Thread by @ThyConsigliori

1) We go again. The story is true. POTUS neutered the WTO today. If you want real details, please read this fabulous story! I'll speak about what it means below.

scmp.com/economy/china-…

2) I've never studied the WTO, itself, and had no clue of its inner workings at all, before today. I still really don't. But, there are some things I do now understand, at least well enough to discuss. More important, there are FAR REACHING implications I can guess about.

3) So what's the big deal here? First, it's not hard to grasp that the entire purpose of the WTO - World Trade Organization - is embodied in multilateral - many nations - trade agreements. This is ground zero for all the globalists and the free traders (more on that below).

4) We have to pause on the simple but brain-breaking fact that free trade is the exact opposite of free. Orwell would be smacking his head about being so right. What happens, when there are no tariffs, is that the only people taxed are consumers, us, on our incomes and sales tax.

5) By not having to pay any tariffs, plants in other nations also don't have any EPA or OSHA regulations, and obviously can employ what is virtually slave labor, children, etc., at will. And they can pollute away, unlike American plants. This gives total price advantage away.

6) Well, tariffs are not directly linked to EPA and OSHA as I said above, it's more like a three-for of advantages. Now, think about all the taxes we pay, here in the USA. They're not paying any taxes or tariffs at all. And, turn again to our plants. They pay taxes galore.

7) We can't linger, but if you're interested you'll want to research something called "The American System." Hamilton and Washington invented it, and America became the wealthiest nation in history under it. But, have to get back to the WTO, and "free trade."

8) Contemplate all those multilateral agreements, all those member nations happily (please excuse my language) raping the American taxpayer and obliterating our manufacturing base. We also can't get into currency manipulation or technology transfer. They count too, though.

9) Okay, you twisted my arm. When you devalue your currency - as the Chinese perpetually do - it further makes your products cheaper. This is called "cheating" in the free trade world, but no one ever does anything about it. Having wiped out industries, then you raise prices.

10) Not only do you inherit technologies that go out of business (when was the last time you bought anything with a screen made in America?), as your own market grows, you can demand technology sharing or simply prohibit sales in your own nation. Apple kowtows to China. Got it?

11) Then last, there is technology espionage in too many directions to count. Their technology in our goods, and they get all our information. Corporate spies. Remember, the Chinese invented espionage thousands of years ago. Think about that. Thousands of years ago.

12) Now, here's some very quick history. Nixon had the vision to build China up. Why? Because he completely believed Russia had the edge on us, and he was likely right. Allying with China was a genius move against the USSR. Then, along came Bill and Hill a few years later.

13) Not only did they sell everything they could get their hands on by way of technology transfers - legally and illegally both, to include advanced weapons systems - they also gave China Favored Status where? At the WTO! Have to pause and confess here now.

14) Not having taken the time to research that yet, I've got exactly bupkis on what Favored Nation status actually means. Alright. Hold my bourbon, I'll go check...

15) Oh my God. Check this out. It's from the wiki article on topic:

"In international economic relations and international politics, most favoured nation (MFN) is a status or level of treatment accorded by one state to another in international trade.

16) "The term means the country which is the recipient of this treatment must nominally receive equal trade advantages as the "most favoured nation" by the country granting such treatment (trade advantages include low tariffs or high import quotas).

17) "In effect, a country that has been accorded MFN status may not be treated less advantageously than any other country with MFN status by the promising country."

In a word, the USA must ALWAYS give China ALL advantages it gives anyone else, no matter who. Oh my God again.

18) So who knew? Any time China felt the USA gave anyone a benefit it didn't get, it could straight where? The appellate court of the WTO and get a ruling that we didn't live up to their rights. That is...until today. 10 December 2019. The day Trump's impeachment moved forward.

19) But also the day that USMCA went turned into a forward moving deal. And what's the deal there. Mexico and Canada are our largest trading partners. There has always been a logic behind North America being its own trading bloc. There still is.

20 The great change that the Trump team had to negotiate though was something, if I remember right, called "parity." You see, all those phenomenal tax and non-EPA and non-OSHA advantages that were NOT addressed by NAFTA, had to be corrected. They now have been.

21) The way it was, you move a plant over the Rio Grande, and suddenly, selling your stuff to your American customers is, I don't know, I'll guess 20 times more profitable than it was the day before. That's how it was under NAFTA and why we lost SO MANY plants to Mexico.

22) And back to WTO and China? By wiping out all the unfair advantages NAFTA gave to Canada and Mexico, yet now having a trilateral agreement in place, we have VASTLY LESS need for China's trade than we did before. Yet still, there was that nasty MFN status. What to do?

23) If Trump hadn't solved that problem, all the advantages we gave to Mexico and Canada would - I imagine - have to be given to China too. Or, perhaps it would just be this gigantic negotiating chip they might use, somehow. Hey, any WTO experts here, do weigh in and correct me!

24) By any measure, though, wiping out the appellate court of the WTO by simply blocking the appointment of any new judges, so that it fell beneath the seven judges required for quorum, neuters the institution utterly. It's still there. It just has zero power. Wow.

25) Have any of you heard anything about this at all, before today? Not me. I have not seen a single news story on topic. Yet Trump has been doing this for, who knows how long now? Boom, boom, boom, yet so softly his big stick swings. Nope, I had no clue before today, at all.

26) America First. It works. And on that note, here's my non-apologetic plug for @KateScopelliti's and my book of that name with a forward by @GenFlynn:

amazon.com/America-First-…

@KateScopelliti @GenFlynn 27) I was able to knock out most of what you just read, above, due to the research and study we put into our beloved little work. There are several places in our book that we discuss The American System and its history. But I'll leave you tonight with the following celebration.

@KateScopelliti @GenFlynn 28) Our great POTUS has taken every step necessary to Make America Wealthy Again. I have a pure guess to offer. 10,000 more points on the DJIA average. If what I've shared above is basically correct, the wealth in America cannot help but continue to grow.

@KateScopelliti @GenFlynn 29) Here's a small supporting case. When we discuss the topic of repatriation of wealth, uncountable trillions of dollars previously held overseas by our American global corporations, we typically just think of the tax advantages discussed above. There are many other factors.

@KateScopelliti @GenFlynn 30) In wiping out all the business destructive regulations he has, Trump has brought home more of those trillions than can be known. Now, with the WTO neutered, many more trillions are coming. I say, let us thank our leader for the wealth he's bringing home. Please join me.