So Trump is planning on tariffs. Let's take a look at how it went the last time.
Links to Jan. 21, 2020 Forbes article:
[link:https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2020/01/21/trump-tariff-aid-to-farmers-cost-more-than-us-nuclear-forces/?sh=7a0f0786c501|
Trump Tariff Aid To Farmers Cost More Than U.S. Nuclear Forces
Stuart Anderson
The Trump administration gave more taxpayer dollars to farmers harmed by the administration’s trade policies than the federal government spends each year building ships for the Navy or maintaining America’s nuclear arsenal, according to a new report. A National Foundation for American Policy analysis concluded the spending on farmers was also higher than the annual budgets of several government agencies. “The amount of money raises questions about the strategy of imposing tariffs and permitting the use of taxpayer money to shield policymakers from the consequences of their actions,” according to the analysis.
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Trump Aid to Farmers $28 Billion
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After a series of tariff increases on Chinese imports, the government of China retaliated against U.S. exporters, as predicted by trade analysts outside of the administration. As a result, U.S. exports, particularly of agricultural goods, dropped significantly. “Losing the world’s most populous country as an export market has been a major blow to the [U.S.] agriculture industry,” reported the New York Times in August 2019. “Total American agricultural exports to China were $24 billion in 2014 and fell to $9.1 billion last year, according to the American Farm Bureau.” In 2018, U.S. farmers’ soybean exports to China declined by 75%, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission.
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Utilizing a type of all-purpose fund to help supporters was easy to do because of the loose legal justifications required by the Department of Agriculture to spend funds authorized for the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC). “The Charter Act . . . grants the Secretary of Agriculture broad powers and discretion in the use of the CCC,” according to a report from the Congressional Research Service. “These broad authorities that Congress has granted to CCC allow it to carry out almost any operation that is consistent with the objective of supporting U.S. agriculture. . . . Recent congressional action restoring CCC’s authority have allowed for the Trump Administration’s use of CCC to mitigate commodity price declines from retaliatory tariffs on a variety of U.S. agricultural products.”
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Companies in other sectors, such as manufacturers and retailers, received no bailouts. Moreover, despite the U.S.-China deal, many tariffs were not removed and will continue to harm U.S. businesses and consumers. A National Foundation for American Policy analysis found the tariffs were on pace to eliminate potentially all of the economic benefits the Trump administration has claimed from its deregulation efforts.
More at link
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