"Trade Not Aid" -- The Answer For Trade War!

Source: Malulu

Last week, President Trump announced the financial bail out of $12 billion for farmers who are losing large profits to the trade war.  At first pass, a majority of Americans were expecting such a measure at the very least.  Especially, since the President himself is to blame for the new trade war between countries who used to have agreements prior to the inauguration of the President.  Not everyone is happy with the aid offered to the farmers negatively impacted by tariff set by President Trump.  In fact, the recipients of the trade relief have been chanting along with sending the message "Trade not Aid."



This slogan should come as no surprise to anyone who has received a large payout.  The money is great in the short run - until the money runs out.  That is, if all of the aid is spent on keeping up the farm output with no money coming in, then the money will run out quickly.  Which brings us to the current state of affairs highlighted in an excerpt by Politico Agriculture sent out via e-mail on Monday shown below:

TRUE TARIFF BAILOUT WOULD COST $39 BILLION: The full cost of a government aid package to help U.S. all manufacturers, farmers and fishermen negatively affected by President Donald Trump's new tariffs on steel and aluminum from around the world and a host of products from China could reach $39 billion, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce reports this morning. That works out to be another $27 billion on top of the $12 billion the Trump administration announced last week to help U.S. farmers.

"While America's agricultural industry has been hit extremely hard by escalating tariffs, it's not alone," Neil Bradley, U.S. Chamber executive vice president and chief policy officer, wrote in a blog post. "Thousands of U.S. companies - including manufacturers, input suppliers, fisherman, and businesses from numerous other industries - are finding it more difficult to sell American made products abroad amid the growing trade war."

Other sectors are feeling the pain: The business group estimates that U.S. automobile, motorcycle and parts manufacturers would need up to $7.6 billion in federal aid if the assistance promised for farmers is extended to other sectors. Chemical manufacturers would need $960 million; prepared food manufacturers, $884 million; fishermen and crabbers, $811 million; soap manufacturers, $725 million; beverage manufacturers, $765 million; shipbuilders, $632 million; and furniture makers, $567 million.

Last week, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told lawmakers at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing the administration had no plans "at this time" to extend its farmer aid package to other sectors.

Bradley, in the Chamber's blog post, made clear what the business group would really wants is for Trump to remove the tariffs and back off from the threat of imposing more. "The best way to protect American industries from the damaging consequences of a trade war is to avoid entering into a trade war in the first place," he said.

Steel needs help ... because of the steel tariffs?: Ironically, some of the biggest recipients of an expanded aid package could be two sectors, steel and aluminum, Trump set out to help with his tariffs. A number of countries have retaliated against U.S. steel and aluminum exports, so companies that produce steel and/or manufacture steel products could need $6.4 billion in federal aid and U.S. aluminum companies could need $2.4 billion, the Chamber said.

... AND MORE ON THE TARIFFS: USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue had been in Argentina since Friday, meeting with his fellow ag ministers from the Group of 20 nations. While there, he told Reuters that farmers shouldn't expect to be completely compensated for their losses. "Obviously this is not going to make farmers whole," Perdue said. He also said that about $7 billion to $8 billion of the aid will be in direct cash relief, while other money will go toward export promotion and buying up excess crops.

War of words, and worlds: Officials of the influential Koch network warned that President Donald Trump's tariffs could result in "long-term damage" to the country.

"When in order to win on an issue someone else has to lose, it makes it very difficult to unite people and solve the problems in this country. You see that on trade: In order to get to a good place on trade, convince the American people that trade is bad, " Brian Hooks, one of Charles Koch's top deputies, said this weekend during a briefing for reporters at the network's gathering in Colorado Springs, Colo., POLITICO's Maggie Severns reported.

Those comments prompted former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon to attack the network in turn. In an interview with POLITICO on Sunday, Bannon called the comments unhelpful. "We can have a theoretical discussion later, OK? This is why they don't know what it means to win, OK?"

The excerpt shown above illustrates the loss or potential loss to the deficit of either $12 billion or $39 billion regardless of who is correct.  Either way, the United States of America has officially opened an unlimited credit card account to "Make America Great Again" -- at least that is what is supposed to be happening.  The opposite seems to be unveiling in reality though.



What is surprising about the situation America finds itself in -- in regards to the 'trade war' is that even if the United States could recover or agree on trade agreements with countries based on the previous tariffs, our country would still lose out.  The trade agreements which the United States previously had with other countries had 'special provisions' attached to them.  The possibility of regaining these 'special provisions' is out the door heading into the future.



Which means that even if similar relations were recovered, the 'special provisions' would be gone.  "Free Trade" is based on certain deficits incurred by various countries.  While the United States appears to be 'a loser' on trade deals, as a country the United States has been a 'winner' in a large amount of situations.  I discussed briefly 'global free trade' in a previous post.  The United States is considered the 'major player' on the world stage -- at least as of 2 years ago.



This position has quite possibly changed over the last 2 years.  The current trade war has not helped us on the international stage.  As the excerpt above states: "When in order to win on an issue someone else has to lose, it makes it very difficult to unite people and solve the problems in this country. You see that on trade: In order to get to a good place on trade, convince the American people that trade is bad" -- The American people are now being convinced by politicians that being taken advantage of is a terrible cost of doing business on the world stage.  That is not necessarily the case.



Conclusion...



Bad news consists of recent events such as China telling shipping boats carrying up to 1.5 million shipping boxes of cherries to turn around.  Which is to say, over night, the demand for cherries all over China dropped to zero.  This results to a HUGE SURPLUS of cherries being dumped onto the United States produce market -- which will drive prices down.  In the short term, cost reduction seems great.  Although, in the long term, profits suffer -- farmers suffer -- then in return -- consumers suffer.  Not great.



Other commodities (products) will face similar fates.  Look for increases in prices for consumer goods as a result.  The Trump Administration has been handing out 'exemptions' to certain corporations which make them 'exempt' toward trade tariffs.  How does that help the United States in a trade war?  The answer appears to be that the exemptions amount to setting us further back as a trade negotiator on the world stage.  Which means in certain cases, the United States looks 'uncertain' or 'unstable' in trade negotiations.  Call your elected congressional leaders and demand that trade agreements be elevated to a top position for our nation.  Follow the farmers lead "Trade not Aid".



Related Blog Posts: 


How Many Cherries Are In 1.5 Million Shipping Boxes?

Parameters: Trade Tariffs Will Affect International Science


Parameters: Tariffs Affect Trade In Both Directions -- In And Out Of The USA


Parameters: Steel And Aluminum Tariffs Are Not Isolated - They Are Tied To Trading Of Other Vital Goods


Parameters: One Parameter Change In The Trade Machine Leads To A 'Re-Adjustment' Of Another

What Is Holding You Back From Achieving Your Potential?

The question is relatively straight forward and has been asked of people for generations.  Unfortunately, each of us do not always have the answer to achieve the success that we would like to or envision.  Why is this the case?  I believe the answer lies in looking within ourselves to work on "inner obstacles" that prevent us from moving toward the next level.  Why do I believe this to be the case?  I give you the example of a Paralympian Lex Gillette below as an example.

Identify The Obstacle!

Recently, I was in awe after watching a commercial of a ParaOlympian for the upcoming Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.  Why?  These athletes are amazing to say the least.  Especially, since each have achieved an obstacle and moved forward to compete in the sport of their interest.



The example that I use is of Lex Gillette.  Here is the short (less and 1.5 minutes long) video of the a day of training titled "Lex Gillette Is Jumping Toward Rio" shown below:

Wow!  I cried the first time that I watched this commercial.  You might be thinking that I have over dramatized the video.  But each of us can learn from Lex's evolution.  Think about the video that is shown below in frames to illustrate my point of potential:

Here is a child who was bound to lose his eyesight as explained by his saddened mother.  Although, determined to support his interests, she pushes him to remain in a public high school and graduate as shown below:

During which, he showed an interest in the "long jump" and chooses to try out.  His mother describes with emotion the feeling of watching him go "off course" during his first jump and land on the "side of the pit" rather than in the sand.

I could only imagine the pain that is felt by a parent watching their child hit the side (of the sand box) and fail to achieve their goal.  Further, a majority of people would give up at this point in pursuing an interest (in the face of adversity).  Instead, Lex listened to great advice from his mother.  A powerful statement that had an immeasurable impact on his success:



"Lexis, it does not matter what anybody tells you...you decide what you can do and no one else."



Wow!  What I do know is that the body is resilient and can adapt to a wide range of difficult situations if the mind chooses to train the body.  How do I know this?



I was born "club footed" and had to wear casts on my legs for the first couple of years of my life.  I can still remember the feeling of trying to walk as the casts were "straightening" out my legs over time.  I remarked on this to my mother a few years ago and her response was: "Mike, you can still remember that.  Amazing since you were so young."



She remembers having to watch me learn how to get up and go on my own -- despite her yearnings to help me.  Similarly, Lex Gillette needed to learn how to work with his blindness to achieve the "long jump" and to go onto compete in the Paralympics -- and win.

How has he done in competing over the years?



Here is a description of the competitions from his 'Wikipedia' page shown below:

He competed in the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, where he won silver in the men's long jump F11 event. At the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, he won a silver medal in the men's long jump F11 event and finished fifth in the men's triple jump F11. He competed in 100m and 200m T11 events but did not advance to the finals. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, he won a third consecutive silver medal in the men's long jump F11 event. He also finished fourth in the triple jump event.

At the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships in Lyon, France, he won gold in the men's long jump F11 event and he also won silver in the triple jump event. Gillette is apart of the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships 4 × 100 m relay team that won a silver medal and set a new American record in the process. Gillette broke his own long jump world record for F11 classified athletes of 6.73m (22 ft. 1in.) with a leap of 6.77m (22 ft. 2in.) on April 23, 2015 at a high performance meet held at the Chula Vista Olympic Training Center.[1][2]

This is a brief summary.  Below on the 'Wikipedia' page is a long list of his amazing accomplishments.  He is a true athlete and inspiration for anyone struggling to achieve their potential.  If you need motivation, do not look any further than him.

Ready To Explore Within Yourself?

This is just one of many stories meant to inspire anyone to find their potential within themselves.  There are a wide range of success stories all around us available to motivate a change toward achieving a goal.  Why don't we look for inspiration and action?



I guess that sitting on the 'pitty potty' ("poor me") is easier than the actual work toward achieving whatever goal the you desire.  The next time that you find yourself wondering why failure is knocking on your door, think of Lex Gillette.  Furthermore, get up and start working to achieve your desired goal.  Until next time, best of luck in your adventure!