Haven’t seen much on how these policies are expected to cost the US 23,000 jobs in the Solar Industry.
Ross, a bit more combative, conceded that China could slap retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products after Trump’s decision this week to impose tariffs on imported solar-energy components and large washing machines.
“In terms of any trade action you take, there’s always potential for retribution or retaliation and that’s up to the Chinese to decide,” Ross said.
sigh
“Trade wars are fought every single day,” he added. “Unfortunately, every single day there are various parties trying to violate the rules, and trying to take unfair advantage of things … the difference is that U.S. troops are now coming to the rampart.”
k
… the difference is that U.S. troops are now coming to the rampart.”
That is an unfortunate metaphor.
The Cockholster Cabal is the only group on the planet that interprets undisguised contempt as unrequited love.
Good luck with rounding up devotees in Davos.
They better hope that Beijing sees it as just a metaphor.
But can Ross stay awake for the whole war, or will an aide only wake him up for the big battles?
From Reuters yesterday: Canada to sign Pacific trade deal
Rump’s regime doesn’t care how many jobs are lost in solar energy because that’s an area that doesn’t affect “real Americans.” You know, - the ones who are STILL waiting for the mines to be reopened. Renewable energy is only something that affect liberals and “demonrats.”
Yes, the last sentence is /s
Slightly OT but needs to be asked
Is Mrs Mnuchin mooching it over there too? Will we get photos of her running her fingers through piles of Swiss francs, drooling salaciously??
I suspect that concerns will come from many nations. Tariff wars have the potential to disrupt the global trade system and these countries are all about stability. Their trust level with the U.S. is likely at an all-time low ebb anyway and this hardly helps.
Trump slapped a tariff on newsprint imported from Canada. It’s a twofer. It hits both Canada and the media. Some newspapers will see their costs rise by 20%.
Then he hit South Korea and their washing machines along with the Solar industry:
For imported washing machines, the president approved a combined tariff and quota for the next three years. In the first year, the first 1.2 million washing machines that are imported will face a tariff of 20 percent, while all subsequent imports will have a tariff of 50 percent. Those tariffs are then gradually phased down in the second and third year.
He will save a few hundred solar manufacturing jobs and kill thousands in the solar installation industry.
The president approved solar tariffs for the next four years, starting with levies of 30 percent that will ultimately fall to 15 percent. In each of the four years, the first 2.5 gigawatts of imported solar cells will be exempted from the tariff, an exception designed to ensure that existing solar module manufacturers in the United States can still access cheap supplies of cells.
The dollar took a big hit this morning.
Maybe we should have signed TPP while we had the chance.
I have no doubt that this seems like typical Trump anti-Obama/ environmental animosity while also making it look like he’s being ‘tough’ on China.
However the National Solar Jobs Census site says that “In 2016, the five states with the most solar jobs were California, Massachusetts, Texas, Nevada, and Florida.”
Seems to me that there’s some hay to be made there by candidates in Trump’s “real America” Lots of house seats in CA too.
Multinationals will find a way to win no matter what.
Going a smidgen off topic, I always thought businesses paid a lot more taxes than individuals. Not so:
Income taxes contribute $1.836 trillion, half of the total. Another third ($1.224 trillion) comes from your payroll taxes. This includes $892 billion for Social Security, $270 billion for Medicare and $50 billion for unemployment insurance.
Corporate taxes add $355 billion, only 10 percent. Customs excise taxes and tariffs on imports contribute $146 billion, just 4 percent
When Apple pays that 38 billion to bring their money back from overseas, that will amount to ten percent of the total of all taxes paid by corporations this year.
I read somewhere several years ago that in the 1950s corporate income taxes comprised about 40 percent of the total federal income tax collected, and that in recent years that share has dwindled to less than 15 percent.
It’s ten percent now.
Corporate taxes add $355 billion, only 10 percent. Customs excise taxes and tariffs on imports contribute $146 billion, just 4 percent
…the main course at Davos this year: Trump’s speech on Friday.
Trump’s speech:
I know you are honored to have me here tonight. You’re welcome. This is a beautiful crowd, a big, beautiful crowd, the biggest ever to greet an American president, probably any president or prime minister, or whatever. You know, I won the electoral vote by the biggest margin in the history of the world. And the crowds at the inauguration, you should have seen the crowds, never been anything like it. I know how great I am, believe me. I am Making America Great Again, and you small, because America is great, and I am great, and this is a great night, a big, beautiful, great night, believe me. Look, you all came out just to hear me talk because of all this greatness! You want to know my secret. It’s the Art of the Deal, believe me, the Art of the Deal. You know America is great and I am in charge of that greatness. You know that because the cooks made a special meal just for me, not that wussy shrimp and caviar thing everyone else was served, but a huge American steak grilled to a crisp and topped with American ketchup. Everyone wanted one, but only I got it. Also, I had my cooking people at my big, beautiful golf course at Mar-a-Lag send over my special recipe for chocolate cake. (For only $200K you could become a member too. I visit often and make special deals there.) There’s nothing like that gorgeous chocolate cake in the world, so I had my people share it with the cooks here so they could make some for everyone, just because I think everyone should know how great it is. Let everyone eat my cake! I had 3 pieces it was so good, believe me, 3 pieces it was that good!. That Duncan Hines, America at its greatest…
How long have you been working as his speech writer?
Seriously, if I had seen a story after his speech which provided this exact wording as the transcript, I wouldn’t have been the least bit surprised, nor suspected at all that it was satire.
It’s becoming almost impossible to satirize the guy, because his actual fuckwittery is equal to almost any imagined version of his fuckwittery.
He’s a walking, talking exemplar of Poe’s Law.