TheCount
08-23-2019, 03:11 PM
President Donald Trump's trade policies have always been, at their core, an exercise in centrally planned economics and petty authoritarianism.
Every time the president rage-tweets about "America First" economics or makes unverified promises about how his tariffs will bring jobs back to the United States, what he's really saying is that the federal government knows how to construct international supply chains better than private businesses do. Each new round of tariffs is a way of punishing American companies for prioritizing the interests of their customers by sourcing goods in the most cost-effective way. When White House economic advisors like Peter Navarro question the patriotism of American CEOs who do businesses in China, the subtext is that private businesses should operate as the president sees fit, not as their shareholders, executives, and managers do.
If there was any doubt about those conclusions, Trump squashed it on Friday.
I mean…c'mon. "American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China." Even coming from the most powerful elected official on the face of the Earth, that comes off as a tantrum of petty tyranny.
It's also a sign that even the American presidency is largely impotent in the face of the market mechanisms Trump imagines he can alter with a tweet. Indeed, if the tariffs were working the way Trump claims, there would be no need for him to "hereby order" American businesses to do the very thing the tariffs are supposed to be compelling them to do.
https://reason.com/2019/08/23/as-trade-war-escalates-trump-has-impotently-ordered-american-businesses-out-of-china/
I hereby order all RPF Trumpkins to proffer retarded Trumpsplainations in this thread.
Every time the president rage-tweets about "America First" economics or makes unverified promises about how his tariffs will bring jobs back to the United States, what he's really saying is that the federal government knows how to construct international supply chains better than private businesses do. Each new round of tariffs is a way of punishing American companies for prioritizing the interests of their customers by sourcing goods in the most cost-effective way. When White House economic advisors like Peter Navarro question the patriotism of American CEOs who do businesses in China, the subtext is that private businesses should operate as the president sees fit, not as their shareholders, executives, and managers do.
If there was any doubt about those conclusions, Trump squashed it on Friday.
I mean…c'mon. "American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China." Even coming from the most powerful elected official on the face of the Earth, that comes off as a tantrum of petty tyranny.
It's also a sign that even the American presidency is largely impotent in the face of the market mechanisms Trump imagines he can alter with a tweet. Indeed, if the tariffs were working the way Trump claims, there would be no need for him to "hereby order" American businesses to do the very thing the tariffs are supposed to be compelling them to do.
https://reason.com/2019/08/23/as-trade-war-escalates-trump-has-impotently-ordered-american-businesses-out-of-china/
I hereby order all RPF Trumpkins to proffer retarded Trumpsplainations in this thread.