and interestingly... have you noticed... the dems are fairly quiet on this trade war thing... that give you some hope about America.. the country is so divided, makes you wonder if it can ever pull it together when something like the trade war happens.
the way of life of the west - look at the european election results... there is hope now... people there see what's happening in the US and they want to follow suit. Australia also.
look at inflation - it's dead now and prey tariffs really increase prices or the Fed will get to job soon printing more trillions
What's it like getting your economics news from Trump's twitter? Have you read anything from people who are actually professionals in economics? It's going terrible. He's flubbed this to the point there is no recovery and China has us by the short hairs. Enjoy the stable genius leading us gently into the next recession.
How about you leave personal character of the president out of a debate just once. Where does China have the US in any corner? China cannot reciprocate tariffs because there is not a whole lot more that China imports and would want to price up. But the US has another 300bln. The longer this prolongs the better for the US because importers and customers will look for different sourcing. If China sold treasuries this would hurt them the most. In the US the Fed would simply buy them up. Furthermore, US has a huge edge which is top technology. Instead of tariffs it might implement export restrictions to China. What weapons does China have? Virtually none. If you actually read any macro economic and geo political research you would know that. And one other thing, every time when you run out of arguments you disappear and never admit that someone else got a good point. Not just with me but with everyone you converse. Please don't do that because otherwise this will be my last exchange with you. It's pointless to discuss or debate when one side just never can admit they erred on issues.
For all the whining about tariffs, why buy any Chinese products? Most Chinese products are manufactured by other Asian countries as well. The fastest resolution to this trade war with China is for majority of Americans to Buy American where available. If the product is no longer Made in the USA, buy from another country that is not China! China exports $500 billion in goods to the USA. If demand falls to say $50 billion, the Chinese will go back to the table and finally come to their senses and sign that fair trade deal. If not, the US can leave the tariffs on permanently, look for other markets to buy goods, other markets to sell our goods. The Chinese economy will be destroyed, Chinese military buildup will fizzle out because none of those hundreds of billions coming in now! You think other Asian countries like Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Thailand will not welcome more jobs for their citizens? More exports to the US? China loses by default if they do not want a fair trade deal. Pick your poison as they say!
I am not sure they are out of bullets. * Their president just toured rare earth factory, of which they control somewhere around 70% to 80% of world production. * They could always impose restrictions on companies like Apple, Tesla etc to retaliate. * China was the first country to restrict 737 max on their air-space. They can prolong its entry. Chinese airlines have already filed financial claims for the delay and delivery in production. * Harass any imports at their port of entry with delay and administration paper work, which they have done in past * Drive wedge with US partners. Italy has already rebuffed US and approved Huawei and ZTE in their country
Most of the issues you mention actually benefit American strategists. Sure it hurts shareholders if Apple was hampered in its business dealings in China. But it would very much please American leaders if Apple and Co was forced to retreat from China and move some or all of its manufacturing to other countries. Re rare earth this is a very tricky one and amounts to the middle east restricting oil, we all know what would happen in that event. With China's nuclear arsenal things are of course way trickier. Let me put it like this: the West interprets the restriction of essential resources such as oil, natural gas, rare earth by a country that holds a quasi monopoly as a war declaration on the world. It will have such serious repercussions all the way to considering to kick China out of the WTO. It would trigger a complete resource import stop by most of the resource delivering nations to China. China knows this would be crossing a line in the sand. I don't think it would get to a war but it would seriously throw China back 50-60 years as it would most likely be evicted from all global memberships.