Why a trade war is very important and necessary in today's world!

News & Politics
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In fact America needs a reboot. Hio nchi imeuzwa kabisa. I always thought that maybe the big American manufacturers had kept a sizeable percentage of manufacturing in the U.S. but truth be told almost every major manufacturer has contracted companies outside the U.S. who manufacture 100% not 40% or 60% but 100% of their components and they re-import finished components at a huge saving. America is now just one big assembly facility!

I never stopped to ask myself, American steel is dead, so how can they claim to be manufacturing anything in the U.S.? Even the American recycled scrap steel and iron bado inaenda tu China.

These whoring American companies sold their country!

And consecutive American presidents are paid something and they look the other way. Steel and Iron factories fall by the wayside.

And its all done in the name of profits. Just like sony sugar has a sugar factory or claims to have a sugar factory, but in reality its just a front for dumping cheap imported sugar which is then repackaged and sold as “Kenyan” genuine sugar.

A company like Harley Davidson will claim to be very American with a big factory in Wisconsin with thousands of workers… lakini wapi! Hakuna factory, ni ka assembly plant hohe hahe. Some of these fuckers are so dirty hata hakuna assembling inaendelea, the car or the motorbike just passes through the facility from China or wherever fully assembled halafu inawekelewa tag kwa hio facility ati made in America. That’s it they just add a tag!

And then these fellows still want to pay similar taxes like ordinary Americans who still manufacture in the U.S.!

Their lobbyists even lie that if they leave China or Germany then Chinese factories or German factories in America will also leave and leave with jobs. They further lie that by manufacturing abroad they are closer to new markets!

I tell you Trump has his work cut out for him. We need an extremely violent trade war so everyone can say the truth: Are you American made or Chinese made or Japan made or Thailand made etc?

I wish every country would join Trump in this effort. Because hii ni kwuuza nchi. Simple. Companies conspire to destroy whole economies at the alter of profit.

But Trump has the big stick: tax! He shouldn’t stop at EU, Canada or Mexico… tax all these sellout companies! If apple wants to remain in China basi they are a Chinese company walipe kama China.

Harley Davidson doesn’t manufacture a single component in the U.S. walipe pia kama China. And Trump has said he is going after Harley Davidson and that is excellent. He should keep his word. Why should you lie to customers ati you are American made/ American heritage to boost sales?

Then Trump should use that new money to support folks who want to stay in the U.S.

Hata Ford na G.M. wakae huko nje if they are sellouts. Na hata wabadilishe majina. Either you stay out or come back!

Some folks in Canada will even engage in magendo while hiding behind NAFTA. Import cheaply from the U.S. then repackage those goods and re-export them back to the U.S. at a profit through very dubious channels. And their prime minister shouts the loudest, “tunaonewa sana na huyu Trump!”

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Ukisikia mtu akisema US ni VICTIM kwa maneno ya kiuchumi… That person is dealing in voodoo economics.

America has been forcing weak economies into “free trade” trap for 60yrs or more.

They’ll punish you directly then sicc WB/ WTO on you for trying to protect your local manufacturing.

Meanwhile they’d be subsidizing local industry. Everything from agriculture, oil, and general trade is subsidized.

Your shithole primary economy can’t do that without consequences.

Also remember, America can legally print money. Like the quantitative easing of the last decade.
Which printed $4.5 trillion.

Trump ni meffi na trade war yake ni ya umeffi.

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And I’ll even tell you how these convoluted mess affects you as a Kenyan PERSONALLY !!!

Because everyone is doing. Sony escapes Japan and makes stuff out there. Toyota does the same. Mercedes does the same. The problem with this greed is that Sony or Toyota wll make a product in say Thailand or Malaysia. Countries with very lax quality control authorities. In one factory Sony will make very good hi-fis or TVs. Hizo watapeleka kwao Japan, Europe, Germany where they protect their brand. Then there’s the other mediocre Sony. Hizo ndio mta dumpiwa hapa Nairobi kwa duka ya luther pale Luthuli. Ununue ukichukuwa FTA. And then the manufacture will price all products the same (be they good quality or mediocre) and make a killing.

So utashinda hapo Nairobi ukidai: ‘nataka gari ex-UK sijui ex-Japan’. Nataka Sony ya Malaysia…

Nowadays these greedy manufacturers don’t even care. They will even sell crappy products back in their own home countries. That’s why you keep hearing of recalls. Mercedes recall, Toyota recall…

The brakes don’t work in a Toyota (a global brand) because they were assembled by a class 3 drop out in Taiwan. There was no Japanese official to monitor offshore production. All because of profit!!

Truth be told it’s a dirty war the depth of which I don’t think Trump can win alone.

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Defending a country that has dominated the world economy is very myopic. I get that manufucturing has shifted to Asian countries where there is cheap skilled labour but that is a direct consenquence of the trade and economic system that the US, her allies and companies have set up. This economic system has been butteresed by the IMF and world bank both which are majority owned by the US.

In economics the goal of a firm is to maximize profit and minimize cost in a world interconnected economy it was obvious that manufactures would shift production away from developed countries in order to stay competitive. I Like Trump alot I even read his book “Art of the deal” in class 7 so I have great respect for his business acumen but ikikuja kwa international economics someone is lying to him.

The trade war with China is a smart move it targets High tech sectors where US dominates and China Obtains most of its technology through theft of intellectual property. Personally I feel that these actions are a little too late China is already catching up with US in terms of research spending and papers published.
If he concentrates on pressuring China to act Fairly when it comes to Trade then I support the war but when he talks of bringing back Manufacturing I feel my brain cells dying.

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And this trade war should cripple these greedy corporations completely. Because if things continue as they are there’ll be nothing like countries. We will all be owned by corporations. Corporations that don’t fear states, laws or even presidents.

Hata ukiangalia hapa Kenya the Wanjigis don’t fear any more. Utawapeleka wapi? Wanafagia nys mzima! Sukari wanadump nchi mzima. Imagine how much tax they would have evaded with all those gunias of crap sugar?!

Kufeni shauri yenu, mtado??

Angalia U.S. the media doesn’t fear or respect the president. In fact they are working to kick him out! They have the money and the power!

A company like Apple with a valuation of a trillion dollars! Unawaambia nini? And how is that even normal for a company to be valued like a super power country? They are more powerful than Trump! Yes, they are.

You tell them to bring back jobs they won’t do it. You ask them to leave basi waende China kabisa, they give you the finger! They even hide immigrant workers in Canada, kwani uta do what???!

Even a small company like Harley Davidson is telling Trump to eat a bag of dicks… haturudi U.S.! Lakini ndunyu ni U.S.!

Gun companies: “Fuck you watu wauane. Profits ndio muhimu! Na Trump ukae ukijua we own your ass! We own the votes!”

You can even see the arrogance in Bill Gates voice while describing trump in an MSNBC interview . “Huyu Trump ni kitoto kijinga sana. He made passes at my daughter. He is a complete imbecile, asking me about my vaccines… as who?”

An American CEO describing the national president. Who else will respect the govt??

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long speech loading…

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Yeah hapo kwa Corporation power and crony capitalism being curtailed am agreeing with you but trump is not the man to do it. Most of these heads of corporations are his personal friends he has not only given them HUGE tax breaks but ile de-regulation amefanya naona petro-chemical companies zikifuck enviroment vi-proper.

In addition to that Trump has become SALES MAN IN CHIEF for the military Industrial Complex. He is facilitating weapons deals from Saudi Arabia to Japan. Na ile story ya forcing NATO members to increase their defense spending to 2% GDP ni ili USA weapons Manufacturers wapate a bigger market.

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As a Kenyan, only two questions matter:

  1. Who benefits from the trade war?
  2. Are we in that category of beneficiaries?
    In my opinion, the main beneficiaries of US’s trade war with China and other first world nations are all poor nations who are net consumers. We all fall in that category as Kenyans. If the Chinese and other EU nations can’t export to USA without tariffs, they will be forced to focus on developing nations. Same as the US. There will be intense competition among companies from developed nations to sell products to countries without tariffs. When manufacturers compete, the consumer benefits. E.g the price of importing new vehicles from Japan and Germany will reduce locally if they are prevented from accessing a major market like the US. If you investigate the cause of the war, you realize that the US has been losing billions of dollars to the Chinese and that is why they are starting the war and not China. Eventually, every developed nation will mimic the US and slap any nation that takes more money than it gives them with tariffs. That will leave all of them with only poor nations to focus on.
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:D:D:D yesterday you quoted Bill gates praising Trump, calling him ‘special’. After hio video, now you don’t want to hear of the name Bill Gates… TOJ! :smiley:

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You clearly point out that it is american companies fault that the US barely manufactures anything now but you also support Trump when he insists on increasing tariffs for chinese products, the net effect is that the financial implications of the tariffswill be passed on to end consumer through price hikes which will dent americans spending power, how do you help the economy by making things more expensive?

Americans lost jobs but spent less on commodities and services plus their companies grew their capital in possibly rates they could not achieve if they were based at home, why do you ignore these gains?

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Huyu @patco huongea vitu mingi he has no idea about just to support his arguments. Kama hio story ya product recall hapo juu is completely false. If you want to know the scale of recalls in the US let alone the world go to consumer product safety commission recall website and you’ll notice Toyota is just okay.
The US really did a lot of damage in the 20th century by employing it’s CIA in toppling governments, getting illegal deals, initiating fake wars, stealing resources, dumping radioactive waste, assassinating foreign leaders, blackmailing presidents, smuggling valuables among other things yet today it casts itself as the victim.

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Is that right?

Patco doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

http://m.chinadaily.com.cn/en/2016-04/19/content_24655570.htm

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Patco doesn’t know what he is talking about.

[SIZE=7]Is Offshoring Leading to Increased Numbers of Product Recalls?[/SIZE]
January 4, 2017 | Robert Handfield, Ph.D.
Over the last two decades, increased competition and a globalized economy has led firms to deploy outsourced manufacturing and captive offshore policies across multiple industries. Enterprises have sought to achieve reduced production costs and labor arbitrage in the quest for cost competitiveness. However, in the rush to source globally from low cost countries, the risk of product quality defects resulting in products recalls has often been overlooked by supply chain managers.
This is starting to change…quickly! The increase in the number of product recalls in recent years has been attributed to higher levels of outsourcing and captive offshoring of manufacturing and distribution. Examples of recalls in 2016 alone span many products, including cell phones (Samsung Galaxy), automobiles (Volkswagen), bicycles (Trek), kitchen products (Cuisinart), computer batteries, toys (Toys R Us), faucets, lightbulbs, tools, pharmaceutical products and multiple other products ( http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Recalls/2016/ ).
Globalized supply chains have presented multiple unexpected challenges for executives, including delays in product sourcing, distribution issues, and quality defects. These events may occur for a number of reasons, including poor communication due to geographical distance between customer and supplier, diversity of regulatory standards, socio-cultural diversity, and complexity in coordinating and exchanging information between different actors. For example, in the pharmaceutical industry, a typical supply chain design consisting of sourcing, manufacturing, packaging and distribution occurring in disparate global locations globally. This supply chain design has increased the risk of contamination or substitution of active ingredients, as in the case of the 2008 heparin incident[1]. In the toy industry, some researchers argue that poor product quality of toys produced in China may not be due to the poor quality of Chinese manufacturing, but rather by the long and more complex supply chains that lead to poor oversight. In a domestic supply chain, the brand owner designs the product and develops procedures for internal manufacturing, storing, and distribution, and defines the standards for quality control and testing. In extended complex supply chains it becomes more difficult to guarantee that every supply chain actor understands and complies with procedures at every node, from raw materials to the point of sale. This gap in communication of requirements increases the risk of product quality failure and product recall, especially in cases where the company is not well versed in global sourcing.
One fact remains certain; the trend of outsourcing and offshoring manufacturing is not likely to abate anytime soon. With Trump’s call to limit global sourcing imports into the US, the global offshoring model may be at risk for a number of different reasons. Despite research pointing to offshore manufacturing as the primary root cause for recalls (there is actually very little in the scientific literature that explores how enterprises should respond to product quality failures that result in a recall. Direct product recall costs are a function of the number and dimension of the lots to be withdrawn from the market, as well as the resilience of the supply chain structural design to cope with the damage (costs) inflicted by the recall. Upon learning of a product quality failure, the ability of a supply chain organization to dampen the magnitude/severity of the disruption (e.g. the volume of product recalls) can directly reduce the costs of recalls.
The extent to which an enterprise responds well or poorly to a product recall event is a relevant question, as product markets continue to experience product recalls on a regular basis. For example, the cost for repairing the vehicles involved in General Motors’ recall crisis in the first three months of 2014 was about $1.3 billion, and involved more than 6 million cars worldwide produced since 2002[2]. Why were so many cars involved in the recall? Why was General Motors’ so unprepared for such a disruption? How much would GM have saved shareholders if its supply chain had been more resilient, and could have minimized the number of vehicles impacted by the recall?
People are increasingly beginning to argue that global sourcing increases the complexity of the supply chain and contributes to the severity of supply chain disruptions. In applying this rationale, it may well be that offshore outsourcing and captive offshoring negatively impacts an organization’s product recall resilience.

https://scm.ncsu.edu/scm-articles/article/is-offshoring-leading-to-increased-numbers-of-product-recalls

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Patco hajui. Sio?

130,000 Toyotas made by a Chinese subcontractor recalled:

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/25/business/worldbusiness/25iht-26toyotarecall.18922801.html

[SIZE=6]CBS News: [/SIZE]
[SIZE=7]Top 10 Reasons Offshoring is Bad For Business[/SIZE]

JUN 28, 2011 5:17 PM EDT MONEYWATCH
BY GEOFFREY JAMES / MONEYWATCH

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/top-10-reasons-offshoring-is-bad-for-business/

[SIZE=6]REASON #2: [/SIZE]It can result in low quality, brand-damaging products. Many firms that provide outsourcing quickly cut the quality of component parts in order to increase their margins. Eventually customers who are accustomed to believing your brand promise begin to notice that your once-great products are suddenly crappy.

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[SIZE=7]REASON #9:[/SIZE] You’re helping to destroy your own country. It’s one thing to make patriotic noises on the 4th of July; it’s quite another to help to gut the manufacturing base of your homeland. Do you really want the rest of the country to become like Detroit? Because that’s where things are headed.

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Yes I still maintain you don’t know what you are talking about.

I have read all articles you have posted and I chose to highlight this one because it actually epitomizes my point. You see no matter how much the author wants to place blame on offshoring, he still has to bring back a scenario where offshoring had nothing to do with it. Case in point, the 2014 general motors recall crisis which had everything to do with failed manufacturing systems and absolutely 0% to do with offshoring.

So let me dig deeper into this case so that you see my point.

The recall was due to an ignition switch which would turn off the car when driving if the drivers leg came in contact with car Keys. The driver would then lose control and get into an accident and dozens of people died (pardon me if I forget some of the details… I read this in 2016 na sina time ya ku-google). GM ended up being sued and paid families that were involved. The CEO Mary Barra actually visited the families in person to give her condolences.

Why did I bring this up? Because the people to blame for this were 100% American citizens working in America for an American company this had nothing to do with offshoring. The person who was blamed mostly for this was Ray DeGiorgio an American born in Detroit and lives there and was responsible for approving the faulty ignition switch but also went ahead to cover it up when complaints started coming. GM responded by firing him and 14 other managers who were supervising him. GM was also forced to recall 2.6 million cars.

What your posts lack Mr. @patco is context. It’s true offshoring has had its drawbacks but when you compare the number of recalls from US vehicle manufacturers to that of recalls from Japanese manufacturers; there is not much difference in numbers. Actually, in the US, Toyotas rate higher in reliability as compared to most local brands.

Lastly, posting links does not mean that you’re right. Some of these authors like the one above is getting paid to write an article and sometimes they write shit. Its not the gospel. Google will give you answers for what you want. Just try googling “Jesus and Satan are brothers” and you will get enough information to start a thread. Just as @123tokambio told you, we are not editors to go through all that stuff. Nevertheless I have clicked on those links and read them just to see what is in there. So please, stop using information that you have no clue about to build an argument that has no legs.

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hehehe the author of that article on offshoring is Robert Handfield a distinguished proffesor in supply chain management. Hata yeye ni idiot?

You are smarter than a professor is what you are trying to tell the world? You, probably a hoi polloi somewhere in Nairobi unaturingia hapa hatujui chenye tunasema?

Endelea ku troll thread zangu na ujinga yako.

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Actually, I saw the guy had a PHD but I still believe he should have chosen an example where offshoring directly caused a product recall. The GM recall scandal happened on American soil for an American company and was orchestrated by Americans. Its not rocket science really. 0% offshoring. My point here is that recalls still happen without offshoring and we are talking about major recalls involving millions of vehicles. When you read articles, just go through them objectively not simply looking for what you want to see. The other two links you put here were about recalls but nothing to do with offshoring. They even seemed to have duplicate information. This again shows that you’re bent on dropping irrelevant links even before determining whether they support your argument or not; of course in an attempt to win a debate.
I have researched extensively about GM and read widely about the current CEO Mary T. Barra. Even bought and read the book “Road to power: how GM’s Mary Barra Shattered the glass ceiling”. You may call me names but in all honesty you’re not doing yourself any justice.

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Is that right? You’ve read the book, have you now?

https://www.autoblog.com/2014/06/25/gm-recalled-ignition-switch-chinese-made/

https://www.techtimes.com/articles/9221/20140627/gm-points-fingers-to-china-manufacturer-for-ignition-switch-problems.htm

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-gm-recall-china/gm-says-ignition-switch-linked-to-recall-made-in-china-idUSKBN0F108620140626

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eeh sasa niambie maongo ingine niskie.