Category Archives: Trade

‘The Kochtopus’ (Koch Brothers) Want Outsourcing & Globalism Back

Donald Trump, Labor, Outsourcing, THE ELITES, Trade

Bless the farmers. A pox on the Koch Brothers, known by good libertarians as that invasive organism called “The Kochtopus.”

The Koch Brothers, or the “The Kochtopus,” worship the Gods of Globalism, says Laura Ingraham, and the American Worker be damned. He is just a stick-in-the mud. He hasn’t embraced progress. Therefore, he should be left behind.

The brothers’ bailiwick is outsourcing jobs and relocating overseas, as Laura Ingraham points out. Of their employees, 120,000 are employed abroad; only 65,000 in the US.

And they object to President Trump’s attempts to optimize outcomes for the American Worker by driving a hard bargain on behalf of his American constituents in the context of “state-managed trade.”

While the elitist Kochtopus, an enemy of Trump from the inception, is committing to fighting Trump’s efforts to neutralized the adverse effects of  centralized, managed trade on American workers—the latter are supportive of the president.

“They like that he’s fighting for them.” “I’m willing to take my lumps for the good of the country. The Scottish in me says to the death.” So say Trump supporters about the tariffs.

“The Kochs can learn a lot from these deeply patriotic Americans,” inveighs Ingraham. And she’s right.

RELATED: “Trade Deficits In The Context Of State-Managed Trade And Systemic Debt.”

See also: “Dissecting the Kochtopus.”

The Power Trump Has To Wield Against The World Order And For America

America, China, Donald Trump, Economy, Europe, Trade

Does Size Matter?
Even if they club together, for example, it is hard for other countries to match China’s clout in Asia. And there is no real substitute for America’s overall influence and power. The country spends more on defence than the next seven countries combined, produces 23% of global GDP (measured at market exchange rates) and has the world’s dominant currency. Still [some are hoping] that a joint effort can make a difference while Mr Trump is president. “A group of midsized and wealthy democracies could join forces and protect the rules-based world order.”

See “Saving The World Order: Picking Up The Pieces,” The Economist, August 4.

‘We Have A Solemn Obligation To Protect Our Citizens & Their Quality Of Life’: Wow, What Was POTUS Thinking?

Donald Trump, Europe, Foreign Policy, Homeland Security, IMMIGRATION, The West, Trade

The president looked sharp during a presser with Italy’s Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte. Even sharper and better were President Trump’s comments about reclaiming immigration sovereignty. Shut the government down if you don’t win from Congress the ability to control our demographic destiny and reclaim American sovereignty.

Appreciated is the way this president always hearkens back to civilizational issues. Once you lose the West, you’re not getting it back. The tipping point may have been reached.

Here POTUS warmly welcomes Giuseppe Conte:

Conte has taken “a very firm stand” on border matters, for which he is praised. Trump being a MAGA man, brings up trade tariffs.

 

Cooperation on stabilizing Libya is likely code for stopping the influx from North Africa into Italy. 

“Our countries have learned through hard experience that border security is national security.” Terrorism and uncontrolled migration are separated, not conflated.

“The [Italian] Prime Minister and I are united in our conviction that strong nations must have strong borders.” A merit-based immigration system is a must:


Stephen Miller has an uncle:

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TRUMP Trade Tactics Are About WINNING Negotiations

Canada, Free Markets, Labor, Taxation, Trade

I love Canada, am a Canadian (and American) citizen, have Canadian loved-ones. I don’t want to see Canadians hurt.

It’s true, however, that, in the artificial universe of trade agreements, previous US leaders have shown they don’t care about US workers. Trump’s the opposite. He’s using American power to muscle deals he believes are beneficial to American workers.

Canada taxes purchases of American goods starting at $20, whereas America starts taxing Canadian goods at $1000. Trump has said he’d love for trade to be entirely and mutually without tariffs:

“No tariffs, no barriers. That’s the way it should be. And no subsidies. I even said, ‘no tariffs’,” the US president said, describing his meetings with fellow Group of Seven leaders as positive “on the need to have fair and reciprocal trade”. “The United States has been taken advantage of for decades and decades,” he continued, describing America as a “piggy bank that everyone keeps robbing.”

But since that’s not going to happen …

“Canada is going to have to make some concessions,” says Laura Dawson, head of the Canada Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington, DC. Among them might be raising the threshold at which Canada taxes purchases of American goods from C$20 to around C$1,000, the American level. Canada might consent to more onerous conditions for a vehicle to be imported duty-free within NAFTA, including on wages and the amount of North American content.

And of course, the American market is enormous. Trump knows it. Leaders before him no doubt knew the power of American markets but refused to use it:

Canada gamely argues that the United States would also be hurt in a trade war. Canada is the biggest destination for exports from 36 of the 50 American states. Bilateral trade in goods and services is immense: $674bn in 2017. It is also, despite what Mr Trump says, balanced. In 2017 the United States had a small surplus with Canada, of $8.4bn. Yet Mr Trudeau’s bargaining position is weak. “We absolutely need them, but they could live without us,” says Philip Cross, an economist.

BESIDES,

Canada’s system of supply management, which sets limits on the production of dairy, poultry and eggs, has long irritated the United States (and should anger Canadians, who pay more for food than they need to). Canada subjects imports of those products beyond a ceiling to punishing tariffs (298% in the case of butter). Mr Trump has been angry about this since he met dairy farmers from Wisconsin in April 2017.

The article is “Canada: Breaking a few eggs: The economy is already feeling the effects of Donald Trump’s trade war,” courtesy of The Economist.