NYT Editorial Board: Chinese Tariffs Are Already Hitting Trump Voters
Source: New York Times
Chinese Tariffs Are Already Hitting Trump Voters
By The Editorial Board
The editorial board represents the opinions of the board, its editor and the publisher. It is separate from the newsroom and the Op-Ed section.
June 15, 2018
In Iowa, where farmers raise 40 to 50 million pigs annually, President Trumps tariffs on steel and aluminum from Mexico have already cost producers $560 million, according to an Iowa State University economist. How can that be, you ask. Mexico has threatened countervailing tariffs that include a 20 percent tariff on American pork. That prospect alone sent hog prices tumbling. If you like barbecued ribs, this could be a great summer for you. If you raise the pigs, you may be eating more barbecued beans.
Soybean growers throughout the Midwest are nervously watching as China, which buys a quarter of American soybeans, takes aim at their crop in response to the Trump administrations announcement that it will move ahead with $50 billion in tariffs on industrially significant technologies in more than 1,000 categories. Trade between the two countries has been very unfair, for a very long time, the American president said in a statement. Mr. Trump vowed that he would add to that list if China retaliated which is what most countries do in this situation. Indeed, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce has said to expect as much. Oh great, Middle America collectively sighs.
Local newspapers across the heartland are full of similar tales of value destruction and lost income as a result of Trump trade war tweetism. In Great Lakes states, traditional steel makers might benefit from the administrations 25 percent tariff on foreign steel. But for steel users, its an entirely different story. Shortly after tariffs were announced, steel suppliers, no longer as fearful of price competition, began jacking up prices theyre no fools. That has meant a 40 percent increase since January in the cost of steel for their customers who use it in their finished products, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. They can either pass that increase on to you or be less profitable.
The story is the same with aluminum: Brewers are forecasting that theyll pay $347.7 million more for aluminum cans. That has small craft-beer makers such as Melvin Brewing in Alpine, Wyo., which packages 75 percent of its products in cans, fretting about impending prices rises and the risks of passing them along to consumers. Try not to be bitter about it.
Mr. Trumps obsession with Canada is particularly strange, and his outburst directed at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Very dishonest & weak.) is particularly petulant. When you tote up the goods and services traded between the two nations in 2017, the United States counted a $8.4 billion surplus. Canada buys more American agricultural exports than any other nation, $24 billion worth. The Canadians sent $7 billion worth of steel here last year while we sold a similar amount to them.
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Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/15/opinion/sunday/trump-china-tariffs-trade-farmers.html
tazkcmo
(7,306 posts)The cult members should be proud to support the boy king even if it means poverty and homelessness. I'm a bit surprised they haven't given all their worldly possessions to their idol at this point.
Sarcasm. I would rather they wake up, admit they screwed up and rejoin the sane people of this country.
muntrv
(14,505 posts)Wimmin, colored peepull, fuhriners, mooslims, and homosekshools.
kimbutgar
(21,290 posts)You get what you voted for, an idiot and liar. There are consequences to your actions Twitler supporters in Iowa.
Aristus
(66,531 posts)That's not a nice thing to think, but what else am I supposed to feel for the Trumpanzees? Pity? They screwed themselves, and everybody else in the process.
And they're too stupid to see that selecting a candidate based on how much he upsets the liberals is the stupidest strategem ever. There's no way they'll see this as a reason to vote blue in November. They're lining up for the cyanide Flav-R-ade even as we speak...
kimbutgar
(21,290 posts)Ive heard this from right wing callers to progressive radio. I would never advocate for them to die. But suffer and pay the consequences for their stupid support of the pos idiot in the White House, Im all in for. One of my right wing ex brother in laws used to call me the looney liberal from San Francisco. The same one who had to short sell his house and move to a lower cost area in Arizona. To me someone with a college degree who owns a house in San Francisco, financially able to only have to work a part time job and owns a rental home. But to him I am the loser because I am that looney liberal.
My thoughts and prayers...
BigmanPigman
(51,675 posts)Tough shit! Too bad I have to suffer due to their ignorance and stupidity. That is not fair!
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)Everything is now about the midterm elections which will determine who wins the enormous battle for power going on right now, the American people or right-wing kleptocrats here and in Russia, white nationalists, and religious extremists.
How are voters responding now during the specials/primaries and how will they on November 6?
thehill.com/.../391395-poll-half-of-us-voters-oppose-steel-and-aluminum-tariffs
Jun 8, 2018 - Half of U.S. voters, 50 percent, oppose the Trump administration's recently implemented tariffs on steel and aluminum imports,
https://www.cnbc.com/.../voters-unlikely-to-support-trump-tariff-moves-in-midterm-e...
Jun 7, 2018 - Most voters are hesitant to support candidates who back Trump's tariffs on products imported from key trading partners
https://www.politico.com/interactives/2018/china-trade-poll/
Jun 1, 2018 - The vast majority of voters want President Donald Trump to focus on negotiating new trade agreements, rather than imposing new tariffs, a new ...
www.dispatch.com/news/20180614/new-poll-shows-ohioans-oppose-trump-tariffs
2 days ago - A new survey shows Ohio voters oppose tariffs on ... The poll, released Thursday by Quinnipiac University, suggest Ohio ...
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/.../almost-two-thirds-of-americans-support-tarif...
Apr 9, 2018 - "Voters don't buy the 'fear-factor' that jobs are at-risk, instead agreeing that Trump's tariffs are both 'necessary,'
COUNTDOWN TO NOVEMBER 6: 142 days