Trade war between the United States and China is about to get serious

[enhanced_deficit]

After months of threats and skirmishes, the trade war between the United States and China is about to get serious.

On Friday, the world's top two economies are due to exchange fire by hitting $34 billion of each other's exports with steep new tariffs, the first moves in what may become a devastating cycle of retaliation.

The planned measures have already unsettled markets and provoked warnings from companies of damage to their bottom lines and higher prices for consumers.

President Donald Trump and his advisers argue the tariffs are necessary to pressure China into abandoning unfair practices such as stealing intellectual property and forcing American companies to hand over valuable technology.

Beijing denies it's in the wrong and says it's ready to fight a trade war until the end.
"The United States will be opening fire on the whole world and also opening fire on itself," Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng told reporters on Thursday. He warned that the US tariffs will hurt foreign companies that export goods from China to the United States.

https://money.cnn.com/2018/07/05/new...ffs/index.html

[Zippyjuan]

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/05/us-f...s-tariffs.html

China's auto tariffs won't do much- most of the cars sold in China are made there- even US brands.

US farmers could take a significant hit from trade war


U.S. tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods are set to take effect just after midnight Friday ET.

The retaliatory tariffs China is imposing affect a wide variety of American agricultural products, including pork, soybeans and wheat, as well as U.S. autos.

U.S. farmer profits are at some of their lowest levels in more than a decade, according to the Department of Agriculture.


The Trump administration's tariffs, a 25 percent duty on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods, are set to take effect 12:01 a.m. EST on Friday. Beijing has said it would retaliate immediately with tariffs of its own.

That leaves U.S. farmers in the crossfire.

"Rural communities are dependent on agriculture. It’s their life blood," Casey Guernsey, a seventh-generation beef farmer in the Missouri-Kansas-Iowa area, told CNBC.

China's new tariffs will impact a number of American agricultural products, including soybeans, wheat, corn, cotton and pork, as well as U.S. autos.

Beijing's import levies could end up costing farmers in the state of Missouri as much as $138 million annually, said Guernsey, owner of CL Guernsey, a family farm. That includes the impact of lower prices for farm commodities and potential lost business due to new import duties.

One in four pigs raised in the U.S. is sold overseas, and the Chinese are the world's top consumers of pork. Missouri is one of the top 10 states in pork production.

"We can't afford any increase in price," Guernsey said on "Closing Bell" Thursday. "The difference between making money and losing money per head sometimes is just a couple of dollars. And whenever you’re looking at duties like this, it could make or break the operation."

In fact, the tariffs might only make the situation worse for some farmers. The agricultural economy has been in a down slump for more than a decade. Profits from U.S. farms are forecast to reach a 12-year-low in 2018, according to the Department of Agriculture.

President Donald Trump first proposed tariffs last March in an effort to fix what he deemed unfair trading practices and help both American consumers and business owners. Tariffs against Canada, Mexico and the European Union went into effect on June 1. Since then, Mexico, Canada and the European Union have issued retaliatory tariffs of their own, targeting items such as agricultural products, steel, motorcycles and spirits.

More at link.

[Schifference]

Don't raise as many pigs and downsize the pig farm.

[Zippyjuan]

Don't raise as many pigs and downsize the pig farm.

The individual farmer has an incentive to raise as many pigs as he can- the more he sells, the more money he makes. If he downsizes and raises fewer pigs, he may not make enough money to keep his farm since margins are so small.

Lower prices are a market signal that there is too much supply. Unless all farmers agree to reduce their supplies together, some farmers will be driven out of business. Then the supply may go down and prices rise again.

[Swordsmyth]

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/05/us-f...s-tariffs.html

China's auto tariffs won't do much- most of the cars sold in China are made there- even US brands.



More at link.

They will break before we do and then everybody will be better off when they agree to play fair, if they go full retard they will collapse and then good manufacturing jobs will return to America in droves.

[phill4paul]

They will break before we do and then everybody will be better off when they agree to play fair, if they go full retard they will collapse and then good manufacturing jobs will return to America in droves.

This. Our trade deficit means they depend on us more than we depend on them. They will be the first to break.

[enhanced_deficit]

Did China just call Trump's $500B tariffs bluff and will Trump act on this threat next now that China has retaliated with tariffs that target GOP vote bank?

Trump says China could face more than $500 billion in US tariffs

Updated 2:58 AM ET Fri, 6 July 2018
President Donald Trump speaks to supporters during a campaign rally at Scheels Arena on June 27, 2018 in Fargo, North Dakota. President Trump held a campaign style 'Make America Great Again' rally in Fargo, North Dakota with thousands in attendance.

President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would consider imposing additional tariffs on $500 billion in Chinese goods, should Beijing retaliate.

U.S. tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods kicked in on Friday. Another $16 billion are expected to go into effect in two weeks and potentially another $500 billion, Trump told reports aboard Air Force One on his way to a rally in Montana before the tariffs kicked in.
China implemented retaliatory tariffs on some imports from the U.S., state media reported about two hours later, after new U.S. duties had taken effect.

Red states will lose the most in trade war with China: Citigroup

• The U.S. officially implemented tariffs on Chinese imports, to which China immediately retaliated to with levies of its own.
• This tit-for-tat trade war would mostly impact states that voted “overwhelmingly” in favor of Trump in 2016 as they possess “jobs and output significantly affected by tariffs,” says Dana Peterson, Citi's North America economist.
• She notes, “80 percent of ‘red’ states produce goods subject to retaliatory tariffs totaling 10 percent or more of GDP, compared to 10 percent of ‘blue’ states.”

And this timing is interesting, China using NK also?

North Korea Slams `Cancerous' U.S. Demands at Nuclear Talks

July 7, 2018
The U.S. and North Korea sharply diverged after two days of talks, with Pyongyang terming the U.S. position on denuclearization during meetings with Mike Pompeo “extremely regrettable,” hours after the secretary of state cited progress on central issues.
A North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman, in a statement reported by the state media outlet Korea Central News Agency, said Pompeo had put forward the same “cancerous” demands that past administrations had sought.

[enhanced_deficit]

This. Our trade deficit means they depend on us more than we depend on them. They will be the first to break.

IF they really have played dirty as President's lawyer and friend Rudy G just claimed in non-MSM interview, everything will change including 'winning' narratives.