Economy CNBC: China to halve retaliatory tariffs on hundreds of US goods worth about $75 billion

[bobgeese]

Maybe.

I’m confused. It seems to be generally excepted that things did not begin to improve until after Obama left office. I’ve argued in this forum that Obama started the economic recovery and Trump implemented policies that continued the improvements that began under Obama but have changed my mind based on the persuasive arguments of others.

The Obama recovery had plateaued around 14, the jobs numbers kept improving. Overall, Obama didn’t do terrible on the economy.

The thing is, liberals, tv talking heads, “experts” keep criticizing the trump administrations trade policies. Yet, Trump keeps racking up wins.

The rest of these pathetic fucks didn’t even try. They just bent over and took it.

 

[ObamaPhoneLady]

What was my last account then?

It was years ago. I just remember when you popped back up.

 

[Deleted member 159002]

The thing is, liberals, tv talking heads, “experts” keep criticizing the trump administrations trade policies.

It's hilarious. For months NPR regularly had stories about business owners complaining about the trade war's effect on their businesses.

 

[bobgeese]

It's hilarious. For months NPR regularly had stories about business owners complaining about the trade war's effect on their businesses.

Oh yes, I was listening.

You could literally hear their vagina hats rustling through the microphone...

 

[Rational Poster]

It was years ago. I just remember when you popped back up.

but you can't tell me the name?

 

[Pseudo Sane]

If only Obama engineered a deadly, incurable, and contagious virus and unleashed it on the Chinese population.

What a pussy.

You know, looking at this post again, I think I misunderstood what you were trying to say at the outset. I thought you were making a stupid comment implying that Trump created the coronavirus (which I've seen a few people imply), but if I'm reading you right, you're actually implying that Trump's success in the trade war with China, contra Obama, is attributable to the coronavirus rather than Trump's policy.

Am I reading you right?

If I am, I still disagree with you, since Obama never showed any interest in putting serious trade pressure on China during his time in office, so America wouldn't have profited even if a similar epidemic had started during Obama's term. Nevertheless, the fact that Trump's success in this area is partly due to an outside event is obviously true. So I apologize for not assuming the more charitable reading of your comment at the outset.

 

[Rational Poster]

You know, looking at this post again, I think I misunderstood what you were trying to say at the outset. I thought you were making a stupid comment implying that Trump created the coronavirus (which I've seen a few people imply), but if I'm reading you right, you're actually implying that Trump's success in the trade war with China, contra Obama, is attributable to the coronavirus rather than Trump's policy.

Am I reading you right?

If I am, I still disagree with you, since Obama never showed any interest in putting serious trade pressure on China during his time in office, so America wouldn't have profited even if a similar epidemic had started during Obama's term. Nevertheless, the fact that Trump's success in this area is partly due to an outside event is obviously true. So I apologize for not assuming the more charitable reading of your comment at the outset.

Finally, you got the joke.

But also, your disagreement is a bit weak.

Obama did show incredible interest in curtailing China's influence. He initiated the pivot to Asia, both militarily and diplomatically, and was in the process of negotiating a unilateral trade deal between multiple Asian trading partners, but mainly China.

 

[Pseudo Sane]

Finally, you got the joke.

But also, your disagreement is a bit weak.

Obama did show incredible interest in curtailing China's influence. He initiated the pivot to Asia, both militarily and diplomatically, and was in the process of negotiating a unilateral trade deal between multiple Asian trading partners, but mainly China.

I don't agree. Obama never successfully executed the planned pivot to Asia because he kept getting bogged down elsewhere, namely Syria, which ended up taking most of his foreign policy energy. And he never put serious trade pressure on China. You're basically giving Obama credit for good intentions.

Your original point is that Trump's 'success' with China (I'm not honestly prepared to call it that, since the overall effects of the trade dispute are not at all clear at this point), is the result of circumstances outside of Trump's control.

That is comparing apples to oranges; both Presidents had very different aspirations with trade. Trump is interested in leveraging America's advantages to beat opponents down in largely bilateral trade arrangements. Obama was still continuing the prior trade system of further globalization and the multilateral reduction of trade barriers, most notably with the TPP (which failed of course, due to a rebellion in the Democrats, and Trump's helpful withdrawal. Which method will prove more successful in the medium and long term is an open question at this point. I'm not

What I am more confident in is that Obama would not have benefited from a similar situation, because he didn't have similar goals to Trump.

 

[ObamaPhoneLady]

Not according to my DMs.

You've probably been banned more times than I've been carded.

Oof.