re: Mark Levin on Tariffs

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And so given that, the answer is to raise taxes to subsidize them?

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Where have I said I support this? I think you and Roger have some reading comprehension issues. I'm guessing he failed at finding anything, but you're welcome to go back through any of my posts and show me where I said I support the steps that are being taken.

I'm reading through the thread backwards so may have taken out of context.

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You can't just look at it from a consumer perspective though.

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Is implying that from a domestic manufacturing standpoint tariffs are good, they aren't. They may be good for certain industry's but overall US manufacturing is hurt due to rising prices of raw materials and parts. And unrelated industries get dragged into it. A car tariff going up can result in a retaliatory tariff on milk exports. Put up a tariff on corn and the computer industry gets hurt, etc.

I member.

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I member when conservatives were anti-tax. Do y'all member?

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I'm anti tax but fighting over something that only contributes to 1.6% of federal tax revenues is not a large return on your effort.

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Does that make Levin a traitorous globalist, or is Trump possibly wrong on this?

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he's only wrong if he thinks these tariffs see anything other than a big bargaining chip with the ultimate goal being even more free trade with fair terms for us

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So the current tariffs we pay are AOK but the ones which don’t yet exist that Trump is threatening to impose in order to get the current ones reduced are somehow catastrophic???

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Nobody is saying the old ones are okay, but when you start escalating the tariffs the price increases can be sudden and very disruptive to businesses.

Let's say you make specialized bearings in the US that you sell abroad. Tariffs jack up the price of steel domestically. Now your competitors in other countries are getting the cheapest steel from say China. You cannot price that into your product abroad, because your competitors are not dropping their price. Manufacturing businesses are often low margin... that kind of disruption can be fatal in a matter of months. You don't have time to wait for a better deal.

Trump doesn't understand the dynamic of how cheaper raw goods from China may in one instance hurt our steel mills, but at the same time, cutting off access to the cheapest raw materials on the market is a killer to manufacturing companies that sell products that use Chinese steel.

This is a big deal because Trump has the power to throw our international manufacturing and trading into chaos in a matter of weeks. It's too much power in that hands of a single individual, and our founders never intended for a President to wield that power.

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Trump doesn't understand the dynamic of how cheaper raw goods from China may in one instance hurt our steel mills, but at the same time, cutting off access to the cheapest raw materials on the market is a killer to manufacturing companies that sell products that use Chinese steel.

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That’s quite an assumption regarding Trump. I don’t think you really know what he knows or not. But what’s obvious is that you fully support the status quo whereby our exports receive a heavy burden so the can be less of a value in other markets. You seem to be taking up the cause of our competition and instead of asking the questions you should be about the CURRENT tarriffs which affect on RIGHT NOW, you are chopping us at the knees before the negotiations even get started. Maybe show some backbone and confidence so that, at least we, present a somewhat unified front ready to stand up for our industries.

I didn’t realize people on here loved giving their tax dollars away to soybean farmers so much.

Can’t wait for the next round of subsidies using my dollars to make up from this great bargaining chip.

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I am trying to take a stand for our industries. Our auto, farm and manufacturing industries are for the most part saying they don't want this.

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I don’t doubt your heart is in the right place and your reaction is a rational one. However it isn’t smart or intelligent negotiation tactic and your need to be right on this issue will ironically make the outcome you fear infinitely more realistic.

Assume our trade partners do not want us to impose tariffs as a given.
In senecio A, Trump threatens tariffs and his unified constituents all rally in unison and say, “We support what’s fair for our country despite short term pain! We will persevere!!” Our trade partners will then say, “shite. They are serious and Trump will impose tariffs and his people are behind him. I guess We better drop ours. “

In scenario B, Trump threatens tariffs and half or more of the US citizens piss and moan about how negative the tariffs will be, failing to even mention at all the current tariffs being imposed on us. Our trade partners listen to the lack of support and say, “his people do not stand with him and so they will vote him out if he imposed tariffs. Let’s wait him out.”

See why it’s important to stand together as a country???

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If you want to refute the basic logic of the arguments I put forward on how tariffs hurt many manufacturers, I am all ears.

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The United States is now charging 10 percent tariffs on imported aluminum from Canada, the European Union and other countries. This puts Alcoa’s U.S.-made aluminum at a competitive advantage in the domestic market.

These examples are a small price to pay in consumer prices for long term national security (so we don't have to rely on the rest of the world for raw materials that our military and military contractors rely on).