Whaaattt?

Tarrifs I assume are just another word for import duty.
I thought we had free trade but apparently not because we seem to pay import duty on quite a lot of stuff when buying things.
Trups Tarrifs are OTT but
if the US has not been charging import duty in the past you can kind of see where he's coming from.

He calls them reciprocal how reciprocal is in doubt, but he may have a point?????

 

I still maintain that the government should have a block of flats for MPs (something basic similar to council flats), assign one to each MP, and provide utilities, a cleaning service, maintenance etc so they don't need to claim for second homes in London. It would save a fortune. If they wanted something different they'd have to pay for it out of their own pockets.

 

@pete - the EU is tariff free to members. There is a World Trade Organisation which regulates and facilitates international trade and can intervene and arbitrate in case of disputes. Trump i sthrowing all that out of his pram.

It would be nice to think the countries on the end of Trump's new tariffs could agree to lower traiffs between each other but one of th ethings I'd worry about is unfettered access to goods made in countries where labour laws are none existent or inadequate - think Bnagladeshi and other Asian women and girls making clotehs in sweat shops for miniscule wages and in awful conditions. Think China using slave Ouija labour and poor peasants ditto and making them so cheaply they undermine industrial production in countries with higher social standards and rules. Then there are all those rare earth minerals being mined by indentured labour, including children, in appalling conditions.

The USA itself has no job secuirty at any level in the workforce, minimal capacity for social care and no access to health care for the poor. Its food production is rife with chemicals and hormones we have banned as unsafe so I wouldn't want to be eating any food exports they have either.

 

Yes the EU is tariff free,............to members.
I think their lies the point, only free to members, so not free trade in my opinion.

 

@pete The whole point of the EU - which the UK failed to grasp - was to create a situation where trade happened peacefully with no-one deciding they could suddenly invade and grab. It started small with a coal and iron agreement between Belgium and Italy after WW2 then grew, slowly making up standards of production in all the countries concerned and agreeing what could and couldn't be done in farming and industry so there was a levelling of the playing field.

It has been a success, improving living standards for all its members and yes, it works to protect itself from cheaper, shoddier imports and to protect agricultural standards for th ebenefit of the people who then eat it. I don't want GM foods, or chlorinated chicken, hormone fed beef or fruit and veg doused in pesticides and herbicides which will harm my body and my family's future health. It's not perfect and there are, as with any political system, prolems with incompetency and courruption but the overall benefits far outweigh the bad.

If you join, you have to pay a membership fee by contributing to the central puse and then follow social and economic rules and can also benefit enormously from funds to revitalise poor areas - The UK had EU billions spent in Wales, the south west, the industrial north but chose to throw it all away.

The United States is a union of 50 disparate states, each with their own governor and laws. They choose to work as a union when it comes to trading with the rest of the world and have been using their size and power to bully others for decades. Most Americans have never even left their own state, let alone travelled abroad. They have little or no understanding about other countries, their history and political and cultural systems. That ignorance leads to fear and therein lies danger for everyone else.

 

Ahem...Britain chose to 'unsubscribe'. Surely you can't expect the EU to now trade with it on the same basis as before?

 

No, I dont, but a British government minister said on TV this morning that this is the end of FREE GLOBAL TRADE, I'm struggling to work out if we ever did have free global trade.

There has always been import taxes on products from around the world as far as I know, in Britain, its not all about the EU, they are just one protectionist group in the scheme of things worldwide.

Britain I presume does the same, so what does free global trade really mean?
Its a mystery to me.

I'm not blaming anyone just trying to work out if the US actually imposed import tax on other countries before this happened.

 

apparently Grenfill towers is still empty.

 

Good Golly, have to share this with you all. So yesterday, had a bunch of folks over, 5 total. Took the young lady, she is about 50 years old for our tour of all our daffodils, as you know there are thousands of them. Just before she left I found her a container, and gave her a pair of scissors, and said go cut yourself some to take home for your table. She asked me where to cut them, I told her at ground level is ok. So then she comes back and actually says to me, NOW HOW DO I PLANT THEM? not kidding folks.

 

Some years ago I worked in an office overlooking a park. There was a series of muffled laughs from colleagues sitting by the windows so naturally we all went to see what was occurring. There was an extremely inebriated gentleman sat on the grass with a bunch of daffodils. He was concentrating hard, or at least as hard as he could, attempting to stand each one up. He didn't seem to be able to work out why each one fell over when he let go of it.

 

I agree with @Obelix-Vendée re the EU and food standards. The only thing I would say tho is that many EU member countries took a long time to halt Battery cage egg production - I don't know whether that has stopped now or still continues in some countries.
The UK chose to leave the EU - right or wrong according to your point of view - and so cannot expect the same advantages of members regarding trade. In that respect, the UK is neither part of Europe nor ( thankfully ) part of the US which is famed for it's lack of food production ethics.
As for Trump's claim that the US is being victimised re trade/imports/exports, he was in charge for 4 years just 10 years ago but didn't appear to make much of an effort to improve the economy or to ensure many of their citizens had much in the way of basic care.
As is so often the case worldwide, too many weathy people making decisions which fail to take the basics into consideration.

 

As far as I know some EU countries still use veal crates and stuff corn down ducks throats to create delicacies.
Until we left the EU it was illegal for us to stop sheep being transported hundreds of miles in trucks to south eastern European countries to be slaughtered ritually in peoples back yards.

I dont think any country can claim the moral high ground when it comes to farming standards.

 

Unfortunately, those first years were riddled by Democrats fabricating all sorts of nonsense attaching him in which to hinder his job. This term he is not going to let that happen. The Democrats are trying.

 

You surely can't be pleased with what he's doing this time round @redstar! So many people losing jobs and state support they've paid for, lack of vaccines for major prreventable illnesses, closing state (public to you) schools, national parks with no staff and protections, no weather service to warn about tornadoes and storms and flooding, shutting down departments that deal with public health and safety, letting an unelected egomaniac run riot.

None of this is going to help bring down food prices or improve health care and education which are fundamental human rights over here and many of his moves are illegal and being challenged, not just by Democrats.

 

We had an agreement called CUSMA (Canada USA Mexico Act) which replaced NAFTA (North American Free Trade Act).

Donald Trump helped craft the last CUSMA and when he got into office he started crying about the very act he had developed and signed and previously stated as the best agreement in history. He backed out of his agreement and this reversal tells me he cannot be trusted to stand by any agreement. He's now shown he's is not a man of his word.

He has complained about our protectionist dairy industry and yes indeed, there is one which is sanctioned by our government however the tariffs on US dairy would only kick in after a certain quota of goods had come up here. Dairy is a LOT more expensive up here than in the US so Canadians are not taking advantage of anybody. Trump kinda forgot about that when he spouted off because the US has yet to ever use up their tariff free quota! And yes, most Canadians would be glad to see the dissolution of the Dairy Farmers Supply Management system. We would like to pay what our neighbours down south do.

And Trump is getting our oil at discount prices plus taking into account that our dollar is only worth 70 cents of their money, that's an even deeper discount. The oil they buy makes up the entire trade deficit of 64B that Trump keeps screaming about. All he has to do is stop buying our oil and everything will be even. Easy peasy right?

And Trump is meddling in our current election. I think it is dirty pool to interfere with another country's politics. But they are famous for that and don't even hide it anymore even though it is as low as you can go.