is much more frequently used to help create the profit to begin with.

Further, I think you'll find that Apple provide quite a lot of jobs, both directly and indirectly. I'm sure that figure has only increased in the intervening six years.

Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

[TriGirl 343]

BIGUN

Quote

Given that we just had a tax cut that will give us the largest deficits in US history, I have to laugh at the idea of Trump supporters being willing to "tighten up their belts for the greater good."

And, that sir goes right to the core of our culture. Not what's good for America. What's good for me right now. Can you even imagine if someone used the word, "Ration" these days?

Wal-Mart will go out of business if it can't sell Chinese-made goods for bargain basement prices. Ration? Businesses already make a ton of money on the backs of their low-income workers right here in the U.S. If/when prices go up, the voters most affected will be those who have to make their income stretch the furthest. And these are not the ones most benefitted by the tax plan. They're already rationing.

See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus

Shut Up & Jump!