Before looking at the logistics of manufacturing returning to the USA, Trump has done nothing to prepare the ground first, which is to start building those factories, training the workers, sourcing for raw materials and refining logistics, and not just building them in the air and thinking this is how it works. Which is why the USA is now caught in a bind. Chinese products are being embargoed from entering the USA, while no alternatives are being provided to USA citizens. What makes it worse is the tariff issues with Canada and Mexico, which could have at least mitigated the supply problem somewhat, although not able to provide the capacity that China does anyway. The result is going to be empty shelves and shortages of everything. Panic buying is causing problems that could be delayed or mitigated with stockpiling earlier but not solving the problem in the longer term.
Other than talking about Chinese products not finding its way into retail stores, the other self-foot-shooting mistake made was the deportation of undocumented migrants, the backbone of the USA agricultural sector. These are the people doing the back-breaking jobs of planting, harvesting and bringing the products to supermarkets. Without them, food security is also becoming a big problem in the USA, which has not been well discussed in the same way as the problems associated with tariffs against China and everyone else. Going forward, with farmers going out of business, food security is going to be a problem for the USA, which is something really unexpected for a country that was a net food exporter to China and other countries for decades. Now those farmers that are left are unsure what to plant for next season that may make or break them. For them, the future looks bleak.
Anonymous
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Trump is caught in a trap that he set up on his own, or should I say in a trap set by China. In an effort to destroy China's manufacturing dominance and Chinese investments in other countries, Trump's tariffs are turning friends and allies that have Chinese investments against the USA.
Well and good, if Trump has already put in place a manufacturing base to welcome back investments to set up factories under his plan. But nothing of the gloating has been translated in action. No raw materials secured, no supply chains set up, no plans to train skilled workers and instead chasing away scientists, engineers and academics, and just hoping for investors to fly in blind under his con-job.
Instead of creating jobs, Trump is doing the opposite, with thousands of jobs now lost among port workers, truckers, retail outlets, agricultural sector, aid workers, Federal jobs and even propaganda generation related workers in USAID and Voice of America. The loss of jobs is right before our eyes; but the job creation is still a myth.
Trump has no solution to the empty shelves in retail outlets, just asking USA citizens to buy less, which is in reality creating a panic buying spree now spreading across the states. Can USA citizens be expected to 'hang tough' in the face of shortage of consumer products mainly from China, and particularly food from its own agricultural sector now crippled by lack of undocumented workers to do the harvesting. What about replanting that has to be done for next season? Farmers will have to pay an arm and a leg to employ mainstream USA workers, backed by Unions that will not settle for cheap wages unlike undocumented workers.
It is going to take a massive effort now to roll back the damage done by Trump's tariff. The ships carrying manufactured products are not leaving Chinese ports for the USA. The ships on the high seas are turning around for other destinations in the Global South and renegotiated contracts have to be made with Chinese manufacturers to return to the status quo. How long will that take?
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