Tuesday, May 19, 2020

How China Hate Will Damage the US Economy



Anti-China sentiment is now the primary fuel of Donald Trump’s re-election effort, reports The Guardian.

On Friday, Trump supporters in the America First Action committee launched a new wave of attack ads in the swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, framing Joe Biden as “Beijing Biden”, using selective edits of the former vice-president’s past remarks and Chinese-language commentary praising the “Toast of China."

But a limitation on trade with China could add to the problems being caused by the current lockdowns across the nation.

The prospect os limiting trade is being fueled by general anti-China sentiment in the U.S. and general ignorance about international trade.

A Pew Research poll published last month found that two-thirds of Americans had a negative view of China.

It appears that Trump, who has his own personal anti-China sentiments, is going to feed the anti-China sentiments amongst the voters and act boldly in attacking China trade.

The Trump Administration is at this time is considering numerous steps that would make it more difficult to trade with China and to encourage U.S. manufacturers to operate more of their plants here at home.

Chinese goods accounted for 21% of imports into the U.S. in 2018, according to the office for the U.S. Trade Representative. To the degree the Administration is successful in limiting trade with China, it would shrink the number of products available to Americans.

When U.S. manufacturers shift to produce products in the U.S. that would otherwise be produced in China, it means capital, labor and resources must be pulled from other production--and thus you have a shrinking of the overall production pie.

The administration not only seems willing to adopt such anti-trade measures but they are looking at adopting very aggressive methods to decrease the trade with China.

According to Forbes, measures might include investment subsidies, banning the sale of sensitive goods to China, and raising taxes on the income that American companies gain by dealing with China.

-RW




3 comments:

  1. I went shopping yesterday for a USB-C phone charger cable. Family Dollar had only one cable, for Micro USB. Dollar General had several Micro USB cables and two iPhone cables. Both displays were 95% empty and these stores were ten miles apart. Then I went to Big Lots and they had one USB-C cable and not be much else with their usually stocked charger department about 95% empty.

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  2. Good to diversify. If everything is made in China and China goes bad, then it is a national security issue. Need to at least have a backup. China is Communist and doing business with them just promotes communism.

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    1. You are talking to 'libertardians' at this site. Everything is about 'cheap labor' and damn dollar each and every time. According to libertardian open border theory, all races, IQ, and cultures are equal. They love China for the 'cheap' aspect of everything.

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