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Trump's Bullshit Trade Tantrums

 
It would be almost impossible to be worse on trade than Trump has been. He's been wrong about everything and has harmed US trade and security for many years to come.
 
 
All in his bid to be the most notorious person to ever live. He doesn’t care if the actions have merit or who they help or hurt, it’s all about the attention and the headlines. Fucking sad, man
 
Everybody knows we are treated unfairly in trade by everyone except Russia and North Korea and the best way to make it fair is to throw up some tariffs, leave large trading trading partnerships, and let the stable genius master negotioator make deals with single countries.
 
 
Maine lobster workers say Chinese tariffs could threaten industry

Tom Adams, the CEO of prominent lobster distribution company, Maine Coast, told NBC that 20 percent of his exports previously went to China.

“We will lose a crucial part of the market that we've developed over the years here in Maine — losing sales and revenue for our company, possibly making us eliminate jobs,” Adams said.

...

Another Maine lobster distributor, Mark Murrell, told the outlet that he initially had hoped Trump’s election in 2016 would help his industry

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But, Murrell said, he is “not very” confident that the tariffs will help the lobster industry, adding that he wants Trump to “be more thoughtful and ask the end person — ask the source.”

“I just spent three months with a potential new buyer in Shanghai that wanted 40,000 pounds a week,” Murrell told NBC. “But when the tariff scare came, or reality now, talks really slowed down, and now it's radio silence.”

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/i...er-workers-say-chinese-tariffs-could-threaten
 
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-divide-insight/trumps-trade-war-splits-a-missouri-county-into-winners-and-losers-idUSKBN1JZ16X

I thought the very last bit of this article was interesting.
Third-generation soybean farmer Bobby Aycock has cut his operating expenses, avoided buying new equipment and rented out some of his farmland.

He’s got a plan in case the tariffs drive down grain prices to a point that threatens his farm’s survival.

“I’ll cash out, get out of farming and go get a job at Magnitude 7,” Aycock said. “I have to protect what I’ve worked for - for 37 years - and what I’ve put away, so my kids will have it a little better than I had it growing up.”
Click to expand...

I want to call this guy up and reason with him. He has valuable agricultural land and can feed his family and pass it down to his kids. But he actually feels more secure selling it off, and going to work at a marginally-profitable aluminum smelter which has already shut down once. the owners of that smelter will absolutely not hesitate to shut it down again and leave him with nothing when this tariff nonsense passes or some other global event makes the operation less profitable than the owners want.

Just a little anecdote in the brave new world of tariffs - politically favored businesses (smelters) win, the rest of America - in this case, soybean and cotton farmers - get screwed.
 
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