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Trump’s Trade Wars and Tariffs Threaten Millions of Jobs
When the very conservative Chamber of Commerce says Trump is an idiot, it's worth reporting on.
The Trump administration’s trade policies will hamstring the U.S.’s robust economic growth and threaten as many as 2.6 million jobs, according to a memo from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s top official on Thursday [May 31, 2018]. The memo.... followed news that Trump’s administration would....apply tariffs to steel and aluminum imports from....Canada, Mexico and the European Union.
Efforts to reach a deal and enact a new version of Nafta this year have stalled.... pull out.... as Trump has threatened to do many times, would cause a net loss of 1.8 million jobs....
....tariffs on autos and auto parts, on steel and aluminum, and on intermediary goods from China that are used in U.S. supply chains, all of which would contribute to job loss and an economic slowdown....
Everyone will be hurt by this, particular those in states who favored Trump.
Trump is launching a global trade war, and Trump country could take much of the heat.... car plants from Michigan to South Carolina and Alabama could pay more for the steel they use to make engines and auto parts. Whiskey from Kentucky and motorcycles made in Wisconsin, meanwhile, will shortly be subject to retaliatory tariffs from Europe.
....the list of US goods that will be targeted by Europe is intended to hurt states that voted for him. Tariffs on whiskey will affect jobs in Kentucky, the home state of Mitch McConnell. Tariffs on motorcycles will affect Harley Davidson, which has its headquarters in Paul Ryan's native Wisconsin.
"They're pretty savvy about this," said Ross Denton, an international trade specialist and partner at law firm Baker McKenzie. "It's quite a calculated process.
"These tariffs will raise prices and destroy manufacturing jobs, especially auto jobs, which are one-third of all Tennessee manufacturing jobs," Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, said Thursday. He called the new tariffs a "big mistake."
Our allies are immediately and justifiably retaliating, in incredibly targeted ways.
Canada, Mexico and the European Union all threatened retaliation against the U.S. after Trump’s administration declined Thursday to renew a tariff exemption that prevented Canada, Mexico and the EU from facing broad duties on steel and aluminum shipments to the U.S.
Mexico hit back at the United States on Tuesday [June 5, 2018], imposing tariffs on around $3 billion worth of American pork, steel, cheese and other goods in response to the Trump administration’s steel and aluminum levies....
Mexico’s list was designed to hit at parts of the United States represented by high-profile Republicans, Mexican officials have said, including steel from Vice President Mike Pence’s home state of Indiana, motorboats from Senator Marco Rubio’s Florida, and agricultural products from the California district of Representative Kevin McCarthy, the House majority leader.
This is serious business to so many people as Trump and his incompetent enablers play games with our nation.
Farmers, who are among those most vulnerable to the Mexican tariffs, said the tariffs would devastate American agriculture.
Economists warn the measures, combined with retaliation, could generate significant losses.....
Sources:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/01/politics/aluminum-steel-tariffs-red-states/index.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/05/us/politics/trump-trade-canada-mexico-nafta.html