Octopus Overlords

Toys, board games and dice are on the list of Chinese imports that President Trump has proposed for additional tariffs of up to 25%. The list was released today by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Trump proposed the tariffs after trade negotiations with China fell through on Friday.

Board games and dice are included under the subheading: 9504.90.60. “Chess, checkers, backgammon, darts and o/table and parlor games played on boards of a special design and parts thereof; poker chips and dice.”

Shortly after President Donald Trump announced plans to yank U.S. troops out of Syria last December, a group of lawmakers came to the White House to talk him out of the idea, which critics called a threat to national security.

Trump responded by calling in the man who oversees his Twitter account.

“Get Dan Scavino in here,” Trump called out in the middle of the meeting earlier this year. In walked a man in his early forties with close-cropped brown hair.

“Tell them how popular my policy is,” Trump instructed Scavino, who, according to two people with knowledge of the exchange, proceeded to walk lawmakers through the positive reaction he had picked up on social media about Trump’s Syria decision.

The sudden pivot from geostrategy to retweets and likes surprised the lawmakers. It was a remarkable moment given that not long ago Scavino was managing Trump’s golf club. But for Scavino himself, it was just another day on the job.

With few allies left in the West Wing, Trump frequently leans on his unassuming social media guru for affirmation and advice about how his most sensitive policies will be received, according to interviews with more than two dozen current and former White House officials, and others close to the president.

Scavino's April 1 message called on the “#TrumpTrain” to take out Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) in an upcoming primary, referring to him as “a big liability.” Amash is a member of the House Freedom Caucus, a group that Trump had blamed at the time for derailing legislation that would have repealed parts of the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

Holman wrote: ↑Thu May 16, 2019 11:01 am The fun part is that a lot of the "popularity" Trump sees on Twitter is probably coming from Russian and other foreign bots and troll farms.

You can see it in action when he posts something new and there are thousands of likes within just a few seconds. There's a lot of automation there.

Remus West wrote: ↑Thu May 16, 2019 11:09 am

Holman wrote: ↑Thu May 16, 2019 11:01 am The fun part is that a lot of the "popularity" Trump sees on Twitter is probably coming from Russian and other foreign bots and troll farms.

You can see it in action when he posts something new and there are thousands of likes within just a few seconds. There's a lot of automation there.

Seriously needs to be countered via a left leaning bank of bots giving him thumbs down on all the autoritarian bull and thumbs up when he happens to post something non-vile.

LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Thu May 16, 2019 1:14 pm What needs to happen is everyone needs to stop following him. At least everyone who isn't a supporter. He'd notice that. And if the bots got culled.

Jeff V wrote: ↑Thu May 16, 2019 1:44 pm

LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Thu May 16, 2019 1:14 pm What needs to happen is everyone needs to stop following him. At least everyone who isn't a supporter. He'd notice that. And if the bots got culled.

If everyone but his family dropped he would still declare that everyone agrees with him.

LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Thu May 16, 2019 2:04 pm Likes/followers are his social media cock. Just like "ratings" are his TV cock.

President Trump will hold off on imposing auto tariffs for up to six months amid ongoing negotiations with Japan and the European Union, the White House announced Friday.
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The decision postpones a major confrontation in Trump’s multipronged trade war. Following a Section 232 investigation by the U.S. trade representative's office, Friday marked a deadline for Trump to decide whether to impose auto tariffs on close U.S. allies, a major escalation.
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The delay did not mollify critics of the trade barriers.

The National Taxpayers Union, a right-leaning advocacy group, said that Trump has no business considering auto tariffs under section 232 of the trade law, which allows tariffs to be imposed for national security purposes.
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On Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said he was nearing a deal to lift steel and aluminum tariffs on Mexico and Canada, a move that could help pave the way for passing the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, an update of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

On Thursday, Trump decided to ease off steel tariffs on Turkey, which he had doubled last summer.

BREAKING: In a significant step toward congressional approval of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the U.S. agreed to lift the tariffs in 48 hours in return for tough new measures to prevent Chinese steel from entering the U.S. via Canada or Mexico. The deal avoids quotas on steel from the two countries, which Canada and Mexico had opposed.

President Donald Trump’s trade war with China is causing a panic inside the board game industry. A list of tariffs on Chinese imports proposed by
the United States trade representative would raise the cost of virtually everything needed to produce modern tabletop games. John Stacy, executive director of the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA), says that tariffs could dramatically reduce the number of new games in production in the United States. Even worse, they could cost workers and business owners their livelihoods.

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In total, Stacy says that hobby games now produce as much as $5 billion annually for the U.S. economy. But that number is now at risk thanks to Trump’s proposed tariffs.

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“The [hobby games] manufacturing infrastructure in the United States has basically collapsed in the last 20 years,” Stacy said. “The expertise and the specialization is simply not there. Obviously, we still have some big manufacturers in this country, but they can’t do smaller products in the volumes that we’re buying them in — 2,000 copies or whatever — because it’s cost prohibitive to buy that small of a quantity from a U.S. company. So our members have to go overseas to buy them. That’s what allows them to actually keep their doors open, because the margins are so thin in our industry.”

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Fri May 17, 2019 11:54 am

President Trump will hold off on imposing auto tariffs for up to six months amid ongoing negotiations with Japan and the European Union, the White House announced Friday.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Fri May 17, 2019 6:57 pm The Chinese tarriff board gaming issue, now with numbers:

Holman wrote: ↑Wed May 15, 2019 6:45 pm Board Games and Dice Included in China Tariffs.

Toys, board games and dice are on the list of Chinese imports that President Trump has proposed for additional tariffs of up to 25%. The list was released today by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Trump proposed the tariffs after trade negotiations with China fell through on Friday.

Board games and dice are included under the subheading: 9504.90.60. “Chess, checkers, backgammon, darts and o/table and parlor games played on boards of a special design and parts thereof; poker chips and dice.”

Impeach Now.

hina’s government looks to be settling in for a long trade war with the United States, with President Xi Jinping invoking one of the Communist Party’s most epic — and ultimately successful — battles.

The Chinese leader, accompanied by his top trade negotiator, Vice Premier Liu He, on Monday placed a floral basket at a monument in Jiangxi province commemorating the start of the Long March in 1934. In the 4,000-mile, year-long trek, the Communists broke through Nationalist lines, eventually ousting them and installing Mao Zedong as leader of China.

Meanwhile, China’s main movie channel, CCTV-6, has scrapped its regular programming in favor of films about the Korean War, which ended in a draw after China intervened to fight back the Americans.

“We are echoing the present times using the art form of film,” the channel said, explaining its sudden schedule changes.
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Earlier this year, the state-run People’s Publishing House printed “Rereading On Protracted War,” an updated collection of speeches that Mao gave in 1938 amid a Japanese invasion that would take eight years for China to repel. It appeared to be a sign that authorities were preparing the people for a long and difficult trade war.

All this propaganda has a purpose, said Dali Yang, professor of political science at the University of Chicago. “The psychological aspect cannot be overestimated. The Chinese side wants to be seen as standing up to the U.S.,” he said. “They have to put on a strong face.”

More than 170 of the nation’s largest footwear companies have sent a clear message to President Trump: A trade war with China will burn a hole in Americans’ soles.
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Consumers ultimately absorb the tariffs in the form of higher retail prices, the shoe companies said, despite Trump’s insistence that China will foot the bill. Monday’s letter included signatures from such powerhouses as Nike, Adidas, Foot Locker, Ugg, Crocs, Steve Madden, Skechers and Converse.

“We can assure you that any increase in the cost of importing shoes has a direct impact on the American footwear consumer,” the letter said. “It is an unavoidable fact that as prices go up at the border due to transportation costs, labor rate increases, or additional duties, the consumer pays more for the product.”
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The shoe industry is deeply entrenched in China. In their letter, footwear companies warned that they can’t “simply move factories to adjust to these changes.” After all, footwear is one of the nation’s most heavily imported products, with nearly all shoes manufactured outside the United States. Nearly three-quarters of those imports come from China, the American Apparel & Footwear Association said last year.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Tue May 21, 2019 4:39 pm Shoes? Board games? What's next Scotch? It's like he's targeting my entire existence.

Salmon from the UK and Germany and octopus and tuna from Spain appear to be the seafood products most in danger of taking big hits if the US goes ahead with its threat of tariffs on imports from Europe as retaliation for the subsidies provided Airbus.

The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) on Tuesday published a list of nearly 300 items imported from Europe, reported to be worth more than $11 billion in total, that could get more expensive soon should a settlement not be reached in the long-running trade dispute over the Netherlands-based airplane manufacturer, which has its main office in France. The action follows a ruling last month by the World Trade Organization (WTO) that the EU’s subsidies to Airbus have caused adverse effects to the US.

Kohl’s, J.C. Penney and Home Depot executives were united in their messaging against additional taxes on imports from China, as they spoke with analysts during post-earnings conference calls Tuesday.
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The White House has threatened to slap another round of 25% tariffs on roughly $300 billion in Chinese goods that would include apparel and footwear. That’s after a third round of tariffs, impacting goods like furniture and accessories including handbags, took effect earlier this month.

Stocks fell sharply Thursday morning, amid investor concern that trade tensions between the U.S. and China could get worse before they improve.

How are the major benchmarks trading?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, lost 309 points, or 1.2%, to trade at 25,472, while the S&P 500 index SPX, fell 32 points, or 1.1%, to 2,825. The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, meanwhile, retreated 100 points, or 1.3%, to 7,652.
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Weakness in global markets spread to the U.S. Thursday morning as investors digested the implications of new U.S. export restrictions placed on Chinese telecom firm Huawei Technologies Co., with The Wall Street Journal reporting that U.K.-chip design company Arm Holdings was halting business with Huawei, sparking volatility overnight.
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Economic data from Europe may also be contributing to fears over global growth, after IHS Markit’s flash composite purchasing manager’s index showed the eurozone manufacturing sector falling further into contraction, with factory managers cutting staff levels for the first time since August of 2014.

The Dow dropped 0.7% this week to post its fifth consecutive weekly decline, its longest streak since 2011. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell a third straight week of losses, their longest slide since December 2018. The weekly losses come at a time when investors are growing more convinced that the trade war will take longer than expected to conclude and could hurt the economy.

hepcat wrote: ↑Thu May 23, 2019 4:10 pm But he'll fuck it up somehow. Don't worry.

Jeff V wrote: ↑Fri May 24, 2019 6:24 pm

hepcat wrote: ↑Thu May 23, 2019 4:10 pm But he'll fuck it up somehow. Don't worry.

CNN had an article by Beto posted the other day saying that last year's $12B bailout had so many strings attached that most of the farmers who are hosed by tariffs can't get anything. Now if those MAGA-minded meatheads are pissed off enough to finally vote their own interests is another story.

China is ready to capitalize on its dominance as an exporter of rare earth minerals by cutting its exports to the U.S., Chinese media reported Wednesday.

Rare earths are a group of elements with unique properties that are used in cell phones, hybrid cars and cancer treatment. They also play an important role in U.S. defense, from computers to aircraft engines.

"Waging a trade war against China, the United States risks losing the supply of materials that are vital to sustaining its technological strength," began a commentary published Wednesday in the Communist newspaper People's Daily.

The threat from Chinese media comes after the Trump administration raised tariffs on Chinese imports and moved to blacklist Chinese telecommunications company Huawei from buying American technology. (It later issued the company a temporary general license.)

The People's Daily said that the U.S. is trying to contain China's technological advancements but that it has overlooked how intertwined the international supply chain has become. "China has plenty of cards to play," it stated.