Tag: Trump trade war

92 Percent of Trump’s China Tariff Proceeds Has Gone to Bail Out Angry Farmers

“China” is “paying billions and billions of dollars” on U.S. tariffs, President Trump said in his debate with Joe Biden on October 22. “And you know who got the money? Our farmers. Our great farmers.”

He is half right.

Since 2018, the president has repeatedly insisted that China pays the tariffs he has imposed on Chinese imports. This claim is false—the tariffs are paid entirely by U.S. importers. His advisers, such as Peter Navarro, knowing the claim is false, have tried to defend him, and the tariffs, by arguing that China pays the tariffs indirectly, through currency depreciation and lowering export prices. These arguments are also false, as well as illogical—since the advisers also claim that such Chinese behavior benefits China and hurts the United States. Continue reading.

American companies challenge Trump’s tariff narrative

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On September 10, an American company went to court to get a tariff refund. It argues that some of Trump’s tariffs against China are illegal, and that these duties have cost it dearly. The case, filed by HMTX, a vinyl tile maker, is at the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT). Win or lose, HMTX has challenged Trump’s narrative about tariffs. Some 3,500 companies are now in the litigation. Congress should pay attention.

HTMX’s complaint calls Trump’s Section 301 tariffs an “unprecedented, unbounded and unlimited trade war.” It says the third and fourth rounds of these tariffs are “untethered to the unfair intellectual property policies” that gave rise to them. Quoting Trump’s tweets, HTMX has a paper trail linking these tariffs to the U.S. “trade imbalance,” China’s “currency manipulation” and the flow of fentanyl from China. HTMX insists these motives were never part of the original Section 301 investigation, are unrelated to China’s theft of intellectual property and don’t offer a legal basis for Trump to have “wildly expanded the scope of tariffs.” The company thus feels it is owed a refund.

HTMX has to like the fact that the CIT ruled in July for Transpacific Steel. That case was triggered by Trump’s national security tariffs. Transpacific imports Turkish steel, which was hit by a higher tariff than steel from other countries targeted by Section 232. Transpacific insisted Turkey’s higher tariff lacked any “nexus to national security.” The CIT didn’t go this far, but did rule there was “no procedurally proper” finding of Turkey’s greater threat to the United States.  Continue reading.

Farmer Suicides Rising In Wake Of Trump’s Trade War

Donald Trump’s trade war with China contributed to a spike in farmer suicides across the Midwest in recent years, according to an investigation by USA Today and the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting.

On Monday, USA Today reported that more than 450 farmers killed themselves between 2014 and 2018. However, investigators cautioned that the true number is likely higher because several states did not share complete data with the investigative team.

More than 150 of the suicides were committed during 2017 and 2018. Continue reading.

Trump’s tariffs are killing family companies like mine and costing jobs

After my grandfather proudly served our country in WWII he founded Atalanta, a food importing company specializing in trade with Eastern Europe. This year, our family company celebrates its 75th anniversary. For many years, our business was with former communist countries such as Poland, Hungary and Romania. It is hard to imagine that we face more uncertainty in our business today dealing with our own country, than dealing with countries that were behind the Iron Curtain.

While it is true, the imported cheese industry was spared additional tariffs on Feb. 14 when the U.S Trade Representative (USTR) made its most recent announcement, the Trump administration’s threat to impose up to 100% trade tariffs on select European Union products including cheese and wine still stands. There is still great uncertainty as the administration’s carousel tariff strategy can rotate different products on and off the tariff list every few months. Imagine the trepidation our industry feels waiting to see whether the products from which we make our livelihood will face even more severe tariffs than the 25% tariffs we got hit with in October. Who knows what to expect in August when the next list is to be released?

These tariffs, which stem from two separate disputes between the United States and the European Union related to military aerospace and digital services, do not hurt our trading partners as much as they hurt American companies. They simply pass their additional costs onto us. In less than four months since the first round of tariffs was imposed, my company has already paid in excess of $6 million as a result of these tariffs. Continue reading.

The Biggest Fan of Trump’s Steel Tariffs is Suing Over Them

JSW Steel’s billion-dollar plan for Making American Steel Great Again depended on tariff exemptions. Two years later, they haven’t materialized.

John Hritz, president and chief executive officer of JSW Steel USA Inc., put on a big smile and a Texas flag pin for his television spot on Fox Business in March 2018. “It’s a special day,” he told his host, then told her again: “It’s a special day.” JSW Steel’s India-based parent company, JSW Group, had announced it would invest $500 million and create 500 jobs at its steel mill in Baytown, Texas. “We’re going to make history,” Hritz said.

Hritz was counting on help from President Trump, who three weeks earlier had announced his intention to impose tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum imported to the U.S. The Fox anchor wondered if the import levies might interfere with JSW’s Baytown plan, given that much of the raw steel processed at the mill was imported from India and Mexico. “Absolutely not,” Hritz said. On the tariffs, JSW was “in lockstep with the president and with the administration.”

Not so much anymore. A big piece of the Baytown project has been postponed indefinitely, in part because of Trump’s tariffs. Both Baytown and a sister plant in Ohio, where JSW once planned to invest another $500 million, have been operating at unprofitably low production levels, also owing in part to the tariffs. JSW has sued the administration for refusing to exempt it from paying the levies on the massive slabs of steel the company imports and turns into pipe and other products for industrial use. “It’s the hypocritical nature of these tariffs that’s completely dumbfounding us,” says Parth Jindal, director of JSW Steel USA and managing director of JSW Cement Ltd. in India. “It just doesn’t add up.” Continue reading.

Trump’s Trade War Will Cost Average Family $1,277 This Year, Budget Office Reveals

The extra costs will effectively wipe out savings from the president’s tax cuts.

President Donald Trump’s ongoing trade wars are expected to cost the average American family $1,277 this year, according to a study by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

The figure is based on the negative impact of tariffs on economic growth, as well as higher prices to consumers as American manufacturers and retailers are forced to pay tariffs on imports.

Trump has boasted that trade wars are “easy to win,” and has repeatedly falsely insisted that China is paying tariffs directly into the U.S. Treasury. In fact, American companies importing goods or supplies pay tariffs enacted by Trump, and typically pass on those costs to consumers. In addition, U.S. industries are hurt by retaliatory tariffs enacted by other nations when American companies try to sell their products abroad.

Farm Bankruptcies Soared 20% Amid Trump Trade War. It’s The Highest Rate In 8 Years.

Farmers hit hard despite billions of dollars in taxpayer aid to mitigate the harm from the president’s trade policies.

As President Donald Trump cast himself as a friend of the farmer at an Iowa campaign rally Thursday, newly released data revealed the number of farms declaring bankruptcies surged by 20% in 2019 — the highest in eight years.

The American Farm Bureau attributed the figures, based on court bankruptcy data, to record farm debt and “headwinds on the trade front” triggered by Trump’s trade war.

Nearly 46% of the farm Chapter 12 bankruptcy filings last year were in the 13-state Midwest region, followed by 22% in the Southeast, according to the data. Among the hardest-hit states were Wisconsin and Georgia, as well as Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Carolina and South Dakota. Continue reading.

Trump’s China deal was pitched as boon for working class, but he celebrated with Wall Street titans

Washington Post logoStanding against a backdrop of Chinese and American flags, President Trump welcomed by name a roster of corporate executives and Wall Street bankers to the signing of his landmark trade deal with Beijing.

Looking out over the friendly East Room crowd, the president spied a woman in a red power suit.

“Mary Erdoes, JPMorgan Chase,” Trump said. “They just announced earnings, and they were incredible. …Will you say ‘thank you Mr. President’ at least? Huh? I made a lot of bankers look very good.” Continue reading.

Trump signs first phase of US-China trade deal

The Hill logoPresident Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He signed an initial “Phase One” trade deal Wednesday, freezing an almost 20-month trade war between Washington and Beijing and giving Trump a political boost as he seeks reelection.

In the agreement, China committed to boosting purchases of U.S. goods and services by $200 billion over the next two years, including $77.7 billion for manufactured goods and $32 billion for agricultural products.

“Today we take a momentous step, one that has never been taken before with China, toward a future of fair and reciprocal trade as we sign Phase One of the historic trade deal between the United States and China,” Trump said at the signing ceremony. Continue reading.

NOTE:  Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods, which Americans pay on imported goods like electronics and clothing, stay in effect.

Janet Yellen: The US-China trade war isn’t over and a tech fight risks dividing the world

HONG KONG (CNN Business) — The United States’ trade war with China is far from over, according to Janet Yellen, who is warning that unresolved tensions over technology could divide the world and slow the development of artificial intelligence and 5G.

The former chair of the Federal Reserve said Monday at the Asian Financial Forum that the “phase one” trade deal agreement struck by Washington and Beijing and due to be signed this week will leave tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese goods in place. And it doesn’t remove the “more troublesome” risk of conflict over emerging technologies, she warned.

Beijing and Washington will finalize the initial trade deal on Wednesday, according to President Donald Trump. China is sending its top trade negotiator to participate in the signing ceremony at the White House. Continue reading.