How to Win the 50-Year-Old China Trade War

china facory 1.jpeg

Today and this week in-fact is historic – the left and right in the U.S. agree that we have a major trade problem with China.

They agree on little if anything.

See Opposites attract: Even Steve Bannon and Tom Friedman agree Trump is right to attack on China trade for more.

You may recall, we were the original canary in the coal mine – we registered a site, Lost American Jobs in 2003, before it was on anyone’s radar. We regularly detailed all the jobs being lost. Here is a snapshot from the WayBack Machine.

The bottom line is the following.

China needs the U.S. while they are looking to displace U.S. leadership.

They do not play fair.

They will do whatever it takes to win.

china skyline.jpeg

The solution is very very simple.

The U.S. has established opportunity zones in low-income areas where low/no tax rates have caused joblessness to plummet and wages to increase.

We need to make all new tariffs apply for a minimum of ten years.

Pass this through Congress ASAP.

Take all or some of the funds from the tariffs and invest in public-private partnerships in opportunity zones or other similar locations for products which are targeted by tariffs.

In other words, if plastic toys now carry a 25% tariff, new U.S. factories making plastic toys are eligible for immediate funding.

Ten years is more than a sufficient timeline for investors to recoup investments.

Steve Jobs said manufacturing jobs can’t come back to the U.S. because the supply-chain has moved to China. If you need millions of screws, slightly larger or smaller, you go down the street, he said.

This chain not exist in the U.S. anymore. A ten-year investment in the U.S. supply chain, paid for by China tariffs will make China play fairly immediately – or at least agree to.

Enforcement is a whole other issue.

Either way – the U.S. should be funneling this tariff money back to U.S. companies immediately to protect the economy for the long run.>

Trusting our economy to adversaries who repeatedly play unfairly is not a smart way to govern or run a country.

    Leave Your Comment


     

    Loading
    Share via
    Copy link
    Powered by Social Snap