XPost: alt.politics.republicans, alt.politics.trump, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: sac.politics, talk.politics.guns   
   From: yourdime@outlook.com   
      
   If you’re confused by President Donald Trump’s tariff plan, you’re not   
   alone.   
      
   Trump and his economic team have made many contradictory statements about   
   the rationale for tariffs, leaving American multinational businesses   
   unsure how to plan, and foreign countries unclear on how to negotiate.   
   Trump launched massive and punishing import taxes on Canada and Mexico,   
   only to postpone them for a month in exchange for relatively little from   
   America’s neighbors. Across-the-board Chinese tariffs are on, but a   
   repealed exemption on small items caused massive confusion at the US   
   Postal Service and was temporarily put back in place. And more tariffs on   
   steel and aluminum are expected to be announced Monday, before a   
   potentially far more expansive reciprocal tariff plan is set to be   
   announced later this week.   
      
   That may just be the beginning: Trump has hinted at launching tariffs on   
   the European Union, and he has also promised a broader tariff on every   
   single item that comes into the United States.   
      
   Tariffs serve an important purpose in the economy. The United States has   
   frequently used tariffs to protect its manufacturing industry, farmers,   
   technology and national security interests. While previous administrations   
   — including Trump’s tariff-heavy first term — tended to use a scalpel as   
   their preferred tariff tool, Trump in his second term is threatening to   
   use a wrecking ball, saying he’ll place tariffs on many goods that the   
   United States doesn’t even produce.   
      
   Corporate America, outraged by the tariffs, has lobbied hard against them.   
   Mainstream economists largely agree that Trump’s tariff plan will reignite   
   inflation and slow US economic growth. Last month, the Wall Street   
   Journal’s editors, who typically side with the president’s policies,   
   called Trump’s tariff plan “the dumbest trade war in history.”   
      
   But there’s a method behind Trump’s tariff plan.   
      
   Why Trump wants tariffs   
   Trump has used and promised to expand tariffs for three primary purposes:   
   to raise revenue, to bring trade into balance and to bring rival countries   
   to heel.   
      
   Those are often conflicting rationales that can make negotiations   
   difficult and business planning impossible. For example, a country that   
   Trump targets with punitive tariffs may come to the negotiating table to   
   try to resolve a conflict, as Canada and Mexico did to help reduce the   
   flow of fentanyl and undocumented immigrants into the United States. But   
   if Trump is going to launch across-the-board tariffs to raise revenue and   
   reciprocal tariffs to bring trade into balance, then Mexico and Canada may   
   end up getting hit with tariffs anyway.   
      
   Still, the logic behind Trump’s tariffs, even if it’s debatable, exists.   
      
   America is running a massive budget deficit, and Trump has said the   
   tariffs will make up for lost revenue — in particular, his 2017 tax cuts,   
   which he has said he wants to extend and expand. In a keynote address to   
   the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum last month, Trump predicted   
   that his tariffs would bring in hundreds of billions of dollars — perhaps   
   trillions of dollars — into the US Treasury.   
      
   Trump routinely criticizes American trade policy for “subsidizing” foreign   
   countries, saying America is “losing” hundreds of billions of dollars to   
   its neighboring nations. Trump is imprecisely talking about the trade gap,   
   the difference between what America exports and imports. Some economists   
   caution that Trump’s language about America’s trade gap presents an unfair   
   representation of what has become a crucial mechanism for the US economy —   
   its ability to purchase services offered by other countries as well as   
   stuff that isn’t made here much, like coffee. But reciprocal tariffs,   
   which Trump says he’ll announce Tuesday or Wednesday, would match other   
   countries’ tariffs dollar for dollar with the aim of bringing trade into   
   balance.   
      
   And Trump has threatened tariffs because they can force countries to give   
   up something he believes is in America’s best interest. For example, his   
   punitive tariffs on China and delayed tariffs on Canada and Mexico are   
   aimed at getting America’s biggest trading partners to reduce the amount   
   of undocumented immigrants and fentanyl coming across America’s borders.   
   Although tariffs are charged to importers, they can dissuade buyers from   
   purchasing goods from tariffed countries, hurting those nations’   
   economies. That has led some foreign countries to seek agreements to avoid   
   tariffs — for example, Mexico and Canada last week agreed to expand border   
   patrols.   
      
   That’s why Trump has called “tariff” the fourth-most beautiful word in the   
   dictionary, behind “God,” “love” and “religion”: It’s a multifaceted tool   
   to achieve three goals.   
      
   The problem is it’s hard to achieve all three simultaneously. If countries   
   do what Trump wants to avoid tariffs, the United States can’t raise the   
   revenue it needs. If the United States is going to impose tariffs on   
   foreign countries anyway, countries have no incentive to come to the   
   table. And if trade needs to be brought into balance, putting tariffs in   
   place has led to retaliatory tariffs, igniting a trade war that can hurt   
   American industry and consumers.   
      
   What’s already in place and what’s next?   
   Last week, Trump imposed a 10% tariff on all Chinese goods imported to the   
   US on top of all existing tariffs already in place on China. After those   
   tariffs went into effect Tuesday, China quickly retaliated by placing   
   tariffs on some chips and metals, began investigating Google and placed   
   the maker of the Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands on its unreliable   
   entities list.   
      
   But Trump already began dialing back those tariffs, pausing taxes on any   
   goods worth $800 or less imported into the US until the Commerce   
   Department can develop a system for imposing those hard-to-track items.   
   Trump also paused 25% across-the-board tariffs on Mexican and Canadian   
   imports until at least March 1.   
      
   Trump, speaking to reporters on Air Force One Sunday, said he planned on   
   announcing a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports into the United   
   States Monday. China has been flooding the global market with cheap steel,   
   hurting production around the world — including in the United States,   
   albeit largely indirectly. Steel tariffs in the first Trump administration   
   boosted domestic hiring and production — but also prices.   
      
   Trump also said he planned to hold a separate news conference Tuesday or   
   Wednesday to announce massive new reciprocal tariffs, which could match   
   other countries’ tariffs on US goods dollar-for-dollar.   
      
   “Very simply, it’s if they charge us, we charge them,” Trump said.   
      
   In addition to the across-the-board 10% tariff on all imports and the EU   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)