Tariffs Catch-All

  • Thread starter Thread starter BubbaOtis
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies: 4K
  • Views: 136K
  • Politics 
nycfan said:




The Trump Administration had been openly seeking a weaker dollar to encourage development of mfg inside the USA. Three weeks ago:

US dollar global reserve currency: Will Donald Trump devalue the mighty dominant global reserve currency, Dollar? Here's what a report states - The Economic Times

Explore the potential impacts of Donald Trump's policies on the US dollar, including historical parallels and proposed solutions for a weaker dollar.
m.economictimes.com m.economictimes.com

“…Reagan collaborated with foreign allies to devalue the dollar via the Plaza Accord, as per the report. The dollar depreciated by around 40% and increased US exports while softening the trade deficit, reported Telegraph.

Some people in the Trump's administration are now demanding a "Mar-a-Lago Accord," referencing Reagan's approach, as per the report.

… To get a weaker dollar, Trump's advisors have proposed some options, such as making other nations tie their currencies to the dollar or deterring foreign investment in US Treasury bonds, as per Telegraph. These might be effective in the short term, but they pose risks that could make global markets and the US economy unstable, according to the report.
Click to expand...

Oh, he is putting us in "an unbelievable economic position", it's just that the meaning of that term is very different from what he means. It is unbelievable that anyone sane and still connected to reality would actually pursue the destructive policies that he's following.
 
Last edited:
WaynetheDrain said:
You sad, ignorant little man.
Click to expand...
This is so dishonest. The aggregate number does not tell the whole story. 60% of Walmart's inventory is from China. This is a selective consumption tax and the people who can least afford this tax are the ones most likely to pay it. They will then use this revenue to cut income taxes on top earners and corporations. It will be an incredible wealth transfer.
 

Why Trump is scrambling for allies in his trade war with China​


Loading…

www.cnn.com

“… Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pointed out on Fox Business this week that US allies such as Japan, South Korea and India would soon be in trade talks with Washington, as would Vietnam.


“Everyone is coming to the table, and basically China is surrounded,” he said. Bessent added that a topic of talks should be a joint goal: “How do we get China to rebalance? That is the big win here.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked on Friday why American allies would help it counter China when Trump was treating friends and foes alike. She replied: “You’ll have to talk to our allies who are reaching out to us. The phones are ringing off of the hooks. They have made it very clear they need the United States of America, they need our markets, they need our consumer base.”

But everything that Trump has done since he arrived back in the Oval Office has been designed to destroy groups of like-minded democracies. Several times this week, he dissed the European Union. “I always say it was formed to really do damage to the United States in trade,” he said.

He’s not the only Europe hater. Vice President JD Vance revealed his distaste for the continent at the Munich Security forum and also in a group chat of officials about air strikes in Yemen.

Trump’s spite in the Western hemisphere is also an issue. …”
 
nycfan said:

Why Trump is scrambling for allies in his trade war with China​


Loading…

www.cnn.com

“… Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pointed out on Fox Business this week that US allies such as Japan, South Korea and India would soon be in trade talks with Washington, as would Vietnam.


“Everyone is coming to the table, and basically China is surrounded,” he said. Bessent added that a topic of talks should be a joint goal: “How do we get China to rebalance? That is the big win here.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked on Friday why American allies would help it counter China when Trump was treating friends and foes alike. She replied: “You’ll have to talk to our allies who are reaching out to us. The phones are ringing off of the hooks. They have made it very clear they need the United States of America, they need our markets, they need our consumer base.”

But everything that Trump has done since he arrived back in the Oval Office has been designed to destroy groups of like-minded democracies. Several times this week, he dissed the European Union. “I always say it was formed to really do damage to the United States in trade,” he said.

He’s not the only Europe hater. Vice President JD Vance revealed his distaste for the continent at the Munich Security forum and also in a group chat of officials about air strikes in Yemen.

Trump’s spite in the Western hemisphere is also an issue. …”
Click to expand...
This sounds less like they've actually heard that Japan or South Korea or India want to negotiate on trade and more like they're just hoping that these nations are eventually going to want to come to the table and meet Dear Leader's demands. As this article makes painfully clear, they're pursuing two contradictory agendas - trying to convince our allies to help us isolate China and force them to meet our trade and tariff demands, while at the same time they've been deliberately alienating and driving away all of our traditional allies via tariffs, threats of just taking them over (Canada), arresting, detaining, and questioning their citizens while they are visiting the USA for no good reason, threatening to seize their property (Denmark over Greenland), and all sorts of other shit. The "Oh, we hate your guts and we're treating you like shit, now why don't you help us against China?" strategy doesn't seem like a winner, but I guess we'll see.
 
I pre-ordered a minimalist phone from a small company called Light (The Light Phone) and was expecting delivery in June sometime. They sent an email earlier this week that they had to move production from China due to the tariffs and were working on getting the new line up and running, resulting in a delay of 2-3 months in the middle of the rollout.

Now phones are exempt, but I imagine they costs of setting up the other production line are already sunk. Just another example of the sloppy policy hurting American businesses.
 
Tariffs are a regressive tax on tjhe midde class, working class and poor. If you are going to embark on somethjing as destructive and harmful as a tariff/trade way, you need to have a clear goal or two and state them clearly As of now, Trump Admin has offered countless goals, many of which conflict and most of which (such as bringing back manuf jobs_ can be far better addressed through programs such as Chips Act.Inlation Recuction Act, or subsidies like we do the defense industry via the Pentagom OR give low-interest loans to US and foreigh companies to bulld manuf plants in US. So far they have justified this insanity by:
1) need to stop fentanyl imports from Canada and Mexico
2) Ditto China
3) Even though we are far richer than other countries, everyone has screwedd us for 40 yuears. (Reality: we havce screwed middle.working lasses through tax policies which benefit the wealthy and larqe corps to detriment of middle and working class_
4) bring back manuf jobs (tariffs is the worst way to do this, You will have to subsidize via other means and these other means are far less destrictive to middle and working class/poor than tariffs
5) As a means to get tcountri4es to end DEI policies
6) means to get countries to lower tariffs and non-tar9ff barries
means to end VAT tqax
7) revenue raiser so tax cuts to wealthy and large coprs can be extended and expanded (this IMO is likely the real reason)
 
Last edited:
So we're going to tariff a bunch of stuff we can't make and don't want to make. We're not tariffing the stuff that we want to make, and sorta can make (especially if they would lean into instead of away from the CHIPS act and build capacity).

Stable genius!
 
Pretty sure China already knew our trade weakness. Trump's inability to shut TikTok made that clear.

And yes, other countries will not be negotiating with us. They see Trump being so thirsty for trade deals.

The end game here, I think, is more or less the resumption of the status quo in terms of economic geography. Free trade will be in tatters; the rest of the world hates us; we have lost a bunch of scientists; people aren't going to want to build factories here; and oh the GOP tax cuts/budget package is going to be devastating.

Hey, remember when Ramrouser was so excited because Trump had the energy of the Energizer Bunny? And we said that was a bad thing, because everything Trump touches dies? Yeah. So too the economy.
 
We are moving toward a patchwork of tariffs on things the working class and poor buy to partially fund income tax cuts that will mostly benefit the upper class and wealthy — then fund the difference with debt with rising interest costs, choking off government funds available for services to the people who will bear the disproportionate burden (as a percentage of income) of the tariffs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top