Trump-"There is bipartisan support for tariffs on China."

[DemocratSinceBirth]

So we co-own this duty sandwich ?

SMFH

[yallerdawg]

1. "It's the economy stupid!"

We can't stop the moron from trotting out this BS!

Let's bury him in it come November!!!

[bearsfootball516]

2. He could just be bullshitting, or he could be saying it because of what Schumer said.

[wishstar]

3. Schumer praised Trump's action today

and Schumer said he was patting him on the back because previous Repub and Dem Presidents had failed to take this action

[dameatball]

4. Thanks Chuck. You wanna take a victory lap with him?

[awesomerwb1]

5. Remember it was Chuck

who got played by dump before.

Remember the hot mic moment where he was telling someone "trump likes me"?

[denverbill]

6. I support tariffs.

Tariffs were a significant portion of government revenues until Reagan and the DLC started dismantling them and sending American jobs to Mexico, China, India and the Phillipines.

NAFTA would have never gotten past a Democratic controlled Congress if a Democratic President hadn't pushed it, and gotten mostly Republican votes in favor of it.

Look at who opposes them most stridently right now. The libertarian nut jobs (Koch bros, Ryan, Paul), multinational corporations, and conservatives.

Trump is right about us signing bad trade agreements, but he has no clue how to fix them and just slapping tariffs on China without any sort of negotiation is idiotic.

But if American workers have to compete with workers who make 1/10 or less than they do, American workers will lose every time.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. I stand with the 35th president and not the 45th president. You should too.

"... we cannot protect our economy by stagnating behind tariff walls, but that the best protection possible is a mutual lowering of tariff barriers among friendly nations so that all may benefit from a free flow of goods. Increased economic activity resulting from increased trade will provide more job opportunities for our workers. Our industry, our agriculture, our mining will benefit from increased export opportunities as other nations agree to lower their tariffs. Increased exports and imports will benefit our ports, steamship lines, and airlines as they handle an increased amount of trade. Lowering of our tariffs will provide an increased flow of goods for our American consumers. Our industries will be stimulated by increased export opportunities and by freer competition with the industries of other nations for an even greater effort to develop an efficient, economic, and productive system. The results can bring a dynamic new era of growth."


http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=8946&st=trade&st1=

Tariffs were a significant portion of government revenues until Reagan and the DLC started dismantling them and sending American jobs to Mexico, China, India and the Phillipines.

Presidents Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, Clinton, and Obama were for free trade. I will provide citations for each one if you like. The GOP was the party of tariffs.

[denverbill]

9. You significantly omitted Reagan, Bush I and Bush II, all of whom supported 'free trade'

Every Democrat running for President in 1992 opposed NAFTA, except Bill Clinton. It was why Ross Perot also ran, since both Bush and Clinton were pro-NAFTA and why a 3rd party candidate got nearly 20% of the vote that year, despite his strange actions of withdrawing from the race and getting back in.

I don't think most of those Presidents were evening considering 'free trade' with third world countries. I'm fine with reducing tariffs between relative equals, but Mexico and those other countries aren't in that group. I'd be interested if you can find quotes from Democratic President prior to Clinton who supported free trade with a third world country.

As I recall, both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama claimed to want to renegotiate NAFTA during the debates. Their later actions showed neither had any interest in doing so during Obama's Presidency.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

10. Actually Reagan put tariffs on Japanese motorcycles to protect Harley Davidson.

I was okay with that.

Bush experimented with tariffs on Chinese steel which he ultimately withdrew because they didn't work.

Of course I'm sympathetic to workers, regardless of their citizenry. That's why I'm a liberal. I'm just not convinced tariffs is the way to improve their life.

[denverbill]

11. The Bush tariffs were in place less than 2 years.

I don't see how their effectiveness could be judged to any degree. Many American steel mills had already closed by the time the tariffs were instituted and you don't reopen plants like that in a year. Virtually all Republicans opposed the tariffs, while many Democrats didn't think they were high enough to be effective.

My problem with 'free trade' folks is that they tend to be slaves to that religion. When Obama tried to resuscitate the economy in 2009, there were laws in place that required Chinese firms to be allowed to bid on the construction projects, which effectively meant the money US citizens were borrowing to stimulate the American economy instead stimulated China's.

And as the idiot-in-chief noted, correctly in this rare case, the lack of a steel industry, and many other industries (aluminum, munitions, oil, chip-making, etc) could potentially cripple America when the inevitable next big war comes.

So if China wants to sell steel in America, there's a price they have to pay. Let those tariffs support laid off steel-workers. And in the meantime, let's institute national health care so that US corporations don't have competitive disadvantages against all other industrialized nations.

[Tatiana]

8. Is this because of Chuck?

I never know how to take him. He could be goading Trump, but I doubt it.

First Franken, now giving the Orange Troll cover?

I'm really ready for new leadership. Schumer isn't fit to shine Pelosi's Italian leather pumps.