Tariffs Catch-All

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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)
 
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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.
 
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.
Sounds like Peron, except Peron gave government jobs to the working class for mollification. Musk is cutting them.
 
Not sure the exemptions will be much of a catalyst for companies to bring manufacturing back to the US.

Now that Trump has fully exposed his limited tolerance for pain, are other nations likely to negotiate deals favorable to the US?
 
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