It’s War !!!
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It seems that the USA has sparked a trade war which may well have global ramifications.
EU trade chiefs are considering slapping 25% tariffs on around $3.5bn (£2.5bn) of imports from the US. Canada, Mexico, China, Japan and Brazil also say they are considering retaliatory steps. Chinese publication Global Times says "nothing good" would come out of a trade war with Trump, and has warned that China could fight back. http://www.bbc.com/news/business-42798941
Even Fox TV commentators disparage Trump's move as bad for the American consumer
http://video.foxnews.com/v/5744019375001/?#sp=show-clips
World Trade Organization Director-General Roberto Azevedo said: "A trade war is in no one's interests."
Trump tweeted that "trade wars are good".
The number of employees working in the US steel industry 83,600.
6.5 million Americans work for manufacturers who make things using steel.
Carl Icahn, a former special adviser to Donald Trump, sold $31.3m of shares in a company heavily dependent on steel imports last week, shortly before Trump’s announcement of new tariffs sent its shares plummeting. Icahn was able to sell his shares for $32 to $34. On Friday morning Manitowoc’s shares had fallen 5.48% to $26.37 The investor was a special adviser to Trump during the election but resigned his position amid concerns about potential conflicts of interest relating to his vast business holdings. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/mar/02/carl-icahn-shares-sell-trump-steel-tariffs-announcement-timing
The biggest exporter of Steel and aluminium is not China, it is Canada. and Brazil. One of the worst enemies of the capitalists is capital itselfThe same measure ( after 1930 ) was adopted by Richard Nixon in 2002 and then they had to back down because the consequences produced to the USA economy were disastrous. The USA capitalists are fighting back like a wounded lion to recover their world hegemony again, but China is already the world leader
The sabre rattling increaseshttp://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43270388"If the EU wants to further increase their already massive tariffs and barriers on US companies doing business there, we will simply apply a Tax on their Cars which freely pour into the US." – Trump
Zhang Yesui, spokesperson for China's National People's Congress, said China would take "necessary measures" if its interests were hurt.http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-43278458
So much for the Brexshiteers illusion that Britain (the British capitalist class) will be able to survive better in the jungle of world capitalist trade competition on its own rather than as part of a larger trading bloc. With the first division clubs — USA, EU, China, Japan — fighting it out, the government has chosen to relegate British capitalism to the second division. I don't think the British capitalism class are going to forgive the bunch of second-class political representatives (Cameron, May, Boris and the other non-entities) they've got. Still, not our problem as socialists.
Another war between capitalists gangster ( right wing or left wing ) In which the working class should not get involved. One sector of the capitalist class is invoking the so-called national security in order to obtain the approval and the supporter of the workers, Another sector of the capitalist that is opposing this tariff is also a trap in which the workers should not get involved either. Socialists and workers should not take side with any type of war including the so-called national liberation war, war for a capitalist market is a war like any other imperialist warThe Leninists are already calling this an opportunity for a socialist revolution, which socialist revolution can take place when the majority of the workers are supporting their own rulers and do not have the proper political consciousness for a new society?
The US plans to impose tariffs on up to $60bn (£42.5bn) in Chinese imports and limit the country's investment in the US in retaliation for years of alleged intellectual property theft.http://www.bbc.com/news/business-43494001China said it was ready to retaliate with "necessary measures". Beijing also said it would "fight to the end" in any trade war with the US.China was the third largest market for US exports in 2016 and among the biggest buyers of American soybeans, corn, pork and aircraft. However, the US imports billions more goods from China each year than it exports, creating a deficit of about $375bn last year.
The USA retaliates The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative proposing 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion and issued a list targeting 1,300 Chinese products, including industrial robots and telecommunications equipment.
Now the USA is trying to calm the market. It is not only a trade war, it is a war on technology due to the fact that China is getting more technological advance than the USA, and it is losing its hegemony around the world
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/may/03/donald-trump-trade-economists-warning-great-depression 1,140 economists, including 14 Nobel prize winners, sent the letter on Thursday amid an escalating row over trade between the US and the European Union. Trump has imposed tariffs on steel and aluminium imports but has granted temporary reprieves to the EU, Australia and other countries.“In 1930, 1,028 economists urged Congress to reject the protectionist Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act,” the authors write, citing a trade act that many economists argue was one of the triggers for the Great Depression…Congress did not take economists’ advice in 1930, and Americans across the country paid the price."
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44079831France has condemned as "unacceptable" a US move to re-impose sanctions on companies trading with Iran.The action from Washington followed President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of a landmark deal that sought to curb Iran's nuclear programme.French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said European companies should not have to pay for the US decision.The US says firms have six months to halt business and cannot enter into new contracts or they will face sanctions.
The French finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, suggests Trump’s proposals to corral Europe into joining US foreign policy on Iran may lead to a severe backlash by EU firms and politicians, especially advocates of a stronger independent European foreign policy.“We have to work among ourselves in Europe to defend our European economic sovereignty,” Le Maire said, adding that Europe could use the same instruments as the US to defend its interests. Speaking on Europe 1 he added: “Do we want to be a vassal that obeys and jumps to attention?”In Italy, Nathalie Tocci, an adviser to the EU external affairs chief, Federica Mogherini, said Trump’s decision to pull out of the Iran deal was “an utter and unjustified betrayal of Europe”. She called for proportionate reprisals if necessary.Ellie Geranmayeh, an Iran expert with the European Council on Foreign Relations, said Europe needed to produce a counter-package against the US, including penalties against assets of US companies based in Europe to allow for clawback of illegal fines imposed.Economy minister, Peter Altmaier, said Germany was ready to give help to its affected firms to continue doing business in Iran.https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/11/europe-prepares-countermeasures-against-us-iran-sanctions
A truce !!http://www.bbc.com/news/business-44190169China and the US say they will halt imposing punitive import tariffs, putting a possible trade war "on hold".
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