US Tariff War

Alan Harper's Tash said:
That’s what I’d do. Just ignore him. Let the American people suffer and see how long the tariffs are enforced.
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Problem with that is some of our biggest exporters to the US will really suffer and may go under in the mean time. JLR and Scottish Whisky producers spring to mind. But I bet there are loads of others.

Trump has started a trade war that he can't win. The ROW only needs to unite against these with reciprocal tariffs equal or greater and he will capitulate immediately.
 
Interesting that Trump wants to see a new golden age of American industry and manufacturing. The boom of places like China, Taiwan and Myanmar as the world’s factory for producing things is off the back of cheap labour in these places.

How does he expect manufacturing to grow in America? Yes we have automation becoming more prominent in industry, however does your average American aspire to work in a factory and do they want the low wages that will be reflected in those roles? Certainly not with the cost of living sky rocketing on both American and imported goods from his actions. Who fills those jobs then? They are rounding up the immigrants and sending them back over the Mexican border who would actually do those jobs.

Non of this madness makes sense, inflation is a huge issue for all countries at the moment and this makes it worse. Trump and his rich billionaire mates won’t feel the pinch from it but your average person on the planet will. He will package it up as him doing a great job when the figures say otherwise.
 
TonyM said:
I'm no economist but I'd say that retaliating just makes more hassle for us.

Id imagine that most people will not buy American if they can avoid it because decent people can see the nonesense of this Whitehouse.

We could see a big boost in domestic products and services.
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It’s going to hit hard here in Ireland Tony.
Personally, I say just boycott America on a personal basis.
It’s an individual’s decision.
 
TonyM said:
I'm no economist but I'd say that retaliating just makes more hassle for us.

Id imagine that most people will not buy American if they can avoid it because decent people can see the nonesense of this Whitehouse.

We could see a big boost in domestic products and services.
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Unfortunately ‘most’ people will just buy from where ever the best deal is. People dont have the spare money to stick to morals
 
mancity2012_eamo said:
It’s going to hit hard here in Ireland Tony.
Personally, I say just boycott America on a personal basis.
It’s an individual’s decision.
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Keep reading boycott US goods but do we really know what constitutes US?

McDonald’s
KFC
Nike

There’s Chevrolet too but I ain’t in the market for a new car anyway.

After that I’d struggle.
 
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inchy14 said:
Keep reading boycott US goods but do we really know what constitutes US?

McDonald’s
KFC
Nike

There’s Chevrolet too but I ain’t in the market for a new car anyway.

After that I’d struggle.
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Pink Cadillacs.
 
inchy14 said:
Keep reading boycott US goods but do we really know what constitutes US?

McDonald’s
KFC
Nike

There’s Chevrolet too but I ain’t in the market for a new car anyway.

After that I’d struggle.
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The large tech firms such as Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, X or Twitter what ever it’s called. Amazon, get your coke from Aldi and not buy the branded stuff.
 
inchy14 said:
Keep reading boycott US goods but do we really know what constitutes US?

McDonald’s
KFC
Nike

After that I’d struggle.
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Coca Cola
Pepsico
Mondelez
Amazon

The issue is that all of the quoted companies are real multinationals employing hundreds of thousands across the globe

As you correctly say, what is actually US manufacturered?

The first thing everybody should do is stop using Twitter, which is a tech company everyone can do without, yet for some reason, very few want to
 
feedmpenzaandhewillscore said:
Interesting that Trump wants to see a new golden age of American industry and manufacturing. The boom of places like China, Taiwan and Myanmar as the world’s factory for producing things is off the back of cheap labour in these places.

How does he expect manufacturing to grow in America? Yes we have automation becoming more prominent in industry, however does your average American aspire to work in a factory and do they want the low wages that will be reflected in those roles? Certainly not with the cost of living sky rocketing on both American and imported goods from his actions. Who fills those jobs then? They are rounding up the immigrants and sending them back over the Mexican border who would actually do those jobs.

Non of this madness makes sense, inflation is a huge issue for all countries at the moment and this makes it worse. Trump and his rich billionaire mates won’t feel the pinch from it but your average person on the planet will. He will package it up as him doing a great job when the figures say otherwise.
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None of it makes sense unless you take into account his favourite hobby which is striking a deal. Maybe the plan is to try to force completely free trade with no barriers anywhere.
One of the key trade barriers is environmental taxes which are levied by developed economies and not by developing ones. The taxation of digital goods will also be up there for Trump as it’s an area where America can easily grow with minimal additional investment and has a global reach.

Whilst the approach is scattergun at best countries like India will be firmly a target as they have a growing wealth but maintain significant trade barriers.

Anyway that’s my uneducated take on his madness.
 
inchy14 said:
Keep reading boycott US goods but do we really know what constitutes US?

McDonald’s
KFC
Nike

There’s Chevrolet too but I ain’t in the market for a new car anyway.

After that I’d struggle.
Click to expand...
Don't think McDonalds is American. Isn't it Canadian?
 

For starters: Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Walmart, Tesla, Visa, McDonalds, Mastercard, Coca Cola, IBM, Nike, Starbucks, Ford, Dell, Adobe, KFC, American Express, Dell, Citibank, Gillette, Colgate, Adobe, Proctor & Gamble, Costco, Fedex, Uber, Oracle, Cisco, Intel, Facebook, Disney, Pepsi, Netflix.​


Choose a brand that you can do without and stop using them...completely.
 
The free market and tariffs.
Trump talks about offending countries i.e. those who have trade surpluses with USA. To call them offenders who have been ‘taking advantage of the US’ is just nonsense.
In a free market, sellers may promote and distribute their goods but they cannot force the buyer to purchase. The trade deficit that the U.S. has is merely the result of the decisions by the buyers. So, if there is an offender, that is the American consumer or company.
USA is about 5% of the worlds population but, depending on what and how you are measuring the USA consumes 3 to 5 times that figure. (Side note: USA produces 30% of the world’s trash.)
The correct course of action for the US if it wishes to eliminate trade deficits is to target the foreign goods and services which the US consumes ‘too much’ of, but to do it on a macro basis. So, if the US consumes too much foreign oil, target ALL oil. Thus a US sales tax would meet this need without all the rigmarole and bad feeling that tariffs engender. On the other hand, it makes more sense just to take the deficit on the chin, using the huge wealth the US has.
Meanwhile, the US makes a huge profit from the dollar’s role as a reserve currency in which many trades are conducted. I don’t suppose Trump includes this in his calculations. This points to an unconsidered effect of tariffs: the rise of rival reserve currencies. In the future, oil sales may not be in petrodollars but in petroeuros, or ‘petro brics francs’ for example. That would cost the US big time.
 
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