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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIn a switch, Dems and unions cheer Trump while GOP frets
By KEVIN FREKING
46 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (AP) Few issues could blur the lines of partisanship in Trump-era Washington. Trade is one of them.
President Donald Trumps announcement that he will impose stiff tariffs on imported steel and aluminum has labor unions and liberal Democrats in the unusual position of applauding Trumps approach, while Republicans and an array of business groups are warning of dire economic and political consequences if he goes ahead.
Trade politics often cut along regional, rather than ideological, lines, as politicians reflect the interests of the hometown industries and workers. But rarely does a debate open so wide a rift between a president and his party leaving him almost exclusively with support from his ideological opposites.
Good, finally, said Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat and progressive as he cheered Trumps move. Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, a Democrat who has called for Trump to resign, agreed.
I urge the administration to follow through and to take aggressive measures to ensure our workers can compete on a level playing field, Casey tweeted.
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https://www.apnews.com/a7495a002c0940e0b73cc61b5bf14019/In-a-switch,-Dems-and-unions-cheer-Trump-while-GOP-frets
Farmer-Rick
(10,170 posts)Someone finally said it. Tariffs have been the major tax base of the US from colonial times. In 1940 payroll taxes were instituted and more and more workers fund the government while corporations and the rich pay less and less.
Europe uses a VAT tax as an idirect tarriff but in the US, income and payroll taxes now fund most of what tarriffs, inheritance and corporate taxes use to fund. So most of the federal government is funded by workers and corporation providing the rich with most of their wealth pay very little. Talk about taxation without representation.
When have tarriffs become a dirty word? I suspect in 1940. Tarriffs are not the horrible economic tool the rich want you to believe it is. If Trump were smart, but he's not, he woud just call it a VAT tax instead.
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)RB TexLa
(17,003 posts)Like we are part of the world instead of just part of ourselves.
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)Note that when goods are exported from a VAT tax country, the VAT taxes are usually forgiven, so that the goods are exported tax-free. This gives the foreign goods a major cost advantage over US goods when they are imported to the US.