It’d be nice if this was framed as an effort to curb or hopefully stop China’s aid to Russia in their Ukraine war effort. Otherwise it’s shortsighted as they’re still our largest trading partner. Thanks to US Corporate efforts to get cheap raw materials, avoid taxation, avoid OSHA safety protocols, and avoid US Union labor.
The US is now buying more from Mexico than China for the first time in 20 years.
With that being said, I’m not sure the trade war does any good in the long run.
Correct, but if you factor in manufacturing, China is still ahead. A lot of stuff is “Assembled” in Mexico and the US but the assembly still often originates in China.
EDIT: To clarify. Components are manufactured in China and then shipped to NAFTA Countries for final assembly and QC
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-99-6248-8_6
https://www.chicagofed.org/publications/blogs/midwest-economy/2019/what-do-we-know-about-the-origin
https://princemanufacturing.com/inclusive-rules-of-origin-in-mexico-five-things-you-need-to-know/
More like China is funneling more through Mexico to get around current Tariffs.
Thanks to US Corporate efforts to get cheap raw materials, avoid taxation, avoid OSHA safety protocols, and avoid US Union labor.
The high tariffs on imports help address all of those. I really have mixed thoughts on tariffs but allowing everything to go to a low cost foreign provider hasn’t been healthy for any American industry. Steel, Textiles, Chip Manufacturing, Technology, and a whole lot more have been damaged to the point of national security concern by rampant and unchecked outsourcing.
Former machinist here, not sure if this is on raw material or finished products, but it was definitely a problem in the industry that customers could buy a half as good version of our product for a fraction of the price out of China. Even the shipping time was negligible bc they would crank these parts out so fucking quick, quality control be damned.
What if we subsidized that production here, instead of driving out car manufacturing?
You would need proper regulation and legislation. So that’s out of the question. It’s free money with no strings or bust.
