Trump 1, Xi 0

His retaliatory tariffs deflated Red China's economy

The EurAsian Times reported, “After 17 Years, China Set To Lose ‘Top Spot’ As No. 1 Exporter To U.S.; China-U.S. Trade War Benefits Others.

“In a seismic shift in global trade dynamics, China is poised to lose its long-standing position as the United States’ top exporter for the first time since 2006. This transformation is driven by escalating tensions between the two economic giants and a significant restructuring of global supply chains.

“Recent data from the U.S. Commerce Department reveals a remarkable downturn of more than 20% in American goods imports from China during January-November.

“China’s share of total US imports has plummeted to 13.9%, marking the lowest percentage since 2004. This decline is substantial compared to its peak of over 21% around 2017. US exports to China have shown minimal growth throughout the year.

“Stepping into the void left by China, Mexico is positioned to become the leading exporter to the US for the entire year, a status it hasn’t held since 2000. US imports from Mexico are set to record a high in 2023, constituting over 15% of the total for the first 11 months of the year.

“The European Union has also experienced a surge in exports to the U.S., reaching an all-time high during the same period.”

Thank you, Donald Trump.

As president, he slapped Chairman Xi’s dictatorship and his slave-driven economy with tariffs and a new trade agreement with Mexico. The story begrudgingly acknowledges President Trump’s role.

Paragraph 9 said, “The administration has also chosen to retain the $370 billion worth of tariffs on Chinese products imposed by the previous administration led by Donald Trump.”

Everyone dumped on Trump’s tariffs when he imposed them.

Joe Biden said on July 26, 2019, “Trump’s tariff war with China is crushing American farmers. It’s easy to talk tough when someone else feels the pain. We need to be tough AND smart — working with allies to curb China’s abusive trade practices, not isolating us from our closest partners.”

Kevin D. Williamson of the National Review scolded, “Tariffs function mainly as a sales tax on American consumers and as a crutch for certain U.S.-based firms that wish to be protected from foreign competition. There is more to a nation than its economy, but markets are national institutions, too, and far from the least important of them. Hostility toward these does not serve the nation, even if it serves the interests of some of the nation’s people.”

Well, I suppose we could argue that a property tax on a business is a sales tax as well. I suppose a business license fee is a sales tax too. I could go on or I could spend that time looking at photos and videos of my grandson.

Vox made the same Never Trump argument, “The U.S. may be generating some revenue from tariffs, but billions of dollars aren’t pouring in. Moreover, a lot of the money that is made off tariffs comes from U.S. consumers — not Chinese companies.”

Suddenly, the left is concerned about taxes.

Biden and the scribes believed that tariffs hurt American farmers who faced higher tariffs from Red China but somehow Red China magically just passed along the tariffs to consumers without penalty.

The problem with that argument is the purpose of a retaliatory tariff is not to raise money per se, but to get people to buy the same product from someone else. In order to remain competitive and protect its market share, Red China ate the tariffs rather than passing the cost on to consumers.

On January 28, 2021, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace claimed the tariffs caused inflation and cost 245,000 jobs.

Inflation was 1.4% at the time and more than 150 million Americans had jobs.

President Trump’s action emboldened other countries to ease back on trade with Red China, which has hit Xi’s people in the wallet.

Reuters reported on Tuesday, “As the world's second biggest economy slows, an increasing number of people are opting to stay single due to poor job prospects amid record youth unemployment and chronically low consumer confidence, leading to a record slump in marriage registrations in 2022.

“This reluctance to tie the knot is worrying policymakers grappling with a decline in births and a rapidly aging population in a country that was once the world's most populous, and where marriage rates are closely tied to birth rates as unmarried mothers are often denied child-raising benefits.”

To be certain, Chairman Xi hurt the American and world economies by unleashing a biomedical weapon of war called Covid 19. His flunkies in Western countries, including Tony Fauci, used the virus to gin up panic and shut down businesses. A million Americans died with covid (1 in 328) but we never learned how many died from covid.

What really hurt was the vaccines. They did not work as well as advertised. Trump pushed for their quick development with the understanding that they would be used only by the old and the infirm. At the time, I told readers that I got the shot, you do you.

Biden blew it by making it mandatory for everyone. The argument over whether the vaccines did more harm than good will never end. MTG held a congressional hearing on this on Friday.

Vigilant News reported:

“I’ve never seen a vaccine like this,” testified pediatric cardiologist Dr. Kirk Milhoan.

The shot Pfizer and Moderna offered us made the COVID situation worse.

According to a Cleveland Clinic study, the people who had the most shots had the greatest chance of contracting COVID.

“The lowest risk for getting COVID is if you’ve had zero vaccines. As you add vaccines, your risk of getting COVID goes up. I’ve never seen a vaccine like this. That’s not the basis of vaccines. They shouldn’t have what we would call negative efficacy.”

I am not a medical expert or an economist.

All I know is a billionaire knows more about the economy than an easily bought off career politician. Well, I also know that dictators are terrible for the economy because they don’t care about the people they rule. Castro died a billionaire. Putin is a billionaire. Hamas and Palestinian leaders also are wealthy.

You see, while Biden was raising a son so addicted to drugs that his discarded gun was encased with cocaine, Trump was busy turning a multi-million-dollar enterprise into a multi-billion-dollar empire. I do give Biden credit for not dumping the tariffs.

But I agree with Trump, who said, “China had a crash yesterday in their stock market. You know why? Because I won Iowa.”

To be sure, Red China’s jobs are not coming to the USA but to other allies, which now includes Vietnam. But Red China is America’s biggest threat. The less we rely on Red China, the freer we are.

Once again, thank you Donald Trump.