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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump's "Phase One" Trade Deal Leaves China With Massive Advantage
Back in October, financial markets and other interested parties woke up to the exciting news that, according to Donald Trump, the United States had reached a very substantial phase-one deal with China, constituting the first step in a series of steps that would hopefully end the longtime trade war with Beijing and make the pain that American farmers, companies, consumers, and the economy at large had suffered over the last two years all worth it in the end. Like most Trump proclamations, though, this one turned out to be a lie. We knew this both in real time, as news outlets reported that China wanted another round of talks before even thinking about signing phase one of the trade deal and on Tuesday, it was made yet more clear when Trump again announced striking a phase one dealmore than two months after hed already claimed one had been clinched:
Link to tweet
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While Trump has lied about negotiating a deal with China numerous times by nowin December 2018, he bragged to reporters that hed struck an incredible deal with President Xi Jinping that blew up in his face less than 24 hours later; in August, a breakthrough call with China turned out to be fictionalat this point, theres no suggestion that he is, once again, just making shit up as he goes along. Thats the good news. The less-good news? His big, terrific phase one deal appears to accomplish very little, and on a matter that both the president and his top advisers have said is crucial to bringing fairness to the markets, literally no progress has been made. Per the Washington Post:
President Trumps trade deal with Beijing leaves untouched the marriage of business and government known as China Inc. that American executives for nearly two decades have said tilted global markets against them. Trump insisted for months that he wanted to resolve all outstanding trade issues with China in a single, comprehensive accord that would refashion the Chinese states economic role. As late as September, he rejected talk of a partial agreement, saying instead that he wanted the big deal. The two sides discussed industrial subsidies in the early rounds of negotiations over an agreement that exceeded 150 pages. But Chinese officials resisted making structural changes, and by the time officials settled this month on an 86-page partial accord, any commitments to reduce subsidies had been excised.
Chinese steel mills, solar panel manufacturers, electric battery developers, shipbuilders and oil producers all benefit from a vast web of government support. Officials in Beijing arm Chinese companies against their foreign rivals with discounted loans from state banks, cheap land, low-cost electric power, and cash infusions from officially approved investment funds...China now devotes more than 3 percent of its annual output to direct and indirect business subsidies a share of the economy that is roughly equivalent to what the United States spends on defense, according to economist Nicholas Lardy of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a nonpartisan research group.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/12/donald-trump-phase-one-china-deal?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=pol&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_mailing=Thematic_Ballot_01012020&utm_medium=email&bxid=5be9f8cb24c17c6adf0e5d24&cndid=25394153&utm_term=Thematic_Ballot_Subscribers
He's a simpleton desperate for a win so he'll settle for anything.
sakabatou
(42,186 posts)I'm shocked! Shocked, I tell you!
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,900 posts)Eliot Rosewater
(31,131 posts)the table, do both of those things and he will sign off on your death, my death, hell everybody...
In this one instance maybe nobody dies, right away, but he will sit back and allow the death of endless people to further his bank account.
SunSeeker
(51,746 posts)UniteFightBack
(8,231 posts)accomplishment is ripping families apart with this separating families and deporting people who have spent their lives here. He is punishing and physically and mentally torturing children.
That is the anvil around his neck and I hope he goes for a swim.
Archive Hunter
(17 posts)Hands down.
ooky
(8,930 posts)The OP linked article makes a very important point, that American Executives have been trying for over two decades to address the issues with the Chinese government's subsidies of their industries. Why then would anybody believe that suddenly Donald Trump is going to step in and compel China in some way to curb its subsidies? Its not going to happen. The issue is always the same for Trump, who repeatedly makes the same mistake of trying to negotiate when he doesn't have any leverage. He did that with Nancy Pelosi when he shut down the government and lost. And, apparently he's doing the same thing with China. It really speaks to how far off any progress with lifting his tariffs really is if we are talking about deals limiting Chinese subsidies. Maybe its time to look back at what the goal for the tariffs was in the first place. This article asks that question:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2019/10/07/original-trump-goal-in-china-trade-talks-abandoned/
After 18 months, it may be good to remember the answer to a simple question: What was the initial goal of the Trump administrations talks and actions with China? The original Section 301 indictment the U.S. Trade Representative issued in March 2018 criticized China for intellectual property theft, forced technology transfers, and the buying up of U.S. technology companies, said Daniel Griswold, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, in an interview. The tariffs the administration started imposing in the summer of 2018 were supposed to bring China to the table to negotiate an agreement that would curb those practices.
Some have suggested that the real purpose was to come up with a justification to impose tariffs. In any case, the result has been more tariffs and no change in China's practices.
What is the Trump administration trying to accomplish in current trade talks with China? Its not clear what the Trump administrations ultimate objective is with China, said Griswold. A grand deal to fix the problems described in the Section 301 report seems more remote than it was six months or a year ago.
Yeah. The subsidies seem way off base from the "original goal". It appears that he doesn't have a clue about what he is doing. He freakin' lost!