Trump to impose tariff on steel and aluminium, geaux Trump!

LIke I said before, that's offensive to 5 year olds.

I have had a five year old.

They are insatiably curious and inherently good - this burned out sack of tissue is neither of those things, to say the least.

 

ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

I declare a trade war!

 

Don't trade anymore-we win big. It's easy!

 

I recycle all my cans, I'm cautiously optimistic that the increase in beer will be mirrored by the price of scrap aluminum.

That being said, this is a terrible idea. Other than the protectionist hard-liners around Trump (Navarro, Ross), who exactly is supporting this? American business hates it, our close allies hate it, vast majority of economists I've seen opine hate it....

 

Assuming that China is dumping steel on the world market ...

No targeted tariffs => consumer welfare

Assuming that China is NOT dumping steel on the world market ...

Targeted tariffs => corporate welfare

 

For China to be able to price manipulate, they'd have to have a monopoly.

China DOES NOT have a monopoly on the global steel market.

Translation: China is not "dumping" steel on the world market.

 

Oh I understand you. It's not Chai-nuh. It must be Mexico!!!!!!

 

I am not connecting your dots. South Korea did not have a monopoly yet they manipulated prices via "subsidizing certain industries".

 

We have no idea if these tariffs will be targeted at specific countries or not. Trump wants them across the board, which is why the rest of the world - especially our allies - is saying "WTF?"

Also, I thought this was really surprising:

Supporters of the tariffs have begun broadcasting televised ads in recent days during programs that Mr. Trump has been known to watch. One such ad ran on Fox News minutes before the president’s Twitter post on Thursday morning.

 

LOL it's brilliant.

Best way to influence policy right now is buy the ad time on Fox & Friends.

#stablegenius

 

This is so similar to Hoover's path to the Great depression.

 

John Oliver had been dong just that. Not sure if he still is

 

So glad he's back, I've missed that show.

 

Honestly, Trump is an American hero.

Plowing p*rn stars and telling his super model wife to throw away his McDonalds wrapper while the white house chef brings him an extra scoop of ice cream and he cyber bullies his enemies and rages against established economic norms. On Saturday he gets to golf all day and wear a $2 red hat and on Sunday morning he gets to tell his lawyer to pay hush money to #stuffdNbutt while he he yells vroom vroom in the cab of an 18-wheeler. He gets to play out every uneducated person's "but why can't we just..." fantasies and go after the Chinamen and the Mexicans while his kids go ask foreign dictators for money so he can buy another golden toilet when he gets bored playing with the giant lego set in the White House.

Living the damn dream.

 

Lol whut?

I never said SK manipulated prices. The government in the 60's and 70's supported certain companies/industries, because they realized in order for a small country with limited natural resources to survive, they needed to specialize and be good at a few select industries. They can't have their hands in "too many pots".

This led to the birth of Chaebol; or Korean conglomerates (Samsung, Hyundai, LG, etc etc)

They, in no form, was capable of dictating or manipulating global markets or prices. They adjusted to compete.

This is inherently different from trade tariffs.

 

Trump is not very smart.

One would hope that the tariffs are targeted at the bad actors. If the tariff is across the board, that would be a profoundly bad idea.

 

Ignoring bank runs?

 

You would be OK with Trump subsidizing American Steel?