JFlorio Loc: Seminole Florida

The first question to be answered is do we have fair trade? If not, why not?
Quick example. We put a 2.5% tariff on auto's imported to the U.S.. Europe slaps us with a 10% tariff when we export automobiles to them and China adds a whopping 25% tariff. This seem fair to anyone?
So when Trump says he will raise tariff's (whether you agree or not) why is the MSM freaking out when this was what he ran on?

moldyoldy

We know trump is a reactive i***t, so what should be done is a study to determine the effectiveness of trumps temper tantrum. Maybe there is something good in it but we need to weigh the pros and cons.

JFlorio Loc: Seminole Florida

Grow up troll. You're so boring and predictable.

Richard Rowland

I watched the interview this morning where Wallace, can't think of his first name at present, was grilling, Peter Navarro, the president's trade advisor. Perhaps you watched it too, JFlorio. I think Wallace should have been slapped up-along-side-the-head for constantly interrupting Navarro. I thought Navarro made some really good points if left to express those points.

According to Navarro, this is a national security issue. When the country is down to two aluminum producing plants, and with foreign companies having an unfair trade advantage, well, if something isn't done soon, there will be none.

Nuclearian Loc: I live in a Fascist, Liberal State

Would YOU weight the pros and cons? Nah!! No matter what Trump does, you will be against.

JFlorio Loc: Seminole Florida

Moldy is the perfect ie. why nothing gets done. Just starts insulting. Doesn’t have any idea about trade. Fair or not. If Hillary had suggested Trumps tariff policy he’d be all for it. He’s just too much of a troll and coward too admit it.

Weasel Loc: In the Great State Of Indiana!!

Correct, Nuclearian
BUT what this world needs is always
More Studies,

archie bunker Loc: Texas

Studies show that studies waste a lot of money, and don't show anything.

moldyoldy

If only trump had a brain.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/03/25/donald-trumps-trade-war-could-k**l-millions-of-u-s-jobs/

http://qz.com/1219606/trump-trade-war-trumps-surprise-trade-tariffs-horrify-markets-republicans-and-canada/

http://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-starts-his-trade-war-1516755083

pafret Loc: Northeast

The last time we embarked on this game it extended the Great Depression for another 6 years and resulted in WWII and the rise of c*******m, F*****m and N**iism and gave the world Adolph Hitler, Josef Stalin, Broz Tito and Mussolini, not to mention Tojo and Hiorohito.

Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act
UNITED STATES [1930]
WRITTEN BY:
· The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica

Alternative Titles: Hawley–Smoot Tariff Act, United States Tariff Act
Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, formally United States Tariff Act of 1930, also called Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act, U.S. legislation (June 17, 1930) that raised import duties to protect American businesses and farmers, adding considerable strain to the international economic climate of the Great Depression. The act takes its name from its chief sponsors, Senator Reed Smoot of Utah, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Representative Willis Hawley ofOregon, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. It was the last legislation under which the U.S. Congress set actual tariffrates.
The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act raised the United States’s already high tariff rates. In 1922 Congress had enacted the Fordney-McCumber Act, which was among the most punitive protectionist tariffs passed in the country’s history, raising the average import tax to some 40 percent. The Fordney-McCumber tariff prompted retaliation from European governments but did little to dampen U.S. prosperity. Throughout the 1920s, however, as European farmers recovered from World War I and their American counterparts faced intense competition and declining prices because of overproduction, U.S. agricultural interests lobbied the federal government for protection against agricultural imports. In his 1928 campaign for the presidency, Republican candidate Herbert Hoover promised to increase tariffs on agricultural goods, but after he took office lobbyists from other economic sectors encouraged him to support a broader increase. Although an increase in tariffs was supported by most Republicans, an effort to raise import duties failed in 1929, largely because of opposition from centrist Republicans in the U.S.Senate. In response to the stock market crash of 1929, however,protectionism gained strength, and, though the tariff legislation subsequently passed only by a narrow margin (44–42) in the Senate, it passed easily in the House of Representatives. Despite a petition from more than 1,000 economists urging him to veto the legislation, Hoover signed the bill into law on June 17, 1930.
Smoot-Hawley contributed to the early loss of confidence on Wall Street and signaled U.S. isolationism. By raising the average tariff by some 20 percent, it also prompted retaliation from foreign governments, and many overseas banks began to fail. (Because the legislation set both specific and ad valorem tariff rates [i.e., rates based on the value of the product], determining the precise percentage increase in tariff levels is difficult and a subject of debate among economists.) Within two years some two dozen countries adopted similar “beggar-thy-neighbour” duties, making worse an already beleaguered world economy and reducing global trade. U.S. imports from and exports to Europe fell by some two-thirds between 1929 and 1932, while overall global trade declined by similar levels in the four years that the legislation was in effect.
In 1934 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act, reducing tariff levels and promoting trade liberalization and cooperation with foreign governments. Some observers have argued that by deepening the Great Depression the tariff may have contributed to the rise of political extremism, enabling leaders such as Adolf Hitler to improve their political strength and gain power.

Read More Here: https://www.britannica.com/place/United-States/The-Great-Depression#ref613062


20th-century international relations: Political consequences of the Depression
The Smoot–Hawley Tariff, the highest in U.S. history, became law on June 17, 1930. Conceived and passed by the House of Representatives in 1929, it may well have contributed to the loss of confidence on Wall Street and signaled American unwillingness to play the role of…

Read More Here: https://www.britannica.com/topic/20th-century-international-relations-2085155/The-origins-of-World-War-II-1929-39#ref304230

mongo Loc: TEXAS

I agree with you there. I would have liked to see Wallace get smacked
in the mouth for over-speaking Navarro and trying to bury him in rapid
questions in an attempt to keep him from answering.

SEMPER FI

mactheknife

Here is my personal experience with what has been going on with trade over the past 70 years. After immigrating (legally!!!) to the US from New Zealand, in 1977, I visited China, Japan, India, Germany, and Korea many times on business and in doing so I have given much thought to the trade practices of these countries with the US. While the mechanisms of unfair trading are well-known, little attention was given to the practice of dumping of goods on our market. This is defined as selling a product on the US market at a lower cost than at home and it is widespread and growing. Indeed, in the 1980s, while making regular business trips to Japan, Korea, Germany, China, and India I would price the same goods manufactured in those countries and sold in the US and the level of dumping was astounding. I would write regularly to my Senators and Congressmen (women) to no avail; I was totally ignored! It wasn't until I was flying to Europe and sitting next to a gentleman from the FTC that I finally understood what had been going on. He explained that immediately after WW II, the US government tacitly turned a "blind eye" to dumping by Japanese and German companies on the expectation that a German or Japanese citizen working in a factory would not take up a gun. Well, the US paid the price because they managed to wipe out much of our electronics and motorcycle industries with the result that we were forced to buy Japanese electronics and motorbikes. After the Korean war the same thing happened with S. Korea and it continues to this day. Such dumping is against the WTO rules and penalties are specified for t***sgressors but they are only effective if our politicians are willing to enforce them. Our politicians have been unwilling to do so for some unknown reason, demonstrating that they do not work for "us", the American people, at least in terms of trade. China, seeing the Japanese, Germans, and the Koreans grow fat and happy on monstrous trade imbalances with the US decided to do the same thing, but they had a problem. They were not a country that the US "rescued", so they had to adopt barriers that were of a different nature, such as imposing technical standards that a US exporter could not meet on short notice (this has also been a favorite trick of Japan, particularly with respect to automobiles and rice). For those of you who have seen Peter Sellers in the "Mouse that Roared" you know that it pays to lose a war against the US, because we are generous to a fault. India will be next to feed off the US teat. While I fully understand where President Trump is coming from on this issue, I would have preferred that he would have taken up dumping first, because it is that practice that wipes out our industries and retaliation is on a much firmer legal basis. In conclusion, the problem has been the unwillingness of our elected officials to work for us by taking the t***sgressors to task and that is President Trump's principal point. Senator Orrin Hatch's recent comment is typical of the response to anyone who tries to fix the problem. President Trump should immediately impose reciprocity on Chinese, Korean, German, Japanese, and Indian exports to the US, item-by-item until they get the message; "it is no longer business as usual. It is a new day".

Crayons Loc: St Jo, Texas

Cuz They Like Crap...Ask ANY WELDER if he would rather use American Pipe/Steel
over cheap unclean ChiCom Pipe/Steel...

The answer is always American Steel is the Best.
American steel has all the impurities cooked out of it making it stronger and easier
to weld...Passing XRay Inspections is a breeze with American Steel.

maryjane

What the USA has is free trade which, for us, is certainly not fair trade. I have just read an interesting book by Jerome R. Corsi, "The Late Great USA." He wrote this book during the Bush2 presidency and discusses, in-depth, Bush's shenigans in working with l*****ts to start working toward a North American Union (like the European Union) composed of Mexico, the USA, and Canada. I was amazed at all this that I was NEVER aware of. He also discussed the free trade issue and how, in almost every case, the trade was very unfair to the USA. One thing he talked about was the difference in the tariffs and VATs and how our nation was screwed by both. Very enlightening what Bush and his Mexican and Canadian cohorts planned, almost entirely in secret. Keeping totally open borders was a part of this awful scheme. You might like to read this. It was a real eye-opening for me. I never cared much for Bush's presidency and now I have real facts to back up my opinion. Learned a great deal

Nutter Loc: Fly Over Zone

Trump "Art of the Deal"
At first you proclaim high expectations and than compromise.