[!@#$%!]

forgot to reply also to the trade & luxembourg business

why do we want to buy steel from luxembourg? because they have a comparative advantage in the steel business, and we want europe to buy, say, boeing airplanes.

of course right now they’re targetting motorcycles and whiskey instead.

but larry summers explains it much better of course

DONALD TRUMP’S TRADE POLICY VIOLATES EVERY RULE OF STRATEGY

summarizing, trump’s policy:
* lacks clear objectives
* unites adversaries and alienates allies
* uses self-damaging threats that lack leverage

“President Trump’s trade policies will raise the prices Americans pay for what they buy. They will reduce the competitiveness of the US economy. They will succeed where our traditional adversaries have failed in uniting much of the rest of the world in opposition to us. They will reduce our legitimacy and power by demonstrating our lack of competence. The sooner they are radically revised the better off the US and the rest of the world will be.”