Quote:

Leaving the G7 summit on Saturday, President Trump said that the U.S. might end all trade with America’s closest allies if those countries don’t submit to his demands over reduced trade barriers. Trump also confirmed that he had told the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Canada, and Italy that there should be no tariffs between them and the U.S. of any kind. Whether Trump’s characteristically hyperbolic threat, or overarching proposal, will be taken seriously is another matter.

Referring to what he called “ridiculous and unfair” tariffs on U.S. imports, Trump said, “It’s going to stop — or we’ll stop trading with them. And that’s a very profitable answer, if we have to do it.”

“We’re the piggy bank that everybody is robbing, and that ends,” added Trump, who also repeated his exaggerations of U.S. trade deficits by tens or hundreds of billions of dollars. He framed his trade attacks as a defense of U.S. national security, citing the weakening of the country’s “balance sheet” as the corresponding threat.

Regarding the elimination of tariffs, Trump confirmed that he had suggested totally free trade among the G7 during the summit, explaining that, “Ultimately, that’s what you want. You want a tariff free. You want no barriers. And you want no subsidies. Because you have some cases where countries are subsidizing industries and that’s not fair.”

But in regard to his his administration’s ongoing effort to renegotiate NAFTA with Canada and Mexico — an agreement aimed at literally promoting free trade between the U.S. and those countries — Trump suggested the U.S. would be better off without the pact at all.

Trade tariffs around the world have been dropping as a result of agreements like NAFTA. The average tariff on imported goods to the U.S. is 2.4 percent, while Canada and the European Union impose average tariffs of around 3 percent, according to the World Trade Organization. Manufacturing makes up only 10 percent of the U.S. economy.

Even if Trump’s proposal is taken at anywhere near face value, it’s not clear how such an agreement would or could be reached and what impact it would have — nor is it clear that the president understands any of the trade numbers he tosses around to begin with.

Trump left the G7 while it was still underway so that he could travel to Singapore to meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. The trade-warring president claimed that his relationship with other G7 leaders was “a 10,” but the contentious summit clearly proved otherwise.

The Trump administration recently imposed steep tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the EU and Canada, having already imposed them on Japan. Those countries, along with Mexico, have pledged to impose their own higher tariffs on billions of dollars of U.S. imports in retaliation, as America’s allies appear to have become fed up with the combative and chaotic Trump administration, and are shifting their strategy from trying to reach and educate Trump about the complexities of international trade, to seeking to punish the U.S. economy instead.

“If they retaliate, they’re making a mistake,” Trump said on Saturday, meaning that he believes U.S. allies have more to lose than gain by entering into a trade war with the U.S.

Trump not only staked out improbable — if not impossible — positions on trade to an already skeptical collection of world leaders at the meetings, but endorsed readmitting Russia to the group, essentially brushing off the reason it was kicked out — Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. (Italy, a country with close ties to the Kremlin, was the only member of the G7 to support Trump’s idea.) Considering Trump’s ongoing efforts to upend long-standing global alliances and international agreements, it seems likely that the other leaders would be more inclined to exclude the U.S. from future meetings than re-include Russia.

---

koods said:

This has been the most unhinged two days Trump has had yet. Then his sycophant had a couple beers and went on the Sunday shows whining about Justin Trudeau, one slurred word after another. This kind of amateur hour is shameful.

---

Stonehenge said:

I wondered how long it would take you to jump on that and twist it all around. Do you just parrot the msm?

---

How am I parroting anything? I just posted an article Trump is the one who is threatening to end trade with allies

Kind of a funny accusation coming from you though considering how many faux "news" talking points I've seen you parrot

koods said:

This has been the most unhinged two days Trump has had yet.

---

qman said:

There was a day not that long ago when mainstream liberal Democrats were against globalization and trade deficits, most on this site weren't even born or were still in diapers when this was the case.

Now these people scream bloody murder when Trump suggests he would like to reduce an off the charts US trade deficit,  whatever happen to the real liberal Democrat?  They got flushed down the PC elite toilet.

---

Stonehenge said:

>considering how many faux "news" talking points I've seen you parrot

Since I don't watch tv let alone fox it would be hard for me to parrot anything.

---

Quote:

The media has been working itself into a lather over trumps alleged rudeness yet can give no real examples.

---

Except for the dozens of sexual assault allegations going back decades, countless racist/sexist comments, and a consistently rude/condescending tone to allied nations.

Hell trump has attacked veterans and POW's even... He is the definition of rude...

I think you just choose to ignore any examples or don't bother actually looking for them

Stonehenge said:

>considering how many faux "news" talking points I've seen you parrot

Since I don't watch tv let alone fox it would be hard for me to parrot anything. The media has been working itself into a lather over trumps alleged rudeness yet can give no real examples. Trump has the stronger hand and knows it, he lets the rest of them know obama is no longer president and he can't be bought. If germany goes into a snit and quits sending us their cars, oh well, and block our cars which they tax the hell out of? oh well

Same thing to all that. If canada or any other country wants to try a trade war, let them. We can always get what we want from non aligned countries not part of the eu. There will be no cut off of all trade and even if there was, we would do ok, might have to pay a little more but will get better quality than china. Plus building relationships with s america, parts of africa and middle east, lots of places have things we need. At the risk of sending you into another frenzy, russia too.

---

Stonehenge said:

>considering how many faux "news" talking points I've seen you parrot

Since I don't watch tv let alone fox it would be hard for me to parrot anything. The media has been working itself into a lather over trumps alleged rudeness yet can give no real examples. Trump has the stronger hand and knows it, he lets the rest of them know obama is no longer president and he can't be bought. If germany goes into a snit and quits sending us their cars, oh well, and block our cars which they tax the hell out of? oh well

Same thing to all that. If canada or any other country wants to try a trade war, let them. We can always get what we want from non aligned countries not part of the eu. There will be no cut off of all trade and even if there was, we would do ok, might have to pay a little more but will get better quality than china. Plus building relationships with s america, parts of africa and middle east, lots of places have things we need. At the risk of sending you into another frenzy, russia too.

---

koods said:

qman said:

There was a day not that long ago when mainstream liberal Democrats were against globalization and trade deficits, most on this site weren't even born or were still in diapers when this was the case.

Now these people scream bloody murder when Trump suggests he would like to reduce an off the charts US trade deficit,  whatever happen to the real liberal Democrat?  They got flushed down the PC elite toilet.

---

Trade deficits aren't as bad as blowing up the world economy. Trump doesn't understand economics. In fact, he's a complete moron about it. We will be entering a recession by the end of the year if he gets his way. As is, I think 3rd quarter GDP growth will be flat. He's killing the economy on one end with this trade bullshit. Companies are not going to invest with this chaos. On the other end he's killing job creation because we are deporting our reserve labor. Unemployment is too low. Business can't expand. conservatives are just terrible economists.

---

So much wrong with this post, companies haven't been investing into the economy for over 10 years, it's been share buybacks and nothing more, where have you been?

"Unemployment is too low"

Yeah, the wage gains are off the charts due to the tight labor market, oh wait, wages haven't gone anywhere.

"Business can't expand"

Yeah, unlimited access to credit at ultra low rates makes it too difficult to expand, so a result that can only buy back trillions of dollars worth of their own shares.

"terrible economists"

Your understanding is also very poor.

Stonehenge said:

Music, if you could give examples of the rudeness you would have more credibility.

---

Believe it or not I have, as have many others. People have known that trump is an asshole for decades

But sure, examples:

Let's start with his sexual misconduct allegations which date back to the 80's:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_sexual_misconduct_allegations

Then one of the many times he has insulted veterans:

Trump insults military vets with PTSD, calling them 'not strong'

Here he is being rude and stupid/ignorant to one of our closest allies:

President Trump incorrectly accused Canada of burning down the White House during combative call with Justin Trudeau: report

Here's a list of some of his many rude incidents with other countries:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-insult-foreign-countries-leaders_us_59dd2769e4b0b26332e76d57

Quote:

“Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Trump said in the meeting, sources told multiple media outlets. He later noted that more people from countries like Norway should be allowed to immigrate.

---

koods said:

Trade deficits aren't as bad as blowing up the world economy. Trump doesn't understand economics. In fact, he's a complete moron about it. We will be entering a recession by the end of the year if he gets his way. As is, I think 3rd quarter GDP growth will be flat. He's killing the economy on one end with this trade bullshit. Companies are not going to invest with this chaos. On the other end he's killing job creation because we are deporting our reserve labor. Unemployment is too low. Business can't expand. conservatives are just terrible economists.

---