Maria Bartiromo talks about the steel and aluminum tariffs recently announced by the Trump administration along with the shifted trade perspectives of the Trump administration with White House Trade Policy Adviser Peter Navarro.

While the current trade focus centers around steel and aluminum tariffs, Mr. Navarro expands the discussion when asked about China as a trade target specifically.  Within the expanded discussion Navarro highlights U.S.T.R Robert Lighthizer’s pending 301 review of intellectual property theft by the Chinese government.

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Regarding ‘European Union (EU) retaliation’, forget it; they won’t.

The protectionist EU hypocrites simply cannot afford to go toe-to-toe with the U.S. on trade.  The UK is in the process of formalizing their Brexit terms; the EU (essentially ‘Germany’) needs to find a way to make up for the lost revenue (billions in taxes) from the UK economy.  Currently the UK pays Brussels approximately a billion per month on a $2.5 trillion economy; that will stop.

Brexit reduces the overall EU GDP by $2.5 trillion.  German Chancellor Angela Merkel cannot -and will not- challenge President Trump.  In addition to being politically weak, Merkel has attached her economy to expansive environmental regulations (Paris treaty), though she is now attempting to pale down those regulations.  Chancellor Merkel cannot afford to run the risk of losing any access to the U.S. market.

A 25% decrease within the German auto sector alone would be enough to throw the entire nation of Germany into a recession; and functionally Germany is the EU.   President Trump holds all the leverage within the trade discussions with the EU…

…. WE ARE THE CUSTOMER in this equation.

 

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