RC:
MKSGR:
Leawood911:

We have an American president who considers his citizens better friends, for once. Also, fair trade and balancing the equation should not cost you friends. At least not the kind of friends worth keeping. We really have no need to pay for or buy our friends. We do have a need to have a president who considers his own country First. No crime in that. I get that some who vote don’t understand that part of voting is supporting the winner or at least not overthrowing him without cause.  So sad. Rome fell how?

It is not about fair trade - but about breaking contracts. Problem is people who don‘t get it. Do some research and don‘t believe every bs. Keyword: WTO.

The WTO itself hasn't officially made that statement yet, so why do youSmiley Oh wait... Smiley

Well, Trump is justifying his moves, at least officially, on grounds of national security. WTO rules allow a country to set tariffs for national security reasons, though it has so far never ruled on a case when that exception was invoked. The US president argues the US needs robust steel and aluminum industries to reinforce domestic production of warships, fighter planes and other national defense requirements.

Now here is the interesting part: Other countries "retaliating" to Trump's tariffs with stiffer tariffs is actually a breach of WTO rules. Smiley

As you might know (?) WTO contracts were negotiated as a complete package, i.e. different tariffs for different goods/countries were agreed by all parties as the complete package was agreeable to all parties. Therefore, if somebody now changed tariffs for one product this is not clever or anything but a breach of contracts. We all know that breach of contracts usually does not help you in winning. At least successful people in business life will confirm, I would say, based on my experience.

BTW, WTO regulations allow counter-tariffs in reaction to a party breaching the existing contracts, in contrary to your above post Smiley