Tariffs Catch-All

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ZenMode said:
Or all of that bloviating was just part of the facade. If he convinces the world that he truly believes tariffs are a great thing and are going to make the country rich, that just adds to the motivation for them to come to the table, does it not?

He's a dumbass, a narcissist and painfully impulsive, but he also has a method to his dumbassness, narcissism and impulsiveness.
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Maybe, but does he have a goal other than to wallow in those? I haven't seen a single thing he's done worth the chaos he's sown.
 
ZenMode said:
Or all of that bloviating was just part of the facade. If he convinces the world that he truly believes tariffs are a great thing and are going to make the country rich, that just adds to the motivation for them to come to the table, does it not?

He's a dumbass, a narcissist and painfully impulsive, but he also has a method to his dumbassness, narcissism and impulsiveness which involves misrepresenting a lot of what he actually intends to do.
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For them to come to the table for what? He has been asked a thousand times what the end goal is and he hasn’t been able to articulate any.
 
finesse said:
Maybe, but does he have a goal other than to wallow in those? I haven't seen a single thing he's done worth the chaos he's sown.
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As it pertains to tariffs, no, none of this was worth it. I absolutely agree with him that more tariffs on Chinese goods is warranted and there are better and worse ways to implement higher tariffs. He, as he is known to do, picked one of the more idiotic ways.
 
finesse said:
Is this real optimism or making hay while the sun shines?
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Here's where I am.

1. Trump cannot be trusted. Everything he says is almost certain to be a lie.
2. Trump will do literally anything that he can spin the decrepit reality as a positive for his gullible, disinformed base.
3. Trump does not care about the future, or the world, or anything other than what's in his personal best interest at the moment.
4. Trump is MASSIVELY interested in his and his family's financial worth, so he will do things occasionally that also benefit those who are invested in the equity and/or real estate markets.
5. If you imagine the stereotype of the person who's likely to be sitting three tables away from Trump at a Mar-a-Lago dinner, THAT'S who will benefit the most from the next 3.75 years. That person will make absolute bank. For the rest of us, who knows? We might as well have Bozo the Clown in the Oval Office. The results would be the same.
 
ZenMode said:
Or all of that bloviating was just part of the facade. If he convinces the world that he truly believes tariffs are a great thing and are going to make the country rich, that just adds to the motivation for them to come to the table, does it not?

He's a dumbass, a narcissist and painfully impulsive, but he also has a method to his dumbassness, narcissism and impulsiveness which involves misrepresenting a lot of what he actually intends to do.
Click to expand...
How has that worked for him, having them "come to the table"? Trump is in his second term in office. What deals has he achieved? What happens is this:

Trump: Tariffs will make them negotiate.
Other countries: We just want you to remove your unilateral tariffs. We're not giving you shit.
Trump: Done! Win win for me!

The only thing Trump knows how to get is "purchase commitments." That's what he's always trying to do. Make the other countries buy an insignificant amount of goods from us. That accomplishes nothing. It's barely even profitable, since what's being purchased would be sold elsewhere and so maybe there are a few incremental gains. Maybe the purchase commitment of $5B in US beef will generate $100M in profit for America. And everything that happened to get to that point costs 10-100x times that. And that's assuming the purchase commitment is honored, which it rarely is.

There's a reason why purchase commitments are not an important part of trade law, trade negotiations or trade policy. They are one-time pot sweeteners, like getting 10% off your first purchase at Best Buy when you get a Best Buy card. They can be profitably used to start a trade relationship, but that's not how Trump is using them. He's thinking that they are the end goal in themselves, which is why we are in a recession now and $5B in commitments will do jack shit.
 
ChileG said:
For them to come to the table for what? He has been asked a thousand times what the end goal is and he hasn’t been able to articulate any.
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To have better trade balance with other countries, presumably to help, at least in part, US manufacturing. It's something that Obama pointed out years and years ago... There are a ton of Japanese made cars being sold in the US and virtually no US made cars being sold in Japan.
 
Were you worried about Biden's mental status ?

Trump says "hold my Adderall "

www.rawstory.com

Trump admits flubbing figures in rambling trade war speech: 'I misunderstood'

President Donald Trump spoke Monday about negotiations with China that resulted in a dramatic step back from a tariff trade war — but in a rambling speech, he revealed the talks had left him confused.First, he told the press, "Both sides now agreed to reduce the tariffs imposed. After April 2nd...
www.rawstory.com www.rawstory.com
 
ZenMode said:
To have better trade balance with other countries, presumably to help, at least in part, US manufacturing. It's something that Obama pointed out years and years ago... There are a ton of Japanese made cars being sold in the US and virtually no US made cars being sold in Japan.
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ZenMode said:
To have better trade balance with other countries, presumably to help, at least in part, US manufacturing. It's something that Obama pointed out years and years ago... There are a ton of Japanese made cars being sold in the US and virtually no US made cars being sold in Japan.
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Are American car manufacturers looking to sell more cars in Japan? If so, wouldn’t this be achieved by making cars that the Japanese consumer would want?
How is Trump going to negotiate so that the Japanese consumer wants to buy American cars?
 
ZenMode said:
To have better trade balance with other countries, presumably to help, at least in part, US manufacturing.
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In trade, that's not a "goal" -- that's a motivation.

A goal means a specific thing that the parties try to negotiate. It's neutral between them. Like, "the goal of this trade round is to decrease worldwide tariff levels by 25%"
 
ChileG said:
Are American car manufacturers looking to sell more cars in Japan? If so, wouldn’t this be achieved by making cars that the Japanese consumer would want?
How is Trump going to negotiate so that the Japanese consumer wants to buy American cars?
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Obviously decreasing fuel and pollution standards. Maybe make them larger, too, so you can own liberals and the road at the same time.
 
ChileG said:
Are American car manufacturers looking to sell more cars in Japan? If so, wouldn’t this be achieved by making cars that the Japanese consumer would want?
How is Trump going to negotiate so that the Japanese consumer wants to buy American cars?
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This isn't about just Japanese cars. It's about other countries generally imposing high tariffs on US goods while we generally don't impose tariffs on their goods.
 
finesse said:
Obviously decreasing fuel and pollution standards. Maybe make them larger, too, so you can own liberals and the road at the same time.
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And maybe Japan could expand a little to, say, South Korea? Manchuria? Malaysia? Lots of Lebensraum needed for those Suburban-tailgate picnics in the countryside.
 
superrific said:
In trade, that's not a "goal" -- that's a motivation.

A goal means a specific thing that the parties try to negotiate. It's neutral between them. Like, "the goal of this trade round is to decrease worldwide tariff levels by 25%"
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We should definitely get into irrelevant words games. Seems like a great use of time....
 
ZenMode said:
Because other countries put significant tariffs on US imports, while the US rarely, if ever, does the same?
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False as applied to significant markets. The EU and US tariff levels are about the same. For the time being, US effective rates fell relative to the EU because of a rise in US service exports (which aren't counted in tariff rates), but they are the same. And of course tariffs in North America were zero (except in tiny niche examples).
 
ZenMode said:
We should definitely get into irrelevant words games. Seems like a great use of time....
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Don't get into word games then. Answer the question that was asked -- what is Trump's goal, in the trade law sense of the term? What specifically does he want to see, other than annexation?
 
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