American Consumers, Not China, Are Picking Up the Tariff Tab!

Based on a working research paper from David E. Weinstein of Columbia University and Stephen J. Redding of Princeton University, the New York Times is reporting that American consumers are picking up the tab for President Trumps’ tariff tiff. Based on research through October, which is an update from a previous report, the authors discovered that “approximately 100 percent” of import taxes fell onto the shoulders of American buyers. The report confirms that American businesses and consumers are paying the cost of President Trump’s recurring misuse of tariffs as a means of “evening the trade playing field.”

Nevertheless, President Trump and his supporters continue to incorrectly assert that China, not America is paying the cost of the tariffs. They worked effectively to get China to the trade talk table, but a Phase One agreement, tentatively scheduled to be signed on January 15, is basically going to wipe out most of the ongoing damage done by tariff imposition. However, it will do nothing about the root cause of the discussions, which was China’s unfair practices and intellectual property theft.

Another important facet of the report shows that a big reason for the failure is that most of the products we sell to China are undifferentiated commodities, like agricultural goods, that could be obtained from another source. However, China sends many specialized consumer goods like silk embroidery, smartphones and laptops which are not as easily replaced with a substitute provider. A separate report conducted by the University of Chicago and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston found almost identical results. Essentially, President Trump saw fit to start trade discussions by popping China in the jaw and then spent more than a year trying to stop the bleeding, before realizing that the great majority of blood was our own.

President Trump employed a similar tactic in discussions with Kim Jung Un (KJU). At this point, it’s pretty plain to see that the only thing  KJU wanted was a photo op showing the world that he was negotiating with the United States and therefore should be taken seriously by all. These are difficult times and now that we’re going to war, they’re going to get more difficult. The party is over for the stock market and gold has begun to run, but it’s not too late to cash out from the market with true profit, not paper profit and get into the safety and security of gold and other physical precious metals. Call the experts at American Bullion at (800) 653-GOLD (4653). Don’t become a casualty of this war. Call American Bullion NOW!