Summary:
Just last Thursday, Trump announced that we would be imposing tariffs of around 25% on over $50 billion on Chinese exports. These imports are mostly technology and resource based: 25% on steel, 10% on aluminum, 25% on a wide variety of things like communication technology and machinery. Right after these tariffs went into effect China imposed its own on over $3 billion worth of US goods. These tariffs would be concentrated on the food exports of the US: things such as wine, fruit, beans. Even though $3 billion seems a lot less than the $50 billion that the US imposed, China is a top customer for many of these food products like soybean (bought 61% of all soybean exports of the US).
Analysis:
Even though I understand where Trump is coming from, I do not believe that this will have the effect on the economy he believes it will. Yes, we may be keeping the money in the US, by making American goods cheaper, if China keeps creating tariffs, it will not matter how we protect American goods. Both the US and China depend on each other and by breaking this delicate balance, we have start an all out trade war, where in the end China will probably win due to its cheap labor force and large amount of other trade partners.
Questions:
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of having this tariff in place? Do you think that these tariffs will benefit or hurt the United States?
- If there is a trade war, who do you think will win US or China?
- What are other ways we can protect the American labor force in comparison to China's much cheaper one?
6 comments:
the advantages are that we are able to make certain goods cheaper and possibly a better quality. However, the bad news is that select goods that are being tariffed from china. A select group will suffer from higher prices on the foods they need such as the resturaunt industry and the supermarkets.I believe that the China work force is far bigger and lower standard thatn the us, giving them an advantage of cheaper labor and higher yield.
Josh is right about the pros and cons that he's established. I feel like we may suffer more than China, but I'm not quite sure. In the article that Winston linked, the writer talks about this being one of many different "trade actions" by President Trump. If this is the first, I'm sure that there will be many more. I think what truly matters is what he decides to change. In this case, we are trying to affect China's technology, but they are hitting farmers. Perhaps we will be successful in China, but I don't quite agree that it should be at the cost of those who are selling their food items to China.
I agree with the above comments. This tariff is ultimately hurting the farmers, and they will most likely be selling and exporting less crops. I'm sure that a lot of stuff they harvest is shipped out of the country and with China's exceptionally large population, it will be difficult to to make up the loss. However, I've heard that the government thinks they will still be effective because China's water supply is so contaminated with pollution, that they have no choice but to import food.
I think Andrea makes a good point about China needing to import these items from the U.S. regardless of the tariffs. The items that Trump put tariffs on appear to be necessities that the U.S. can make. However, wine, fruit, and beans seems to be more luxuries. Additionally, China cannot easily adapt their economy to grow these products, while the U.S. already makes the products they put tariffs on. I hope that Trump does not put another tariff back on China because then we'd be in a really big trade war.
Since this trade war the DOW jones dropped dramatically, demonstrating that in no way will it benefit the American people or economy. There really isn't a "winner" when the poorest of each country and the most negatively impacted. This seems like more of a publicity move than something that will actually benefit the nation or the economy.
I believe that the advantages of these tariffs would be having some of these goods for cheaper prices, however, specific goods are also being tariffed from China. I also agree with Andrea's points that China is going to need these items no matter the tariffs that are put on them. China will be unable to produce these tariffed items themselves so they will be required to get them from the US. Agreeing with Tori's point, hopefully more Tariffs aren't added, because that could lead to a trade war with China, and that is another thing on our plate that the US does not need right now.
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