For a while now the China and United States trade war has been going on and although it doesn’t look close to ending any time soon, President Trump has some ideas on how to keep the economy stable. Mainly focusing on the agricultural industry, Trump has said that the U.S. will begin buying agricultural products and send them to other countries for humanitarian aid.
Trade War no More
On Friday Trump began a series of tweets which explained how he was planning on buying products from farmers and donating the food to “poor & starving countries” for humanitarian aid. Trump remarked that there would be a potential purchase of $15 billion from the farmers.
….The process has begun to place additional Tariffs at 25% on the remaining 325 Billion Dollars. The U.S. only sells China approximately 100 Billion Dollars of goods & products, a very big imbalance. With the over 100 Billion Dollars in Tariffs that we take in, we will buy…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2019
….agricultural products from our Great Farmers, in larger amounts than China ever did, and ship it to poor & starving countries in the form of humanitarian assistance. In the meantime we will continue to negotiate with China in the hopes that they do not again try to redo deal!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2019
Earlier this week soybean and grain prices plummetted after U.S. trade talks failed yet again with China. China then promised retaliation when the U.S. raised tariffs to $200 billion in goods.
Trump continued his tweets by saying that having the U.S. buy farmers products would help farmers “do better, faster.”
Tariffs will make our Country MUCH STRONGER, not weaker. Just sit back and watch! In the meantime, China should not renegotiate deals with the U.S. at the last minute. This is not the Obama Administration, or the Administration of Sleepy Joe, who let China get away with “murder!”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2019
Not That Simple
Some, however, are skeptical of Trump’s idea, calling it a subtle way to raise taxes on Americans. Others believe that things wouldn’t work out as smoothly as how President Trump pictures it. “To buy humanitarian aid is not that simple,” Louise Gartner, owner of Spectrum Commodities in New Richmond, Ohio, said in a telephone interview. “I’m sure the market has seen those tweets, and they’re not thinking much of it.” [1]
Notes:
- ^“President Trump Says U.S. Will Buy American Farmers’ Crops to Offset China Trade Losses.” Time, 10 May. 2019, time.com/5587231/trump-us-crops-china-trade-war. (go back ↩)
