A trade group is warning that Trump’s trade war with China is going to cost 400,000 US manufacturing workers their jobs.
Trump’s trade war is hurting US workers
Bloomberg reported:
The tariffs will “drive down exports, and suppress job gains for the industry by as much as 400,000 over 10 years. It will also invite China to hit back at American businesses, farmers, communities, and families,†said Kip Eideberg, vice president of government affairs for the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, which represents more than 1,000 U.S. makers of farm, construction and mining machinery.
“With producers already struggling with falling commodity prices, additional retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agricultural exports will have a chilling effect on equipment manufacturers,†Eideberg said in a statement after the penalties went into effect.
Trump’s tariffs are killing farmers
Farmers, who were already economically struggling are being hammered by Trump’s tariffs. Demand is low, prices are low, and debt is high for US farmers. The Trump administration has not proposed another aid package for farmers. The nation’s farmers are growing frustrated and impatient and suggesting that if Trump doesn’t come through with the trade deal that he promised, they may not support him in 2020. Farm bankruptcies are surging in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Montana North, and South Dakota. Trump won four of these five states in 2016 and is unlikely to win that many again if farmers keep going out of business.
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Trump doesn’t understand how tariffs work
The heart of the problem is that thinks China is paying the tariffs:
….The process has begun to place additional Tariffs at 25% on the remaining 325 Billion Dollars. The U.S. only sells China approximately 100 Billion Dollars of goods & products, a very big imbalance. With the over 100 Billion Dollars in Tariffs that we take in, we will buy…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2019
Trump lost a billion dollars over a decade because he can’t do math. The US doesn’t make any money on tariffs. China is not paying tariffs to the US government. Tariffs are taxes on consumers. When China retaliated against farmers for Trump’s tariffs, demand was reduced for US farm products. Higher taxes and less demand does not equal more money for the United States government. It is a disaster for farmers and farm equipment manufacturing.
The trade war is killing the US economy, and if the Midwest turns on Trump, it will be one of the biggest reasons why he loses.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
