EU’s anti-Trump hit list: Everything including the kitchen sink

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

https://www.politico.eu/article/eus-anti-trump-hit-list-everything-including-the-kitchen-sink/

 

In agriculture, the EU will go after kidney beans, bourbon whiskey, rice, cranberries, orange juice, peanut butter, tobacco and cheroots. The total value of the farm goods targeted, based on the EU’s 2017 imports, is €951 million, including €604 million worth of processed goods.

In the industrial sector, the EU is going after a broad range of tubes, pipes and rolled steels, as well as appliances such as grills, sinks, ventilators and ladders. The list also includes iron and steel containers for compressed and liquefied gas. The total value of iron and steel goods targeted is €854 million.

[Free Vulcan]

Wow, who has the problem here? We slap a couple of tariffs, the EU goes nuclear. Sniveling, pinhead, entitled elitists.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Interesting comment:

I read this Germany nonsense. Germany’s steel and aluminum product exports go by large to the EU. The US imports not an awful lot of it – 4% to be exact. Enough to hurt, but not to much. It’s the same as when he went after BMW. Totally ignoring that BMW growth strategy in the US, lead to the manufacturers largest investments (in the US), that BMW by now is one of the US’ largest car exporters and fastest growing car manufacturers. BMW produces 400,000 cars in the US, exporting 70% including to Germany, some series are exclusively US products. The use more US manufactured parts than most US brands. Other series are imported into the US. All in all they sell 300,000 cars in the US. Thus creating a significant trade surplus. And all that is part of a longterm strategy that started under Clinton, went on under Bush, kept growing strong with billions of investment under Obama. Trump went after them anyway. Looked good. Bad Germans.

Then there is a thing he doesn’t understand. Germany’s trade surplus is not based on mass goods. It is not based on classic steel stuff. It is based on small and midsize industry that in certain fields are technologically way advanced.

The US don’t have a hypercomplex tunnel drill like the Herrenknecht. They don’t have a concrete pump as good as the Putzmeister. They don’t have a industry robotics firm competing with Kuka. And no operating room equipment company like Marquee. It takes decades to develop those technologies. It would be like us saying: “We make our own Intel chips!” not that easy. The Chinese saw this and did the complete opposite move. They invest in those midsize world technology leaders. That sector is larger than “cars” – Daimler, Volkswagen, BMW, Audi combined!

The effect of tariffs might simply be that clients who need – to stick with the example – need a tunnel driller simply need to pay more. And American manufacturers like Chrysler, Boing, Ford run with German industry robotics by Kuka owned by a Chinese holding called Midea. Making Kuka expensive raises the price of US products.

Everybody complaining about Germany’s trade surplus must understand this. Limiting it, means that important technologies for one’s own industries become expensive – often without a competing product. Don’t worry, especially in the IT world we need you the same way. In the end tariffs might hurt more than they help…