U.S. companies are bringing new trade lawsuits against their foreign competitors with a scope and frequency not seen in more than 15 years, government documents show, as a wave of new complaints builds under President Trump.

A Washington Post analysis of Commerce Department data found 23 new trade disputes initiated since January, making 2017 the busiest year for tariff cases since 2001. The new cases target trade between the U.S. and 29 counties, the most in any year since 2001. The cases include fights over Korean washing machines, Spanish olives, Chinese aluminum foil, Vietnamese tool chests, Argentine biodiesel and Canadian jetliners.

The U.S. trade warriors include financially strapped solar panel manufacturers, downsizing Rust Belt steel plants and declining California olive farms.

U.S. President Donald Trump is seeking to impose tariffs on up to $60 billion of Chinese imports and will target the technology and telecommunications sectors, two people who had discussed the issue with the Trump administration said on Tuesday.

While the tariffs would be chiefly targeted at information technology, consumer electronics and telecoms, they could be much broader and the list could eventually run to 100 products.

@jleo

Looks fun, but consequences will be quite grim.

A presidential memorandum signed by Trump will target up to $60 billion in Chinese goods with tariffs over what his administration says is misappropriation of U.S. intellectual property, but only after a 30-day consultation period that starts once a list is published.

Trump gave the Treasury Department 60 days to develop investment restrictions aimed at preventing Chinese-controlled companies and funds from acquiring U.S. firms with sensitive technologies.

The waiting periods will give industry lobbyists and U.S. lawmakers a chance to water down a proposed target list that runs to 1,300 products, many in technology sectors.

And some response

Bearing in mind the principles of mutual respect and win-win cooperation, China has demonstrated sincerity in making reasonable suggestions to the U.S., and has made great efforts to address the current trade imbalance between China and the U.S. China does not want a trade war with anyone. But China is not afraid of and will not recoil from a trade war. China is confident and capable of facing any challenge. If a trade war were initiated by the U.S., China would fight to the end to defend its own legitimate interests with all necessary measures.

The actions undertaken by the U.S. are self-defeating. They will directly harm the interests of U.S. consumers, companies, and financial markets. They also jeopardize international trade order and world economic stability.

We urge the U.S. to cease and desist, make cautious decisions, and avoid placing China-U.S. trade relations in danger with the purpose of hurting others that eventually end up hurting itself.

FCC proposal is meant to limit the amount of equipment and services purchased from Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE. Huawei has been a focus of the US government. Earlier Congress proposed a bill that would prohibit any government agency from engaging with Huawei and ZTE. And while in January, AT&T did an about face and decided it wouldn't sell Huawei smartphones, reports later surfaced that Congress had pressured AT&T into dropping its rumored plans to carry Huawei products. Since then, Verizon also decided to cancel plans to sell Huawei-manufactured devices while Best Buy announced it would stop ordering them and phase them out.

Freedom of trade and independence of individual players. In fairy tales.

Problem with Huawei is that in 2018 it plans to pass Apple in number of sold smartphones. Bad guys, bad.

China move

The Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council will now impose a tariff of 15 percent on 120 products imported from the United States, as well as a tariff of 25 percent on eight U.S. imports including pork, according to a statement from the ministry’s website.

The statement said it was a countermeasure in response to the March 8th move by U.S. President Donald Trump to levy U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from China. As of March 23rd, the United States is imposing a 25-percent tariff on steel imports, and a 10-percent tariff on aluminum.

The Economist Intelligence Unit predicts that China will have the largest number of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) graduates in the world in 2030. According to the World Economic Forum, China had 4.7 million recent STEM graduates in 2016; 40 percent of Chinese graduates in 2013 finished a degree in the field. The Chinese government seeks to further boost those numbers as part of its quest to transform the country into “an innovative society” by 2020, according to “Medium- to Long-Term Plan for the Development of Science and Technology.” Beijing also envisions having at least 40 world-class universities by mid-century.

https://thediplomat.com/2017/12/chinas-education-boom/

Free trade advocates are now implementing tariffs. As soon as the USA suffers in a free trade environment, up go the walls. Same old shit!

Somebody will get his ear, eventually. It's got to be grrrrowth, nothing but growth. YOu can't have growth with a trade war, but you can maybe have growth with war. Where will the wheel of war land on?

@jleo

Capitalism leads to war :-)

Materialism again won:

My great friendship with President Xi of China and our country's relationship with China are both very important to me. Trade between our nations, however, has been very unfair, for a very long time. This situation is no longer sustainable. China has, for example, long been engaging in several unfair practices related to the acquisition of American intellectual property and technology. These practices, documented in an extensive report published by the United States Trade Representative (USTR) on March 22, 2018. harm our economic and national security and deepen our already massive trade imbalance with China.

In light of China's theft of intellectual property and technology and its other unfair trade practices, the United States will implement a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion of goods from China that contain industrially significant technologies. This includes goods related to China's Made in China 2025 strategic plan to dominate the emerging high-technology industries that will drive future economic growth for China. but hurt economic growth for the United States and many other countries. The United States can no longer tolerate losing our technology and intellectual property through unfair economic practices.

These tariffs are essential to preventing further unfair transfers of American technology and intellectual property to China. which will protect American jobs. In addition. they will serve as an initial step toward bringing balance to the trade relationship between the United States and China.

The United States will pursue additional tariffs if China engages in retaliatory measures, such as imposing new tariffs on United States goods, services, or agricultural products: raising non-tariff barriers: or taking punitive actions against American exporters or American companies operating in China.

• USTR SAYS LIST INCLUDES 1,102 PRODUCT LINES TOTALING $50B
• USTR SAYS CHINA TARIFF LIST CONSISTS OF TWO SETS
• USTR SAYS FIRST SET OF CHINA TARIFFS TO START JULY 6
• USTR SAYS FIRST SET OF CHINA TARIFFS TO COVER $34B IN IMPORTS
• USTR TO FURTHER REVIEW $16B IN IMPORTS IN 2ND WAVE OF TARIFFS

By DAVID P. GOLDMAN JUNE 21, 2018

“Just remember, we’re twice the size — our economy — twice the size of China,” US President Donald Trump told reporters June 1. The president is catastrophically misinformed.

In terms of purchasing power parity, China’s economy overtook the US in 2013, according to the World Bank. Trump meant that China is small enough to be bullied by the United States. That might be the worst estimation of relative strength since Napoleon III launched a war on Prussia in 1870.

The United States proposes to undertake a trade war while it needs to borrow $1 trillion a year to fund its government deficit for many years to come, and must borrow a large portion of that money overseas.

http://www.atimes.com/article/president-trump-moves-to-navarro-navarro-land/

Based on the Tariffs and Trade Barriers long placed on the U.S. and it great companies and workers by the European Union, if these Tariffs and Barriers are not soon broken down and removed, we will be placing a 20% Tariff on all of their cars coming into the U.S. Build them here!