Title: Everything Trump Says About Trade With China Is Wrong
Headings: Almost Everything Donald Trump Says About Trade With China Is Wrong
Almost Everything Donald Trump Says About Trade With China Is Wrong
Donald Trump’s China trade plan would make American families pay a lot more for food, clothing, electronics, and everything else that now says ‘Made in China.’
Review the Underlying Facts
Our Trade Balance With China Doesn’t Matter
China Is Having Yuuge Currency Troubles
Presidents Can’t Make Trade Policy Themselves
Trump’s Trade Policies Would Hurt the United States
It Would Hurt Businesses and Workers, Too
Trump’s Tariffs Would Be Immoral and Unconservative
At Best, This Plan Is Stupid

Content: China Is Having Yuuge Currency Troubles
The idea that China is totally dominating the United States is equally absurd. Yes, China has experienced impressive gross domestic product (GDP) growth over the last decade or so, but (a) that’s what developing countries do (especially former centrally planned ones with more than a billion people); and (b) America remains much, much wealthier, greener, more egalitarian, and more productive. It’s not even close — no, really. China’s incessant quest for GDP growth through the kind of economic interventionism that Trump just loves has led to some serious economic distortions. Moreover, unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last six months, you’d know that China’s incessant quest for GDP growth through the kind of economic interventionism that Trump just loves has led to some serious economic distortions (e.g., a frightening property market, rampant industrial overcapacity, a banking sector riddled with non-performing loans, and serious capital flight ), not to mention crazy stock market turmoil. You’d also know that Chinese “currency manipulation” is not a serious problem for the United States (probably never was ), and that even the most aggressive U.S. currency hawks now acknowledge that China is not hurting the United States by keeping the yuan artificially low. Indeed, China’s “cunning” economic planners are currently struggling to keep their currency from falling, not—as Trump seems to think—from rising. So if Beijing relented to Trump’s fantastical threats and let the market dictate its currency, the result would be a weaker yuan, not a stronger one, as Trump confidently claimed last Thursday night. Presidents Can’t Make Trade Policy Themselves
Beyond Trump’s erroneous premise, there’s also the little problem of actually imposing his plan under U.S. law and global trade rules.