the rum soaked fist: internal martial arts forum

This week as DT slapped tariffs on Chinese goods we had a parade of 'experts' predicting doom and gloom , the stock market fell[I think investors were waiting for an excuse and this plus the humbling of Facebook provided it] No doubt there were inequalities which needed to be addressed, DT's act was brutal but may be necessary for long term stability. I feel that any reprisals would be more damaging to China than the USA but undoubtedly there will be some inflation as a result. In China cutting back on exports could destabilize the country, dumping US government bonds might be their only recourse. Another byproduct might be hostility to the west, have the China hands felt any change in attitude?

For the US, China is the third biggest export market. For China, the import from the US is 10% of the import market. Most of it is easily replaced from other countries. The trade with China supports 2.6 million US jobs.

What I read is that “The steel industry in the US directly employed 140,000 people in 2015 according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.” How could tariffs help the US industry to grow? How much more could it grow? Can Americans afford products with much higher costs? Is a little bit of growth in this sector worth losing million jobs? But for China, the export of steel and aliminium products to the US is only a minor part of its export. And the US import much more steel and aliminium goods from other countries than from China, so other countries will be hurt much more than China. I have no idea how China’s economy could be affected by this move starting a trade war. One indication that Chinese companies don’t care very much is that China’s stock-market have hardly been affected by this at all.

I'm no economist. I only know that many of the things I buy are "made in" someplace other than the US --though absolutely nothing made in Russia, fwiw. Anyway, if the result is that goods are cheaper, it's a good thing. If it means that the price of Chinese goods increases, it's not --unless it means lower prices for US consumers-- I don't see how it's better.

Afa the trade difference, I don't have any idea of the specifics. I'm only sure that Chinese workers are paid less, and I doubt they depend on American products at all. Wall Street doesn't like it because of the uncertainty.

I'm not actually opposed to the idea of tariffs because it's pretty much unlikely trades are equal, but I'd like some actual thought put into what should be taxed and how much. It seems like this is done off the cuff randomly.
I'm amused that the most powerful country in the world thinks it gets bullied around when doing trade. We have the biggest economy and the most firepower, and we're the ones being bullied?