The BBC is reporting that "The Trump administration is planning to import eggs from Turkey and South Korea and is in talks with other countries in hopes of easing all-time high prices for the American consumer, officials confirmed."
Meanwhile back on the ranch, US border officials are seizing eggs Americans bring home from Canada. Oh they're concerned about the bird flu. The price of eggs in the US has risen because of bird flu. If an American buys a dozen eggs in Canada and cooks them in their home, how is that going to infect American chickens with the bird flu? It's not. It's just another example of crazy.
Oh but wait. There's an American trade deficit with Turkey and Korea. Since America has a larger population than Turkey and South Korea, America buys more things from them than they buy from America. According to Trump's math that means he's going to have to tariff eggs from Turkey and Korea.
If he does that, then eggs in America will be more expensive for consumers. That's how tariffs work. That's why I say don't bother with counter tariffs. That will make things more expensive for us. Just sell our products to other countries and let him figure it out.
I believe you are correct in this, people have been making the point all along that Trump intends to balance trade deficits.
ReplyDeleteWhich is completely unrealistic because of the population difference.
DeleteIt hurts us even more because of the currency differential. We should have pegged it one to one with theirs years ago, ideally at a point where it as 2-3 cents difference.
ReplyDelete