This is just a tactic, Trump really wants to eliminate all tariffs

To The Daily Sun,

I typically don’t respond to opposing views on President Trumps policies because most attack his words and not his actions. Also, they site opinions not facts.

I just read a very good letter by James Ververka (https://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/trump-tariffs-keith-forrester-and-what-economists-say/article_c473cb4c-89ff-11e8-acbe-af7060aaff9e.html) which included links which I read. The first was from the Mises Institute in Austria. I read the article as well as the institutes mission statement. I agreed with the author of the article on virtually all points made. The message of that article was that import taxes are bad! I agree, as does President Trump.

Does anyone recall Trump’s comment at the G7 summit where he suggested that all countries just drop import tariffs? Here is an article to verify. (http://www.france24.com/en/20180609-trump-g7-trade-deal-obama-tariffs-north-korea-europan-union-canada). Why would Trump say that and impose import tariffs at the same time? The answer is obvious and completely ignored by the left. It’s because the U.S. is losing the “war” on trade now. Other countries have import taxes on U.S. imports that far exceed the import taxes that we impose on them. Here is an article that details trade deficits for the other major economies in the world (http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/04/20/u-s-trade-deficits-with-other-countries-can-vary-significantly-depending-on-how-theyre-measured/). Note that I use PEW research because it sticks to facts and numbers and has little in the way of opinion.

The article Mr. Ververka sighted also included the line “By lifting (i.e. raising) tariffs on American imports, these countries will only make things much worse for themselves,” in reference to a “counterattack” by the countries that currently have high import taxes on U.S. products adding more import taxes. What the left fails to realize is that President Trump is trying to reduce the trade imbalance so the U.S. is not getting the short end of the stick (so to speak) on trade. The threat of raising import taxes into the U.S. is the start of negotiations to lower import taxes between all countries the U.S. trades with.

I’m not sure what the second article by Mises that Mr. Ververka referenced had to do with trade since that article pontificated over the difference goals of a government verses a business. The third article, by the CATO institute, I found unconvincing. The first thing I do when using a source is look up it’s political leanings. As you can guess Wikipedia lists the CATO Institute as an American libertarian think tank based I Washington DC. My first indicator that facts will be skewed. Well the article didn’t disappoint. The very first paragraph bemoaned the net loss or 411 U.S. jobs and a net decrease of $1.4B to the U.S. GDP as a result of the tariffs on aluminum and steel. Sounds terrible, right? Not if you compare it to the U.S. economy. The U.S. is currently adding around 200,000 new jobs every month and the U.S. GDP is $18.5T. The effect of those losses is insignificant in the overall economy of the U.S. but the left wants to make it sound like it’s the end of life as we know it in the U.S.

I realize that Mr. Ververka does not like President Trump and respect his right to express his opinions. I also appreciate it when anyone includes source data on why they “believe” as they do. It’s no surprise to me that Mr. Ververka and I can read the exact same articles and come up with completely different conclusions. It all goes back to a letter to the editor I wrote, “If you believe Trump is bad you will believe any accusation is true” (https://www.laconiadailysun.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/if-you-believe-trump-is-bad-you-ll-believe-any/article_9a3adac0-4c8b-11e8-a9b4-4b4cc9857530.html).

The media has spent the last two years twisting anything Trump says or does into a negative despite the fact that all economic indicators are showing improvement. I will close this letter with a quote I have used in the past. “Those who do not read the news are uninformed and those who do are misinformed”. God bless you and God bless America.

Bruce Jenket

Moultonborough