We have large trade deficits with Mexico and Canada. NAFTA, which is under renegotiation right now, has been a bad deal for U.S.A. Massive relocation of companies & jobs. Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum will only come off if new & fair NAFTA agreement is signed. Also, Canada must..
…treat our farmers much better. Highly restrictive. Mexico must do much more on stopping drugs from pouring into the U.S. They have not done what needs to be done. Millions of people addicted and dying….treat our farmers much better. Highly restrictive. Mexico must do much more on stopping drugs from pouring into the U.S. They have not done what needs to be done. Millions of people addicted and dying.
We are on the losing side of almost all trade deals. Our friends and enemies have taken advantage of the U.S. for many years. Our Steel and Aluminum industries are dead. Sorry, it’s time for a change! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! – @realDonaldTrump
Now I don’t know much about Mexico except we don’t need their stinkin’ weed when we can grow much finer in our Hydroponic Gardens, but I think it’s a mistake to shut off that sweet, sweet Black Tar which is much safer than the Oxycontin and Fentanyl Big Pharma is poisoning us with. Oh, and keep up with the Cocaine too because without Speed Balls Entertainers, Actors, and Musicians will be forced into Meth which will make their teeth fall out and kill them even quicker, putting us at a disadvantage in the International Culture War where we are already losing ground to the Chinese and Indians. Can you imagine Star Wars or The Avengers in Mandarin or Hindi? We’ll have nothing to listen to except K-Pop!
Let’s not forget we need those ‘migros to harvest all that GMO produce and kill, pluck, and rinse the Clorinated Chicken we’ll be forcing on Canada. The Auto Industry (which employs roughly 100 times the number of people in Aluminum and Steel) is already not happy with $175 price increase on materials, are you serious about completely disrupting the supply chains it’s taken 20 years to build?
Well that doesn’t matter because we’ll just slap a Tariff on Imported Cars. Yeah but, it will still raise the price for consumers (== voters) and totally eliminate whatever specious benefits you claim from your Cut, Cut, Cut Bill. Republicans are afraid because that’s the only bit of good news they can point to (not that it’s really good news, they just think they can confuse enough people about it).
As for Canada? Well, they don’t really need the U.S. at all. They can trade wherever they want. They have plenty of excess Agriculture production and Heavy Industry. They have Universal Health Care, good Beer, Back Bacon, and Tim Horton’s. Starting July 1st they’ll have legal weed at $7 (Canadian) a gram!
When I travel in Canada I get the sense they pity us more than anything else.
What is in fact wrong with our Trade Agreements is Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) which guts the sovereign Legal System of the United States and the ridiculous Intellectual Property (IP) protections designed to keep Mickey Mouse a revenue producing thrall of Disney Inc. in perpetuity.
Other than that if countries want to reject our stuff because it’s the product of a The Jungle dystopian system that is indifferent to quality and thus makes crappy junk that breaks all the time and is unhealthy to boot…
Free Markets baby. I thought you believed in those.
Trump says Canada and Mexico will escape new tariffs only after NAFTA concessions
by Damian Paletta, Washington Post
March 5, 2018
The three NAFTA partners — Canada, Mexico and the United States — have been locked in talks aimed at possibly revamping the trade deal, but no clear framework has so far emerged. The latest round of negotiations is expected to wrap up Monday in Mexico City.
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Trump has threatened to withdraw NAFTA pact since the 2016 campaign, saying the 24-year-old deal allowed manufacturers to relocate to Mexico and take advantage of cheaper labor. Even a number of Democrats have said NAFTA should be reworked, but Canada and Mexico have resisted Trump’s strong-arm tactics.And a number of GOP lawmakers are apoplectic about what would happen if Trump withdrew from NAFTA, warning it could devastate the U.S. agriculture industry.
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Canada and European Union officials have both said they would likely retaliate with tariffs on U.S. goods if the White House imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum. Trump, in response, claimed brazenly that he could win a trade war easily.Trump’s trade skirmishes now have multiple fronts.
Monday’s attacks on Canada and Mexico come two days after Trump singled out Germany, threatening to impose a tax on all European auto imports brought into the United States.
Trump Advisers Fervently Defend Tariffs (Unless They Change, That Is)
By ANA SWANSON, The New York Times
MARCH 4, 2018
Mr. (Peter) Navarro and Mr. (Wilbur) Ross have been among the staunchest defenders of the trade action, which would hit global trading partners like Canada and South Korea much more than China, which the administration has described as the primary culprit in putting American metal makers out of business. Both men backed the tariffs, saying the benefits to American metal makers would be considerable and the costs to industries that use those metals in their products — like automakers and food packagers — negligible.
Mr. Ross described the effect of the tariff as “a fraction of a penny on a can of beer.” Mr. Navarro clashed with Chris Wallace of Fox News, who tried to get the economic adviser to admit that those costs, when multiplied by all products that use steel and aluminum over the entire economy, would escalate into the billions of dollars. Mr. Navarro said he saw the costs as “insignificant” in the mission to preserve the steel and aluminum industries, which have seen factories pick up and move from the United States to cheaper parts of the world.
The White House’s plan continued to face fierce criticism, including from Republicans who believe free trade is in the interest of the economy.
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Economists say the tariffs, if applied without exceptions, would harm allies like Canada, South Korea and the European Union, which export more steel to the United States than China does. Shortly after the tariffs were announced, the European Union responded by saying that it was already preparing to levy retaliatory tariffs on American products, including orange juice, bluejeans and Harley-Davidson motorcycles.“You’re letting China off the hook,” Mr. (Lindsey) Graham said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “China wins when we fight with Europe.”