“We can also do stupid”.
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Besides zero tariffs and non-tariff barriers, Juncker and Trump agreed to reduce barriers and increase trade in services, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, medical products.
He also said that the pact established the “resolution” of the U.S. tariffs on European steel and aluminium that had sparked a trade brouhaha between Brussels and Washington, although neither Trump nor Juncker specified whether these would be immediately annulled. “It starts with us, but then it will obviously trickle down to equipment purchases, other input purchases that we have on our farm”.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s economy minister, Peter Altmaier, tweeted: ‘Breakthrough achieved that can avoid trade war and save millions of jobs!
More importantly, the “zero tariff” deal is without details. Likewise, many United States based companies that manufacture their goods in places like China have advocated for the Bill which will not only help their own business interests but those of USA consumers who do not want to bear the economic brunt of Trump’s protectionist onslaught. “So we’re used to paying detrimental duties and taxes on imports – it’s something we’ve done for a long time”, he said. We’re going to tariff your cars.’.
Whatever progress was achieved Wednesday could provide some relief for United States automakers.
In the meantime, the administration has acknowledged tariffs are hurting farmers. General Motors slashed its outlook, and shares of Ford Motor Co., and auto parts companies have fallen.
“Let’s see what will happen, but it would not be imaginable to have elimination of industrial tariffs without mentioning cars”, the European Union official said. He says America does have some of its own retaliatory tariffs that will be resolved as a part of the trade talks.
So far, the European Union has introduced tariffs worth $3.3 billion against U.S. products.
The EU is stepping in to ease some of USA farmers’ pain. “And the European Union is going to start, nearly immediately, to buy a lot of soybeans”, Trump told reporters after the meeting.
He said Europe has agreed to increase purchases of United States liquefied natural gas and lower trade barriers to American soybeans, american farmers and the energy sector. He has slapped additional tariffs on China that will hurt US retailers, large and small alike, with higher prices, hurting consumers in their pocket book, and likely causing layoffs as business revenues decline.
Fox News financial analyst Neal Cavuto called it a “dramatic, a stunning development, on trade. You’re not going to be too angry with Trump, I can tell you”, he said Thursday in the farming state of Iowa. Pat Roberts (R) of Kansas.
His state has also been affected by retaliatory tariffs from the European Union on bourbon, and Barr said he didn’t feel satisfied by the amount of specificity in Thursday’s briefing on whether that would also be resolved soon. The French have already ruled out any possibility of eliminating barriers to U.S. agricultural products.
Last week, critics from the auto industry lined up at an all-day hearing with the Commerce Department to urge the administration to reject auto tariffs. We paid $1.5 billion in duties on Chinese footwear previous year alone.
But Trump’s effort to wrest better trading conditions from China threatens that price advantage, and his hardline stance could eventually repel suppliers like Yao.
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Get the Monitor stories you care about delivered to your inbox. “The damage is likely to have political consequences, as the retaliatory tariffs [from our trading partners], targets states like Wisconsin, which Trump carried, that are dramatically impacted by his tariffs”.
