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Trump to pull US out of postal treaty
The US has announced plans to withdraw from a 144-year-old postal treaty, which the White House says lets China ship goods at unfairly low prices.
Under the treaty, a UN body sets lower international rates for packages from certain countries, a move originally designed to support poorer nations.
But the US says the discounts put American businesses at a disadvantage.
Officials said they hoped the notice of withdrawal would set the stage to agree a better deal.
"We're looking for a fair system," a senior administration official told reporters. "We do hope that ultimately we achieve a negotiated outcome."
The BBC's Asia business correspondent Karishma Vaswani says the move to pull out of the treaty is aimed at forcing the Chinese to give up the developing nation status they had when they first entered the pact back in 1969.
[...] The process of withdrawing from the treaty takes at least a year and the White House said it would be willing to remain in the UPU if negotiations were successful.
The US Postal Service and companies such as Amazon and FedEx have complained about the discounts for foreign shippers for many years.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 21 2018, @05:25AM (11 children)
144 year old treaty governed by the UN? I guess I have some reading to do before the summary makes any sense.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Sunday October 21 2018, @07:32AM (7 children)
Sounds kinda like, the treaties have been in place, and signed by the various nations for 114 years. Maybe the League of Nations had something to do with it, when it was around. So, then the UN got this hand-me-down that was around before them. That's the simplest reading that makes any sense.
(Score: -1, Insightful) by aristarchus on Sunday October 21 2018, @11:08AM (6 children)
My God, Runaway, you are stupid. I mean, at nearly Trump levels of stupid. Mail, one of the few responsibilities of the Federal Government deliniated in the Constitution, you ignorant slut!
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 21 2018, @01:39PM (1 child)
Look Aristarchus, I can see you're really upset about this. I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill, and think things over.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by aristarchus on Monday October 22 2018, @06:21AM
Done, done, and done, and Runaway is still a useful tool of the Murdoch Murdering of Reason empire. To once again quote Hesiod:
Poor Runaway! Sometimes I envy him. To be so stupid that you never experience the pain of doubt, the realization of your own ignorance, or see how everyone else must see you. Truly, Runaway1956 is bliss.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Sunday October 21 2018, @02:12PM (3 children)
*sigh*
I'll type slowly, so you can keep up. The constitution says that the USPS is responsible for mail within the US of A. The constitution says nothing about international postal service. Well, sort of, indirectly, maybe - but the constitution certainly doesn't govern how other nations deal with the mail. So, sometime after the constitution was rat-ified, we signed onto some treaty(s) which obligate us to deliver mail sent from places abroad. That treaty, which the UN administers, is the subject of this discussion.
If necessary, I can type even slower - just let me know!
(Score: 5, Funny) by Bot on Sunday October 21 2018, @02:24PM (2 children)
Surely people here are wondering if you can stick to 10wpm? (words per millennium)
Account abandoned.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 21 2018, @03:02PM
Don't call me Surely.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 22 2018, @07:19AM
I can, sure, why not! I can go even slower. All my work each containing 1 million words that I will be writing in next million billion years is available only in cheap cheap price of $35.
(Score: 0, Troll) by jmorris on Sunday October 21 2018, @05:59PM (2 children)
Yup. This is how the #FakeNews get spun, good on ya for noticing. They conflate the U.N., a Parliament of Tyrants, with the old International Postal Union that was absorbed into the U.N. monster to make it look like Trump is the monster for breaking 144 year old agrements that are uncontroversial and "everybody" agrees with to set the Narrative right in the headline and first sentence. But it is a pretty safe bet the old treaties that originally set postal rates didn't allow some unelected bunch of Communists to implement a wealth redistribution scheme in the rate charts, to force "rich" countries to subsidize the shipping costs of "poor" countries and to decide that China! is still a "poor" country.
So yeah, pull outta the damned thing if they won't see reason. Personally I support the U.S. out of the U.N. and the U.N. out of the U.S. but apparently President Trump isn't quite as far right as I am. Alas. And guess what, by threatening to pull out he will get reform, exactly like he just demonstrated with NAFTA, while every "expert" bleated on TV and print that the "damned fool" was triggering a trade war, nobody wins a trade war and BUY F*CKING GOLD BECAUSE OMG!, THIS SHIT IS WHAT CAUSED THE GREAT DEPRESSION!!!! ELEVENTY!!! Result? They look like idiots, we got a new trade deal all three countries will benefit from and now China is worried.
When are people going to realize the public facing Trump is all Kayfabe? Just relax, don't get spun up by his tweets and enjoy the MAGA. Because you are getting it anyway, all six remaining years of it, and if you stay in this excited state the whole time ya gonna bust a blood vessel or something.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 21 2018, @06:10PM (1 child)
Nobody is as far right as you are.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by aristarchus on Monday October 22 2018, @06:56AM
But of course the inverse corollary is that no one is less right than jmorris, since he is so far right. Funny, that. Jmorris, pull my finger!