Tag: Trump tariffs

GOP divided over how to stop Trump’s trade wars

Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill desperately want to convince President Trump to back off his plan to impose tariffs on Mexican imports but disagree over the best strategy moving forward.

Some, such as Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), an adviser to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) leadership team, want to persuade the president to change course through private dialogue.

Others, including Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley(Iowa) and Sens. Pat Toomey (Pa.) and Rob Portman (Ohio), are talking about passing legislation to curtail Trump’s tariff authority.

View the complete June 3 article by Alexander Bolton on The Hill website here.

How Trump’s Tariffs May Wreck The Good Economy He Inherited

When it comes to the economy, Donald Trump was born on third base and claims he hit a triple. But now, he seems determined to be thrown out before reaching home.

His latest move is threatening to impose tariffs on all goods coming from Mexico, starting at five percent and rising to 25 percent in October. He made the announcement Thursday, even as he is asking Congress to approve a new trade deal to keep virtually all tariffs on goods from Mexico at … zero.

It’s a contradiction on the order of pressing one foot on the accelerator while using the other to stomp on the brakes. “Why even have a trade agreement if it means nothing?” former Mexican diplomat Jorge Guajardo asked a reporter for The Washington Post.

View the complete June 2 article by Steve Chapman on the National Memo website here.

Trump’s tariffs are hitting the country’s most vulnerable: Dollar store shoppers

For more than 30 years, Dollar Tree has made a singular promise to its customers: “Everything’s $1.”

Not anymore.

The Chesapeake, Va.-based retailer, which relies heavily on cheaply made goods from China, said this week that it had begun testing higher prices at some of its stores. Soon, more than 100 Dollar Tree stores around the country will sell items that cost up to $5.

View the complete May 31 article by Abha Bhattarai on The Washington Post website here.

Watch: Steve Mnuchin squirms after Iowa Democrat corners him on the negative impact of Trump’s tariffs in her state

Trump Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on Wednesday had a tough time defending President Donald Trump’s tariffs under tough questioning from Rep. Cindy Axne (D-IA).

During a hearing at the House Financial Services Committee, Axne asked Mnuchin pointed questions about the impact that tariffs were having on American businesses and consumers — and Mnuchin at one point even tried to deny that tariffs were taxes.

After Mnuchin repeatedly dodged her questions about whether businesses would most likely pass on increased production costs to American consumers thanks to Trump’s tariffs, Axne stopped him and told him he was not giving her a “straight answer.”

“Do you agree that American consumers will be paying more as a result of these tariffs?” she asked.

Watch the video below: Continue reading “Watch: Steve Mnuchin squirms after Iowa Democrat corners him on the negative impact of Trump’s tariffs in her state”

The Trade War President

The Chinese haven’t blinked at Trump’s hardball trade tactics – and that’s worrying farmers, politicians and businesses.

FARMERS ARE FRUSTRATED. Automobile workers are edgy. Consumers are bracing for cost increases. And the nation poised this year to eclipse the United States as the world’s biggest consumer market is refusing to budge as the Trump administration tries to get China to play fair on trade.

This was not the sort of wartime leader most presidents expect to be. But Donald Trump, praised by his acolytes (and himself) as a master negotiator and derided by his critics as more bully than bully pulpit orator, has gotten the country in a good old-fashioned trade war. And it’s one that may produce no economic or political winner.

Lawmakers in both parties have been irritated for some time over what they see as unfair trade practices by China, where there is more state control over the economy. The United States suffers from an enormous trade deficit with China, importing such items as electronics, clothing and manufactured goods. One exception is agriculture: The U.S. exports more to China than it imports. The Trump administration and other critics have also accused China of intellectual property theft and a variety of unfair trade practices.

View the complete May 17 article by Susan Milligan on The U.S. News and World Report website here.

Companies warn Trump trade war is about to hit consumers

U.S. companies are speaking out against President Trump‘s escalating trade war with China, with major players such as Walmart saying tariffs are forcing them to raise prices on consumer goods for Americans.

The price hikes could complicate things for Trump as the 2020 campaign picks up. The president has repeatedly asserted that China, and not U.S. consumers, would pay the price of the trade war.

“There are some places where, as we get tariffs, we will take prices up,” Walmart Chief Financial Officer Brett Biggs said Thursday in an earnings call.

View the complete May 17 article by Niv Elis on The Hill website here.

Republicans surrender to Trump’s China tariffs

GOP senators have no plans to even try to stop a trade war they oppose.

The GOP is starting to give up on thwarting President Donald Trump’s trade agenda.

Senate Republicans acknowledge that the president’s latest tariff increase on Chinese importsare harming farm state economies, their own constituents and some of Trump’s most reliable voters. But there’s no plan to stop, or even threaten, the president’s tariff regime — just the latest example of Trump imposing his protectionist will on a party that once celebrated free trade.

As the stock market tanked on Monday following the escalating conflict with China, Republicans lamented the state of affairs. But after trying, unsuccessfully, to get the president to remove his year-old tariffs on U.S. allies, there’s little appetite for opening a new front with Trump when it comes to China.

Trump urges Americans not to buy from American companies because of his own tariffs

He really doesn’t understand just how bad his own plan is.

President Donald Trump kicked Monday morning off with a series of tweets defending his new tariffs against China. His latest tactic is to urge Americans not to buy products from American companies if they manufacture in China.

The way tariffs work is that American businesses pay the fees for bringing in goods manufactured in China, which they then pass on to consumers. The president reasons, however, that Americans can easily avoid these increased costs.

Trump said there is “no reason” for U.S. consumers to pay the tariffs, before claiming that companies inside China would soon move to other countries. In the meantime, Trump said people should just buy products from inside the United States.

View the complete May 13 article by Zack Ford on the ThinkProgress website here.

Trump’s Tariffs Are a New Tax on Americans

President Trump is undermining the credibility of his trade policies by falsely claiming that China is paying the bill.

President Trump’s new tariffs on Chinese imports, which took effect at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, are taxes that will be paid by Americans. That is a simple fact, and it remains true no matter how many times Mr. Trump insists the money will come from China.

Mr. Trump’s latest escalation of his trade fight with China is a 25 percent tariff, or import tax, on products that compose about one third of China’s exports to the United States, including Chinese bicycles, circuit boards and wooden doors. The tariff rate on those goods was previously 10 percent. Mr. Trump also has threatened to impose the 25 percent rate on virtually all products imported from China — more than $500 billion in goods last year.

Mr. Trump could make an honest case for this tax increase. He could argue that Americans must endure higher prices because China will suffer too — while China does not bear the direct cost of the tariffs, it is likely to suffer a loss of sales — and the United States needs that leverage as it presses China to change its economic policies.

View the complete May 10 commentary from The New York Times Editorial Board on their website here.

China warns of ‘countermeasures’ against U.S. products if Trump increases tariffs

BEIJING — China warned Wednesday of retaliation if President Trump goes through with his threat to further raise tariffs on Chinese goods, setting up a potential escalation in a trade war that had seemed just weeks ago to be nearing its end.

The trans-Pacific brinkmanship now spills over to face-to-face negotiations as trade talks resume late Thursday in Washington — just hours before Trump’s latest tariff threats are due to hit $200 billion in Chinese products.

The Chinese warning — issued as China’s vice premier arrived in Washington — signaled that Beijing was prepared to take the same hard-line route as Trump and raise tariffs on American products in response.

View the complete May 8 article by Anna Fifield and David J.Lynch on The Washington Post website here.