The Trade War – It’s Time to Sign Up

Tampa Bay, Fl
Opinion by: E. Eugene Webb PhD
Author: In Search of Robin, So You Want to Blog.

If you are like most people, you have probably been following the developments in the Trump administration, and the Chinese trade war. What with the roller coaster the equity markets are on and the constant yammering from the news media about how bad things are going to get if the President keeps raising tariffs you may find yourself in quite a quandary.

So, the question is what can you do? Here are a few suggestions.

First, stop paying so much attention to all of media wonks who want to hang this all on Trump. Think about this, Trump is the first president to get the Chinese back on their heels even a little bit.

Second, don’t get too disturbed when companies like Niki and Addis start crying loudly about how much more you will be paying for shoes. These are the companies that have been building products with low cost child labor often in deplorable conditions for decades exploiting the marketplace. It's my guess that the tariffs don’t need to impact the retail cost of their products if they took just a little less profit, and the same can be said for other manufacturers and retailers.

Finally, you can adjust your shopping habits a bit and when you pick up something that says, “Made in China” just put it back on the shelf and look for a substitute. While the tariffs may rile the Chinese government, nothing will get their attention more than Chinese goods piling up on the docks unsold.

Also be very attuned to sudden increases in prices for all goods as retailers are more than willing to raise prices and profits and blame some else for the increase. If a price goes through the roof, I would suggest you look elsewhere.

It may sound a bit pollyannish but believe it or not your participation in what amounts to a boycott of Chinese products could be part of a real game changer.

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