"The move is the latest in a series of aggressive actions the administration has taken to combat what it calls unfair trade practices by China and other countries. "
Letâs not forget though: none of this would really be an issue if it werenât for the unfair trade practices of the American plutocrat businesspeople who shipped all our jobs over there in the first place. Of course, now that they own the GOP and are slowly pushing towards a neofascist white nationalist state, theyâre starting to see the opportunity to turn American workers into Chinese labor and save a whole lot on shipping. All they need is about another decade or two of gerrymandering, election law rigging, voter suppression and a broken electoral college and voilaâŚall our jobs come home and you have the honor of working 14 hour days for $3 per day beside your children. Fun for the whole family!!! Arbeit Macht Frei!!!
âAmerican businesses worry that the administrationâs moves will draw painful retaliatory sanctions.â
âI am going to build the biggest, deepest, most-painful economic crater in American history, believe me!â
How far will the markets tank tomorrow? Place your bets! Place your bets!
One wonders how Donnieâs enablers and apologists can sleep at night!
I was wondering what this will do to all the low-cost products that were out-sourced to China and are imported to US OEMs for final assembly and sale. A friend manages at a US tech company that makes tools for manufacturers and told me of the jobs outsourced to Malaysia. Now his companiesâ Malaysian engineers were complaining that their jobs were being outsourced to China. His company still relies on all the front-end production in China to keep their own US manufacturing going.
MAGA!!!
Farmers protest en masse
Police are cowed.
Where? Iâm traveling and am not too connected at the moment.
âTrade wars are good and easy to win.â
For China
France, not right now.
American farmers are boring
That embargo I predicted when he won is coming closerâŚ
I wish I could write off your comment as an overreaction but I think it is too close to reality for comfort. First outsource manual labor, then all manufacturing, now tech, engineering and other professional careers while keeping US wages suppressed. The plutocratic approach to a global economy is not to raise the standards in emerging countries but rather to bring the US down to their level, all in the name of free market capitalism that increases corporate profit and share value at the expense of the unworthy hoi polloi.
End of rant.
This is beyond stupid, but keep it up TrumpâŚred county turnout is going to be very low this year. Trump gives no one any confidence that he can do anything. Thereâs not one tariff the US can raise that China canât counter and hurt Trump/GOP worse than the US can hurt Xi. Every time Xi stands up to Trump he gets more popular. Trump is giving Xi house money to play with.
Any cursory reading of labor history will show the entrenched vitriolic hatred that owners have had for labor. None of this is a surprise. Thatâs what makes it so infuriating when blue collar workers spit on unions and chow down on the shit sandwich of promises that spontaneously shared profit will rain down upon them once they let the owner-class âinnovateâ in the workplace. Theyâre working desperately hard to make their lives more miserable.
We used to teach this stuff in school, but you can be sure we never will again if the plutocrats get their way.
âI am going to run this just like my businesses.â
Yep, owners in the US have repeatedly damaged their own interests rather than treat labor as colleagues.
(Anecdote: Back in the 80s, I got some bookshelves where all the hardware was made out of these beautiful pieces of extruded aluminum. In the early 90s, I wanted to get some more, went to the store that sold them, and discovered that the manufacturer had gone belly up. The boss had the bright idea of moving from the Northeast down to a âright-to-workâ state so he wouldnât have to deal with the union and pay such exhorbitant salaries. Within six months the extrusion dies, which can last decades under proper use, had been ruined by some untrained new hires, and after financing the move there was no money (think $100K and up) to make new ones. Oops.)
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has issued a list targeting 1,300 Chinese products, including industrial robots and telecommunications equipment.
Chinese robots?!? What about the Russian robot in the White House?
FIFY! 
Former Obama Admin. trade economist --Sharp guy.
âŚ
If Americans want an honest discussion about job loss (Spoiler Alert: they donât), then letâs start by admitting:
- 90% of manufacturing jobs lost since 2000 were from domestic automation â not offshoring.
- American factory output actually grew â by almost 20% (!) â during that time.
- Trade was responsible for only about 10% of American jobs lost.
The Trump voterâs beef is with robots, not foreigners.
And by 2025, robots will take 250% more (!) American jobs â even if we never offshore another one.
Theyâre increasingly taking the jobs not just of factory workers, but of waiters, cashiers, salespeople, accountants, teachers, drivers, paralegals, journalistsâŚ
Any job imaginable can be automated:
- Self-driving vehicles.
- Drone deliveries.
- Self-checkouts.
- Restaurant-table terminals.
- AI financial advisors.
- Robotic surgery.
And theyâre coming for our childrenâs jobs next.
Wall Street wonât rest until itâs replaced every single American worker with a robot who never strikes, never stays home with a sick child, never needs health insurance, works 24/7, and can be thrown on the scrap heap the instant a newer model comes along.
In the early 1800s, David Ricardo warned in âOn the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation":
âNothing remains to be desired but that the King, living quite alone on the island, should by continuously turning a crank cause automatons to do all the work of England.â
That nightmare is speeding toward us like a freight train.
And nobody â nobody â wants to have that discussion.