Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) bemoaned President Trump’s “shot to the foot’” over tariffs on Fox News’ Journal Editorial Report.
Tennessee’s senior senator, praising globalism, introduced the Automotive Jobs Act of 2018 Wednesday to delay the tariffs. He said, “Zero tariffs is exactly the right policy.”
He also called for an end to the steel and aluminum tariffs which he said are hurting Tennessee’s auto industry and raising prices of the autos they make. He claimed the state exports cars around the world but could not answer a question as to how many are shipped out of the country.
“Tariffs are shooting ourselves in the foot, really shooting ourselves in both feet,” Alexander said.
He called for the reauthorization of NAFTA by September and said it has been good for Tennessee.
Steel and aluminum tariffs remain in place and car tariffs will remain on hold if negotiations continue, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said. Fox News quoted him as calling auto tariffs a “national security threat.”
Calling on globalists
The automotive act, co-sponsored by Sen. Doug Jones, (D-AL), would delay the tariffs of 20 to 25 percent on imported vehicles, CNBC said. The bill would require the International Trade Commission to conduct “a comprehensive study of the well-being … of the United States automotive industry before tariffs could be applied.”
In June, Trump threatened to impose the tariff on imports from members of the European Union if its trade barriers are “not soon broken down and removed.”
China started it
However, Andy Puzder said China started the trade war and Trump is only trying to end it, Fox News reported.
China has undermined world trade for years, especially with the U.S. Last year, America’s deficit with China was more than $375.5 billion. China has long blocked American manufacturers and food producers with discriminatory trade rules and tariffs. The Chinese government gives large subsidies to its own firms. China forces foreign firms to transfer their technology to Chinese companies.
Both Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Elizabeth Warren support the president’s efforts to fight this cheating, Puzder said.
“Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, we are beginning to see that this is a war we can win,” Puzder said. “In May, China agreed to slash car tariffs and import more American-made products due to President Trump’s tough negotiating skills.”
GDP growth
Larry Kudlow of the president’s National Economic Council spoke to Fox News about the economy.
America’s GDP grew 4.1 percent in the second quarter of 2018. That is not because of people buying ahead of the tariffs as some have speculated, he said, calling criticism “ankle biting.” And, there was virtually no inflation.
The country is “making progress in fixing the broken world trading system,” he added.
“Free trade — but we’ve got to get rid of the unfair trading practices,” Kudlow said. “China’s the worst offender.”
“Money is coming into the United States from all over the world.”
As so many times before Alexander has no idea what he is talking about. The most significant thing I ever remember him doing was wearing his plaid shirt and getting elected, as a career politician he has played the game well . Please help him leave next election.
Lamar , go back to doing what you do best. Repairing hiking trails.
Not for nothing, but, Lamar should spend few of this MILLIONS on real glasses and stop buying those cheap Chinese ones that make him look more kooky than Bernie Sanders! Or is that his shtick, so that people feel sorry for him?
Global tariffs will never go away, because EVERYBODY tries to rig the “game” in their favor! Trump is doing the right thing! Threaten tariffs and negotiate from a position of strength. If the recipient countries back off on their tariffs, we back off on ours. Frankly, I think we don’t wield the power of our agricultural industry enough. Let the Chinese eat all of those tchotchkes.
Notice that the dem that he and our leader of the Senate helped elect were the sponsors of this bill , Fore ever trying to under cut Pres Trump and his efforts to Make America Great Again . Let’s cork screw him like we did little bob . Tired of being.
embarrassed by this Never Trumper bastard !
The answer to the question about tariffs and U.S. trade policy is largely dependent upon ‘who are you going to believe’ about this matter—the President and his economic team, OR the Paul Krugmans of the world who have been repeatedly shown to be in error despite their highly touted economic credentials? President Trump says that the latest information concerning the size of the annual U.S. trade deficit is $817 billion dollars. No, that’s a lie, say the ‘fake’ news outlets—the current size of the U.S. trade deficit is ‘only’ $566 billion dollars they say. (The current size of the Chinese national economy—no 2 in the world—is estimated to be approximately $11 trillion dollars per year. Likewise, no. 3 is Japan at $4.4 trillion; no. 4 is Germany at $3.3 trillion; no. 5 is UK at $2.9 trillion; and no. 6 is France at $2.4 trillion, etc.)
I think that Sen. Alexander puts too much credence on news outlets like CNN and the NYT etc. which are/have been demonstrably hostile to the President. I will side with the President—he and his economic team have apparently been ‘right’ about our country’s economy thus far.
Neither US senator represents the state well. Both are RINO globalists who are completely out of touch with the voters that sent them to Congress. Corker is already toast. Alexander next.
Ideally, there would be NO tariffs on anyone’s goods. Not on the goods that the U.S. BUYS from other countries, and not on the goods that the U.S. SELLS to other countries. But, sadly, this is not an ideal world. For example, I have heard that while the U.S. imposes a 2.5% tariff on each automobile manufactured in China and sold in the U.S. for purchase by an American, China imposes a 25.0% tariff on each U. S. manufactured automobile sold in China for purchase by a Chinese—plus, China STEALS our technology (i.e., our valuable intellectual property) on each U.S. product sold there if it can do so (this ‘unfair’ international trade action hurts U.S. products/producers vis-à-vis the products/producers of the other country).
And this kind of thing has happened world-wide on almost every U.S. product because we have allowed it to happen with no adverse consequences to those other countries (i.e., costs to them) for doing this. This has happened to the ‘tune’ of $800+ billion dollars a year, according to President Trump (in the context of a total annual U.S. economy worth approximately $17+ trillion dollars, or at least 5% annually of the value of our total national economy)—and this has been happening each year for decades. This annual transfer of vast sums of wealth out of our country due to such unfair trade practices must stop—such monetary trade imbalances weaken our country vis-à-vis other countries.
President Trump is acting by executive order to try to stop this. He is trying to do this by having the U.S. impose on other countries the monetary costs to the U.S. of the large tariffs imposed by them on U.S. products sold there—in an attempt to force those other countries to negotiate/renegotiate with the U.S. for fair/fairer trade practices by them with the U.S. (i.e., low or no tariffs on U.S. goods sold to them). The U.S. economy is the largest in the world, by far—even compared to China’s economy. Thus, these other countries need the U.S. more than the U.S. needs them because they need the U.S. to buy their products—this gives the U.S. leverage vis-à-vis each of these other countries.
I think that the President is correct in his actions—Lamar ought to ‘get with the program’ and support the President because nothing else has worked over the last thirty or forty years to accomplish such a ‘leveling of the playing field’ insofar as international trade is concerned.
“Globalist”? How about left wing advocate? Alexander is an embarrassment to the state. We need to begin planning on how to dump this guy as soon as the 2018 midterm elections are over.
Time to unite behind a candidate soon to replace this Chamber of Crony Commerce cuckhold. So tired of hearing him whine about our President.
If “tariffs are shooting ourselves in the foot” why are they imposed against the US by other countries? Do they enjoy hurting their own country by imposing tariffs or is Lamar full of it?