Is There a More Inept Trade Negotiator Then Trump


Trump seems to think he can will events to turn in his direction. Strategy and preparation are not necessary. 

Let's start with grain. Many other places can sell grain to China. If China wants to buy grain other places it can. Now that is exactly what China is doing. Why couldn't Trump see that coming?

There is lots of access to rare earth metals. We have them in the U.S. But processing them is very dirty. We didn't want the pollution. China doesn't care about the pollution and is the only country now where they are available. Considering the environmental damage done by the processing, we may be getting a bargain by paying China monopoly prices. China, however, can cut us off. That is what they are threatening to do. Why couldn't Trump see that coming? 

If Trump were smarter, he would have done with rare earth, and perhaps some other goods, what China did with soybeans: have an alternative place to sell soybeans if China stops buying. Trump is not smart enough or shrewd enough to understand this.

Lots of countries take manufacturing business away from the U. S. because of U.S. environmental laws and requirements. Mexico did this. China is doing it. The thing is environmental damage is a debt that has to be repaid eventually. When water and air get so bad there are not workers the debt is required to be repaid. Trump should have left tariffs alone, sold them grain, and let China go into environmental debt. The long game is better for the U.S. than it is for China. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ancient God, Bel (Baal), the Main Character in an Ancient Play

Image
In a British museum is a preserved stone tablet from Babylon. It dates to about 2,000 BCE. Someone labored patiently to inscribe an entire passion play featuring the god Bel. I reiterate this is a stone tablet, not a recopied papyrus. The play begins with the god Bel arrested by soldiers and taken off the stage. He reappears at a trial in the Hall of Judgement. Bel is innocent but is sentenced to death. In the next scene Bel is accosted by a mob. He is despised and rejected. The actor playing Bel is then taken by guard to a hilltop in a sacred grove. Two criminals are taken with him. One of these is released. The the audience then leaves the theater and follows the actor Bel and his guards to the top of a hill where the death scene is enacted by hanging from a tree. The audience returns to the theater for the dramatic final scenes. The dead Bel is stripped and prepared for burial. On a theatrical hill to the side of the stage is a tomb where the body is placed. A stone is rolle...
Read more

What Was the "Argument" in the Election

Image
I hate to add my blog to the piles of blogs and pundits analyzing and pondering the meaning of the just passed election. But that's what I feel like doing today. I've always like Senator Ted Cruz's summary of politics. He once said, "First, win the argument. Then, win the election." I think there is a way of applying that to anti abortion Catholics and Protestants. The link talks of Catholics who now feel they have no political home because Republicans let them down with Trump but they remain against abortion rights. Taking Cruz's win-the-argument thesis, I'd call the past election about an argument between two groups. One group's argument was, "Trump's a jerk." The other's argument was, "Abortion is wrong." The group, "Trump's a jerk," won the argument and then the election.  While one can argue the election, or any election, it about more complex issues, I believe in the end elections hinge on very simple ar...
Read more

Time to Forget the Christian Nation Thing

Image
While women are forbidden from being priests/preachers in some branches of Christianity thank goodness they are not forbidden from writing and lecturing about Christianity. A great article about the "Christian nation" notion shows us the U.S. is not a Christian nation and hopefully never will be. It is written by a woman with nerve and was published on a very Christian site, Christian Post.  Among the pilgrims were a few that wanted to establish a utopian Christian society. Some of their brethren stayed behind in Europe hoping the push aside worldly forces there and bring sinners to God. Today, whether it is the anti abortion, anti gay/trans, anti immigration or the put prayer back in schools branch there are those who want a version of what some pilgrims wanted, a utopian Christian society. The pilgrims were disappointed. Today's Christian utopians will be also. Here is why. The children of pilgrims did not believe the same things as their parents. Parents were roundly d...
Read more