Ridiculing the White Working Class Voter, and Other Trade News from Crista Huff — November 30, 2016

 

RIDICULING THE WHITE WORKING CLASS VOTER — Comments from Crista Huff

I’ve been shocked to see liberals on Twitter aggressively ridiculing the “white working class voter”. Is this about the Twitter libs being bigoted against white people, or about them expressing class superiority, or about them hating Republicans and/or people who voted for President-elect Trump? 

Were the libs previously embracing white working class voters because they needed their votes, and now they’re revealing their true colors? 

No matter how you slice and dice it, it’s extremely bigoted behavior. Would these people go into a supermarket and ridicule the cashier? Would they stop by a roadside work area and ridicule the guy who’s holding the “STOP” sign? Would they drive up to a toll booth and ridicule the tolltaker? How about warehouse managers and assembly line workers and janitors?

What takes place in the mind of an American when they feel emboldened to express public disdain for vast segments of the population? Why is there no “gut check” telling them that such bigotry is wrong, and that vocalizing bigotry simply doubles down on their shameful impulses?

Are we, as a society, just a couple years away from more overt and individualized persecution?

 

A SURGE IN CORPORATE EMPLOYMENT PLANS WITHIN THE U.S.

President-elect Trump will travel to Indiana on December 1 for Carrier’s announcement that it will not move its Indiana operations to Mexico. Carrier is a division of United Technologies. (Bloomberg, November 29, 2016)

After a discussion with President-elect Trump, Ford Motor Company announced that it will not move its Lincoln automobile manufacturing plant from Kentucky to Mexico. (Breitbart, November 18, 2016)

Taiwan-based Quanta Computer has announced that it expects its U.S.-based manufacturing business to expand under a Trump presidency. Quanta makes data center servers, in Tennessee and California, for big-name tech companies. (Nikkei Asian Review, November 29, 2016)

Foxconn Technology Group, an assembler of iPhones for Apple Inc., is considering shifting some production from Taiwan to the U.S., after a June request to do so by Apple. (Nikkei Asian Review, November 18, 2016)

 

 “He tweets every day. We don’t know what’s going to happen,

but things are going to happen and traders like that.”

— Chew Sutat, a senior executive at Singapore Exchange Ltd., re: President-elect Trump,

(Bloomberg, November 29, 2016)

 

COMMERCE SECRETARY CANDIDATE

President-elect Trump has chosen Wilbur Ross as his candidate for Commerce Secretary. Ross has a background as a banker, and as a private investor who restructures failing companies. In a November 30 CNBC interview, Ross discussed the need to negotiate better trade deals for the U.S. in order to increase our exports. “There’s sensible trade. And there’s dumb trade. We’ve been doing a lot of dumb trade, and that’s the part that’s going to get fixed.”

 

KORUS

South Korea’s Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Joo Hyung-hwan said that South Korea “is willing to be more ‘flexible and complementary’ by further hearing out the U.S.’ suggestions” on the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS). (The Korea Times, November 29, 2016)

 

NAFTA

“Officials from both Mexico and Canada have said they are open to discussing renegotiating the agreement with the Trump administration.” —  Inside U.S. Trade, November 29, 2016

“Mexico’s new ambassador to the U.S. says the country is prepared to ‘modernize’ the North American Free Trade Agreement and wants to restart a guest-worker system that could address concerns about illegal immigration.” — Arizona Daily Star/Tucson.com, November 29, 2016

 

TPP

The Japanese Diet (its governing body) has extended its legislative session by two weeks, through December 14, in order to address the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement and pension reform. The ruling party wants to pass the TPP. Opponents have a variety of economic concerns, and also express the seeming-fruitlessness of ratifying the TPP, from which the U.S. apparently plans to withdraw in January 2017. (Nikkei Asian Review, November 28, 2016)

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) told reporters, “I supported NAFTA. I don’t think there’s any of these particular national or international agreements that are perfect, and we’ll have to see what [Trump] says. … we need to reassess our whole free trade area … if you can’t do full TPP let’s at least enter into an agreement with Japan.” — Inside U.S. Trade, November 29, 2016

 

TTIP

Jeppe Kofod, a Danish Member of the European Parliament “said that low growth and investment in Europe underline the need for the U.S. and EU to continue to deepen their economic relations. ‘Europe has too low growth, too low rate of investment in the economy and of course too high unemployment.’ ”  — Inside U.S. Trade, November 29, 2016

Does the EU sound like it’s planning to seek balanced trade with the U.S.? Or does TTIP portend trade deficits with new partner countries?

 

WTO

Roberto Azevedo, Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) gave a speech on November 28, 2016, making the following comments:

“[R]ecent political developments will also have an effect on the trading landscape — from the Brexit referendum in the UK to elections in many major economies … all of this is taking place amid a rise in anti-globalisation discourse in many countries and communities. [W]e must ensure that the gains of trade are better shared across society.”

 

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Crista Huff is a stock market expert and a conservative political activist. She works with End Global Governance and economic issues groups to defeat the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. She is also Chief Analyst at Cabot Undervalued Stocks Advisor. Send questions and comments to research@goodfellowllc.com.