http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/31/business/31trade.html?_r=1&hp&oref=login

I wonder if we continue to browbeat the Chinese at WTO meetings over free trade issues Why doesn't the chimp-in-chief call this "import tax" what it is -- a new tax on Americans. I expect nothing less from a pathological dissembler.

Yay for "conservatives."

3/31/2007 12:10:56 AM

Wal-Mart FTL

3/31/2007 12:19:14 AM

^

3/31/2007 12:27:57 AM

Can he actually do that? Seriously, my lack of Constitutional law is a bit lacking.

On the other hand it's a convenient way (for Dubya, that is ) to generate money. Practically everything is made in China.

3/31/2007 12:29:29 AM

Congress a long time ago gave the President authority to impose retaliatory trade sanctions without congressional oversight, which I guess is what Bush thinks this is.

But as usual, it seems the tariffs are being slapped on intermediate goods which are used to make finished goods.

Back in the day, Bush imposed a similar tariff sanction on steel with foreseeable results: far more U.S. workers work in industries which use steel than do making steel. As such, as the tariff drove up the price of steel inside the U.S., industries that use steel saw their costs go up relative to their competitors in other countries. Ultimately, the tariff cost Americans over a million jobs in steel using industries; 10 jobs lost for every one saved; jobs which could have been saved simply by eliminating the tariff and letting Americans access to the same cheaper imported steel our competitors use.

This time the tariff is on imported paper... I wonder which industries use paper?

3/31/2007 12:55:19 AM

newspapers

3/31/2007 1:03:56 AM

Isn't it a good thing that Bush is trying to help other countries strengthen their steel and paper based industries?

3/31/2007 1:36:47 AM

Quote :

"my lack of Constitutional law is a bit lacking."

Oh shit that doesn't make sense at all. But it looks like LoneSnark figured out what I meant anyway.

So you're saying that this is going to force people to buy the more expensive home-made paper because it is now relatively cheaper thanks to the tariff? And that, because this will drive up operation costs for anybody who used to get their paper from China, this will result in a loss of jobs? I'm guessing that this is an overall bad decision, then, but just how bad is it going to play out?

I read the first part of the article, it says the reason for this tariff being imposed is because something about "China is illegally subsidizing their paper industries." Could there be any veracity to this? That doesn't seem like a really valid reason to me to force the citizens of your country to stop buying someone else's paper. Could Bush be doing this to help out one of his industry buddies?

[Edited on March 31, 2007 at 8:55 AM. Reason : blah]

3/31/2007 8:48:12 AM

Ouch!

Tariffs just mean higher prices for consumers. Trade barriers hardly ever protect the targeted industry. Do we really want politicians deciding what legal products we can buy and from whom?

3/31/2007 9:34:57 AM

Where's the "Surprise! Republican Administration is Raising Your Taxes" thread, hypocrite?

3/31/2007 9:53:46 AM

^
I'm not a republican... and you could kinda tell from my last post that I don't approve of tariff-taxes. So we are in agreement!

3/31/2007 9:56:15 AM

we dont want none of china they got way more pple then us one day lttle chinese mothfucaks gonna start parachuting everywher and take us over have us all speakin chinease.

3/31/2007 11:21:24 AM

Quote :

"I'm not a republican..."

Still doesn't mean you can't make the thread. Durr.

3/31/2007 11:41:48 AM

let me just make a wild guess that China doesn't have the same environmental restrictions on papermills as we have here. Even if China doesn't funnel $$ directly into the paper industry it amounts to the same advantage.

3/31/2007 3:05:00 PM

This tariff is stupid, but I'm not surprised by the move. As the article pointed out, with a Democratic Congress, the Administration is being forced to start putting more pressure on China in defense of manufacturing jobs at home.

Quote :

"The step also reflected the shift in trade politics since Democrats took control of Congress. The widening American trade deficit with China, which reached a record $232.5 billion last year, or about a third of the entire trade gap, has been seized upon by Democrats as a symbol of past policy failures that have led to the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs... Democrats in Congress hailed the announcement by Mr. Gutierrez but said they would continue their efforts to force a tougher policy on China through various pieces of legislation. Many Democrats won their elections last fall in part by advocating a tougher policy on trade with China and other countries where labor and material costs are much lower than those in the United States."

I suppose though that this is the new political reality for Mr. Bush. Perhaps this is simply a warning shot given that it is such a small impact.

3/31/2007 3:10:15 PM

^^Who the fuck cares? Let them destroy their environment to give us cheap paper. It's absolutely nuts to race the price for every single American and business to help a few people who don't deserve it.

Cost
Higher prices for millions of Americans
Opportunity cost of lost productivity

Benefit
Dunder Mifflin doesn't go out of business

[Edited on March 31, 2007 at 3:12 PM. Reason : sdf]

3/31/2007 3:11:11 PM

dude it sooooooooo sucks that china will be able to compete against the US one day

3/31/2007 3:14:55 PM