Communism 1, Capitalism 0?
ElectoralVote.com -- Trump Appears to Be Losing the Trade War
Quote:Donald Trump is sticking to his tariff guns and, by all indications, things are not going well. In the U.S., Trump is getting all sorts of pushback, from all sorts of directions. Midwestern farmers are angry, and are calling for Trump to back down. So too are Maine lobstermen, who have lost a big chunk of their export business (which has to thrill Sen. Susan Collins, R-ME, who already faces a tough re-election battle). This week, Nike and Adidas joined Walmart in announcing that if the tariffs stay in place, their prices will rise significantly. Experts are predicting the same for Apple. American businesses located in China were polled this week, and the great majority (74.9%) said that they are already feeling the pinch, in terms of more inspections, longer waits for customs clearance, higher manufacturing costs, and reduced demand.
Meanwhile, the Chinese are doing a pretty convincing job of digging their heels in. President Xi Jinping visited the 1930s starting point of the Communist revolution on Tuesday, laid a wreath, and announced that a "New Long March" was beginning. On top of that, the hottest song in China right now is an anti-U.S. trade war song. Its opening verse is: "Trade war! Trade War! Not afraid of the outrageous challenge! Not afraid of the outrageous challenge! A trade war is happening over the Pacific Ocean!" Not exactly "Hey Jude, don't make it bad," or "There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold," but it's better than anything Nickelback has put out. Anyhow, all of this could be for show, but we wouldn't bet on it. In China, what Xi wants, Xi generally gets.
At risk of repeating ourselves, there is just no way to know where this is headed. It's true that Donald Trump tends to back down when he's challenged, or when he thinks he will pay a steep political cost for his actions. However, he has shown no sign of wavering on this issue, and he may not blink here. It could be Senate Republicans who blink and yank Trump's tariff authority, or it could be Xi, but the greatest likelihood seems to be that this game of chicken is going to keep going through the next year. If so, then the GOP is going to pay a price at the polls, maybe even a steep price. (Z)
ElectoralVote.com -- Trump Appears to Be Losing the Trade War
