On #USChinaTensions Peter Schiff says, "Trump says China needs the U.S. consumer. There are 340 million American consumers who earn an average of $44K per year each. This is far higher than what most consumers outside the U.S. earn, but it's all a function of exchange rates. There are 1.4 billion Chinese consumers who earn an average of $13K per year. But if the RMB doubled against the dollar, those 1.4 billion would instantly earn $26K per year. While that's still less than what the average American earns, since China outnumbers us by 1 billion, the extra $13K per year in Chinese income exceeds 100% of total U.S. income by 20%. If the income of 1.4 billion Chinese consumers doubled, they would easily be able to buy the goods Americans could no longer afford. Similarly, there are 450 million European consumers in the EU alone who earn an average of $35,000 per year. If the euro and the seven other European currencies in the EU rose by 50% against the dollar, those 450 million people would each earn an extra $17.5K annually, which represents more than 50% of the total purchasing power of all 340 million Americans. The point is the purchasing power of American consumers is purely a function of exchange rates. If the world abandons the dollar as the reserve currency, dumps U.S. dollar debt in favor of other sovereign debt or gold, the purchasing power that Americans lose would simply transfer to the rest of the world. Bye bye U.S. consumer, hello non-U.S. consumers."