China tariffs

Not only that, but they use slave labor.

This is a major challenge, and one that is made more difficult due to the heavy level of our debt held by China.

It is also complicated by competition from a communist country. We have free markets that allow for most goods to carry market prices. A communist country won’t face that type of internal market. It can be quite dangerous as pricing and demand are influences in the wages paid to workers.

It could be very dangerous - as it’s a global economy - but there may need to be a protectionist stance adopted in certain areas.

For extra credit @mark94 can you define oligarch? LOL

Hopefully Trump is playing the long game, and trying to wean America off its addiction to cheap Chinese goods. In addition to holding the vast majority of American debt, China also is the world's only supplier of rare earth metals. China also requires all trade secrets be shared to cheaply produce a foreign company's equipment using Chinese resources (Apple iPhones, processors like Intel and Qualcomm). In short, our dependence on China for the raw materials used for our advanced technological lifestyle is a serious national security threat. A little pain now could prevent an existential threat from China in the future.

The only thing that everyone agrees on is that China has no respect for intellectual property rights. Getting into a trade war is such a complicated issue -- and I have absolutely no confidence in Trump's ability to pull off a coherent policy. I don't even have confidence that Trump will find the right advisers. Meanwhile the market fluctuates wildly as Trump makes a threat, then pulls pack, then makes another threat. Nobody (including Trump) knows what Trump will do next.

Even @Mark93's hero, television fake-economist clown and chief adviser Larry Kudlow, is against protectionism.

Both @GammaNut's @Mark93's posts are laced with nutty right-wing paranoia about China becoming an existential threat. But both are probably parroting what they heard on Fox News.

For extra credit let gramma nut or mark explain how the Chinese are going to call all of the loans. One thing that Trump understands better than anyone here, is how debt works.He knows very well that the bankers can't afford to allow the loans to become nonperforming, a default as large as the U.S. on the Chinese bondholders, would wipe out China. Simple explanation: if you owe a few hundred thousand dollars and can't pay, you are in trouble, on the other hand if you owe a few hundred trillion and can't pay the debt holder is the one in trouble.