Trump has long seen previous U.S. trade agreements as losers

Trade deficit is not a loss and therefore not a bad thing.

You buy products or services and pay the them with money. They did not steal your money; you've got things you wanted by willingly paying for them. If you did not think it's worth, you would not make the deal.

The other side are happy giving you things for which they received money.

Trade makes both sides happy whether you are paying money (making deficit) or providing products/services (making surplus). It's just a happy exchange of things.

JeffLeeToday 05:50 pm JST

Um, no. By 1971, Japan had become the world's largest auto exporter. Its steep tariffs on foreign cars started to come down -- gradually -- from 1968 and continued until 1978.

Gradually as in;

1969 17.5

1970 17.5

197 10

1972 8

1973 6.4

As for import of cars into Japan from the US

1970 5,422,000 units

1975 17,826,000 units

1977 14,964,000 units

1978 13,362,000 units

1979 20,735,000 units

Export cars to the US

1970 VW 569,182 46%

Toyota 184,898 15%

Nissan 100,541 8.2%

You are totally making a fool of yourself.

Oh, so please do tell us, Chip, who Russia's greatest ally is.

I guess Trumpers have the same level of understanding of geopolitics as their Dear Leader....

But to answer the question, Russia's greatest ally is no doubt the Great Orange Comrade...

He caved to Putin at their Summit, pulled out of the Iran deal giving Russia more oil revenue, pulled out of the IRBM treaty so Putin can develop better missiles, pulled out of Syria giving Russia more influence, and criticized NATO - the thing the Putin hates most.

Putin pulls the strings and Donnie dances...now that's an ally....

One of the things Chump doesn't understand is that China is not the bad guy in the trade imbalance with that country. It was American corporations and their paid politicians who set up the conditions for the current trade problems, not China. In the name of short-term gain, American businesses sold out the country's manufacturing base.

@Triring

Completely wrong. 

Um, no. By 1971, Japan had become the world's largest auto exporter. Its steep tariffs on foreign cars started to come down -- gradually -- from 1968 and continued until 1978.

In other words, Japan was ramping up exports to other countries while at the same time doing its best to block those countries' cars from entering Japan at that crucial stage. The tariff strategy was clearly designed to lay the groundwork for global dominance, and it worked. Tariffs work.

By the way, how can he be a Russian agent if he undermines their greatest ally, China with the tariffs?

Someone should do a little research into Sino-Russo relations.

Oh, so please do tell us, Chip, who Russia's greatest ally is.

Chip StarToday 12:25 pm JST

By the way, how can he be a Russian agent if he undermines their greatest ally, China with the tariffs?

Someone should do a little research into Sino-Russo relations.

JeffLeeToday 08:57 am JST

Japan, at the time, was putting a 40% tariff on its imports, it should be noted.

Completely wrong. Tariff on cars from the early 70's were only 6.4%. At this point there were only handful of Japanese cars exported to the States. The real move of Japanese exports to the US were the late 70's and 80's after the Muskie Act came into play in the mid 70's. At that point Japan removed all tariffs on cars in 1978.

In the 50's and 60's when tariff were high, the number one importers of cars to Japan was the US with around 200,000 units per year imported from the US alone in the late 60's.

China is no longer a 3rd world country. The rules have to change for the sake of trade in other parts of the world.

Congratulations to Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. You are all about to receive an ENORMOUS amount of business from the United States of America!

JeeLee. Detroit has one a lot to lose their customers. Today they can not be bothered to make anything other than SUV's and Trucks for their US market. No Japan specific vehicles. Why because they can make a lot more money. If you want a sedan then a person has to buy European, Japanese or Korean. Lastly American vehicles lack the quality.

Customers decide on what to buy to fit their own best interests! It is their money and their choice!

@Yubaru

Said by no one previously in history, as far as I know.

The Japanese may not say it but they did it. Indeed, none of today's major economic powers got where they are today through free trade. They did it through protectionism.

By the way, how can he be a Russian agent if he undermines their greatest ally, China with the tariffs?

Someone should do a little research into Sino-Russo relations.

You can go all the back to his 1988 interview with Oprah, he was saying the same things then.

By the way, how can he be a Russian agent if he undermines their greatest ally, China with the tariffs?

However, the way Trump stuffed up many important issues, such as building the great wall along Mexican border, destroying Obama's legacy, targeting Muslims in general together with the Russian affairs...

We need the wall. Destroying Obama's legacy is a good thing. He's not targeting Muslims in general, if he was the most populous Muslim-majority country in the world, Indonesia, would be included in the travel restrictions. And good grief, will you guys please stop kicking that dead Russian horse?

I welcome Trump's determination to tackle the unfairness in trade between the US and China. However, the way Trump stuffed up many important issues, such as building the great wall along Mexican border, destroying Obama's legacy, targeting Muslims in general together with the Russian affairs, his shady personal life, his untrustworthiness, greed, and ignorance all have devalued his attempt to fix trade problems with China.

Trump has long seen previous U.S. trade agreements as losers.

And after losing over $1 Billion due to incompetence over 10 years, Donnie knows losing...

Lets see the more recent tax returns Donnie so you can impress us even more with your business smarts...

If you've read Woodward's book, you know that Mattis, Kelly, Cohn, and all the other adults tried to teach Donnie about geopolitics and economics. He didn't have the ability to grasp it. That's when Tillertson called him a _____ moron and Mattis said he had the understanding of a fifth grader...

They were being overly nice in my opinion...

The US has almost always been screwed by prior trade agreements. More manual labor jobs were outsourced and information/services jobs remained and grew.

With world-wide intellectual property laws that are actually enforced, this was a good play. But since China doesn't actually enforce any IP laws for non-Chinese companies, allowing them into the WTO was a mistake. India also violates IP laws - they steal pharmaceuticals, manufacture for local use and sell well below the prices paid by the rest of the world. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2545360/Pharmaceutical-chief-tries-stop-India-replicating-cancer-treatment.html

Tariffs aren't going to work with China unless the rest of the world joins to convince the Chinese to actually be ruled by laws that apply equally to all companies. Until that happens, every other country needs to treat Chinese companies just like they treat your companies inside the Chinese market.

The USA treats foreign companies just like US companies. This needs to stop until the same is reciprocated.

"Tariffs will make our Country MUCH STRONGER, not weaker. Just sit back and watch!" Trump tweeted on Friday.

Said by no one previously in history, as far as I know.

Tariffs may protect certain markets, but at what cost? When Walmart becomes as high priced as Macy's, and Macy's goes out of business because no one can afford the locally produced merchandise they sell, the public can only look in the mirror and blame themselves for electing Trump!

The president went after China on Day 1 of his presidential bid, promising to "bring back our jobs from China, from Mexico, from Japan, from so many places."

This is a pipe dream. Labor costs in the US made it impossible for manufacturers to compete with foreign produced products so they took their factories overseas. US consumers, for all their wealth, do not want to pay high prices and the only way to keep prices down, is to bring in manufactured goods from countries that have low overhead.

Who in their right mind would pay, $50.00 for a product produced in the US by a company that has a manufacturing plant somewhere else, that produces and sells the same product for $5.00? But that is in effect what happened in the US.

Far too many foreign countries have no need nor desire for high priced US goods, and the one major area that the US does in fact have marketable goods, agriculture, Trump screws with back home.

Trump wasnt even a halfway decent businessman, and yet he sure as hell thinks he knows better than anyone, anywhere, in the world.............delusions of grandeur, ...more proof of mental, not to mention moral, deficiency.

Detroit and the US auto industry is clearly a loser. Open door, free trade policy of the past devastated what was once the country's most important industry, and slashed union workers wages. Market share went from over 80% to around 40% today. Japan, at the time, was putting a 40% tariff on its imports, it should be noted.

Still, the burden of Trump's tariffs on imports from China and other countries falls entirely on U.S. consumers and businesses that buy imports

That strategy worked for Japan in the 50s to 80s and for China and S. Korea now. It's proved an effective way of building or restoring a country's industrial base.

Trump said that China would be paying the new tariffs. Uh, just like Mexico was going to pay for the wall? Now with the NY Times report about all of his losses for a decade, there are still people who believe this ignorant crook? Amazing and frightening.

Make or produce your goods and products in the good old USA. It's very simple!" Trump tweeted

In Trump's ongoing efforts to maximize his personal profits while in the White House he'll probably exempt himself and Ivanka so they continue to have their companies' products made in China. (And Bangladesh, Mexico, Indonesia, Turkey, etc.)