WE know that Donny is a one trick pony when it comes to global trade, tariffs and more tariffs….we are all well aware of the tariffs on Mexico and Canada which can be disastrous especially on food prices….but what about those tariffs against our ‘big’ enemy, China?
Donny the Man has doubled his tariffs on products from China (forget Temu)….and now China is firing back….
Some tough talk from China in response to President Trump’s tariffs: “If war is what the US wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war, or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said Tuesday night after Trump doubled the 10% tariff he imposed last month on most Chinese imports. The remark—which was shared in a post on X by China’s embassy in Washington, DC—came as leaders gathered in Beijing for the annual National People’s Congress, the BBC reports. “Intimidation does not scare us,” Lin said. “Bullying does not work on us. Pressuring, coercion or threats are not the right way of dealing with China.” More:
- Fentanyl: Lin rejected White House claims that China is responsible for fentanyl flooding into the US. “The US, not anyone else, is responsible for the fentanyl crisis inside the US,” he said. “In the spirit of humanity and goodwill towards the American people, we have taken robust steps to assist the US in dealing with the issue.” But instead of recognizing China’s efforts, he said, the US “has sought to vilify and shift the blame to China, and is seeking to pressure and blackmail China with tariff hikes.”
- Retaliatory tariffs: China announced new tariffs of up to 15% on a range of American food and farm imports Tuesday. The retaliatory tariffs are “very specific and directly targeted at American farmers, who are mostly in red states and mostly voted for Trump,” Neil Thomas at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis tells ABC News. “So China is trying to create pain where it matters for Trump, and it’s hoping to get Trump to the negotiating table.”
- Growth target unchanged: On Wednesday, leaders at the National People’s Congress announced a growth target of around 5%, the same as the previous two years, despite a slowing economy and the looming trade war, AP reports. Officials said military spending would rise 7.2%. The legislature’s meeting will run for several days. The BBC describes it as a “rubber-stamp parliament, which passes decisions already made behind closed doors.”
Slowly those morons in DC are destroying what is left of the world trade network….tit for tat tariffs will provide the engine for a global recession or worse, a depression.
We can only hope that idiots come to their senses and find a way to work together and keep a vivant world trade intact.
But will they?
Side note–I see that Donny has paused auto tariffs on Mexico and Canada for 30 days….maybe someone should make up his mind for him.
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
I see today that Hegseth is chest beating that the US is “Ready for war with China”. I presume he has been on the Jack Daniels again.
Best wishes, Pete.
That seems to be a popular meme with the idiots running this country. chuq
600+ people employed to make Whiskey barrels in Kentucky are losing their jobs due to Canada pulling all of their products off the shelves…jobs being lost left and right, prices soaring…let’s see how this looks in a month or two…addressing the trade imbalance is a great idea, but the disruptive nature of the attempt causes this type of reaction – and negative impact for US workers
By winter if this keeps up the economy should be dying on the vine. chuq
Here in Wisconsin every farmer I know has lost employees, in some cases half or more of their employees, because even the ones here legally are fleeing because they’re afraid ICE will sweep them up and they’ll end up in Gitmo. So hire local workers? There aren’t any locals to be had. Our unemployment rate here has been running at 2% or even less. But that’s going to change. If all of Trump’s plans come to fruition we could be looking at unemployment ratest hat we haven’t seen in decades
We’re going to be losing China’s ag market entirely. We exported millions of tons of corn, wheat, soybeans and dairy products to China. That’s all going to be going away. We exported ag products to Mexico and Canada. That’s going to be gone. Prices for corn, wheat, soybeans, etc are already falling. USDA made purchases of ag products for the school lunch program, we sold products to USAID for overseas distribution… All of that is going away.
I really hope that sanity prevails and that it is all bluster. You are the backbone of the country and we cannot survive if you don’t. I live in California and if there aren’t workers to pick the grapes, Napa valley’s harvests will collapse…I’m hoping that it’s bluster to force the other countries to make some sort of “show” that allows him to take credit for something…I think we’d all like to feel there is an end result that rewards us instead of what it appears to be doing – punishing the people getting things done
But instead of recognizing China’s efforts, he said, the US “has sought to vilify and shift the blame … — that’s the name of Trump’s game: Shift the Blame.
Yep it is what he does the best. Thanx for the visit and the comment chuq