Trump has won the trade war

While campaigning for president, Donald Trump said that he would fix every one of the lopsided trade agreements that the U.S. had with trading partners worldwide. After being sworn into office, he carefully examined each agreement and came to the conclusion that each one had to be renegotiated. The problem was that every trading partner was very reluctant.

And why not? For whatever reason, every single trade agreement was slanted in favor of our trading partner and to the detriment of the U.S. Each trading partner liked it that way.

As an example, consider the automobile industry. When a car is produced in Europe and sold in the US, a 2 ½ percent tariff is charged by the U.S. However when a car is manufactured in the U.S. and sold in Europe, the EU charges a 10 percent tariff.

For the agreement with China, a car produced in China is charged a 2 ½ percent tariff when sold in the US. But a US-produced car is charged a 25 percent tariff when sold in China. Some cars, like the Corvette, are charged a 50 percent or more tariff.

China was even able to avoid the 2 ½ percent tariff by producing most of the car in China, then sending it to Mexico to be finished. When completed the car is sold in the U.S. and charged no tariff because the car came from Mexico.