Enemies of the State

[JohnR]

Originally Posted by Jim in CT

Stupid move, with awful optics, by a petty man. Even Obama, also a vindictive thin-skinned baby, never went this far.

Not a good month for Trump...

Well, he didn't bring 2 billion to Iranian Farmers

Sorry - I couldn't resist.

Short version, our Trade is fairly screwed overall and not as fair to us as it should be - too many countries have better deals at our expense. China is rigging the system to their benefit between currency and trade manipulation and at the same time carving out our advantages. This needs to end or it will be a shooting war in 10 years - well it may be a shooting war either way because China is significantly building

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by JohnR

Well, he didn't bring 2 billion to Iranian Farmers

Sorry - I couldn't resist.

Short version, our Trade is fairly screwed overall and not as fair to us as it should be - too many countries have better deals at our expense. China is rigging the system to their benefit between currency and trade manipulation and at the same time carving out our advantages. This needs to end or it will be a shooting war in 10 years - well it may be a shooting war either way because China is significantly building

I don't know a lot about international impacts, but a lot of people seem to agree with you that we get the short end of the stick again and again. And if anyone is going to take a wrecking ball to that, it will be Trump.

[Pete F.]

Originally Posted by Jim in CT

I don't know a lot about international impacts, but a lot of people seem to agree with you that we get the short end of the stick again and again. And if anyone is going to take a wrecking ball to that, it will be Trump.

When I was a kid I used to try and "fix" things, luckily most of them were not worth much as my results were not always what I wanted, I wrecked a few things.
I learned when to defer to people who knew more than I
Trumps approach to trade approximates mine then at mechanical things and I don't see a robust group of people advising him.
He doesn't like people who say that won't work or perhaps you should.....
The consequences of: "Who knew trade could be so complicated" could easily be horrendous, maybe he will get lucky

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by Pete F.

When I was a kid I used to try and "fix" things, luckily most of them were not worth much as my results were not always what I wanted, I wrecked a few things.
I learned when to defer to people who knew more than I
Trumps approach to trade approximates mine then at mechanical things and I don't see a robust group of people advising him.
He doesn't like people who say that won't work or perhaps you should.....
The consequences of: "Who knew trade could be so complicated" could easily be horrendous, maybe he will get lucky

So what should we be doing, to improve our standing in regards to trade? Most people feel we are getting screwed pretty regularly...

[spence]

Originally Posted by Jim in CT

So what should we be doing, to improve our standing in regards to trade? Most people feel we are getting screwed pretty regularly...

So Jim, how has our trade policy screwed you?

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by spence

So Jim, how has our trade policy screwed you?

I don't know that it has. But I've seen conservatives on Fox say that many of the deals are bad for us, and I've heard liberals on MSNBC say the same thing.

In the other thread, you yourself said there are "some legitimate issues" regarding trade deals. Were you just fear-mongering in that thread, but being the voice of reason in this one? Which is it?

[spence]

Originally Posted by Jim in CT

In the other thread, you yourself said there are "some legitimate issues" regarding trade deals. Were you just fear-mongering in that thread, but being the voice of reason in this one? Which is it?

Theft of IP is a legit issue. I think the Chinese manipulation of currency used to be a problem but is old news. We don't have significant trade issues with pretty much all of the Western world. NAFTA wasn't a bad thing. Bailing out of the TPP was foolish.

But just because we have a trade imbalance with a nation doesn't mean it's necessarily a bad thing. So we have a large trade deficit with China, a lot of that is because Americans like affordable stuff and we don't understand their markets.