China offers to buy US goods to end trade imbalance

Discussion in 'Economics' started by JSOP, Jan 18, 2019.

  1. JSOP

    JSOP

    https://www.afr.com/news/economy/tr...iminate-trade-deficit-with-us-20190119-h1a8pr

    China offers to go on a 6-year buying spree to buy US made goods to end the trade imbalance between US and China. There is no free lunch in this world and whoever is the buyer holds the power. With every single deal, there is always some strings attached. China is not going to give USA free money just like that. You take somebody's money, you are gonna have to do his bidding, whatever that is would not be good knowing that everything that comes from China is politically motivated.
     
    Overnight likes this.
  2. Overnight

    Overnight

    Hehe, they are going to buy "US-made" goods?

    Most of USA's-goods are outsourced to China, where they provide components and labor, and they ship it back to us, where we assemble or somehow package it in a creative way, to be able to proudly claim it was "made in USA".

    Next time you go to a big-box retailer, look at their American flags for sale. Look at the source ticket. It will say "Made in China". If it says "Made in USA", ask the manufacturer where they got their materials from to "make" said item.

    The Chinese will be buying back their own stuff, so on paper it looks like no trade imbalance. But monetarily? China wins.
     
  3. zdreg

    zdreg

    It remind me of US aid for weapons defense for Israel. The Israelis are then required to use the money to buy in America which creates jobs and profits for American defense companies
     
    Last edited: Jan 18, 2019
    nooby_mcnoob likes this.
  4. neke

    neke

    I dont see how that will address the imbalance. They ship $100b to USA, who in turn ships back $102b (additional cost being for re-packaging, of course no tariffs). So effectively the deficit is reduced by $2b not $100b.
     
  5. Overnight

    Overnight

    That is the point. It won't address anything.
     
  6. S2007S

    S2007S


    Is this true? How come no one has been able to break that down?
     
  7. Overnight

    Overnight

    I think the issues of global economics and trade balance can be compared to decoding the human genome. It took a lot of brain power to crack the code of the DNA there.

    Is there that much brain power trying to figure out trade imbalance? Nah.
     
  8. JSOP

    JSOP

    Yes unfortunately the trade figure only takes into account of goods sold and bought across the border; it doesn't take into account of intangible "imports" that we spent $$ on. So everybody wins, on paper the trade imbalance is gone, Trump would have something to show for his next election but China still wins and the jobs still won't come back to USA. The only thing that USA might get a little bit back is probably US agricultural products but that still plays into China's hands. China is getting rid of farmland anyway to develop high-tech industries to make the bigger money while USA would be selling potatoes back to China.
     
    Stockolio likes this.
  9. carrer

    carrer

    It's very simple. If the trade deficit is reduced, then it's working.
     
  10. zdreg

    zdreg

    "figures never lie but liars always figure."
     
    #10     Jan 19, 2019