On Wednesday we reported a problem with respect to Trump campaign flags:
“The red, white and blue banners for U.S. President Donald Trump’s second-term campaign are ready to ship, emblazoned with the words “Keep America Great!” But they are made in eastern China and soon could be hit by punitive tariffs of Trump’s own making as he ratchets up a rancorous trade dispute with Beijing.”
And Reuters had tweeted:
“Trump’s re-election flags are ready to ship, but they are made in China – and could get hit by his own tariffs.”
Trump's re-election flags are ready to ship, but they are made in China – and could get hit by his own tariffs. More from this week's ICYMI playlist: https://t.co/rQhxoMDQib via @ReutersTV pic.twitter.com/Mf2BDz8BPz
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 28, 2018
On Saturday Trump’s campaign denied that it is using Chinese manufacturers to produce campaign flags, despite many videos and photographs appearing on the internet which prove otherwise.
“We have made it clear all along that all of our merchandise is 100% made in the USA,” said Michael Glassner, the campaign’s chief operating officer. “Any vendor who claims to have a relationship with us otherwise is lying or violating our protected trademark rights.”
“This applies to all of the recent fake news about Made in China products for the 2020 campaign,” Glassner added.
Reuters had reported several days ago that the Chinese company Jiahao Flag Company has been making tens of thousands of Trump’s 2020 campaign banners. A company manager said she believes the extremely large production numbers were caused by the US-China trade war because the buyers want the lower prices now. After Trump’s tariffs go into effect there will be cost increases and his campaign and the Republican Party will have to pay more for each banner produced.
The manager also said she wasn’t sure if the buyers of the 2020 campaign flags were affiliated with Trump’s official campaign or the Republican Party.
Several weeks ago NPR published a story saying that the owner of a different factory in China had told them that his company is also making thousands of flags for Trump’s re-election campaign.
The NPR story appeared several days before China and the United States imposed new tariffs totalling $34 billion on each other’s exports.
The Trump administration has announced they are planning another round of new tariffs on Chinese imports in the amount of $200 billion.
The manager of Jiahao Flag Co Ltd, told Reuters that she believes her company has been producing so many flags because the tariffs haven’t gone up yet.
“It’s closely related,” she told Reuters. “They are preparing in advance, they are taking advantage of the fact that the tariffs haven’t gone up yet, with lower prices now.”
It’s ironic that Trump’s misguided tariffs on goods imported from China are raising prices on his own 2020 campaign materials. However, it is also suspicious that the Chinese manufacturing companies increased their production of these materials long before the tariffs were announced. It almost appears that Trump’s suppliers in China had advance notice of the increased import taxes that were to come later, which notice they would have received from the U.S. buyers, the Trump campaign and the Republican Party.
Suspicious? Yes. Surprising? No. Donald Trump has been proving for 40 years that he is selfish and cares only about himself.
The fact that there is proof of Chinese manufacturing of Trump’s campaign materials, and that Trump’s spokesman is lying about it, is also not surprising. Donald Trump has also been proving for 40 years that he will lie about anything and everything if it will give him any sort of advantage in business or politics.
Trump and his people should be reminded every day of their hypocrisy in ordering goods from China at the same time he has started a trade war with China that may harm millions of people.
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