idiots in washington idiots in washington. if this would pass it would be the surest way i know to kick off a round of inflation and tank the bond markets and probably the stock markets. whats wrong with these guys? "Senators Threaten China with Tariffs" Writer Mary Dalrymple reported: "A group of Republican and Democratic senators said Tuesday they will push for tariffs on imports from China if the Chinese government does not take steps toward letting its currency float freely on world markets. 'It's a shot across the bow,' said Senator Jim Bunning. Chinese goods would face a 27.5% American tariff, and China would lose its special trading status under the senators' bill, designed to prod China into changing its currency practices."
well most clothes and toys and electronic components ect come from china. if we raise the price of those 27% what does that do to the consumer.
This is why I suggested a Economics forum a few weeks ago in feedback. Anyone interested, email Baron, as one opinion does not create a new forum. ty
Actually it is time that Washington stepped up and addressed the issue of trade imbalances based on the fixed currency peg of the yuan to the dollar. China has pegged the Yuan at 8.28 per dollar since 1994; and has refused to let its currency float. This causes the Yuan to be significantly undervalued, and China to have large reserves of US dollars. The Chinese government spends $300M per day (effectively a industry subsidy) to maintain this ratio. This causes Chinese products and labor to be abnormally cheap due to the effective subsidy of $300M per day and causes US products to not be competitive in price. The U.S. government and other countries are strongly urging China that its currency needs to float in order to properly align with trade agreements. Finally a number of U.S. manufacturers have banded together to formally request the federal government imposes tariffs to deal with the situation. While the tariff effort is unlikely to pass, this endeavor has raised the visibility of the manufacturing losses in the government, and other measures may be implemented to alleviate the unfair trade situation. I do not believe in tariffs in general, but if other countries are implementing one-sided trade measures which clear subsidizes their industries then action must be taken to address the situation. If China is unwilling to allow the yuan to float (violating its WTO & preferred nation trading agreements) then the U.S. must take action. It can be tariffs or other measures. - Greg
well don't you think china is the best judge of how to handle their currency? what would we say if china told us to raise the value of our currency and hurt our exports? and besides tariffs are a tax on our consumers. we would be hurting our own people in a misguided attempt to cover up our own uncompetitive problems.
Or even better. If China is keeping their goods artificially low in price, doesn't that mean that they are (in essence) exporting their wealth to the USA?
Are you guy kidding, you expect China to float their currency overnite? They have between now and 2008 (I think) to float their currency. Don't think they will do it overnite. Maybe slowly repegged it until 2008.