[bryanlarsen]

This is a genius tactical move. It gives them a claim to the moral high ground and splits off Europe as an ally.

This move is also available to Trump, but there's no way he'd ever take it.

It'd also be a genius tactic to adopt by the Democratic presidential candidate's. Trump's trade war is quite popular with the American public; the presidential candidates could be hurt quite badly by opposing it directly.

[kasey_junk]

The trade war is one of the most hated policies of the President. It polls worse than the immigration camps (sadly).

https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2622

[Fjolsvith]

You are citing a 3 month old poll.

Actually, 2/3 of Americans support the President's trade war.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/support-free...

[belltaco]

What? It looks like your source claims the exact opposite of what you do. What am I missing?

[Fjolsvith]

From my citation:

> “While Trump plays a game of chicken on tariffs, a record number of Americans believe that free trade is good,” says Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt at Hart Research Associates.

Horwitt is spinning his poll to make it seem like free trade is not what the trade war will result in. A majority of Americans support Trump. Don't make the 2016 mistake of trusting polls again...

[belltaco]

>Horwitt is spinning his poll to make it seem like free trade is not what the trade war will result in.

And you're spinning it as 2/3rds supporting Trump's tariffs. Which is not the poll's question.

>A majority of Americans support Trump

What has this got to do with anything, even if true? Which it is not, see below.

>Don't make the 2016 mistake of trusting polls again...

What 2016 mistake? 2 million more voted against Trump than votd for him. He won because the electoral college is effective gerrymandered because of demographic changes. So you have zero basis to state that a majority of Americans support Trump for now.

I mean, you're the one quoting a poll, and saying it shows that 2/3rds support Trump's tariffs.

Which is wrong on two levels, first, that's not even what the poll shows, second, even if it did, if you're right about polls being wrong, then the poll is useless to measure public sentiment.

Also, you cannot just make up things without telling us how you arrived at those assertions.

[dragonwriter]

The trade war specifically is not addressed in the poll; “free trade” is, and it has broad support. Free trade is directly the opposite of a tariff policy, so superficially that's directly contrary to your characterization. While you could argue that the policy is designed to produce an outcome which would feature free trade as a future state, there's nothing in the poll that suggests that the public supports that position. So, no, while there is a potential argument that your source doesn't directly contradict the point you cite it for, it absolutely does not support that point even a little bit.

[Fjolsvith]

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/07/us-china-trade-war-is-hurtin...

[dragonwriter]

That also doesn't show that the American public broadly supports the trade war, it shows that a particular demographic that broadly supported Trump before the trade war broadly also supports the trade war, just a little less than it still supports Trump (78% vs. 79%.)

If that holds for other groups (trade war support just below Trump support) it would indicate America broadly opposes the trade war, as Trump's at <45% support in current polling.