Tag: Trump tariffs

Explainer: Who pays Trump’s tariffs – China and other exporters or U.S. customers?

CHICAGO (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he would raise tariffs to 25 percent from 10 percent on $200 billion of Chinese goods.

The United States has levied tariffs on a total of $250 billion of Chinese imports, global steel and aluminum imports, and shipments of washing machines and solar panels since January 2018, when Trump’s administration levied its first trade tariffs.

Trump has referred to himself as a “Tariff Man” and says the duties he has imposed on a range of goods and metal imports are filling up state coffers.

View the complete May 5 article by Rajesh Kumar Sing with additonal reporting by Yawen Chen on the Reuters website here.

Trump faces failing strategy on auto jobs as he heads to Ohio

As the president tries to save an auto plant in Ohio, his tariffs have cost automakers billions.

President Donald Trump heads to Ohio Wednesday embroiled in a fight with General Motors and the United Auto Workers over the closing of GM’s Lordstown plant. But his attempts to save manufacturing jobs have battered the auto industry and could erode his loyal base in the Midwest.

Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum have cost Ford and GM about $1 billion each. GM Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra cited the tariffs in November when she announced the 14,000 job cuts that included the Lordstown plant’s shuttering. Potentially making things even worse, Trump is now weighing new tariffs on foreign automobiles that could threaten hundreds of thousands of additional U.S. jobs.

“The reality is auto tariffs would put Ohio into a recession,” said Dan Ujczo, a Columbus-based international trade lawyer who has been closely studying the impact of recent trade actions on Ohio companies.

View the complete March 19 article by Timothy Noah and Adam Behsudi on the Politico website here.

The Unintended Consequences of Trump’s Tariffs

Tariffs haven’t done much to shrink the U.S. trade deficit, and experts are warning about collateral damage.

President Donald Trump‘s ongoing effort to rewrite America’s role in several long-standing trade agreements appears to have done little to rein in the country’s ballooning trade deficit last year, as America’s goods imbalance clocked in at a record $891.2 billion.

Economists broadly agree that the trade deficit isn’t a particularly accurate indicator of economic health – and, in fact, many have argued that the deficit climbed in part last year because the U.S. performed so admirably in the face of global economic malaise. Continue reading “The Unintended Consequences of Trump’s Tariffs”

Trump Has Promised to Bring Jobs Back. His Tariffs Threaten to Send Them Away.

At Billco Products in Holland, Mich., which makes furniture for hotels, costs have increased 10 percent since the tariffs were put in place, but the company has not been able to pass them on to customers. Credi: Whitten Sabbatini, The New York Times

HOLLAND, Mich. — Plants in every direction shut down and moved their operations to Mexico, succumbing to the relentless pressure to cut costs in an age of globalization. Not EBW Electronics. As the decades passed, the family-owned business stayed put on the eastern edge of Lake Michigan, churning out lights for the auto industry.

But now, the company’s management is reluctantly mulling the possibility of moving its production to Mexico to escape the tariffs that President Trump has put on imported components, his primary weapons in a trade war waged in the name of bringing jobs home to America.

“It’s killing us,” said the chairman of the company, Pat LeBlanc, 63, a Republican who voted for Mr. Trump. He now expects the president’s tariffs will chop his 2019 profits in half. “I just feel so betrayed. If we fail because the company is being harmed by the government, that just makes me sick.”

View the complete January 6 article by Peter S. Goodman on The New York Times website here.

‘Chaos breeds chaos’: Trump’s erratic and false claims roil the globe. Again.

President Trump cast more doubt on trade talks with China in a series of tweets that helped erase optimism and reignite fears of a global economic slowdown. (Reuters)

After his Argentine steak dinner last weekend with Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Trump announced that they had reached an “incredible deal” to temporarily suspend his trade war. But days later, Trump declared, “I am a Tariff man.”

Trump last week proposed stripping away electric-car subsidies from General Motors as punishment for the automotive giant moving to cease production at plants in the United States and Canada. But then his chief economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, said the White House would do no such thing. Targeting a single company, he explained, would be illegal.

Then there is the way Trump talks about how the economy works — imprecise at best, ignorant at worst. For instance, the president routinely says that China and other countries are paying billions of dollars to the United States because of his tariffs. But that is false. Tariffs are paid by companies, often U.S. firms, that import foreign-made products.

View the complete December 4 article by Daman Paletta and Philip Rucker on The Washington Post website here.

GM WORKERS SPEAK OUT: ‘I can’t believe our president would allow this to happen’

Trump’s broken promises have devastated autoworkers and their communities in the wake of the latest announcement of layoffs and plant closures from General Motors. As one autoworker said, “I can’t believe our president would allow this to happen.”

Here are real stories of autoworkers and communities hurt by Trump’s broken promises:

“You are going right into Christmas, you are looking for celebration, and that’s not there now. So what do you do? Do you still continue to buy gifts?” – UAW member

“I can’t believe our president would allow this to happen.” – GM Lordstown worker

“This is devastating…Without GM, this area would be a ghost town.” – Previously laid off GM worker

Continue reading “GM WORKERS SPEAK OUT: ‘I can’t believe our president would allow this to happen’”

GM Layoffs Reveal Trump’s Broken Promises And Failed Tax Plan

Trump promised workers he would protect their jobs and that corporations would use massive new tax breaks to benefit their workers. Neither of those happened. Instead, General Motors plans to close multiple factories, lay off even more workers, and failed to invest their tax windfall in American jobs.

BROKEN PROMISES: Trump promised workers they “won’t lose one plant” and that GM would expand jobs. Now, GM is shutting its factories and cutting more than 14,000 jobs.

Washington Post: “GM layoffs pierce the heart of Trump’s #MAGA promise”

Huffington Post: “The GM Layoffs Sure Look Like A Broken Trump Promise”

Continue reading “GM Layoffs Reveal Trump’s Broken Promises And Failed Tax Plan”

Trump has only distributed a fraction of promised bailout funds for farmers hurt by tariffs

The Trump Administraiton has distributed less than $900 million from a $12 billion bailout program it promised farmers hurt by the President’s ongoing trade war, the New York Times reported this week. Credit:: Nova Safo, AFP, Getty Images

Less than $900 million of a $12 billion bailout program has actually been given to U.S. producers.

The Trump administration has distributed only a fraction of the money it promised farmers hurt by the president’s ongoing trade war, The New York Times reported Monday.

According to officials from the Department of Agriculture (USDA), just $838 million of a promised $12 billion bailout program for farmers affected by tit-for-tat tariffs has been paid out since September, when the administration made half the funds available. The remaining $6 billion is expected to be made available in December.

The Times writes that the program has been plagued by “bureaucracy as well as practical challenges” since its inception. Farmers are often told they must wait until they complete their harvests before applying for bailout funding, a process that’s been slowed by poor weather conditions, and even then, receive far less than they might get during normal years.

View the complete November 19 article by Melanie Schmitz on the ThinkProgress.org website here.

President Trump’s new favorite trade talking point falls apart under scrutiny

The following article by Glenn Kessler was posted on the Washington Post website August 8, 2018:

President Trump claimed early victory over the trade deficit, but his numbers didn’t add up. (Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)

“In the numbers that were just released — the reporters didn’t cover this one — to me it was maybe more important than the 4.1 [percent growth in the gross domestic product], because we’re going to be doing a lot better than 4.1 as things go. For the first time maybe ever, the trade deficit just fell — think of that — for the quarter, $52 billion. Nobody reports it. Why don’t you report that? Just fell by $52 billion.”
— President Trump, remarks during a campaign rally, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Aug. 2

“Very importantly, a number that people aren’t talking about, because most people don’t quite get it, but we had a $52 billion trade deficit reduction — which, people, is — you know, I will tell you, that’s a lot. That’s for the quarter.”
— Trump, remarks at a roundtable, July 31 

“Trade deficit — $52 billion reduction in the trade deficit for the quarter. . . . I think nobody would have thought that would be possible so quickly. $52 billion reduction in the trade deficit for the quarter.”
— Trump, remarks in a news conference with the Italian prime minister, July 30

View the complete article here.

Trump to hit China with $16B in tariffs on Aug. 23

The following article by Niv Elis was posted on the Hill website August 7, 2018:

© Getty Images

President Trump will impose 25 percent tariffs on $16 billion worth of Chinese imports starting Aug. 23, the United States Trade Representative announced Tuesday.

The tariffs will affect goods such as electronic parts, plastics, chemicals, batteries, and railway cars.

The new round of tariffs completes Trump’s threat to impose $50 billion of import taxes on Chinese goods. The first $34 billion-worth went into effect on July 6.

China has already slapped back at the U.S. with its own tariffs on American goods, specifically targeting products from politically sensitive areas. It is expected to respond in kind to the latest round of tariffs.

View the complete article here.