Pages

Tuesday, July 29, 2025

29: Trade

Why Do So Many People Think Trump Is Good? The work of the moral philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre helps illuminate some central questions of our time. ........... There’s a question that’s been bugging me for nearly a decade. How is it that half of America looks at Donald Trump and doesn’t find him morally repellent? He lies, cheats, steals, betrays, and behaves cruelly and corruptly, and more than 70 million Americans find him, at the very least, morally acceptable. Some even see him as heroic, admirable, and wonderful. What has brought us to this state of moral numbness? ........... how Western culture evolved to the point where millions of us—and not just Republicans and Trump supporters—have been left unable to make basic moral judgments.

Trump’s Trade Victories Could Be Hollow. Why Markets Must Be Wary of China Talks. Japan promised $550 billion of investments in the U.S., only for the EU to go bigger with a $750 billion commitment to energy purchases and a $600 billion investment pledge. ........

Japanese ministers said the vast majority of Tokyo’s commitment is in loans. European officials say energy purchases aren’t legally binding and depend on private company decisions. With no detailed texts of the agreements yet available, there’s plenty of room for interpretation.

......... And so to China talks, currently under way in Sweden, with the tariff truce set to be extended another 90 days beyond the Aug. 12 deadline. Will we see another big headline investment figure? If so, treat it with caution—Beijing didn’t fulfill the $200 billion promise it made in Trump’s first term. ......... Analysts at Lazard assume an eventual 40% levy on Chinese goods. That would be hefty, but this time the Trump administration has leverage with Nvidia’s processors—quite literally a key bargaining chip—which China’s tech companies want desperately. ........

Analysts expect the EU’s pledge to invest $600 billion in America to go the way of the agricultural purchases China promised and never delivered on. Trump touted a similarly large $550 billion pledge by Japan. It seems larger trading partners are using them to avert higher tariffs.

Trump just exposed how irrelevant the Europeans have now become Before flying to Scotland on Friday, Donald Trump subjected the preening French president to his worst humiliation: that of irrelevance. Macron’s geopolitically illiterate announcement on recognising Palestine “doesn’t matter”, Trump said. ......... “He’s a very good guy. I like him, but that statement doesn’t carry weight,” he added, bringing to mind Jon Snow’s observation in season seven of Game of Thrones that “everything before the word ‘but’ is horse s—”. ......... As if that wasn’t bad enough, then came the real twist of the knife. “Here’s the good news,” Trump concluded. “What he says doesn’t matter. It’s not going to change anything.” .......... Sir Keir at least appears instinctively to understand his own irrelevance. His body language at the Trump press conference in Scotland on Monday told its own story; his pathetic attempt to defend London’s mayor Sadiq Khan – “he’s a friend of mine” – was the bleating of a eunuch. ........... the virtue-signalling Europeans are blind to the fact that the only effect of the pressure they have been so unjustly heaping upon Israel may have been to embolden Hamas, causing it to harden its negotiating position and blow up the talks. .......... the act of vilifying Israel might well have ripped up the very prospects of a ceasefire for which the Europeans claim to be desperate. .......... “They’re going to do in Gaza what we did in Tokyo and Berlin, take the place by force and start over again, presenting a better future for the Palestinians ............ It is true that France has joined with Saudi Arabia, a far more consequential power, in convening a conference at the United Nations in New York this week to push for a two-state solution. But the Saudis are adept at playing a multi-level game. ........ In the Middle East, what you say publicly, what you say privately, and what you really think are usually three different things. Saudi leaders have little real concern for the Palestinians; their interests remain aligned with a closer alliance with Israel.

US goods trade deficit hits nearly two-year low as imports tumble
Trump’s trade war victory is already under siege
Chart reveals true cost of Trump's tariffs

US goods trade deficit hits nearly two-year low as imports tumble
Trump’s trade war victory is already under siege
Chart reveals true cost of Trump's tariffs

at
Labels:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)