Some time in your childhood, you probably had, at least once, the sort of teacher who punished everyone in your class for something one kid did.
That, I believe, is the sort of teacher Donald Trump would have been had he pursued the life of an educator.
At least, that is what I believe after seeing one of his latest threats. If he acts on it, some $11.5 billion in goods from the EU could be subject to retaliatory tariffs. Among those items are hubs and sprockets.
So why does El Cheeto Grande want to slap punitive taxes on wheel goods and gears? Well, he rationalizes this threat with a World Trade Organization ruling from last May, which found that Airbus had received illegal subsidies from European countries and gave the US the right to impose retaliatory tariffs.
What he didn't mention, however, is a more recent WTO ruling, specifically from last month: Boeing, which just happens to be Airbus's main rival, received similarly illegal tax breaks in the US. Thus, said the WTO, the EU can impose sanctions on imports from the US.
Now, I thought really hard about why freewheels, cassettes and hubs for bicycles--or motorcycle hubs or sprockets--are targeted for tariffs that are supposed to punish Europeans for supporting their aerospace industry. All I could come up was this: Aircraft have wheels, which use hubs. And their engines use gears, i.e., sprockets. So, perhaps, anything that could potentially help an A-380 take off, fly or land is fair game for new taxes.
Hmm...I'm not sure that works. I must say I tried, really tried, to understand the logic of the threat. But then I remembered: This is Donald Trump we're talking about.
That, I believe, is the sort of teacher Donald Trump would have been had he pursued the life of an educator.
At least, that is what I believe after seeing one of his latest threats. If he acts on it, some $11.5 billion in goods from the EU could be subject to retaliatory tariffs. Among those items are hubs and sprockets.
So why does El Cheeto Grande want to slap punitive taxes on wheel goods and gears? Well, he rationalizes this threat with a World Trade Organization ruling from last May, which found that Airbus had received illegal subsidies from European countries and gave the US the right to impose retaliatory tariffs.
What he didn't mention, however, is a more recent WTO ruling, specifically from last month: Boeing, which just happens to be Airbus's main rival, received similarly illegal tax breaks in the US. Thus, said the WTO, the EU can impose sanctions on imports from the US.
Now, I thought really hard about why freewheels, cassettes and hubs for bicycles--or motorcycle hubs or sprockets--are targeted for tariffs that are supposed to punish Europeans for supporting their aerospace industry. All I could come up was this: Aircraft have wheels, which use hubs. And their engines use gears, i.e., sprockets. So, perhaps, anything that could potentially help an A-380 take off, fly or land is fair game for new taxes.
Hmm...I'm not sure that works. I must say I tried, really tried, to understand the logic of the threat. But then I remembered: This is Donald Trump we're talking about.
Could be that Europe needed to work something out to build proper new planes which were not just a cheap rehash on archaic half century old technology to keep the price down even if they dropped out of the sky.
ReplyDeleteThe orange one has to win at everything every time, even things he has never thought about. He must be real fun at home...
Mrs. Dunn was my third grade teacher and was prone to making the class write the Act of Contrition 10 times if anyone in the class goofed up (sometimes 3 or 4 times a week- in addition to homework!) We learned the Act better than the maths tables. All the parents were extremely frustrated with her.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if DJT was related to her?
Coline--That's a good point about Europe's aerospace industry--and our President!
ReplyDeleteMike W--I bet I can still recite the Act of Contrition, even though I haven't said it since Gerald Ford was President!