Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuzz
I do wonder if this is all a play to get after Mexico. Canada makes some token changes, Trump says "see, Mexico, Canada fixed their issues and we removed tariffs. Your turn."
Mexico is a much bigger problem economically for the US, because labour is cheaper, and the Chinese are using it as a back door into our trade block, while rapidly displacing US brands. So it makes sense for them to be a bigger target.
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Interesting idea with respect to Mexico. Hadn't thought of that.
The dirty little secret is that American consumers have an insatiable appetite for Chinese products. Very few people are going to spend more money because a comparable item says made in USA. They have a competitive advantage over us with respect to labor (morally or immorally) that we happily took advantage of for decades. Now we are threatening to kill the golden goose for everyone.
It's an interesting gambit because if everyone else ignores Trump and the drugs and illegal immigrants keep coming in at a comparable rate, we still have no choice but to maintain our own defense spending. The casualty will be to make the world economy worse off, including for US consumers. It's good game theory to bet that won't happen because it requires mass cooperation on behalf of the rest of the world and no one acting in individual self-interest.