The Trump administration has crafted a draft bill — ordered by the president — that would declare America's abandonment of World Trade Organization rules, according to Axios. The bill essentially provides President Donald Trump — who has argued for a better position for the U.S. in big trade pacts — a license to raise U.S. tariffs at will, without congressional consent and largely outside of the international rules governed by the WTO. The bill, titled the "United States Fair and Reciprocal Tariff Act," would give Trump unilateral power to ignore the two most basic principles of the WTO and negotiate one-on-one with any country.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 03 2018, @12:18PM (4 children)
The government mostly owes it to itself: http://www.businessinsider.com/who-we-owe-federal-debt-to-2013-10 [businessinsider.com]
So see, it doesn't even matter (somehow).
(Score: 4, Informative) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday July 03 2018, @03:04PM (3 children)
To foreign investors, actually. The people who buy Treasury bonds.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 03 2018, @08:43PM (2 children)
Actually, the largest holders of federal government debts are state and local governments, last time I checked.
Next time, do your damn homework before posting. And who were the idiots who modded you up as informative? Your personal army of sock puppets?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday July 04 2018, @02:04AM
Sorry, you're simply incorrect. Foreign entities hold a bit more than six times [thebalance.com] as much as all state and local holdings combined, or slightly less than half of all public debt.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday July 04 2018, @02:06AM
As for who modded me, I just checked and it was a couple of people I routinely get in heated arguments with.
Pro-tip: if you have database access, you don't need sock puppets and if you have intelligence you don't need database access.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.