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.
