Trump has now changed his tune. He is not trying to bring back manufacturing of sneakers and T-shirts. USA workers are too fat and lazy to work in sweatshops as shown by those mocking memes on Tik Tok that the Chinese made. He is now luring manufacturers of military tanks and technology. What about keeping out technology companies like Huawei and BYD and chasing away companies like John Deere, Ford, Harley Davison and now forcing Nvidia to set up a R & D unit in China and Amazon and Walmart setting up headquarters for their operation outside the USA? The narrative does not fit the reality of Trump's actions.
For a start, does the USA really have the skilled workforce for bringing back such high skilled industries? The USA can do that if it changes its education system now to turn out more engineers and scientist, not otherwise. That is going to take years, or even decades. Putting the cart before the horse is not going to fool anybody. And if that was the reason for his tariffs, why try to erect high tariffs on everything besides weapons and technology, which the USA can ill afford to do without? Another con exposed?
Anonymous
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Trump is at war with the USA. Now Trump is weaponizing higher education against the world. Fancy that?
Trump is now at war with foreign students studying in the USA, with Harvard setting the tone. This is going to cripple the USA in need of foreign talents and Trump is trying to lure back manufacturing of higher tech industries. Let us be very clear. Many of the cutting-edge innovations in the past were initiated by and attributed to foreign talents who studied and stayed back to help the USA's development. Just search back and you will see what I mean. Rocketry, nuclear weapons, semiconductors among a few others are just examples.
Trump's war on foreign students studying in USA is going to benefit China, Canada, Australia and Europe. Even Hong Kong is already jumping on the move to attract students in the face of the clampdown by Trump on foreign students. And Chinese universities are not just watching by the wayside.
Chinese universities are rising up the global rankings, with academics culled from those that left the USA in the face of ostracization and demonization. They benefitted Chinese universities more than what Beijing is hoping for. Why not? All readily trained, highly experienced and paid for to acquire their knowledge that the Chinese do not have to burden themselves with. Who is smart and who is dumb is clear for all to see.
Now, the exodus of academics and R & D personnel from USA universities will take on a new impetus. As foreign students are prevented from studying in USA universities, departments will probably have to be trimmed, academics will also be laid off, with some moving to China for sure. So let us enjoy the show of another session of foot shooting.
Even making weapons needs plenty of rare earth elements, which are all controlled by China. Even if the USA managed to succeed in sourcing for rare earth elements by mining in deep sea, its last bastion of hope, refining them still needs the logistics available in China.
So, think rationally about it! Sweatshop manufacturing or high-tech industries. The choice is all there for the USA to choose.
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