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Trump plans withdrawal from South Korea trade deal.

mavo

Banned
$27.5 billion trade deficit with them last year.

That has to change.

27.5 billion is like a fart on the wind.

And trade deficits dont meant a thing, it just means americans benefit more from cheap korean stuff than koreans do from american stuff.
 
I can't believe people somehow think a trade deficit just means we are basically giving money to other countries as if the US is generous enough to just give money to well off countries without another interest
 

old

Member
27.5 billion is like a fart on the wind.

And trade deficits dont meant a thing, it just means americans benefit more from cheap korean stuff than koreans do from american stuff.

http://www.epi.org/blog/u-s-korea-t...e-deficits-and-more-than-95000-lost-u-s-jobs/

Things are not turning out as predicted. Far from supporting jobs, growing goods trade deficits with Korea have eliminated more than 95,000 jobs between 2011 and 2015.

In the first four years after KORUS took effect, there was absolutely no growth in total U.S. exports to Korea, as shown in the figure below. Imports from Korea increased $15.2 billion, an increase of 26.8 percent. As a result, the U.S. trade deficit with Korea increased $15.1 billion between 2011 and 2015, an increase of 114.6 percent, more than doubling in just four years.
95000 lost jobs. Yeah it means something.
 

Mumei

Member
This is exactly what he campaigned on.

This is all to renegotiate better deals so "America doesn't get ripped off". He's been saying this shit since the 80s.

Problem is, trade is a mutually beneficial agreement that benefits both parties! It's not a zero sum game like the only kind of game a "fuck you, got mine" bully from Queens would understand! Oops!

The funny and sad thing about this is, KORUS is an example of the U.S. getting a really good deal, one in which U.S. officials actually did trade on the security relationship between South Korea and the US for better terms:

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Not only did the U.S. get a deal that was advantageous, and worth tens of billions of dollars in GDP annually, but it used precisely the kind of leverage Trump thinks that we aren't using, and did so in such a way that EU negotiators seeking the same or better terms as the Americans failed to achieve those expectations.

And now South Korean politicians, who argued for the necessity "substantial economic concessions" to the United States in order to secure a closer security relationship are faced with an ignoramus American president who wants to ... withdraw from a trade deal leveraged into being at least partially by a security relationship in order to leverage the security relationship to get a better deal. It's asinine.

I'm sure this won't have any negative impact on our ability to negotiate deals in the future.
 

Opto

Banned
Hey South Korea, we're escalating tensions with your most immediate threat and we're gonna cause some economic turmoil. Hope this doesn't hurt things but we really needed a dumb racist in office because white people felt scared.
 

Volphied

Member
Picking up all these trade deals the US keep dropping and EU might be able to cover the gap created by the UK leaving.

I'm pretty sure that SK exports much more stuff to the world than the UK.

Also, IIRC only 8% of EU exports go to the UK, while over 40% of UK exports go to the EU. This imbalance is the reason why Brexit will hurt the UK much, much more than the EU. The EU will survive, but lol at the UK, I still can't believe that the Tories want to go with Brexit.
 

jabuseika

Member
So he's taking the communists side, his supporters must be thrilled.

The funny and sad thing about this is, KORUS is an example of the U.S. getting a really good deal, one in which U.S. officials actually did trade on the security relationship between South Korea and the US for better terms:



Not only did the U.S. get a deal that was advantageous, and worth tens of billions of dollars in GDP annually, but it used precisely the kind of leverage Trump thinks that we aren't using, and did so in such a way that EU negotiators seeking the same or better terms as the Americans failed to achieve those expectations.

And now South Korean politicians, who argued for the necessity "substantial economic concessions" to the United States in order to secure a closer security relationship are faced with an ignoramus American president who wants to ... withdraw from a trade deal leveraged into being at least partially by a security relationship in order to leverage the security relationship to get a better deal. It's asinine.

I'm sure this won't have any negative impact on our ability to negotiate deals in the future.

We got an amazing deal, because of our military support. But Trump doesn't read this stuff, he's just pandering. 99.99% sure nothing will come of this, because the smart people, who's money is in this, won't let it happen.
 

GraveRobberX

Platinum Trophy: Learned to Shit While Upright Again.
He does know South is our Ally and the North our considered enemy right

Or does he just see Korea and just go "Fuck it, both sides are the same"
 
old said:
$27.5 billion trade deficit with them last year.

That has to change.

No, because we buy much, much more of their stuff than they buy of ours.

Samsung is not an American company, and the people demand a workable alternative to shitty iphones, where the company will sue you for trying to fix it, where the company will sue to remove schematics and technical documentation, where the company will eagerly shovel you 1100 dollars worth of shit with half the features of a phone less than a quarter of the price.

And even then, Apple makes a shitton, Samsung makes a shitton, and we're happy.

Basically, arguing that free trade is bad is like arguing that the earth is flat, or gravity doesn't exist, or that the spice doesn't have to flow.

It doesn't work. Everything goes to shit.
 
$27.5 billion trade deficit with them last year.

That has to change.
Please continue to explain your lack of understanding of economics.
No, because we buy much, much more of their stuff than they buy of ours.

Samsung is not an American company, and the people demand a workable alternative to shitty iphones, where the company will sue you for trying to fix it, where the company will sue to remove schematics and technical documentation, where the company will eagerly shovel you 1100 dollars worth of shit with half the features of a phone less than a quarter of the price.

And even then, Apple makes a shitton, Samsung makes a shitton, and we're happy.

Basically, arguing that free trade is bad is like arguing that the earth is flat, or gravity doesn't exist, or that the spice doesn't have to flow.

It doesn't work. Everything goes to shit.
Lol really going in on the Apple haterade
 

shiba5

Member
Are we going to trade with anyone anymore? Who are we going to sell our stuff to even if manufacturing comes back? (it isn't.) WTF is he doing??
 

Zips

Member
Fascinating to be witnessing the decline of the U.S.. At such an accelerated pace with Trump at the helm too.

An economic, cultural, and military superpower that is suddenly gripped by the uncontrollable urge to punch itself in the head over and over again.
 
Please continue to explain your lack of understanding of economics.

Lol really going in on the Apple haterade

Yeah well, unless you want there to be ONLY Apple and whatever Google wants to run its botnets through, I suggest you do the same. :p

Samsung is just the biggest one I could think of off the top of my head. Most cheap phones also come from South Korea, including the 30 dollar starter phone sorta things. The competition at the bleeding edge forced Apple's phones to get better, enforces Google's inability to gain a foothold without dramatic differences in price or performance per dollar at the least, and is the major reason for the propagation of smart phones in the US.

The spice must flow.
 

phaze

Member
No, because we buy much, much more of their stuff than they buy of ours.

Samsung is not an American company, and the people demand a workable alternative to shitty iphones, where the company will sue you for trying to fix it, where the company will sue to remove schematics and technical documentation, where the company will eagerly shovel you 1100 dollars worth of shit with half the features of a phone less than a quarter of the price.

And even then, Apple makes a shitton, Samsung makes a shitton, and we're happy.

Basically, arguing that free trade is bad is like arguing that the earth is flat, or gravity doesn't exist, or that the spice doesn't have to flow.

It doesn't work. Everything goes to shit.

Please continue to explain your lack of understanding of economics.

Lol really going in on the Apple haterade

So Keynes and his balanced trade was a flat-earther and an economic hack, you learn something everyday ...

The free trade vs protectionism argument has been going for a long time, with brighter minds than yours on both sides, dismissing it like that is just juvenile and rather ignorant.
 

Apathy

Member
Isolationalism doesn't work. But sure get out of all these trade deals that were brokered on fairness, see what happens when you want back in and you demand that only the US's interest be considered, working real well with the NAFTA restructuring
 
So Keynes and his balanced trade was a flat-earther and an economic hack, you learn something everyday ...

The free trade vs protectionism argument has been going for a long time, with brighter minds than yours on both sides, dismissing it like that is just juvenile and rather ignorant.

Be that as it may, a return to NX would require the entire world's agreement and, as free trade, WITH deficits in tow, is still a net positive for countries who run trade deficits in our current economic models, means that just...won't happen. It's like tragedy of the commons. Furthermore, Keynes may have been one of if not THE greatest economists -- especially of the 20th century -- but not everything pans out well. For instance, the attempt by the Hoover administration to return to a balance of trade only worsened the Great Depression, and subsequent attempts to do so have caused the bottom to fall out of domestic and international markets both.

Like it or not, the cat is out of the bag.

Because then we can move onto Hicks, whose compensation test is one of the larger reasons free trade came about once more and has since stayed -- so using my phone example, we run a trade deficit with South Korea, primarily because phones and other media devices, electronics... and those devices lead to savings elsewhere for Americans -- everyone needs a phone, the market for a phone less expensive than the iphone but with better performance and usability over say, any of the older phones, was filled. And in so doing, created thousands of jobs in shipping, warehousing, and manufacturing. We also lost jobs in textiles, and in return, received far cheaper alternatives without losing much quality comparatively.

Similarly so for automobiles. We have more than one factory pumping out cars in the US that wasn't there before the trade deal and wouldn't pump out as many cars even if it were, before the trade deal, that brings more jobs over -- losing them in textiles but gaining them in manufacturing.

Things change, and especially during the course of dramatic technological leaps, we have to keep our eyes open and model model model.

What Keynes claims may well have been good assuming we had an otherwise closed mercantile economy with only one other actor within it, with easily chartable and consistent returns, but our world does not act like that.

This is not to besmirch Keynes, but Keynes has been wrong. I could almost guarantee you that if he were alive today, he would lean further toward free trade, as the global economy of today is dramatically different than 100 years ago. And this is why Hicks was in favor of free trade, assuming a net positive effect on the countries involved.

Those positive effects are more subtle in economies with trade deficits, and the negatives you see are primarily due to automation and poor business dealing than trade itself.

Keynes and Hicks may well have had brighter minds than my own, but there is a reason we discount out of hand the notion that stopping free trade would be good for anyone involved.
 
At what point does the Republican Party take a stand? This has to be one of the very worst possible geopolitical moves a president could make. What is next? Telling Japan they're on their own and throwing East Asia to the wolves?
 

kirblar

Member
If you thought people got mad about Avocados, just wait till you try to jack up the price of their cell phones.
 
It's as if Trump uses Russia to bully NATO and NK to bully SK and Walls and deportation to bully Mexico and flight bans to bully Muslims and... and...

He uses our enemies to bully deals through our allies and trade partners.
 

boingball

Member
This is a bold plan. Let North Korea and South Korea unite again under north korean leadership. At least the risk of North Korea bombing Seoul is then eliminated.
 

samn

Member
No, because we buy much, much more of their stuff than they buy of ours.

Samsung is not an American company, and the people demand a workable alternative to shitty iphones, where the company will sue you for trying to fix it, where the company will sue to remove schematics and technical documentation, where the company will eagerly shovel you 1100 dollars worth of shit with half the features of a phone less than a quarter of the price.

And even then, Apple makes a shitton, Samsung makes a shitton, and we're happy.

Basically, arguing that free trade is bad is like arguing that the earth is flat, or gravity doesn't exist, or that the spice doesn't have to flow.

It doesn't work. Everything goes to shit.

Yeah much better for people to buy phones that explode on airplanes and then they're recalled and given back out and then they explode again.
 
If you thought people got mad about Avocados, just wait till you try to jack up the price of their cell phones.

And clothes, and food as the loss of beef and shippable produce exports dramatically changes the market's dynamics...we'd have to spend more than it's worth(for a not insignificant period of time) to rebuild what we lose, and in the process will have to lean on comparatively more expensive goods, which winds up consolidating markets and...losing jobs.

The primary problem in the US today is not trade, but automation, and even WITH automation there are more jobs available than there are people willing and able to fill them without changes to pay structures and benefits, which in and of themselves could -- in some cases -- collapse industries outright, as they've relied on cheap and plentiful labor so much.

So setting aside the human issue for a moment of a policy like DACA, the industries that DACA applicants are filling are not only jobs that require more than the US itself is apparently able to fill, but will still need to be filled after they are gone (unless, god willing, they aren't booted out). And while that may lead to a slight rise in pay, it would be years before that translates from 'empty jobs' to 'filled jobs.'

Yeah much better for people to buy phones that explode on airplanes and then they're recalled and given back out and then they explode again.

Yeah well, you'd wish you had an exploding phone instead of Siri's "I can't let you do that Samn" if Apple wound up with an effective monopoly due to lack of serious competition :p
 

Shoeless

Member
At what point does the Republican Party take a stand? This has to be one of the very worst possible geopolitical moves a president could make. What is next? Telling Japan they're on their own and throwing East Asia to the wolves?

To be fair, East Asia is made up of a bunch of "Yeller Fellers" so it's not like there are real people at stake. And by real, I mean white.

If America really is going the route of racial purification, then global isolationism is a logical consequence.
 
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