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Why use carrots when you have a huge stick?
Yeah I get it. It's Trump's M.O. threaten extreme repercussions you never intend to follow through on to get what you want. Until you actually have to follow through (like the tariffs) and then say it's a good thing.
I think he genuinely believes in the cleansing power of tariffs.
Man, I don't blame anyone for not being able to keep track of everything. I trained in trade economics and I haven't kept up with it.
Trump is adopting State Capitalism.
In response to the success of and threat resulting from Chinas State Capitalism.
Simple as that.
Maybe but he did get into a pissing contest with China there early on where he was threating 100% plus tariffs which I am sure he didn't want to carry out. However, he didn't want to look weak by backing down from his threats. In the end both sides had to come up with an offramp where they could say they negotiated a good deal and won for their side.
USA backed down as soon as China blocked the export of refined rare earth showing the US military industrial complex is weak and vulnerable to Chinas expansive mercantile mixed economy model of development.
USA cannot fight a major war any time in the next decade at least without Chinas agreement and support- and China are still blocking all exports of refined rare earths destined to serve any military applications.
Trump made a major blunder own goal.
China has won the trade war and provoked by Trumps tariff bluff has now crippled the US military industrial combine.
The wealth of nations and their citizens is highly derivation of the skill, planning strategic positioning and management of their governments and the US government and its global hegemony has been captured and held hostage to corporate lobbyists for decades and is now facing imminent demise.
Cripple?
Yes- without a secure supply of refined rare earths the US military industrial complex cannot produce much of the high tech war materiel required to fight as modern war, let alone maintain a modern economy. Crippled is perfectly appropriate description of the state the US military industrial complex is in today...though they might not want to acknowledge it and are probably mounting the Venezuela gunboat diplomacy to demonstrate some remaining capacity- but as far as any large scale military conflict of any duration the US military is crippled at least until it can regain secure supply of refined rare earths.
Crippled is a bit much. All these talking about trade and rare earths is just talking points of MSM.
If the US was so crippled why hasn’t china taken over Taiwan? Or even attacked the USA?
Things in China are dire. I am not sure if you ever been there but every single person I met who has been there talked about the low quality of life there.
I love how you have ignored the fact the US is now producing rare earths and permanent magnets. I mean we literally figured out how to produce permanent magnets without rare earths which was what made rare earths important.
Saying the US is crippled is the stupidest most bone headed comment one could make. If we didn’t have these magnets we wouldn’t be able to amp up production but we are. Like you said China has cut back on selling duel use rare earths so the US adapted. It’s what we do.
There has to be a better way to accomplish what he is trying to accomplish.
Maybe tax breaks for increases in production, building new capacity etc.
You could make capital allocation and reinvestment in America one of the determining factors of the bidding process for government contracts.