We were importing three times what the Chinese were importing from us.
China has dumped up.
The only reason for these talks is to shore up a few goods.
Cheap plastic, paper, and textile goods that China had been sending us will remain tariffed at a high rate in all likelihood.
These talks are making nice and talking the market up.
The dye is cast the layoffs in China and the US will mount up. China already had deflation.
Imagine someone beating on you with a 5 pound hammer. Then they switch to an 8 oz rubber hammer. You are still being beat on, but it doesn’t hurt nearly as much.
There really aren’t much in the way of cheap toy and textile industries in the US to protect. TIG seems to be focused on cars and oil, more than anything else. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the tariff on textiles and toys dropped to 50%. Especially if China agrees to buy a lot of oil and gas from the US, rather than Iran.
Steve
Do we have to go to war with Iran in the process?
I guess you are instantly right. The chicken hawks will love it.
Nope. TIG met with the Japanese and Indian PMs shortly after taking office. He came away, with agreements by both countries to buy more US oil and gas. In India’s case, that must have been a hard sell, due to India’s proximity to the Persian Gulf. TIG even extracted a promise to invest in an Alaska nat gas project that has been hanging fire, for years, due to questionable economics. Japan, Korea, China, are all obvious customers for US oil and gas. If China uses all the dollars we send their way for goods, on US oil and gas, then they can’t use the money to build up their military.
Steve
The Chinese are not going to have that money to build up their military anyway. The surplus is the critical factor.