Trump declared a trade war literally for everyone: what came of it

US President Donald Trump sees nothing wrong with trade wars because, in his own words, “they are easy to win.” As a result, the United States has launched trade wars with Europe, China, Canada and Mexico in recent months alone. We are mainly talking about new import duties on steel and aluminum, but not only about them, writes “Medusa«.

Photo: facebook.com/WhiteHouse

Trump vs China

Like most other Republican candidates, Donald Trump during the election campaign called China the main rival of the United States. At the beginning of his presidential term, Trump was solving other problems, but in 2018 he finally remembered China.

When a country (USA) loses many billions of dollars in trade with almost all countries with which it does business, trade wars are good and easy to win. Example: if we have agreed on $ 100 billion with a country and she scoffs at it, no more trading with them - we will only win. It's simple!

22 March 2018, the White House announced the completion of a seven-month investigation into the characteristics of Chinese trade. Trump accused the PRC of regularly stealing intellectual property and currency manipulations in order to make their own goods cheaper. In this way, he explained China’s positive trade balance with the United States, which reached 2017 billions of dollars in 375.

To reduce the deficit, Trump decided to increase import duties on Chinese goods with a total value of 50 – 60 billion dollars. Also, the US president announced an increase in import duties on steel to 25% and aluminum to 10%. This directly affected China: it is the second largest trading partner of the United States in aluminum and the tenth in steel.

Trump justified his actions by the 1962 law of the year, which allows the president to “in some cases” raise import duties. Since the founding of the World Trade Organization in 1995, this law has never been applied.

China responded by increasing tariffs for 128 types of American products, including aircraft parts, flat-screen TVs, medical equipment. At the beginning of April, China refused to buy soybeans in the United States, the main agricultural product that America supplies to China.

The next two months between the countries were negotiations, which, obviously, to no avail. 15 June Trump announced that 25-percent customs duties on Chinese goods would take effect on July 6, in response, China announced that it would introduce similar tariffs. After that, the US president threatened that he would expand the list of products subject to the new duties, and its value would be already 200 billion.

Trump vs Europe as a whole. And Germany - especially

Photo: facebook.com/WhiteHouse

A few days before taking office, President Trump promised to raise import duties on German cars by 35% (with the existing tariff at 2,5%). For comparison, import duties on American cars in the European Union - 10%.

Especially Trump was outraged by BMW’s plans to build a plant in Mexico (labor is cheaper there, but the USA is the main market for this plant). According to him, it would deal a blow to the American workers. The share of German manufacturers in the US car market at 2016 was about 7%.

While the decision on new customs tariffs is not accepted. According to The Wall Street Journal, at the end of May, the White House considered raising them to 25%.

Trump is also indignant that the United States “almost completely” contains NATO, and of the European countries only the United Kingdom, Greece and Estonia spend 2% of GDP or more on its content, as stipulated by the charter. Trump draws attention to the fact that the EU actually has money for it: the EU has a positive trade balance of 150 billion dollars. According to the 2017 year, the expenditures of the United States on the Alliance amounted to 3,57% of GDP.

... And add to this the fact that the United States almost completely pays for NATO’s defense of the very countries that trade us (they only pay a part and scoff!). EU surplus $ 151 billion - they have to spend more on defense!

The increase in duties on steel and aluminum in Europe primarily hit Germany. It is the only one in the EU among the ten largest suppliers of steel to the US (4% of US imports in 2017) and aluminum (2,4%, respectively).

The European Union filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization, and in early June announced that, in response, it would raise duties on US goods with a total value of 3 – 4 billion dollars. The list included: steel, peanut butter, whiskey, cranberry and orange juice.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel twice in the past year urged Europe to "take her destiny into her own hands." In May 2017, she said that after Brekzit and Trump’s election, "the era when we could rely on others was gone." A year later, after Trump broke the nuclear deal with Iran, Merkel reiterated that the United States "will no longer simply defend Europe." In a speech at the Davos 2018 forum of the year, the Chancellor stated that the growth of “national egoism” suggests that “the lessons of a century ago are not yet learned.” Trump's name was not named, but clearly implied.

Trump himself, after it became known that at the US border with Mexico, children were taken from migrants and separated from their parents, wrote on Twitter that “the German people are turning away from their leaders” because of their too lenient migration policies, which allegedly led to the growth of crime in Germany. Personally, Merkel, he did not mention.

The people of Germany are turning away from their leaders, as migration is hitting the government coalition in Berlin, which is already weak. Crime in Germany is growing. The big mistake of all of Europe was to let in millions of people who so violently changed its culture.

Trump vs. the rest of America. And Canada - especially

Photo: facebook.com/WhiteHouse

From the protectionist tariff for steel and aluminum, it was not China and Europe that suffered the most, but the US neighbors - Canada and Mexico. Canada is the largest supplier to the American market of both metals - with a share of 17% steel and aluminum in 36%. The share of Mexico is 9 and 4,3%, respectively.

There were no exceptions in Trump’s original statement, they were later introduced for South Korea, Brazil and Australia. Neither Mexico nor Canada were included in this list.

Mexico responded with an increase in duties on US goods worth 3 billion dollars, Canada - 16 billion dollars.

During the summit of the “Big Seven”, held in Canada in early June, Trump made it clear that he was dissatisfied with the host country. He left the summit without signing a general agreement. Trump explained this by the “dishonesty and weakness” of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “He was so soft and sweet, and then he gathered a press conference and called the American tariffs offensive,” Trump wrote.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was so soft and sweet during the G7 meeting, only to hold a press conference after my departure and say that “US tariffs are offensive” and he “will not be pushed around”. Very dishonest and weak. Our tariffs are the answer to the fact that they have a duty in 270% on our dairy products!

Trump vs Russia (and again vs Europe)

In the summer of 2017, the Trump administration introduced new sanctions against Russia. Dmitry Medvedev said then that hopes for cooperation with the new American authorities were destroyed.

Indirectly, sanctions may also affect Europe, since they imply the imposition of penalties for cooperation with Russia in the construction of gas and oil pipelines abroad, as well as in the development of offshore oil fields. The companies participating in the construction of Nord Stream - 2, the largest gas pipeline that is supposed to link Russia and Germany, could be at risk.

2017% of Russian steel exports accounted for 3 in the United States in the United States, about 30% in aluminum. According to the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade, the total damage from the new import duties will be about three billion dollars.

19 June, Economic Development Minister Maxim Oreshkin announced that Russia would impose additional duties on a number of American goods. According to Oreshkin, the list may include “road construction equipment and a number of other elements that Russia imports.” He emphasized that there are no drugs in this list.

The value of the goods on which restrictions will be imposed should not significantly exceed 537 million dollars. This is the new assessment of the damage from duties, which gave the Ministry of Economic Development.

Read also on ForumDaily:

In Canada, began a boycott of goods from the United States because of the antics of trump

Trump imposed a 25% duty on over one thousand Chinese goods

European Union imposes countermeasures on US duties

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