By any other name it's, "Beggar thy Neighbor"

[dogtag]

Tit for tat trade wars never end up well.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...tes-steel.html

It's see who can send the other country into poverty first.

[dave]

The US trade deficit is now in the TRILLINS of dollars. So who is going 'into poverty'? We have one steel and one alum. plant left in this country now, very bad situation if war comes. Especially since most of our steel is coming from China, at present.

[togor]

Too bad the Brits keep spelling ALUMINUM wrong, but DT is dead-on right with this one.

The USA imports virtually all of its bauxite anyways. Probably from Australia, and some from Brazil, but nonetheless imports. So if someone really wants to shut off our Aluminum production they can squeeze our ore imports. Meanwhile, who is is our #1 foreign supplier of primary Aluminum? Canada. Boy, big security risk there.

The "national defense" justification might wash if it was tailored, Obama-style, to help with the specific material concerns of the DOD, for Aluminum suitable for military uses. Instead, they game a POTUS who doesn't read briefing papers and tee up an across-the-board tariff without a moment's thought to the fact that the other guys get to make moves too. Useful tip: never trust your national economic policy to a guy whose first name is Wilbur.

Is the sky going to fall? We will see. But tariffs aren't going to make US industry more competitive or viable in the long term, and they're going to raise costs for US manufacturers who employ American workers of their own, and some of whom would like to export to markets that are in a position to retaliate. One thing for sure, DJT owns whatever comes of this.

IMO it's septuagenarian nostalgia for the hardhat economy of their younger days. As someone who enjoys the smell of hot, freshly cut metal I get it at some level, but the world is changing. We need smart guys running the show. Not ex-professor crackpots, guys named Wilbur, and a narcissist-in-chief who insists on twiddling the knobs & levers without bothering with instructions.

This I think points to the looming danger in the next ~3 years. Trump is like some imaginary quadruple-base propellant that no one thought to use before. Proponents love it because in theory it generates previously-unseen velocities. One small problem--unstable as h*ll. No problem, the proponents say, we'll add stabilizers and everything will be fine. So here we are in 2018, doing the experiment. And between stopping regulatory enforcement and tax collections, yes, we see some big jumps in velocities (we'll worry about throat erosion later). But in case anyone has noticed, the stabilizers in the White House seem to be getting used up at a much higher rate than forecast, and fresh stabilizer doesn't seem to be coming in quickly enough. No way this can end badly, right?

[Vern Humphrey]

Don't feed the trolls.

[dave]

I would but I do not know what the hell he is talking about! You are correct tho, then maybe he will go away. He must know every thing about guns cause he never asks or comments on them!

[togor]

Don't feed the trolls.

Sorry Vern, DT is right on this trade war business. Oh I know he's nowhere near ready to give up on Trump. On that he disagrees with me emphatically.

But from what I can see his brain still manages some decent RPMs, and he has this other thing going, a British thing at that, that I respect about those guys: they're not worried about disagreeing words. Heck, watch a real cutthroat British Parliamentary debate, compared to the cold mush we serve up here on C-span. Those Brits know how to wield the language with style, and they're not afraid to leave a little mark, or receive one. Meanwhile, over here in the USA, some worry about not having their Safe Space.