Biden Needs to Correct Trump Egotistical Mistake


When Trump scrapped trade agreements negotiated by previous Presidents grain exports to China fell. Prices in the U.S. of goods made in China went up. Trump had raised these prices by putting tariffs on them. The prices to farmers has gone up recently because of the coronavirus but the volume to China is still down from previous years.

Things are never permanent in trade. Changes in weather, yields and deals put relationships in a constant state of flux. The strategy for the U. S. is to hunker down for the long term. Since Trump made his 'brilliant" move countries in the East have formed their own free trade zones and have set up new relationships without the U. S. The U.S. needs to be viewed as a reliable trading partner. It has certain advantages those countries might need in the future. 

Part of Trump's whole political appeal of stiffing China was that of stolen technology. Certainly every year some technology is stolen by China and other countries--I assume some is stolen by the U.S. as well. These are not and never have been huge issues for governments to solve. Companies themselves must solve them.

The Apple smartphones like mine are made in China. How does Apple keep the Chinese from making exact replicas of its smartphone and undercutting Apple's product? Apple has its way of doing that. I don't know what Apple does but I do know President Trump is a dufus in smart phone technology and is of no help whatsoever in preventing theft of intellectual property. 

Unfortunately, Trump was quite successful in pretending he stood up to China when he did not. Biden must simultaneously sound "tough" on China while giving some ground on tariffs and other trade issues in order to raise revenue to farmers and lower the cost of Chinese goods to U.S. consumers. Politicians do this all the time and he is as good as anyone. If Trump can portray his trade strategy as successful while it is failing Biden can pull off a "tough" stance while giving ground. 

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