China cuts tariffs in half on $75 billion of U.S. imports

Mike Murphy reports in Market Watch,

China announced Thursday it will cut tariffs on $75 billion of U.S. imports by half, starting next week.

In a statement, China’s Ministry of Finance said 10% tariffs on some U.S. goods would be cut to 5%, while other goods that have faced 5% levies will have those cut to 2.5%, starting at 1:01 p.m. Feb. 14, Beijing time.

The ministry said the move was made “In order to promote the healthy and stable development of Sino-U.S. economic and trade relations.”

While the statement did not mention the current coronavirus outbreak, on Saturday the ministry suspended tariffs against some U.S. imports that could be used to help treat victims of the epidemic.

The retaliatory tariffs by China had been put into effect Sept. 1, as the U.S. similarly raised tariffs on $112 billion of Chinese goods.

In January, the U.S. and China signed a “phase one” trade deal, signalling a truce in a yearslong trade war. The deal cuts U.S. tariffs to 7.5% on about $120 billion in Chinese goods, but kept in place tariffs on about $360 billion of Chinese imports. President Donald Trump said those tariffs would stay in place until there’s a “phase two” trade deal.

Read more here.

"Tariffs rock!"

Don Surber reports,

The Los Angeles Times reported, "By turning back caravans, Mexico is acting as Trump’s border wall, critics say."

Duh.

I have said this since June. That was the whole point when President Trump gave Mexico the choice between tariffs and cooperation.

The story said, "One year ago, Mexico’s often chaotic southern border appeared relatively orderly: Mexican authorities processed thousands of U.S.-bound migrants for humanitarian visas, allowing them to travel north legally.

"The free-transit regimen was a drastic change of policy pushed by a new Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who had denounced his predecessors for having done what he called the dirty work of Washington in deterring migrants’ northbound passage.

"But this week, López Obrador’s government greeted migrants in a more hostile fashion. Mexican National Guard troops in full riot gear blocked their way and fired tear gas canisters to disperse those seeking to breach the nation’s border with Guatemala. Hundreds of people were put on planes and buses back to Honduras, where most of the migrants in the latest caravan began their journey.

"For López Obrador, Mexico’s first avowedly leftist president in a generation and a political campaigner who pledged to welcome migrants, the last year brought a substantial shift in his view of how to handle the Central American influx.

"Detractors have accused López Obrador of bending to the Trump administration’s tactics — including threats of tariffs on goods imported from Mexico — in creating a virtual wall in Mexico’s southern boundary with Guatemala."

Tariffs rock.

Have you noticed negative effects from the tariffs? I didn't think so!

Don Surber brings us this story from the Washington Post:

"Headlines last year proclaimed Trump’s tariffs could cost the typical American family $1,000 more a year. The eye-popping number came from a JPMorgan analysis that assumed the full cost of the tariffs would be passed on to consumers, which is what is generally taught in introductory economics classes.

"But that is not what’s been happening. The evidence so far indicates that most American firms passed only a fraction of the cost increase on to consumers — more in the range of $100 per family a year…

"But a recent study by economists at Harvard University, the University of Chicago and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston went a step further, examining data from two large retailers on prices of similar goods, some of which face tariffs and some that do not. The economists found a 'quite modest' price difference, suggesting that U.S. companies and retailers are eating a lot of the costs and making lower profits.

"The price hike for affected dishes, furniture, linens, toaster ovens, towels and umbrellas was less than 1 percent, the study found. And the price for electronics only went up by 1.4 percent."

I said that all along. President Trump wrote the book on negotiating. (Well, dictated it to a scribe.) Tariffs give him an edge. By the way, all he gave Red China in this deal was a promise not raise tariffs. The tariffs are still on.

It's about time somebody wrote about this.

CoBlogger CBD wrote in Ace of Spades

Tariffs Are A Legitimate And Effective Tool In American Foreign Policy

Read it here.

Trump: Aluminum and steel tariffs on Turkey will be doubled

Diana Stancy Correll reports in The Washington Examiner,

The U.S. is doubling tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Turkey, President Trump announced Friday as he admitted the relationship with the NATO ally were strained.

“I have just authorized a doubling of Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum with respect to Turkey as their currency, the Turkish Lira, slides rapidly downward against our very strong Dollar! Aluminum will now be 20% and Steel 50%. Our relations with Turkey are not good at this time!” Trump tweeted.

The Trump administration has implemented broad-based tariffs of 25 percent tariff on steel and 10 percent tariff on aluminum. The lira continued to drop as Trump tweeted about raising the tariffs for Turkey, by as much as 14 percent against the U.S. dollar on Friday.

The tension between the U.S. and Turkey has increased as the Trump administration has called for the release of Andrew Brunson, a 50-year-old evangelical Christian pastor from North Carolina. He was detained in 2016 after he was blamed for assisting rebels in a coup. He has denied charges that say he engaged in espionage and collusion with terrorist organizations.

Last month, Brunson was released from prison and is currently on house arrest due to “health problems,” Turkey's official Anadolu news agency reported.

Read more here.

More winning!

Fox Business reports,

Germany’s chancellor said Thursday she’s willing to back lower tariffs on U.S. auto imports as a potential European Union (EU) concession to the Trump administration – just one day after CEOs of Germany’s biggest carmakers reportedly voiced support for eliminating such tariffs entirely.

...The EU tariff rate on all U.S. car imports is 10% while the U.S. tariff on imported European cars is 2.5%.

...Last week, President Trump threatened to impose a 20% tariff on imports of all vehicles assembled in the EU, though he is reportedly willing to scrap those plans if the EU reduces its levies. The potential tariff would hit Germany particularly hard as cars are one of their key exports: manufacturers in the country exported more than 4.3 million vehicles in 2017.

Read more here.

Peter Navarro on the impact of proposed tariffs

Trump proposal: 25% tariff on imported steel and 10% tariff on imported aluminum. Do you know how much of our aluminum demand is produced in the US? 10%! Last month we put 30% tariffs on solar and up to 50% tariffs on washers, and you know what happened? Foreign investors came to America to build factories with American hands! Oh my gosh: a six-pack of beer is going to cost one penny more!

Tariff protections for steel and aluminum industries will be coming soon!

"The people representing us in these trade deals didn't have a clue, or, if they did, then they should be ashamed of themselves!" "They have destroyed the steel industry; they have destroyed the aluminum industry. Look at all the auto plants that moved down to Mexico for no reason except we didn't know what we were doing The cheating is phenomenal. All we want is a level playing field."

Trump: I don't blame the other countries. Somebody in America agreed to these deals. China made almost $500,000,000,000 off these deals! NAFTA and the World Trade Organization have been disasters for America.

Canada finds out the US means business

Trade talks between the US and Canada on Canada's decision to undermine U.S. dairy farm exports "fell through." So what is the next step for the Trump team? Hit Canada with tariffs on soft lumber! From CNN:

The tariffs — also called duties — ranged from 3% to 24% on specifically five Canadian lumber companies. For all other Canadian lumber companies, there’s a nearly 20% duty imposed on exports to the US.

The duties were imposed to create a level playing field for American lumber companies.

U.S. lumber companies allege Canadian firms are provided with unfair subsidies by the Canadian government.

Canadian exports of softwood lumber to the U.S. were valued at $5.6 billion last year, according to the Commerce Department.

The Commerce Department said the duties are preliminary and a final determination will be made in September. The U.S. Lumber Coalition, which represents the industry, said the duties will likely take effect starting sometime next week.

The Hill reports,

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, applauded the Commerce Department’s decision.

“Unfairly traded softwood lumber from Canada has for decades hurt mill towns and American millworkers in Oregon and across the country,” Wyden said.

“Today’s announcement sends the message that help is on the way,” he said.

Read more here and here.
hat tip the Conservative Treehouse.