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- Oct 23, 2018
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The only wall Trump has succeeded in building is a wall against imports, including imports from economic and military allies.
The real problem with the USA is that the US$ is too high against other currencies and this is mostly caused by the inflow of money to compensate for the burgeoning Federal debt.
Many US manufacturers rely on imports as input into their own US-manufactured goods and increased tariffs will increase the prices of those goods.
The question now is whether Trump is stupid enough to knock down the house of cards posing as the US economy.
The tax cut stimulus has fizzled out faster than a Trump thought, and the portents are not good for future economic growth.
Hundreds of Companies Beg Trump Not to Commit Economic Suicide
The real problem with the USA is that the US$ is too high against other currencies and this is mostly caused by the inflow of money to compensate for the burgeoning Federal debt.
Many US manufacturers rely on imports as input into their own US-manufactured goods and increased tariffs will increase the prices of those goods.
The question now is whether Trump is stupid enough to knock down the house of cards posing as the US economy.
The tax cut stimulus has fizzled out faster than a Trump thought, and the portents are not good for future economic growth.
Hundreds of Companies Beg Trump Not to Commit Economic Suicide
HUNDREDS OF COMPANIES BEG TRUMP NOT TO COMMIT ECONOMIC SUICIDE
“It’ll be the straw that breaks the camel‘s back for a lot of our companies.”
BY BESS LEVIN
JUNE 17, 2019
Last weekend, U.S. companies, consumers, and the economy scored a “victory” when Donald Trump announced that he would not be dragging the country into a second trade dispute with Mexico, after advisers presumably convinced him that he could claim the tariffs he’d threatened had brought our southern neighbors to heel, despite the fact that the border-security “concessions” they agreed to had already been negotiated months earlier. That was of course good news, but, at present, the U.S. still has its no good, very bad trade war with China to deal with, which the president has threatened to make even worse by imposing an extra $300 billion worth of levies on Chinese goods. And the groups that will pay for such a tax—which, it may surprise you to hear, are not the Chinese!—are pleading with Tariff Man not to go through with it.
Over the next week, hundreds of companies are expected to testify that Trump’s plan to ratchet up the tariffs on Beijing will hurt business growth, cause price hikes for consumers, and—wait for it—not actually achieve the president’s stated objectives. “It’ll be the straw that breaks the camel‘s back for a lot of our companies,”Karen Giberson, president and CEO of the Accessories Council, an industry group whose members include jewelry importers and fashion designers, told Politico.
More than 300 witnesses are expected to testify over the next seven days, with representatives from sectors that include semiconductors, energy, plumbing, software, home appliances, sports equipment, boat manufacturing, chemical firms, pet supplies, bicycles, and fireworks.
Mark Schneider, CEO of the clothing line Kenneth Cole Productions, told administration officials at a hearing in Washington that he has tried finding alternative sources of supply, such as Mexico, for the company's shoes and other products. But Trump's unpredictable trade policy—such as a recent threat to slap tariffs on Mexico over migration issues—has made it hard to know where to make sourcing decisions.
David Baer testified that his company, Element Electronics, is the only domestic manufacturer of TVs left in the U.S. The additional duties, however, would have the opposite effect of what the president wants in preserving domestic jobs. “We will be forced to shut down the South Carolina factory and move our production offshore,” Baer said. “We’re doing exactly what the administration is asking of American companies” by manufacturing in the U.S. but the tariffs would make costs for components too high to import, he said.