Two weeks ago the Left was predicting a trade apocalypse after Mr. Trump said he wanted our G7 allies to drop their tariffs on US goods or he’d raise ours to match them. As an alternative, on his way out the door to meet with Kim Jong Un (something else no other U.S. President had done), he suggested a tariff and subsidy-free trading zone amongst all G7 nations.
The Democrat Party apocalypse tour shouted good night America! as they looked for their next world-ending Trump Derangement Syndrome induced narrative. But somewhere along the way, Germany’s largest automakers said, “hey, we’d love to end all import tariffs on cars between the EU and the US.”
What?
From the Wall Street Journal c/o Legal Insurrection.
The U.S. ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, brought the proposal for a broader industry trade pact to the Trump administration on Wednesday, according to people familiar with the situation.
That would mean scrapping the EU’s 10% tax on auto imports from the U.S. and other countries and the 2.5% duty on auto imports in the U.S. As a prerequisite, the Europeans want President Donald Trump’s threat of imposing a 25% border tax on European auto imports off the table.
Over the past few weeks, Mr. Grenell has held closed-door meetings with the chiefs of all major German automotive companies, including bilateral meetings with the CEOs of Daimler AG, BMW AG and Volkswagen AG, which operate plants in the U.S. Overall, Germany’s auto makers and suppliers provide 116,500 jobs in the U.S., according to the Association of German Automotive Manufacturers.
Dropping that 10% tax means more Cars made in the US heading to Europe, but it also means more hours for folks who’d like jobs building them. And while nothing is a done deal yet, this reaction is as far from the Left’s imagined “truth” as you could get. They predict a trade war. Instead, we get an offer that happens to be exactly what Mr. Trump suggested.
I think the word we’re looking for here is winning.
Speaking of words we don’t know what the German Government thinks or the rest of Europe. Not exactly. That tariff is, after all, coming out of their pockets. And last we checked these pseudo-socialist Democracies are still living high on other people’s supply. Mr. Trump would just rather they not do so much of it from the wallets of American workers.
Germany’s biggest automakers probably have a bit of weight they can throw around. And given that the alternative is a crippling tariff on imports to the US that could represent a significant loss of revenue for all involved, Merkel and Company may come around if they have not already.
A formula that we could expect to play out elsewhere among the G7 players (and with other products) because what the libs and leftists can’t understand is that America is playing from a genuine position of strength.
I know, I know. When you hate your country and most of the people in it (as much as the far left appears to) how can you begin to imagine any of that is possible let alone believe it to be true.
It is true, and it is possible. But only because Mr. Trump has faith in American potential and sees not just the disadvantages we’ve allowed to accumulate but the leverage he can wield to make deals more amenable to US interests.
The tax cuts are a huge part of that.
Where Obama and the Democrats threatened to punish investors and businesses (in the name of American workers) for trying to hide their money from the Taxman, Mr. Trump cut the tax rate and gave them an incentive (in the name of American worker) to bring those dollars back and to invest more and more of them here.
So whose the insane idiot in this story? The Far-left? The Never-Trumpers?
These are the same folks that are promising doom over Mr. Trump trying to reward that investment by finding better trade deals so that growth can lead to products that get a fair shake in a global market.
I think America’s business owners and America’s workers, including the car makers and their auto unions, have a better future and a stronger ally in Donald Trump than in any Democrat running in any race across the Fruited Plain.
Those leftists are running to raise taxes, add regulations, and do whatever they can to stop Mr. Trump’s “agenda.”
An agenda that brings money here and is making America competitive in the world.
Why don’t Democrats want that for their constituents?
They should ask them.
