“Donald Trump has invested in some of the companies that he uses as punching bags on the campaign trail, according to new financial documents he submitted to the U.S. government,” Jeff Horwitz and Chad Day report for The Associated Press. “”
“In his 104-page public financial disclosure report, the presumptive Republican nominee reported holding investments in companies like Ford Motor Co., Apple Inc. and the parent company of the maker of Oreo cookies — all businesses that he’s assailed for outsourcing [and] in Apple’s case, not agreeing to crack into iPhones for police or federal law enforcement in criminal cases,” Horwitz and Day report. “Trump also has invested in other companies that have outsourced jobs but escaped his public shaming.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We can’t imagine much demand for $580/month iPhone assembly jobs (that will be replaced by robots within 3-5 years anyway), however Kyle Wiens, the CEO of iFixit, estimates that an iPhone that was assembled in the U.S. versus one that was assembled in China would cost around $50 more.
“‘You wouldn’t be building everything here overnight,’ Wiens added, ‘but if you started slowly and moved 10 percent of your manufacturing to the US each year,’ pretty soon Apple could have a significant percentage of its products assembled in the US — assuming Tim Cook and co. are OK with higher US assembly wages,” Nicholas Deleon reports for Motherboard. “Apple may even have a head start, given that it already assembles the Mac Pro here in the US.”
How much more per iPhone would you be willing to pay, if anything, if it were assembled in the U.S. as opposed to China?
Reforming The U.S.-China Trade Relationship To Make America Great Again
How We Got Here: Washington Politicians Let China Off The Hook
In January 2000, President Bill Clinton boldly promised China’s inclusion in the World Trade Organization (WTO) “is a good deal for America. Our products will gain better access to China’s market, and every sector from agriculture, to telecommunications, to automobiles. But China gains no new market access to the United States.” None of what President Clinton promised came true. Since China joined the WTO, Americans have witnessed the closure of more than 50,000 factories and the loss of tens of millions of jobs. It was not a good deal for America then and it’s a bad deal now. It is a typical example of how politicians in Washington have failed our country.
The most important component of our China policy is leadership and strength at the negotiating table. We have been too afraid to protect and advance American interests and to challenge China to live up to its obligations. We need smart negotiators who will serve the interests of American workers – not Wall Street insiders that want to move U.S. manufacturing and investment offshore.
The Goal Of The Trump Plan: Fighting For American Businesses And Workers
America has always been a trading nation. Under the Trump administration trade will flourish. However, for free trade to bring prosperity to America, it must also be fair trade. Our goal is not protectionism but accountability. America fully opened its markets to China but China has not reciprocated. Its Great Wall of Protectionism uses unlawful tariff and non-tariff barriers to keep American companies out of China and to tilt the playing field in their favor.
If you give American workers a level playing field, they will win. At its heart, this plan is a negotiating strategy to bring fairness to our trade with China. The results will be huge for American businesses and workers. Jobs and factories will stop moving offshore and instead stay here at home. The economy will boom. The steps outlined in this plan will make that a reality.
When Donald J. Trump is president, China will be on notice that America is back in the global leadership business and that their days of currency manipulation and cheating are over. We will cut a better deal with China that helps American businesses and workers compete.
The Trump Plan Will Achieve The Following Goals:
1. Bring China to the bargaining table by immediately declaring it a currency manipulator.
2. Protect American ingenuity and investment by forcing China to uphold intellectual property laws and stop their unfair and unlawful practice of forcing U.S. companies to share proprietary technology with Chinese competitors as a condition of entry to China’s market.
3. Reclaim millions of American jobs and reviving American manufacturing by putting an end to China’s illegal export subsidies and lax labor and environmental standards. No more sweatshops or pollution havens stealing jobs from American workers.
4. Strengthen our negotiating position by lowering our corporate tax rate to keep American companies and jobs here at home, attacking our debt and deficit so China cannot use financial blackmail against us, and bolstering the U.S. military presence in the East and South China Seas to discourage Chinese adventurism.
Details of Donald J. Trump’s US China Trade Plan:
Declare China A Currency Manipulator
We need a president who will not succumb to the financial blackmail of a Communist dictatorship. President Obama’s Treasury Department has repeatedly refused to brand China a currency manipulator – a move that would force China to stop these unfair practices or face tough countervailing duties that level the playing field.
Economists estimate the Chinese yuan is undervalued by anywhere from 15% to 40%. This grossly undervalued yuan gives Chinese exporters a huge advantage while imposing the equivalent of a heavy tariff on U.S. exports to China. Such currency manipulation, in concert with China’s other unfair practices, has resulted in chronic U.S. trade deficits, a severe weakening of the U.S. manufacturing base and the loss of tens of millions of American jobs.
In a system of truly free trade and floating exchange rates like a Trump administration would support, America’s massive trade deficit with China would not persist. On day one of the Trump administration the U.S. Treasury Department will designate China as a currency manipulator. This will begin a process that imposes appropriate countervailing duties on artificially cheap Chinese products, defends U.S. manufacturers and workers, and revitalizes job growth in America. We must stand up to China’s blackmail and reject corporate America’s manipulation of our politicians. The U.S. Treasury’s designation of China as a currency manipulator will force China to the negotiating table and open the door to a fair – and far better – trading relationship.
End China’s Intellectual Property Violations
China’s ongoing theft of intellectual property may be the greatest transfer of wealth in history. This theft costs the U.S. over $300 billion and millions of jobs each year. China’s government ignores this rampant cybercrime and, in other cases, actively encourages or even sponsors it –without any real consequences. China’s cyber lawlessness threatens our prosperity, privacy and national security. We will enforce stronger protections against Chinese hackers and counterfeit goods and our responses to Chinese theft will be swift, robust, and unequivocal.
The Chinese government also forces American companies like Boeing, GE, and Intel to transfer proprietary technologies to Chinese competitors as a condition of entry into the Chinese market. Such de facto intellectual property theft represents a brazen violation of WTO and international rules. China’s forced technology transfer policy is absolutely ridiculous. Going forward, we will adopt a zero tolerance policy on intellectual property theft and forced technology transfer. If China wants to trade with America, they must agree to stop stealing and to play by the rules.
Eliminate China’s Illegal Export Subsidies And Other Unfair Advantages
Chinese manufacturers and other exporters receive numerous illegal export subsidies from the Chinese government. These include – in direct contradiction to WTO rules – free or nearly free rent, utilities, raw materials, and many other services. China’s state-run banks routinely extend loans these enterprises at below market rates or without the expectation they will be repaid. China even offers them illegal tax breaks or rebates as well as cash bonuses to stimulate exports.
China’s illegal export subsidies intentionally distorts international trade and damages other countries’ exports by giving Chinese companies an unfair advantage. From textile and steel mills in the Carolinas to the Gulf Coast’s shrimp and fish industries to the Midwest manufacturing belt and California’s agribusiness, China’s disregard for WTO rules hurt every corner of America.
The U.S. Trade Representative recently filed yet another complaint with the WTO accusing China of cheating on our trade agreements by subsidizing its exports. The Trump administration will not wait for an international body to tell us what we already know. To gain negotiating leverage, we will pursue the WTO case and aggressively highlight and expose these subsidies.
China’s woeful lack of reasonable environmental and labor standards represent yet another form of unacceptable export subsidy. How can American manufacturers, who must meet very high standards, possibly compete with Chinese companies that care nothing about their workers or the environment? We will challenge China to join the 21 st Century when it comes to such standards.
The Trump Plan Will Strengthen Our Negotiating Position
As the world’s most important economy and consumer of goods, America must always negotiate trade agreements from strength. Branding China as a currency manipulator and exposing their unfair trade practices is not enough. In order to further strengthen our negotiating leverage, the Trump plan will:
1. Lower the corporate tax rate to 15% to unleash American ingenuity here at home and make us more globally competitive. This tax cut puts our rate 10 percentage points below China and 20 points below our current burdensome rate that pushes companies and jobs offshore.
2. Attack our debt and deficit by vigorously eliminating waste, fraud and abuse in the Federal government, ending redundant government programs, and growing the economy to increase tax revenues. Closing the deficit and reducing our debt will mean China cannot blackmail us with our own Treasury bonds.
3. Strengthen the U.S. military and deploying it appropriately in the East and South China Seas. These actions will discourage Chinese adventurism that imperils American interests in Asia and shows our strength as we begin renegotiating our trading relationship with China. A strong military presence will be a clear signal to China and other nations in Asia and around the world that America is back in the global leadership business.
https://www.donaldjtrump.com/positions/us-china-trade-reform
I know I’m a dying breed and should be faking disability so I can play Xbox all day like the rest of the country, but I have to say I agree with everything Trump has laid out above.
What you brilliant pseudo economists are missing in your “get China” diatribe is that most of what is imported from China is done so through American companies. These companies made conscious decisions to source their products from China based upon global economic conditions to best suit their companies and their shareholders.
What you are advocating is a statist solution that would take away some sourcing flexibility from American companies with Government mandates. That is not capitalism. It is more in line with French dirigisme.
“make Apple ‘build their damn computers and things in this country” …so says the hypocrite who builds his products in low-wage China and Mexico. I’m sure all those fools who giddily buy “Make America Great” hats, ties, coasters …whatever feel just grrrreatt! supporting the Chinese economy.
You lie.
You lie likely because your socialist/statist ideas are proven failures and your candidate is a loser, not to mention a decades-long enabler for a serial abuser of women.
ALL of the OFFICIAL Donald J. Trump Make America Great Again products are Proudly Made in the USA.
http://shop.donaldjtrump.com/product-p/dtc-odtcmo-or.htm
Snopes FACT CHECK: Are Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” caps manufactured in China? NO, they are not. They are “Made in the USA.”
Yeah but his ties, clothing line, and other things which are sold at Macy’s are made in China. The campaign stuff is made here, but his other stuff is not.
Yes, my bad. I’ll own up to it, and should have checked. It does not change the narrative that, when it counts, Trump makes his ties in China. That’s is modus operandi. That’s what he’s been doing all the time. In retrospect, it seems obvious that he would make his campaign stuff here. Heck, if you can charge $30 for a baseball cap to adoring suck… fans, you could afford to make them anywhere, and look good doing it.
If Trump licenses his name to a firm to make clothing, he may not have control over where that clothing is made. Perhaps he should have specified that, but in any case it would not have been his decision in such a case.
And this would be the case with almost any licensed name, such as Martha Stewart and the like.
Your nerves are showing LIAR.
Rasmussen Poll, Likely Voters, May 19, 2016: TRUMP +5
Trump 42%, Clinton 37%
Source: Rasmussen
Hey, you could send Hillary to a life-time, forced labor camp, cleaning toilets, and I could not be any happier. But if you think Trump is going to shrink and improve Government, you are dreaming.
And no mention of Education reform. We are 28th in Education world rankings ( http://www.bbc.com/news/business-32608772 ). Can you believe it? The Asians are killing it – we are behind even Vietnam – way, way back. That’s what a liberal education has done to our country. If you think we are going to be competitive against more motivated, harder working, more intelligent and prepared workforce, I’ve got a gold bridge to sell you for a song.
Back to Apple. More than likely we’ll end up in a trade war. We are already in a Currency war around the world, which we are loosing. And why is that? Why, the dollar is losing because our economy sucks. That’s what a weak economy and a super humongous debt will do to your currency.
Anyways, when that trade war comes along, sell all your Apple stock; that Asian market will then be gone for Apple products.
Where would Apple find 500,000 people to build iPhones on a seasonal basis?
45.4 million people in America receive food stamps, 42% higher than when Oblahblah took office. Note that I did not say “Americans” since due to this feckless administration, there’s no telling how many illegal aliens are currently sapping off U.S. taxpayers.
I’ll get back to watching MacDailyNews if/when the political diatribes end, and this becomes a moderated site again. Sad to see.
Blah, blah, blah.
Why is Hillary Clinton running for President? Because it’s easier than running from the law.
Why does Hillary prefer dogs to Bill Clinton? A dog chases his own tail.
How can you tell you’ve just had sex with Bill Clinton? You’ve got french fries in your hair, and Vernon Jordan is handing you a job application.
Hillary Clinton was addressing a group of American Indians during her second, and final, ill-fated campaign for U.S. President. At the end of the meeting the indian chief gave her a plaque with her honorary indian name, “Walking Eagle.” After she left in her motorcade, someone asked the chief about the name’s meaning. He said “A Walking Eagle is a bird that is so full of shit, it can not fly.”
iPhone assembly and manufacturing of many parts could be brought to the US if Apple had the incentive of lower taxes and less insane regulations. I don’t fault Apple for wanting to minimize costs and maximize profits, but I also don’t give Apple any credit for caring about American interests. The federal government has the power and the duty to protect U.S. citizens and create conditions that will stimulate economic prosperity. Hillary is not going to do that, she’s a socialist, Trump might do that, so I’ll vote for him.
What you don’t get, Nick, is that Trump is a socialist too (well, if he stands for anything, that is. He flip-flops daily on many of his “policies”). The US is a socialist country. Not as socialist as much of Europe, and certainly not as much as the Scandinavian countries, but it’s still socialist. Everyone is just arguing over shades of grey.
As for stimulating economic prosperity, after the disastrous Bush years and The Great Recession, under Obama the stock market has more than doubled, corporate profits are at record highs, unemployment is low and is now below the historical norm, the minimum wage is finally getting to a level where people might be able to live on it; the trade deficit is shrinking; the number of immigrants here illegally has gone down (despite the FUD First ad nauseum spreads); buying power of the average worker’s wage is up, and the number of people without health insurance is down by nearly 15 million.
Check it out on factcheck.org
What you don’t get Anonymous is that leftist “factcheck” sites aren’t enough to cover for Obama’s legacy of economic and cultural destruction of the United States. History will be very unkind to President 0.
If you think that factcheck.org is leftist you need to do some independent research. And if you want to check the data they analyze, head to the CBO. It’s all there.
You’re just helping to prove that republicans hate facts. And quite how you can consider that Obama economically destroyed the US when his administration dealt with Bush’s Great Recession far faster than any other western country beggars belief. I get you’re anti Obama. Probably anti Dem. But to deny that this country is in a far better economic place than when Bush left is beyond pathetic.
As it should be. Obama’s legacy, after 8 very long years, is to have created a bitter divided nation that drove the public to this election debacle. We don’t need a dependent society but one that wants to create their own destiny. It’s a damn shame what 8 years has done to the country.
I don’t want a socialist. They may demand things like roads and infrastructure. Our taxes might go up. Those investments suck! What good does a paved highway do? It just helps the military industrial complex. It so sucks that we have a socialist military run by the government. I wish that we contracted out military operations to a trusted corporation instead. I know we can trust the D-man. General Military Corp would be a good name. GMC could be in charge of carrying out military operations. I trust corporations much much than a freaking government. I loath the police, firefighters and teachers that are just government lackies. I much prefer the corporate owned equivalents. We all know that the for profit prison industry is as clean as a whistle. I don’t like that social security is socialism. What’s the deal with medicare…another socialist conspiracy!! What ever happened to screw thy neighbor?!? Profit Rules. Why does the government stick their noses into stuff like the environment and sciencey stuff? Jesus is white like Santa and is the center of the galaxy and everyone knows that he founded Walmart and the central bank, duh. I like Trump he will finally be able to put Hillary in prison. I mean after 25+ years Trump will finally put his birther team on Hillary and get her!! He will finally put and end to social security and medicare once and for all. Good bye clean air and water…we just aren’t that into you. Goodbye social programs…schools(aren’t the undereducated a great thing?) Hello for profit system. House burning down? I know a great company that does fires great!! Just a few $$$$ and we will get a crew out to clean that fire up. What Credit card did you want that on?
Hey China!! FU!! Hear that? F U not FOO. We are gonna have GMC kick ur China eese arses. Oh wait. We don’t pay taxes anymore thanks to Admiral von Drumpf. GMC went bankrupt. Trump wanted to make America great again and brought your jobs back to Merica where they belong. He abolished the minimum wage and took off regulations on child labor and abolished the 40 hour work week and overtime. He did away with Obamacare and replaced it with Trump care. Now basically all healthcare is approved by the Don directly. Thanks to the 6-3 majority he has on the Supreme Court. In the first term he did away with all bureaucracy and paid off the national debt from his own fortune which was of course HUGE. If you are wealthy then you can buy great HEALTH. If you are poor and willing to work for meals…your welcome. Isn’t America Great!! Now instead of helping other governments phuk over their poor, we can now concentrate on phuking over our own. If they don’t like it then we have some really crappy run down privately run prisons we are happy to pay $45K a year to keep you in. Yes it’s cheaper to keep you out and just pay you a decent wage, but when has America gone with the rest of the civilized world? We know it can’t be better if we didn’t think of it first. High education and living standards are way overrated. Go live in Eurosocialistnavia if you don’t like the way we do it here. USA PURECAPITALISM USA USA PURECAPITALISM. iPhones will be cheaper now since we don’t have to ship overseas and the wage issues have been fixed here. Happy Days are here again!! Now that the taxes have been properly adjusted to reflect that the winners have lowered their taxes while the losers gonna lose and pay higher taxes on their lowered wages. That’s what makes uneducated people so awesome!!
All manufacturing produce pollution. The US offshored production so it also offshored pollution. Environmental, health, and safety laws bolstered offshoring. The TPP willow companies to once again pollute within US borders. This is why corporations back the TPP.
If Trump were to become US president, it would be a triumph for the priciple of democracy because it would prove that literally anyone in the land is capable of aspiring to the very heights of power. It would however be a damning indictment of the US education system on a biblical scale, if Trump does get into office don’t blame him personally, he’s just giving the public what he thinks they want, do blame the short sighted bigots and racists who are lapping up his frightening propoganda and preparing to vote for it. Thankfully I’m not American, I am scared none the less. God bless America, lets hope God gives a damn.
Yes. But as The Donald’s people know (he hires the best people and they’re really terrific at their jobs), a lie that speaks to a voter’s emotions is worth far more than a thousand rational arguments.
To me, the most amusing thing is watching American conservatives doing triple back-flips in order to support Trump after about a year of relentless StopTrump! campaigning. The most fascinating thing about it is that he hasn’t really changed ANYTHING in his rhetoric, and yet all those folks that supported the standard Republican roster (Bush, Rubio, Kasich, Cruz) have now found themselves in a situation where they must back-pedal and figure out a way to stand behind the man they considered pure poison for their party not a month ago. Because, obviously, they simply cannot support anyone who doesn’t claim to be a Republican…
This election will be a lot of fun to watch.
Again, as a foreigner, with no horse in this race, I can say it provides for a lot of bewildered amusement. To me, the outcome is rather clear: Trump has little to no chance in the final outcome (Rasmunsen poll notwithstanding; after all, they were also giving a long margin to McCain and Romney). With way too many alienated minorities, it is mathematically impossible to attract enough white males to overcome any other possible candidate. Unless something wildly unpredictable happens between now in November, political conservatives in America will go into another round of soul searching this time next year.
You may thing you don’t have a horse in the race, Predrag. But a Trump presidency is considered the 6th biggest threat to the world economy.