Shares of Apple and semiconductor stocks slid on Friday after President Donald Trump said U.S. companies should “immediately start looking for an alternative” to their operations in China.
Shares of Apple ended the day down 4.6%, while the VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF declined 4.1%. Among the chip companies, Qualcomm slid 4.7%, Nvidia lost 5.2%, Advanced Micro Devices dropped 7.4%, Micron fell roughly 4% and Broadcom slid 5.3%.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq was off 2.6%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 2.3% and the S&P 500 fell 2.5%.
Trump’s comments on Friday mark the latest fallout in the trade war between the U.S. and China.
….better off without them. The vast amounts of money made and stolen by China from the United States, year after year, for decades, will and must STOP. Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2019
Trump’s tweet came after China on Friday pledged to levy tariffs on $75 billion more of U.S. goods, including autos.
MacDailyNews Note: Late last night, President Trump referenced the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) in a followup tweet:
For all of the Fake News Reporters that don’t have a clue as to what the law is relative to Presidential powers, China, etc., try looking at the Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977. Case closed!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 24, 2019
Thoughtful commentary on this issue is welcomed below. Please keep the discussion civil and on-topic. Off-topic posts and ad hominem attacks will be deleted and those who post such comments will be moderated/blocked. Permanent loss of screen name could also result.
Well, the gauntlet has been thrown down… maybe. We’ll see if this sticks.
But it isn’t like Trump hasn’t been telegraphing this since before he got elected. Companies including Apple should have long ago been preparing for this day. Frankly it was idiotic to put all their eggs into the basket of one country—China. Apple could just as easily have been f’d by China given they are an authoritarian communist regime.
Long before Trump came along they should have been looking for ways to diversify their production sources.
“Frankly it was idiotic to put all their eggs into the basket of one country—China.”
Frankly, there were NO other baskets. Old timers like you think Apple is Ford where they build their own plants and have manufacturing employees on staff. Apple is happy to pay ANYONE a fair amount to build their products for them. It just so happens that China has focused for YEARS on being THE number one place to build things, and it is.
And when Apple and other companies move manufacturing out of China, guess who’s going to still do the manufacturing? A CHINESE COMPANY. With dollars still going back to China. So much for diversification. 🙂
“And when Apple and other companies move manufacturing out of China, guess who’s going to still do the manufacturing? A CHINESE COMPANY. With dollars still going back to China. So much for diversification.”
So? Many Illegals working in the U.S. every Friday I’ve seen long lines at Western Union sending money back to their home country.
It’s called national security for Chinese to build in the U.S. abiding by our laws and not controlled by a communist dictatorship. They are FREE.
You post as usual is very vague, mocking and lacks details. You neglected to mention they would have to build a plant employing American workers. They would hire American workers and in both cases pay local, state and U.S. taxes.
What is your evidence they would send the remainder of funds to China? And if so it their right, so what.
I think they are smart enough to invest in the U.S. best investment on planet Earth. Are they going to invest in Iran, Syria, Iraq et al. I think not…
What’s your evidence that the folks at Western Union aren’t here legally? I’m guessing it’s the same as the evidence that Greenlanders don’t have a right of self-determination, that certain native-born US citizens should go back where their ancestors came from, and that American Jews are agents for Israel.
They aren’t white Christians from Northern Europe.
“What’s your evidence that the folks at Western Union aren’t here legally?“
My cousin who works there. The migrants like government ID. That said, over 50 % are legal…
AUTO CORRECT ERROR. “lack of government ID…
The fact that someone does not present a government ID in a context where such an ID is not required hardly seems conclusive that they are in the country illegally. How many US tourists in Europe could present an ID issued by the local government? On any given day in any American border city, a sizable number of people in any given shop are Mexican citizens shopping legally (and the same is true for Americans in the shops across the border). At least 40% of the legal residents in El Paso and Juarez have relatives on the other side.
My problem with the statement was that it sounded like somebody was guessing the nationality of people standing in line based on their appearance. There is entirely too much of that going on, as in the call to three native-born American members of Congress to “go back” to a country where they have never lived. The obvious implication was that since they didn’t “look American,” they were less loyal to this country than people who look like Donald Trump. That dovetails nicely (ugh) with the assumption that American Jews owe loyalty to the Government of the State of Israel, and the assumption that white Danes and Americans can determine Greenland’s future without consulting the nonwhites who actually live there.
While I was typing this, I was listening to the story of a US citizen who spent four days in a Louisiana jail AFTER he presented a valid local drivers license, US passport, and Social Security card because he looked illegal. This is a problem, as I am sure you agree.
Only dopes and illeterates take your point of view.
“Long before Trump came along they should have been looking for ways to diversify their production sources.”
Yes indeed, Tim’s only concern is profits, not national security diversification. All eggs in one basket is playing with fire and sheer stupidity not to have backup plans. Fat and lazy billionaire company, they brought it on themselves…
That’s exactly correct. Timmy has been moving Apple manufacturing to China since the day he arrived. Nothing Apple manufacturers is made in the USA, and those jobs “ aren’t coming back”, admitted your favorite CEO.
So why do you come here to support the biggest corporate traitor to the USA?
It was Steve Jobs who forecast that assembly-line jobs weren’t coming back, not Tim Cook.
Before somebody accuses me of lying and demands proof:
IL Duce of crap….
Apple stock fell as though it were a pure chip-making company, despite the fact Apple doesn’t carry a higher P/E as most chip-making companies do. I’m not sure how Apple is being valued but it doesn’t seem quite right to me. It must have to do with Apple’s high dependence on China. It seems as though Tim Cook or whomever makes these decisions have made a costly mistake. I suppose no one is privy to the future, so maybe it couldn’t be helped. I just felt Apple had the cash reserve to diversify but I suppose chasing after as much profits as possible is Apple’s way. However, Apple could have its products made and assembled in other parts of the world other than China. I can’t see having its products made in the U.S. as it would raise the cost of their products through the roof. Maybe robotic factories using advanced AI is the only answer.
I have completely given up on Apple becoming the world’s most valuable company by market cap. There are probably too many holes in the way the company is being run for big investors to have any confidence in the company’s growth potential. All Apple’s share price is doing is roller-coasting. It spends a couple of weeks going up in value and then taking big dives back to where it was before the gains, which seems sort of ridiculous. Apple also no longer has the biggest cash pile, so the company is definitely on some sort of a decline. I really don’t know what to make of Apple, in terms of future value.
“I just felt Apple had the cash reserve to diversify”
Diversify? When the ONLY companies manufacturing at the scale to turn out 10’s of MILLIONS of iPhones PER MONTH are in China… no other company in any other country comes close… then diversifying isn’t possible. UNLESS those same Chinese companies set up shop elsewhere. The ONLY difference between manufacturing in China and outside of China is the folks doing the work. All the profits goes right back into enriching the Chinese economy. And if your end goal is enriching the Chinese economy, good job?
Unless you’re one of those that thinks ANY OTHER COMPANY has the ability to put together the kind of massive operation China has built (there isn’t a factory in the US or anywhere in the world that matches the scale of Foxconn in China).
“It must have to do with Apple’s high dependence on China.”
Yes.
“I just felt Apple had the cash reserve to diversify but I suppose chasing after as much profits as possible is Apple’s way.”
Yes, and building in the U.S. will diversify, but guessing eat into profits depending upon the deal.
If you ADD the additional Democrat Unions labor costs the price could easily be inflated to a typical average of 33%. Then the manufacturers union would step in and demand much more than a living wage with Cadillac benefits, also adding additional costs affecting the bottom line.
I don’t know if Apple workers in the spaceship or elsewhere are union or not. If union, Cook most likely would capitulate to the unions, Democratic Party and media criticism. Certainly I hope not, standing next to the president at announcing Apple World Diversification.
That would be SWEET…
A couple of points for consideration, first, your first referencing apple cash reserves and the ability to diversify
Good point, just one more reason for apple management and their big bank advisors to cast aside their ill considered goal of going cash neutral. Having a large cash reserve is key to economic survival, ( just ask Steve Jobs, or at least reference his past statements on the subject) whether it be to fund diversification or to weather economic downturns.
You never know when tough times are going to hit, only that they will. So imagine apple w/o the cash cushion, and regularly borrowing from large financial institutions to finance their operations – which many large corporations do – then imagine – or at least remember -the last Great Recession of 2007 when the downturn was so deep and severe that recovery was slowed by the fact that banks basically stopped lending to preserve their own capital reserves and futures.
What would mr. Apple have done then, w/o all that handy cash in their pocket to pay employees and fund r&d efforts? Well for one thing i bet our stock valuations would have plunged way lower than the mid $300’s that it tumbled to from its previous $700 highs.
Point two referencing labor unions.
Well, given that they were created and led by human beings, they are, like their creators inherently flawed institutions. On the other hand, ask your parents or grandparents about what working conditions and pay rates were like before the creation of unions and if you are willing to believe their first hand observations, i suspect you would not like going back to those days.
Granted, they can be greedy and over reach, but one can reasonably argue that unions help create the great middle class prosperity many of us of a certain age grew up in. A level of prosperity – and a middle class – that is shrinking along with shrinking unions. So in other words the advantages of the existence of unions far outweighs their drawbacks.
So yes, a unionized workforce making apple products in America would most certainly increase their cost and i suspect by an appreciable margin.
But what the heck, as MDN likes to point out apple makes premium products at premium prices for sale to premium customers.
Now that we are in the age of $1000 telephones, it might be worthwhile to remember the insight of the young Henry Ford, who chose to pay his employees far above the then going rate for labor because he understood people needed to earn enough money to be able to afford his cars and the products of other businesses that would otherwise be a stretch for working people.
KING trump has spoken and all his loyal minions shall bow and fall into line. He is KING and not president. So we all must do what ever he tweets, when ever he tweets. Congress can just go home as they are no longer needed. The Supreme court is not needed, we have the KING…..
Did I read the previous postings right??? Trump is KING. All shall follow his tweets!! ?????
Not KING…….the CHOSEN ONE hath spoken.
The looney detector van is parked outside the White House and all the alarms are sounding. Only 15 months before sanity is restored.
I do NOT refer to that POS as “President Trump.” To support him, enable him, normalize him is to be without a soul.
Eyes BLIND SHUT, got it. Pity…
Trump’s karma is returned to him.
goebie can’t see it because his head is buried where Stormy used to be.
are ya paid the same rate, goebie?
I’m not a lawyer, but I can read. The IEEPA says that “The authorities granted to the President … may only be exercised to deal with an unusual and extraordinary threat with respect to which a national emergency has been declared for purposes of this title and may not be exercised for any other purpose.” Furthermore, “The President, in every possible instance, shall consult with the Congress before exercising any of the authorities granted by this title and shall consult regularly with the Congress so long as such authorities are exercised.” IMHO, this has the same look and feel of “Let’s buy Greenland.” National emergency? Trump disaster? It’s the final cry of the last person off the Titanic.
By definition, an emergency is a situation that appears suddenly and requires an immediate response without the delay that asking Congress to pass a law or vote an appropriation would require. To be an emergency, the situation must be not only unforeseen but unforeseeable through ordinary diligence. Otherwise, the Chief Executive could simply wait until a developing situation became critical in order deliberately to bypass the routine constitutional process.
Mr. Trump was talking about China, and all the same issues he has mentioned recently, as soon as he announced his candidacy. He has had four years to propose legislation or pursue rulemaking under existing law. He has not done so. Having failed to follow the ordinary constitutional process, he cannot circumvent it by claiming that this long-standing problem is suddenly an emergency. Something that he has been discussing for years can hardly be “unusual and extraordinary.”
Prior Administrations were aware of all these problems and sought to address them by forming a Pacific trade bloc that could use its combined strength to put China in its place. The idea was to isolate China and outcompete it. As almost its first official action, this Administration terminated those efforts, reasoning that it was better to isolate America than China. The predictable resulting chaos is simply not an unforeseeable emergency by any standard.
Simple fact – he is senile and rapidly going downhill. Just goddam gibbering nonsense… constantly lies… contradicts himself all the time. BUT – he could do nothing without Moscow Mitch and the rest of the hypocritical scumbag “destroy American democracy and leadership” crew.
Crikey O’Riley…he’s flipped, gone total tinpot Mussolini !!!
Soon to be followed by full media suppression, banning Democrats as an illegal organisation, suspension of elections. He’s definitely winning…bigly…I just don’t know what exactly.
Reality is calling Trump…..Unfortunately, noboby’s Home
At some point congress has to step in and stop this ignoramus before he destroys the planet. Marketwatch estimates he has cost the market over two trillion dollars that will never be recovered. This makes his complaint about how much China has “taken” from us in unfair trade a moot point. Trump has cost us much more and we are just starting to see the economic destruction that is to come.
The Congress should be faulted for abrogating its constitutional responsibility. Presidents are constitutionally prohobited from issuing orders so Trump is behaving like an autocrat like the Turkish president; both ûsurpers.
I am very close to advocating impeachment.
Former Trump fans: we heard all your anti- [insert name of anyone who ever questioned Trump] rhetoric.
Are you beginning to realize the direction Trump is taking the world economy? Instead of bringing along all alliances to bear to combat Chinese practices, he is willing to sink the global economy. President Harding the Second. Once again a democrat will have to clean up the crash, and she/he will be blamed every step of the way.
The crash of 2020, if it happens as most economists now predict, is all on Trump.
Indeed. As a conservative, i have discovered that my former party is calling anyone and everyone a RINO if they don’t do logical gymnastics to defend the president.
After 3 years of idiocy, I am happy to now be an independent. I can’t support the disgusting behavior and mismanagement any more. The republicans left me, I didn’t leave them. There is no party in D.C. that represents science, fair trade, and fiscal control. #anyonebuttrump
sure hope there are a few million more just like you
Some people said what this country needed was to put a successful businessman in the White House. Instead, less than half the voting public put someone in who is very good a loosing money (and very successful at being used as a money launderer)
Tim Cook is just doing what he needs to do for his company.
Now that the world is laughing at us, feels pity for us, or are just smirking as they watch what Trump is doing to our country, events are turning for the worse as the man in the White House is loosing his mind.
The shocking thing is not that Trump is what he is, this world is full of crazy people, it is that there is a political party willing to sell out their party, and country, to back whatever Trump does and says.
With each passing day, that gets harder.
Trump’s week:
offering to buy a sovereign nation of Greenland on a crappy social media site
insults Prime Minister of Denmark
silent on North Korea shooting missiles
one week after attempting to salvage xmas with a short reprieve of tariffs on Americans, China calls his bluff, and each side ratchets up tariffs.
economists are now calculating how many percent of GDP this will shave off the world economy.
Trump administration officials are scrambling for some explanation, since the loose cannon shot off his tweets again without consulting them.
Trump equates his choice of Fed chairman to an economic rival (to Trump, everyone is an “enemy “ now) even though Powell recently dropped rates in a time Trump claims the economy is strong. this is unprecedented that a “strong” expanding economy would need 2 forms of stimulus: a weak Fed rate and record deficit spending.
instead of substitution of new European trade deals to offset the loss of business with China, Trump rolls into the G7 summit with his nose in the air, threatening tariffs on French wine, as if that would make the US somehow greater.
Trump declares he “is in no rush” to forge a new trade agreement with China, it may not happen this year.
agricultural, manufacturing, and retail associations are all declaring any further continuation of the Trump trade policy will have permanent negative impact on US businesses.
Trump decides to keep refugee kids at the border indefinitely— on US taxpayer dime. No real immigration reform proposed.
Trump continues to ignore his promises to tighten up gun availability to crazy people.
Government spending continues to spiral out of control, worse than any prior administration with no hope of a balanced budget as promised.
Iran, no longer required to honor US trade sanctions, is shipping oil to Russia’s mideast ally, Syria. Trump says nothing.
The trade deficit climbed. Markets see-sawed downwards. manufacturing investment sharply down. Trump Apologists claimed the pain will somehow lead to gain, but they cannot explain how. Then they claim that Trump’s recession is definitely going to be better than Obama’s steady slow growth. Because Obama was apparently too nice to China. Never mind the lawsuits Obama won in the WTO.
Dictator wannabe Trump thinks he can order US companies what to do, something that has a name. Starts with an S, doesn’t it? Well if one thinks it’s funny to refer to himself as the chosen one and to declare any US Jews who don’t support him to be traitors to Israel, then what can you say? Trump declares everyone to be a traitor if they don’t stroke the ego of the little dictator. Psychotic fool.
Genius advisors Ivanka and Jerod are nowhere to be found and Congress has absolutely no work in progress either. In other words, no reforms in sight.
To top it all off, the Twitter personality that Americans listen to the most told the nation that they picked the wrong candidate. Ms. Swift’s guidance was not addressed by twit-in-chief because he knows she is correct.
All in all, this looks like a raving lunatic who didn’t want the job responsibilities and surely didn’t prepare himself for it. The world will pay the price for his economic isolationism and bizarre misanthropic behavior. Anybody But Trump 2020.
For a President that has been strongly against government regulation, his order for US companies to move manufacturing out of China and back into the US is extremely contradictory.
You finally noticed he was incompetent and a liar?
I’m not a trump supporter but he’s right in saying that China should’ve been read the riot act a long time ago especially about stealing IP
#MAGA!
When the Trump website stops selling junk made in China, then the lying hypocrite tweetaholic might garner some respect from me. Until then, I have to watch my farming community brace itself for seriously bad times as Trump makes it up to drive the news cycle. He doesn’t have any clue the impact of his actions. It would appear MAGA hat wearing Goeb doesn’t either.
Your hero is driving the world economic bus off a cliff. You may think it’s really cool that the US will end up on the top of the wreckage, but the sane people in the room would much rather the bus stayed on the road.
Someone else mentioned how Harding, the last genius businessman president, signed the Smoots-Hawley tariffs into law, then assured everyone that the temporary pain would be worth it as the US unilaterally shut off trade. Care to tell us all what happened then Goeb? What makes this rerun different? Factories didn’t spring up in the US. It took decades to claw out of that recession. When jobs dry up, IAssure you that overpriced phones and Apple media subscriptions will be some of the first things wise Americans will axe from their budgets.
Trump the self proclaimed deal maker should have had dozens of trade agreements approved by Congress before tangling with China. Instead he has soured relationships with every reliable trading partner the US had.
Acting tough is not going to get anything good done. It will destroy the economy for years. If you want to stop Chinese IP theft, how about increasing trade with those who don’t steal?????
You will need to let in a few million more mexicans to do the mind-numbing, crap job of putting iPhones together because no American will do it. Idiot Trump fails to see that it’s Apple who is winning over China, realizing way more profit from using the Chinese.
The real emergency here is the destruction of the American system of checks and balances. The antiquated, non population representative, senate of Mitch McConnell has used gerrymandering and manipulation of the Supreme court, to solidify the control of the many over the few. The lunatic Trump is under Mitch McConnell’s thumb anyway. The decent into chaos is desired, to increase the states of emergency, to justify the assumption of even more “emergency” powers and the eventual replacement of the gateway of Trump with iron Mike.
Checks and balances, my ass.
I have to thank all you anti Trump turds. Americans are sick and tired of your liberal stupidity to the point that you have guaranteed a Trump win in 2020. LOLOLOL! Thanks!
Mr Dd you do not speak for all Americans, only an orange faced obese malignant narcissist would say, much less believe, such a thing.
Well, if you like “trump turds” that is your choice. Myself I don’t gobble down turds.
Even you deserve a better president, Dd.
Candidate Trump or President Trump? 20 notable things about the Con Man in Chief
1. Egomaniac claims to have unilateral powers over war, taxes, immigration, environmental law, etc – literally stated he thinks the Constitution grants him “the right to do whatever I want”. Jokes about doing several things that clearly violate the Constitution, from restricting First Amendment rights on those who don’t worship him, the Chosen One, to flaunting emoluments. Decides that children born to US troops serving overseas cannot be US citizens.
2. Claims he will work across the aisle while daily mudslinging highly partisan opinions
3. Criticizes prior presidents of using executive orders and golfing while doing them both more
4. Promised superior healthcare and infrastructure investment bills, but did neither. Actually passed only 2 (count ’em, two) bills of any significance — one of them a disastrously timed corporate tax giveaway that has effectively blown up federal budget deficits for the foreseeable future.
5. Claims he picks the best people but has had several advisors jailed for corruption and presides over the highest turnover rate of any recent administration. All former staffers have horror stories. Avoided prosecution only by staffers resisting his direct orders to impede DOJ investigations.
6. Claims to be the world’s greatest dealmaker but hasn’t been able to seal any international agreement in trade or in peacemaking. NK now shooting off missiles weekly.
7. Offers praise for no foreign leaders except strongman dictators
8. Refuses to appoint permanent heads of executive departments because he cannot even get his own party in the senate to agree with his choices. Congress prefers to maintain some level of competency, but Trump’s only requirement is personal loyalty. Pushed through a rather poor SCJ nominee not because he was the best conservative or constitutional scholar, but because he was a highly political candidate who would win political points against the hapless democrats.
9. Claims to love capitalism but provides taxpayer funded social welfare to farmers impacted by rash unilateralist trade policy. Thinks about his personal stress level more than the world economy: “So, I am doing this whether it’s good or bad for your — your statement about, ‘Oh, will we fall into a recession for two months?’ OK? The fact is, somebody had to take China on,” Trump continued. “My life would be a lot easier if I didn’t take China on.” Never mind that almost all business groups tell him he’s going about it all wrong.
10. Claims his economy is stronger than his predecessor when most data clearly shows otherwise. Has done nothing to shore up emerging landmines like nonbank lending companies, cryptocurrency fraud, and other foreseeable economic disasters
11. Blames his own financial advisor for economic softness only hours after bragging about the surging economy, claiming that interest rates are too high — then complains about trading foes attempting to manipulate the value of their currency.
12. Retains press advisors and spokespersons who routinely dismiss objective facts in order to sell an easily proven false narrative. Shortly after the White House spokesperson exits the revolving door to land at Fox News, Trump reads a story that doesn’t flatter him and bemoans “Fox is not working for us anymore!”
13. Holds populist rallies where a billionaire whoops up the chants while magically avoiding to tell the crowds that for decades, while working class wage increases barely kept up with cost of living, “coastal elites” like Trump have pocketed almost all financial gains. Then Trump & McConnell delivered a massive tax cut to those elites, tossing a pittance of a tax bone to wage earners.
14. Claims there is a a trade imbalance and that is a problem — but makes it worse by choosing to incentivize only highly polluting automated industries versus emerging high-income industries. Resists science and technology at every turn.
15. Claims he will balance the budget and pay down the debt — but is currently running larger budget deficit than any prior president ever, thanks to a weakening economy, substantially increased spending, and a cratering of tax revenue.
16. Claims to hack away at bad inefficient regulation, while finding that industry groups are almost entirely against his proposals. No legitimate business wants their industry undermined by irresponsible dirty players.
17. In the wake of grossly mismanaged emergency operations, claims he is “the best thing that’s ever happened to Puerto Rico”. Had to be reminded that Puerto Ricans are US citizens.
18. Claimed that the stock market was a key indicator that Trump policies were superior to any prior administration. However, has consistently underperformed the S&P500 return of the prior administration that he routinely attacked: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-white-house-probably-wont-be-tweeting-this-trump-vs-obama-chart-2018-11-12 . Canadian economy, meanwhile, is outgrowing the Trump economy. Trump complains that US companies are “badly run and weak”.
19. Claims to work hard but arrives in office late and spends more time on TV, twitter, and golf than any prior president. Has so much time on his hands that he can afford to waste time with online spats on anyone he dislikes, from Bezos to Covfefe to O’Donnell. #thinskin
20. Finally, Teflon Don continually flaunts the Christian values that his core supporters “forgive him”. Not a single commandment has gone unbroken repeatedly. Such flagrant hypocrisy undermines the integrity of the US in all its dealings.
BONUS: Has done literally nothing to enhance the US election system (or the supposedly left-leaning social media cabal) against foreign influence and hacking, despite claiming that it occurred during prior election cycles, including the race in which he prevailed.
This is just a short list of the unpresidential material you routinely come here to lionize. Are you seriously claiming that America can’t find a better president????
And meanwhile, spineless republicans and democrats do nothing. Because none of them have the balls to stand up to the dictator-in-command. It’s absurd.
I am curious. Why is it that MacDaily news gleefully and often quite humorously, attacks AAPL’s analysts, rival businesses and critics, but gives this yahoo a pass? I think your right wing is showing.
MacDailyNews, Tim Cook, and Donald Trump are all in agreement, as is anyone not suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, that the current state of U.S.-China trade is unfair and unbalanced.
I’m cognizant that in both the U.S. and China, there have been cases where everyone hasn’t benefited, where the benefit hasn’t been balanced. My belief is that one plus one equals three. The pie gets larger, working together. — Apple CEO Tim Cook, March 24, 2018
The United States could have altered China’s trading behaviour if they had forged a coalition with their traditional allies. Instead, Trump decided to take on China on his own and said trade wars are “…easy to win”. Compounding the mess he is now in he has consistently insulted his allies, cosied up to dictators and upturned the international trading and alliance system.
Has the president learned anything from this? Nope, not a thing. He’s now backed himself into a corner and is faced with two options:
Make a humiliating backdown to Xi and China so he can be re-elected or,
Drag the world into a recession that could and should have been avoided.
If he goes for option one then I hope the American people see him for what he is; an narcissistic and intellectual lightweight with the attention span of a gnat (and my apologies to all the gnats out there in the insect world).
If scenario two unfolds then in true Trumpian fashion he’ll blame everyone else because he always takes responsibility for everything positive and blames everyone else for his mistakes and political and moral errors of judgement.