Philadelphia Best

A Ranting Old Guy With Nukes
And a full-scale trade war would disrupt international supply chains, displacing huge numbers of workers: The U. S. government’s own estimates say
that exports to the European Union, Canada and Mexico support 2.6 million, 1.6 million and 1.2 million American jobs respectively.
In fact, even if we could eliminate U. S. trade deficits with tariffs, there would be lots of unpleasant side effects: sharply higher interest rates wreaking havoc on real estate
and those with large debts (hello, Jared), and a sharply higher dollar inflicting severe harm on exporters, like many of America’s farmers.
For one thing, talking tough and stupid on trade in itself damages U. S. credibility: If we go around threatening our most important
allies with retaliation against policies they don’t even have, how can we expect them to trust us — or support us — on anything else
And I don’t mean that he’s been saying things I disagree with; I mean
that he’s been saying things that are simply, flatly wrong, even according to the U. S. government itself.
The Europeans, he says, impose “massive tariffs” on U. S. products; the U. S. government guide to exporters tells us that “U.
He has, for example, declared that we have large trade deficits with Canada; actually, according to U. S. numbers, we run a small surplus.
Trump — who can get comprehensive briefings on any subject, just by saying the word, but prefers to watch “Fox & Friends” instead — has a picture of world trade in his head
that bears as little resemblance to reality as his vision of an America overrun by violent immigrants.

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