obama to raise tire tarriffs by 35%

[droski]

He is the first president ever to disregard the US trade commissions recommendations (thier recommendation by the way was to not raise the tarriff).

Chinese Tire Tariffs Test President Obama’s Protectionism - WSJ.com

Mr. Obama has applied a previously unused part of the trade law known as Section 421. This allows U.S. industries or unions to seek protection from "surges" of Chinese imports, with a lower burden of proof than normal antidumping or countervailing duty cases.

 

[MG1968]

he's obviously not a student of history, because he's repeating, almost verbatim, the mistakes made by FDR.

 

[volinbham]

George Will had a great piece on this.

Notice that China need not be guilty of wrongdoing: It can be punished even if it is not "dumping" -- not selling goods below the cost of manufacturing and distributing them. (That we consider it wrongdoing for a nation to sell us things we want at very low prices is a superstition to be marveled at another day.) And China need not be punished: Presidential action is entirely discretionary. So Barack Obama was using the sort of slippery language that increasingly defines his loquacity when he said he was simply "enforcing" a trade agreement.

None of the 10 manufacturers that comprise the domestic tire industry sought this protectionism. Seven of the 10 also make tires in other countries. Most U.S. manufacturers have stopped making low-end tires, preferring the higher profit from more expensive models. (Four U.S. companies make low-end tires in China.)

The president smote China because a single union, the United Steelworkers, asked him to. It represents rubber workers, but only those responsible for 47 percent of U.S. tiremaking. The president's action will not create more than a negligible number of jobs, if any. It will not restore a significant number, if any, of the almost 5,200 jobs that were lost in the tire industry from 2004 to 2008. Rather, the president will create jobs in other nations (e.g., Mexico, Indonesia) that make low-end tires. They make them partly because some U.S. firms have outsourced the manufacturing of such tires to low-wage countries so the U.S. firms can make a small profit, while making high-end and higher-profit tires here in high-wage America.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/22/AR2009092203007.html

 

[lylsmorr]

Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it :no:

 

[OrangeEmpire]

Does this mean Goodyear and Firestone will come back to Akron to produce their tires?

 

[volinbham]

Does this mean Goodyear and Firestone will come back to Akron to produce their tires?

This was the only thing holding them back - happy days are here again. We've been saved.

 

[OrangeEmpire]

Yeah!

 

[allvol123]

1) Got to protect those union workers.
2) What happened to these "mutual interests" he spoke of at the UN. Is this the actions of the "New America"? I guess it is in China's interest for us to put tariffs on their goods.