US Tariff War

[BlueAnorak]

Take $2bn from who?
Isn’t it US importers who pay the tariffs?
Then passed on eventually to the US consumer.

Tarrifs hit the setter twice. And the target once.
Bonkers.

 

[SkyBlueFlux]

Donald Trump's threat to impose an additional 50% tariff on China, taking the total levy Beijing faces to 104%.

Confirming a significant escalation between the world's two biggest superpowers, Leavitt says: "It will be going into effect at 12.01am tonight. So effectively tomorrow."

104% tariffs on China?

Well on the bright side, the price of MAGA hats just doubled.

 

[super_city_si]

Charles Koch seems to be doing something about the tariffs. My knowledge is insufficient to provide much opinion, but he and family are super rich and have some influence

I think he controls Clarence Thomas so could sway the Supreme Court

 

[bluethrunthru]

Trump is making trade a trial of strength however his immediate foe is China. China can make its population bleed because of its politics if Trump tries to make America bleed - its a different society and Americans are free to turn on the Govt in a way the Chinese never will

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

"they need us more than we need them " I am sure I have heard that in another context

Even if it were true, what a truly cunty thing to say.

 

[The Future’s Blue!]

Fuck off.

 

[super_city_si]

That is a significant deep dive into the issue, which appears to be much simpler and more straightforward…

She is a dumb parrot with mild good looks to shovel the middle aged conservative eunuch’s the kind of bullshit they can swallow.

The rest of us are in on the joke!

I think she’s pretty smart. Thinks very quickly on her feet. She does however lie and shill for her boss with absolutely zero integrity which would indicate a huge character flaw. She will do anything for the fame and money, pretty much in line with the whole Republican Party.

 

[bluethrunthru]

Miller is fucking insane - does he understand the KEI car concept? Does he fuck.

 

[inbetween]

Trump is making trade a trial of strength however his immediate foe is China. China can make its population bleed because of its politics if Trump tries to make America bleed - its a different society and Americans are free to turn on the Govt in a way the Chinese never will

I sometimes wonder if Trump is actually potentially using tariffs to bully others into deal making. There's a good chance that countries will want to avoid damage and would be more willing to do something about it.

We're already talking here of a UK-US trade deal which would never happen unless there was a willingness to make it happen. This is especially given our own economy is on its arse and trade with Europe is never going to save us given Europe is also on its arse. I still don't think that it will happen but the energy and urgence surely now exists?

The whole point of 'no deal' in the EU negotiations for example was that no deal would harm Europe as well as ourselves due to the imposition of tariffs. We didn't have enough clout to follow that threat through but the US certainly does, especially with China where the US holds a significant trade deficit.

I don't know if they're playing a long game or stupid game, probably the latter but it's certainly going to trigger significant change in trade which might actually be an opportunity.

 

[SamTheGuru]

I mean, this is all crazy. But I can see what he is trying to do. But you are literally asking for US citizens to suffer for the best part of 10 years to create the greater good. I am pretty sure people in this day and age do not have patience much past 6 months!

 

[The Future’s Blue!]

Fucked up!

 

[robbieh]

America is an economic empire in decline. They can either accept that reality gracefully or decide to take China on.
The latter will be economic suicide.

 

[TonyM]

I know Musk tweeted thus today and Musk is a **** but it is a great little video.

 

[Vic]

Then the BBC “Expert” needs to look again.

It is simply an import-export formula, and then for some unknown reason he divided it by 2!

Sensing your sarcasm, don’t take my word for it…

Perplexity (AI search)

The Trump tariff formula, as explained by experts, involves a straightforward calculation based on the U.S. trade deficit with each country.

The formula divides the trade deficit by the total imports from that country, then halves the result to determine the tariff rate.

For example, if the U.S. has a $295 billion trade deficit with China and imports $440 billion in goods, the calculation yields a 67% rate, which is halved to 34%.

Critics argue that this method is flawed, as it oversimplifies complex trade dynamics and misrepresents global trade economics.

The American Enterprise Institute noted that the formula exaggerates tariffs assumed to be imposed by foreign nations.

"Critics argue that this method is flawed..." If that's the AI view based on the previous paragraphs, that proves AI is flawed! A really smart AI would say, "This is total bullshit".

 

[Vic]

Donald Trump is now speaking about his sweeping tariffs and says the US will take $2bn a day from tariffs.

The US president made the comment without providing details.

So ten years to make up the trillions wiped off share values.

 

[The Future’s Blue!]

So ten years to make up the trillions wiped off share values.

The markets will eventually catch up, it’d those who lose in the short term who will be most affected.

It’s those who didn’t vote for this, I worry for.

 

[BlueAnorak]

Take $2bn from who?
Isn’t it US importers who pay the tariffs?
Then passed on eventually to the US consumer.

Is the correct answer - From companies operating in the US and from the US punter who pays more for the stuff they buy.
Sadly his electorate will lap it up untilil they start to notice prices going up
..

 

[ChicagoBlue]

Thanks for the more intelligent way of looking at it.
But I don't think we would have to do it for long just drag the fuckers down a few rungs

It wouldn’t just wake up the U.S., it would send a tsunami through the global financial markets as U.S. interest rates shot up to attract buyers, destabilizing the currency markets and dollar denominated assets, like oil!

There are better ways to “attack” the U.S., including not buying American company products. No Coke, no Pepsi, no Levis, no Fords, no McDonalds…

A wave of anti-American consumerism would have Fortune 500 CEOs knocking down the doors in DC and the threats of withholding campaign funds would scare the shit out of career politicians!

 

[ChicagoBlue]

Is the correct answer - From companies operating in the US and from the US punter who pays more for the stuff they buy.
Sadly his electorate will lap it up until they start to notice prices going up
..

We prefer to call them “the illiterati!”

 

[FogBlueInSanFran]

Some food for thought . . .

This clip is from Too Big To Fail, the incredible film about the 2008 financial crisis in the U.S.

William Hurt plays Hank Paulson, Secretary of the Treasury and Paul Giamatti plays Fed Chair Ben Bernanke.

Now . . . just replace “Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debt” with “U.S. Treasuries” and fast forward to today . . .



Not saying this is happening or will happen, mind. Just interesting.