There has been one story after another attacking Trump over his tariffs on Chinese manufactured goods. The headlines scream about temporary losses for a few farmers and describe the tariffs as being equivalent to a massive tax hike.
The goal, of course, is to try to turn rural and conservative voters against Trump.
But this goes beyond the normal brazenly dishonest ‘reporting’ we’ve come to expect from the corporate propaganda media. No, this is not a routine betrayal of the American people to score partisan political points, it is harmful to the long-term economic interests of the United States, it aids the Chinese side of the trade negotiations and is treasonous.
Sure, I get it, many people aren’t good with numbers, discussion of economic matters can be tedious, complex and confusing for most people. However, this is something very simple if explained right. Basically, the tariffs are part of a negotiation, it is an effort to get a fairer deal for the American people who have been losing for decades as a result of a severe trade imbalance with China, and it will work if we stick together against those trying to conquer us through division.
Before even getting started, let’s look at the current reality, we import 539.5 billion dollars of goods from China and only export 120.3 billion dollars to them, this means we have a trade imbalance of nearly five and a half to one. This arrangement has delivered some lower prices for consumers. However, it has primarily benefitted the Chinese and multi-national corporations at the expense of domestic producers. In the age of the globalists, we have lost x amount of manufacturing jobs, wages have predictably stagnated, while huge corporations (the same who own our media and politicians) have raked in record profits.
The jobs Americans were promised in return for the outsourcing of good-paying manufacturing jobs never materialized and the corporations absorbed most of the savings for the sake of shareholder profits. This effectively ripped the heart out of small-town America, where one factory after another shuttered and has left many in the American middle-class struggling since. But nothing was done for decades and that’s because the Washington and coastal corporate elites were doing fine—even enriching themselves with corrupt dealings.
Trump rose in popularity precisely because of his America first focus and promise to renegotiate these bad trade deals.
Will farmers suffer from lower prices?
First of all, yes, there could be some farmers temporarily hurt by lower commodity prices. The Chinese, in retaliation for moves by the Trump administration to level the playing field, have attempted to target his base and are buying more grain elsewhere. China is buying more soybeans from Brazil, for example, and this has resulted in a dip in commodities prices here.
However, what you are not being told is that this amounts to nothing more than a reshuffling of the deck and a new equilibrium will be reached in the market that does not impact US producers nearly as much as one would assume from the reports. In fact, countries that are replacing our exports to China have started to buy from us for their own domestic consumption, which will eventually drive prices back up here.
And, in the meantime, US grain consumers get a discount on soybeans, China will need to pay much more for their food (it costs more to ship from South American countries) and this long-term result would put pressure back on them to come back to the table again. The Chinese truly cannot afford to continue paying more for their food while bleeding jobs.
Will our prices go up because of the tariffs?
The big lie of many media pundits is that imposing tariffs will dramatically raise prices for consumers. They would have us believe that the costs would be passed along to the consumers in the same way as a tax and that is total nonsense.
Yes, the price of goods from China might rise, but that will easily offset by the benefits of fair trade.
Benefits of fair trade starting with the lower tax rates possible because of the revenue gained from the tariffs. What many people do not realize is that there was a time when there was no Federal income tax and all revenue was raised through the imposition of tariffs.
But, more importantly, we do not even need to trade with China period. What these corporate propagandists aren’t telling you is the reality that the buyer can go anywhere, trade is not static, and if goods from China become more expensive due to tariffs then we can get these same goods from friendlier countries like India, Vietnam or the Philippines.
Lastly, if we couldn’t find a supplier of cheap goods overseas, we could bring the jobs back, wages would go up and the middle-class would have more money to spend. So, whatever the case, no, we will not pay higher prices in the long-term as a result of tariffs, we will simply find a different supplier of those eager to trade with us or employ more of our own and move on.
Furthermore, the tariffs are a negotiating tactic and not permanent…
If you’ve ever bought a house or a car or anything of significant value, then you know a little about the art of a deal. In making a deal there is always a negotiation period where both sides posture and try to get the best deal that they can. That is where we are right now with China. Trump has threatened tariffs, they retaliate by trying to manipulate our political system in their favor by targeting farmers and hope that we blink first.
The reality is that China is in no position to push us around. We are, after all, the buyer and they have no market big enough to dump their goods. It would be a terrible economic recession for them if no deal is made and they know this. Meanwhile, all we will experience—if worse comes to worse—is a small bump in the road while we realign to other sellers, it probably would only mean slower growth for a short period of time, and our farmers would find different markets open as China started to suck up commodities elsewhere at a higher cost to them.
It is really a lose-lose situation for China to walk away and there only chance of winning the trade war is by convincing Americans that Trump’s new deal is bad for them, which it is not, and getting him voted out—so everything can return to the old status quo where they cheat, only the globalist elites prosper and the rest of us lose. It is so easy to avoid that disastrous outcome, it is so easy to win this negotiation, and yet there are those who care more about destroying Trump than what is good for America.
It is our job to warn our neighbors…
This crooked scheme to spend the negotiations to favor China must be stopped. The corporate media propagandists are working overtime to convince the American public to vote against Trump and their own financial best interest. If the American people were properly informed they would be completely willing to wait this out knowing that we are in a stronger position and it is good for us all in the long-term.
Unfortunately for Trump and the American people, the Chinese may have their “ace in the hole” and that being our corporate media that has continually lied to us and sold us out for their globalist and corporate interests. The Chinese are hoping that farmers in the midwest are unable to see the big picture, will turn on the Trump administration and vote in Democrats (and establishment Republicans) who will continue to give them what they want at our expense.
These stories that fearmongering about temporary losses and increased costs paint a completely distorted picture. They are lying through omission. They cherry-picking facts to fit an ideological agenda that is anti-American and try to confuse people with details of loss that pale in comparison to the large scale gains. They go completely against the interests of the American people and it is tantamount to treason.
Wars are won by political resolve. The Chinese people will rally around their own national economic interests and rightly so. But our own corporate media is disloyal, trying to erode the confidence necessary for a good deal, and are truly the enemy of the American people—especially the working class. We must hold them accountable, first by shedding light on their betrayal and exposing their attempt to sabotage our trade deal through misinformation—and then by turning out in force for Trump in 2020.
The Consent of the Governed 