Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Lighthizer announces 100% countervailing duties on $2.4 billion of French products

Trump being Trump. Macron should have known, there is enough evidence to inform him, but it didn't, Macron and the French government acted, and now Trump responds.

Recall the ridiculous stunts Macron pulled at the G20 in France. He showed up for an unscheduled lunch without giving Trump a chance to prepare, to discuss publicly socialist climate issues bringing his media with him, and then he invited Iran Foreign Minister to an unscheduled bilateral meeting to pressure Trump. Two weird surprises that didn't give Trump a chance to appropriately prepare.

Two absurd power-plays right there. The things a little man does to a big man. Right off the bat. Two huge ridiculous faux pas using international press. Trump is all Rodney Dangerfield, "I'm telling ya, I get no respect. No respect at all." Except with Trump it's not funny.

Recall the United States just won a $7.5 billion per year countervailing duty through the WTO from the Airbus subsidy case and France cannot retaliate.

Now, since France has levied tax on U.S. internet services such as Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon, Trump's team calculated the damage this does to the American economy and the US just now leveled countervailing tariffs to equal that amount. As Trump touches down in the U.K. for the NATO summit Lighthizer announces the new American tariffs against France. The agenda for the scheduled bilateral between Trump and Macron has instantly changed before anything starts.

Trump out-Macroned Macron.

Most uncomfortable. For everybody but Trump. Macron put Trump on the spot. But nobody does that so casually as Trump. [During an interview Trump pushes away, "Excuse me your breath is really bad. Has anyone told you that?" Of course not. Everyone else is too timid, too nice, too gracious to not suffer in silence.]

See the symmetry?

Will this beautiful splendid expert finely tuned symmetry be described as such by U.S. news services? I wouldn't know.

Technical stuff here; Office of the United States Trade Representative, Conclusion of USTR's Investigation Under Section 301 into France's Digital Services Tax.

Essentially, the US trade representative concluded the first segment of its investigation and determined that France's Digital Services Tax discriminates agains US companies inconsistent with prevailing principles of international tax policy and is unusually burdensome for affected US companies.

The rest of the link is quite interesting.

This being the first segment we can expect more to follow.

The United States doesn't say this but they imply it heavily, that France's presumptuous socialism keeps requiring constant infusions of other peoples' money and Trump is putting an end to the contribution from the United States. Or, more briefly, "bite us."

Pow! Right in the kisser. France, Macron, you'll be begging for US cooperation. You'll be asking obsequiously what you can do to correct this dissatisfaction and the answer will be anathema to Socialist proclivities and orientation; ditch your preference for wildly uneven playing field and grow the f up.

[I haven't researched but I noticed every cute little thing that caught my attention that's made in France is at least twice as costly as other similar things. Everything is always overpriced.  Silpat mats, for example, novelty bottle spouts, for another, specific pop-up books from French artists for another, Le Creuset cookware for another, and it caused me to imagine that French government taxes exports presuming their products are must-haves. Well, they are not must-haves. I can make mustard easily good as Dijon any day of the week.]

Trump is protecting United States middle class. Protecting United States production. And he does this with intriguing élan vital. See what I did there? Trump is actually funny. Amusing to observe. Macron played his little Pepé Le Pew games. Trump just now kicked him in his skunk nuts right before their bilateral meeting. Macron does not have time to respond.


And this is only the first segment. 

California is taking lessons from France. In many ways they're just as good/bad. I read Texas wines are quite good. But I wouldn't know that by experience either. 

3 comments:

edutcher said...

Trump out-Macroned Macron.

More like Trump Trumped Macron. This is why we had to save France twice instead of the other way around.

Amartel said...

Trump is playing chess and the rest of them are playing Go Fish.

Gospace said...

Chilean and Argentinian Malbecs are pretty good wines. Even the $5.00 bottle from Walmart if you live in a state where Walmart can sell wine.