China threatens to end iPhone sales if US imposes stiff tariffs

mentalfloss

Prickly Curmudgeon Smiter
Jun 28, 2010
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America's becoming great again.


China threatens to end iPhone sales if US imposes stiff tariffs

China has threatened to stifle American trade if US president-elect Donald Trump makes good on his campaign promise to impose massive tariffs on the country's imports.

One of the most regular pledges that Trump made during the run-up to the election was to impose what he called "defensive" tariffs of 45 percent on Chinese imports and to have Beijing officially declare a currency manipulator, "the greatest in the world." At a rally in Florida in August, the Republican suggested these tariffs would force China to "stop the cheating."

In an excoriating op-ed, China's state-run newspaper, Global Times, warned that the People's Republic would adopt "a ***-for-tat approach," and would simply stop buying American goods, including the Apple products that are so popular there. It said:

A batch of Boeing orders will be replaced by Airbus. US auto and iPhone sales in China will suffer a setback, and US soybean and maize imports will be halted. China can also limit the number of Chinese students studying in the US.

China threatens to end iPhone sales if US imposes stiff tariffs | Ars Technica UK
 

Danbones

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Sep 23, 2015
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no iphones?
c'est damage...
well, so much for the stockpile of suicide nets

brain chip anyone?
 

Tecumsehsbones

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Mar 18, 2013
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America's becoming great again.


China threatens to end iPhone sales if US imposes stiff tariffs

China has threatened to stifle American trade if US president-elect Donald Trump makes good on his campaign promise to impose massive tariffs on the country's imports.

One of the most regular pledges that Trump made during the run-up to the election was to impose what he called "defensive" tariffs of 45 percent on Chinese imports and to have Beijing officially declare a currency manipulator, "the greatest in the world." At a rally in Florida in August, the Republican suggested these tariffs would force China to "stop the cheating."

In an excoriating op-ed, China's state-run newspaper, Global Times, warned that the People's Republic would adopt "a ***-for-tat approach," and would simply stop buying American goods, including the Apple products that are so popular there. It said:

A batch of Boeing orders will be replaced by Airbus. US auto and iPhone sales in China will suffer a setback, and US soybean and maize imports will be halted. China can also limit the number of Chinese students studying in the US.

China threatens to end iPhone sales if US imposes stiff tariffs | Ars Technica UK
You mean. . . we'd have to pay Americans to make iPhones?

What a tragedy!

Wouldn't happen, by the way. Singapore, Indonesia, Central and South American countries, Malaysia, and any number of others would fill the gap.
 

Machjo

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You mean. . . we'd have to pay Americans to make iPhones?

What a tragedy!

Wouldn't happen, by the way. Singapore, Indonesia, Central and South American countries, Malaysia, and any number of others would fill the gap.

Just build Fortress America. Raise import tariffs on every country. Don't worry about retaliation. The world will understand.
 

Tecumsehsbones

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Just build Fortress America. Raise import tariffs on every country. Don't worry about retaliation. The world will understand.
We're certainly in a better position to do it than any other country on the planet.

Or maybe we're putting pressure on the Chinese to play fair in trade. Are you unaware of the games they play, or do you just hate the U.S. so much that you don't care?
 

Machjo

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We're certainly in a better position to do it than any other country on the planet.

Or maybe we're putting pressure on the Chinese to play fair in trade. Are you unaware of the games they play, or do you just hate the U.S. so much that you don't care?

I'm well aware of the games they play to their own detriment. Japan had tried to suppress the value of the yen too a few decades ago until it exploded in their faces like a pressure cooker. Japan had to introduce 0 bank rate and the yen was still rising in value.

China is playing the same game. It can get away with it for now, but businesses are already starting to shift from China to less expensive countries. How will China keep suppressing its currency as Chinese wages slowly rise? It can go on for only so long before it exploded in their faces too. I'd give them a couple of decades at most at their rate of growth.

I say let the market teach China its lesson.

I will agree that the US is in a better position to build Fortress America, but why hurt yourselves just because you can?
 

Tecumsehsbones

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I'm well aware of the games they pkay to their own detriment. Japan had tried to suppress the value of the yen too a few decades ago until it exploded in their faces like a pressure cooker. Japan had to introduce 0 bank rate and the yen was still rising in value.

China is playing the same game. It can get away with it for now, but businesses are already starting to shift from China to less expensive countries. How will China keep suppressing its currency as Chinese wages slowly rise? It can go on for only so long before it exploded in their faces too. I'd give them a couple of decades at most at their rate of growth.

I say let the market teach China its lesson.

I will agree that the US is in a better position to build Fortress America, but why hurt yourselves just because you can?
We did on 8 Nov. Why stop now?

"Thank you sir may I have another!?!?!"
 

Machjo

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So Chinese students will come to Canada instead of the US. Small compensation for the US tanking the North American economy I suppose.
 

Danbones

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Canada is a bigger trade partner with the US then China is
if the US can't make it's own Iphones
you might as well dissolve into the lawn

robots work cheaper then chinese people do
 

Machjo

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 19, 2004
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Canada is a bigger trade partner with the US then China is
if the US can't make it's own Iphones
you might as well dissolve into the lawn

robots work cheaper then chinese people do

But you need educated workers to build the robots. Functional illiterates generally can't build robots at any discount.

The solution is not protectionism but rather investing more in universal compulsory education and trades and professional training for the unemployed. Raise their skills, and they'll be able to produce things that slave labour can't.
 

Danbones

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robots design and build robots
and those are NOT university grads laying in those suicide nets at breaktime
 

Danbones

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unlike people...
get ready for it
robot trucks are already driving hundreds of miles to deliver beer in the US
amazon is already packing your order before you even buy it...

google is already an AI
 

Bar Sinister

Executive Branch Member
Jan 17, 2010
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Another conundrum for the Dumpster. How do does he give his supporters the cheap electronic goods they crave while at the same time stop the Chinese from providing so many of them? And that means more than just phones - think all appliances, computer hardware, and a multitude of inexpensive plastic products. I don't expect the Dumpster thought it through when he promised to slow down the flow of goods from China into the US.