There’s a new tariff in town, boys, and it’s gonna kill ya!
The deal-maker-in-chief has taken yet another pratfall.
Maybe he should adopt some strategies other than those espoused in “The Art of The Deal,” which is proving to be a roadmap to failure instead of a chart to riches.
Like many others, I am still trying to wrap my arms around his decision to hike tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent.
“I’ve read hundreds of books about China over the decades,” Trump is quoted as saying in his book. “I know the Chinese. I’ve made a lot of money with the Chinese. I understand the Chinese mind.”
While that may or may not be true on his smaller-scale dealings, the fact is that he has never dealt with China on this level, and has never has never put so many people on the bubble.
This isn’t some insignificant deal where he tries to pry money from an investor who wants to link the Trump brand to their product. This is the global economic market he is trying to manipulate with his misguided sense of nationalism and ignorance of basic economic strategy.
There are thousands of products on Trump’s list ranging from meat, fish, and produce to essential oils, chemicals, ores, minerals, rawhides and leather, and associated products like trunks and suitcases, handbags, CD cases, ski gloves, ice hockey gloves, belts, and fur clothing, which should be banished anyway.
Rubber, plastics, and a variety of pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides also made the list.
So did wood products from charcoal to wood pulp products and paper as well as various types of lumber like oak, beech, maple, ash, and cherry.
Clothing materials including silk, cotton, flax, textiles, and other fabrics felt the pinch. Glass and glassware, various metals, heavy machinery, vehicles and parts, and electronic devices like televisions, video projectors, and television cameras as well as instruments used for scientific or medical purposes like microscopes, cameras, and pressure gauges were dinged.
So were furniture, clocks and watches, glues and adhesives, soaps and cleaning products, perfumes, shampoos, hairsprays, and bath salts.
And despite evidence to the contrary, the United States apparently does not have enough BS in the supply chain as Chinese fertilizers are also on the list.
This is, of course, only a partial list.
Cha-ching? Not really.
This effort to balance trade, which as any economist worth his or her salt will tell you is an impractical and dumb idea, will result in a chain of events that will drag on a false-bottomed economy.
It is already beginning to strangle the American farmer, whose soybeans — our largest farm export — will now sit and rot because China has turned to South America for its soybeans and corn. U.S. farmers are also taking a hit on peanuts, almonds, sugar, wheat, chicken, turkey, pork, and other goods, which China will turn elsewhere to buy.
This trade war is also causing Trump to lose face in the political arena as he has had to drop previously established tariffs on Mexico and Canada for steel and aluminum.
And it will hit consumers here hard.
Peripherally, it should only have a minor impact on the Chinese economy, because as prices go up, consumers may purchase fewer of them, and China’s needs are far different than consumer-impatient America.
But here’s how it will play in the real world.
China will continue to manufacture all of these goods at current prices. It will ship the goods to a U.S. broker, who will have to pay the increased tariffs as the goods clear customs. Retailers will then pay more for the goods and hike the prices to cover the added tariffs. The consumer — you and me — will get hit with the increase.
Not China. Not the broker. You. And. Me. Period.
We sit at the bottom of the hill in all of this, and we all know what rolls downhill, leaving a stinky trail in its wake, all because there’s a new tariff in town implemented by a huckster, a carnie geek, the ultimate snake oil salesman whose only gift is for self-promotion and hustling a crowd as he picks their wallets.
You see, we are the innocents in this three-card Monte game; we’re the ones getting shaken down for our pennies.
And we are the ones who will continue to pay because the gullible refuse to believe they were scammed by the grafter-in-chief or are in on the take.
Having a trade deficit does not mean the economy is taking a hit. It does not mean it will take jobs from our shores. And it will not weaken our national security.
Quite the contrary.
It means that consumers have more disposable income, which indicates a growing economy because they are purchasing goods at a lower price.
Of course, a guy like Trump doesn’t worry too much if he has to replace his 96-inch big-screen TV. He’s got the resources, or at least a platinum American Express card, that will cover it. Hell, he might even be able to get a gross of them for free if he gives a ringing endorsement of the product.
And again, if you are a guy like Trump, you don’t give a damn anyway, and you continue to get your little red beanies from China, your “All Over Tartan” golf shirts from Italy, your “Trump” trinket dishes from China, your clothing line items from Mexico and China, and two of your three wives from Eastern Europe.
Of the 268 items for sale on the Trump online store, only 41 are manufactured in the United States, which flies in the face of an executive order he signed demanding that U.S. government agencies “buy American and hire American.”
The interesting thing is that as a result of his beef with China, Trump has softened his stance on importing from our two nearest and dearest allies, Mexico and Canada. Like all things, it is an “in the moment” thing and could change at the drop of a peso. But right now, the bullying and elementary-school talk has hashed down a notch with our neighbors.
This tariff nonsense will end soon, probably about the time North Korea shoots another diplomatic flare into the air. Then, without doubt, we will all be worrying about bigger fish, like the possibility of again dangling on the edge of hostilities that could lead to a nuclear event.
It will be good for the administration because it will divert attention away from an economy that is already at half staff because of bad decisions made by the new sheriff in town.
But for the rest of us?
Well, hope you weren’t counting on buying a new iPhone any time soon, because the price is about to go up.
The viewpoints expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Independent.
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Ok Ed, hope all is well, and rebuilding homestead. Let’s get down to Biz. I have been to China many times, and my first visit was when HK was still a British Colony . I also studied Chinese trade barriers and negotiation in grade school. 1) Bannon is 100% right on the topic. Why he is being attacked on CCTV. 2) Mr Wonderful O Leary (sharktank CNBC) is 100% right. 3) Dr Art Laffer is 100% right. All have had recent interviews in the last few days. Kramer Mad Money is right. I can go on. Ever here the phrase Pennywise, Pound Foolosh. That represents your stance and outcome. If we dont renegotiate with China now it will be too late. They may ride out the Trade war until 2020 hoping Biden will win. Hunter Biden 2013, partnered a billion dollar deal under suspicious circumstances with the bank of China. If that occurs,in regards to China delaying, and Biden wins, he will sell out America to the Chinese. You are sooooo wrong. You cant understand China from books Ed.
Grade = grad / here = hear. Will try better spell checking in future. My apology