• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

How will Trump's "trade deals" be monitored and enforced?

C

craig

Supporting Member
DP Veteran
Joined
Oct 18, 2020
Messages
14,453
Reaction score
7,212
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Moderate
Trump appears to be the only arbiter of what the "deals" are and if countries are in compliance. There has been no discussion of the WTO in relation to these "deals". And as far as I know there is no plan to ratify them by Congress. The only metric of compliance that is measurable is the trade deficit between us and the other country(s). If the trade deficit goes up does that indicate non-compliance? Can anyone explain how this can possibly work?
 
Easy, he'll just make up numbers and metrics and bobble heads will bobble
 
He's just going to keep changing tariffs regardless.
 
The poor, working, and middle classes will work and pay more so that the rich can get richer.
 
Luce said:
He's just going to keep changing tariffs regardless.
Click to expand...
And I still don’t understand his motives for the tariffs. True, he stated his motive regarding Brazil, because they had the nerve to prosecute someone like him, but what does he hope the tariffs will accomplish. Long ago they were imposed to protect US industry, presumably in the days when every part of every product was manufactured here, but those days seem long gone.
 
By word of mouth. Trump's mouth.
 
The point I am trying to make is I don't understand how this new trade policy can be practically implemented. The economic pundits all talk about how it will affect the economy but no one is discussing how it is anything more than vaporware.
 
craig said:
The point I am trying to make is I don't understand how this new trade policy can be practically implemented. The economic pundits all talk about how it will affect the economy but no one is discussing how it is anything more than vaporware.
Click to expand...
It can't be....except at Trump’s whim
 
Hmm. Well, since no one has signed anything, how would any of these "deals" be violated? Basically they consist of "we'll promise to buy energy and invest money (with no time frame) and you'll tax US companies who buy goods from companies in our country". Not sure there will be any enforcement mechanism beyond the taxes US companies pay to get their goods at the border.
 
Last edited:
Regardless of how trump lies about his ‘deals’, the US has no ability to ‘charge’ other countries for anything.
He is taxing US citizens in the hope that using them (us) to damage the US market (us) in order to bully other countries to invest in manufacturing products here.
US citizens do not want to do these shitty jobs.
The market will not bear the cost of employing US citizens for these kinds of jobs.
His ‘plan’ is to return us to some warped view he has of the 1950s.
It is doomed to fail.

.
 
He's obsessed with William McKinley (including changing Mt. Denali's name) and his tariffs, which were put in place to protect American industry in the early 20th century, and are widely seen to have done the exact opposite.
 
JMR said:
He's obsessed with William McKinley (including changing Mt. Denali's name) and his tariffs, which were put in place to protect American industry in the early 20th century, and are widely seen to have done the exact opposite.
Click to expand...
Didn’t know that last part. Do you know why the tariffs were seen as having done the opposite?
 
Nickyjo said:
Didn’t know that last part. Do you know why the tariffs were seen as having done the opposite?
Click to expand...
From what I have read (not extensive at all), the purpose of the tariffs was to protect the "tin plate" industry....which it did. Not sure we still have a "tin plate" industry or what it is.
Farmers were very opposed, consumers were unhappy with very high prices on most everything, and the only businesses to benefit were large corporations. His party lost many seats in the next election, somehow he managed to win reelection a few years later, but was assassinated early on.
 
craig said:
Trump appears to be the only arbiter of what the "deals" are and if countries are in compliance. There has been no discussion of the WTO in relation to these "deals". And as far as I know there is no plan to ratify them by Congress.
Click to expand...
He is using illegal emergency measures to do this.. so yea, he is bypassing Congrees. But then again, technically there are no trade deals signed. At best a document for a framework has been signed, but any actual trade deal.. aka the details... still need to be negotiated.

craig said:
The only metric of compliance that is measurable is the trade deficit between us and the other country(s). If the trade deficit goes up does that indicate non-compliance? Can anyone explain how this can possibly work?
Click to expand...
Who knows.. the metric is idiotic.. Take Madagascar. The reason the US has a so called massive trade deficit, is that Madagascar is the world leading exporter of Vanilla, something that cant exactly be grown in the US.

Fundamentally, Trump is mentally handicapped and does not understand basic economics. A trade deficit in goods in a global market only means the US imports more than it exports to said nation. Now with countries like China or groups like the EU, one could argue with text book theories that dont actually work in reality.. but when you have products that the US never ever can produce domestically and they are getting hit by 15%+ tariffs, then that clearly shows incompetence and stupidity on the part of Pedo Don and his administration. It is a literal sales tax put on the American people and will do nothing to improve trade deficits or anything else, since there are no American alternatives to said products.

And it is not like Madagascar, one of the poorest countries on the planet, suddenly will start buying expensive American cars or military weapons..
 
Nickyjo said:
Didn’t know that last part. Do you know why the tariffs were seen as having done the opposite?
Click to expand...
I also think it is important to note that in McKinley's case, the tariffs were voted on and approved in the Congress.

Trump is the first to declare tariffs on his own, under a relatively new law giving him that power in the "case of dire emergencies"...
I haven't heard the dire emergency named yet. These tariffs should have been submitted to Congress for approval.
 
Also, Congress makes trade deals, not Presidents. Technically these deals are not trade deals.
 
Customs and border patrol collects import duties which go to treasury dept.
 
pedex said:
Customs and border patrol collects import duties which go to treasury dept.
Click to expand...
So these "trade deals" are nothing more than tariffs on imports?
 
The dire emergency is Trump’s presidency.
 
Reactions: JMR
Nobody is going to honor the trade deals. They're just pacifying the baby.

Everybody saw what China did during Trump's first term and they're just copying it. They didn't honor anything either.
 
craig said:
So these "trade deals" are nothing more than tariffs on imports?
Click to expand...
Basically but from a specific country.


Import duties are usually on a good or class of goods applying to many countries.

Tariffs target specific countries and can be across the board on everything.

We've been using tariffs for over a century.
 
pedex said:
Basically but from a specific country.


Import duties are usually on a good or class of goods applying to many countries.

Tariffs target specific countries and can be across the board on everything.

We've been using tariffs for over a century.
Click to expand...
Not like this in a century
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn more…