Tariffs

[lethal heart]

are dumb

seriously though, does anyone support these? trump supporters chime in

[cerulean ice]

(this is a moderation honeypot)

[lethal heart]

hey it's in off topic

[paper python]

Some are not a bad idea. Example Canada tariffs the pants off US dairy to keep their industry protected, but yeah these seem excessive.

[cerulean ice]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNiiGruLJ7M
still my favourite meme from all this

please mr president its too much winning

[zinc prawn]

the tariffs are just gonna sky jack the prices more and then hes gonna stop the tariffs to get praise ie: what he did with the tt ban

[lethal heart]

see these are the kind of takes i was looking for

[paper python]

I also am not an economist and don’t know what the future holds on these tariffs.

[zinc prawn]

i have blue hair and pronouns are my qualifications

[lethal heart]

personally i would rather save money on dairy products i buy from the grocery store than protect a struggling industry

[lethal heart]

all the qualifications you need

[paper python]

Me I just ignore it and let things shake loose.

I am an independent voter and neither party did enough to get my vote this year

[lethal heart]

yeah it just has me preoccupied since the markets are down

[cerulean ice]

im kinda going off topic but the tt ban hasn't been stopped

[lethal heart]

i also did not vote this year, although it had more to do with fuckery when i changed states

[zinc prawn]

what if people just started bartering again what would he do then

[cerulean ice]

it's actually in the next few days tiktok has to sell before they go for round 2

yeah april 5th deadline

amazon are gunning for it, perplexity, etc

[lethal heart]

i welcome our bezosian overlords

[zinc prawn]

you right i just have a feeling it aint going no where

[cerulean ice]

likely not, but it is interesting
the ccp can just block any tiktok sale if they so wish

[lethal heart]

the tiktok ban i can kinda understand tho

rah rah china's stealing your info

[cerulean ice]

so am i

ban me guyd

guys

[lethal heart]

how u gonna sell "everything you buy is more expensive"

[zinc prawn]

put tariffs on cigarettes see how much the american folks like that🦅🏈

[lethal heart]

that's just anti-american lemon

muted

[zinc prawn]

i would give them my social security number

[lethal heart]

they might already have it

[cerulean ice]

or theyd get it if they really wanted it

[zinc prawn]

im actually more pro american than the people running the country cuz i still believe in liberty and justice for all😭😭

[cerulean ice]

that is pretty much the flaw in protectionism
my business class only has a very brief econ module but even there they teach protectionism is never good long term

they also use trump as a case study of an idiot

but thats subject universal

[lethal heart]

they don't have real economists looking at this stuff

hw was right

voodoo economics

[zinc prawn]

the only people looking at this stuff are trumpy meat riders

[lethal heart]

but i also think politicians are usually pretty good at gauging public opinion

so there must be a good amount of people who are willing to sacrifice their cheap goods to protect other americans' jobs

or maybe they don't think it will change their cheap goods

[cerulean ice]

yeah i mean its not like protectionist policies will ever lead to cheaper goods

[lethal heart]

no it never will

[cerulean ice]

dosmetic industries are protected in theory, but foreign goods increase price its not like dosmetic goods will stay put

[lethal heart]

question for europeans: would you support your governments imposing tariffs on the us

[paper python]

People are raising hell in the grocery store I just stopped in, my guess is there will be stress put on logistics for a month with panic buying.

[cerulean ice]

the EU does already have tarrifs on some US imports

[paper python]

They already do on some goods I imagine, which likely hasnt been given any serious thought until the US started doing it in such a blanket way

There we go

[cerulean ice]

but im pretty sure blanket retaliatory tarrifs are inevitable atp

we have been here before to be fair https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-steel-aluminum-tariffs-canada-mexico-b2696606.html

granted not in the same batshit crazy way

[paper python]

The time has come to bring back the continental system

https://tenor.com/qnI3KJvlzGh.gif

[rocky spade]

i feel like the tariffs aren’t doing any substantial good. they’re raising tensions with other countries and hiking consumers prices for hypothetical benefits

[plush pollen]

they make my comics more expensive

[paper python]

I havent seen any price hikes yet, but several car manufacturers have made big commitments to localized American production, Hyundai announced 21 billion in committed funds.

To invest in local manufacturing in the US and create 100,000 jobs.

[paper python]

America has printing factories too. So that may be true, may not idk.

[plush pollen]

yeah but dc comics are printed in canada

[rocky spade]

i believe that trump has been pushing the implementation of the tariffs back and back as stocks keep dropping anytime he mentions implementing them

atleast that’s what i’ve been told from my newsletter. i haven’t had the time to look into his tariffs other than that

[plush pollen]

and dc makes up most of my pull list

[rocky spade]

i wish you luck jm

[lethal heart]

true, it's hard to believe that there won't be some course correction, but i also wouldn't put it past him to go through with it as is

[rocky spade]

yeah. it would put him in a bad position with the public though

for aforementioned reasons

[lethal heart]

the thing that irks me is how regressive these tariffs are

[rocky spade]

agreed

[lethal heart]

hurts poor people more than rich people

[rocky spade]

i’m frustrated how trump has continued to tell the people he’s for the middle class, then actively work to get rid of it, and people still believe his words

but that’s slightly off topic from tariffs

[paper python]

He went full on from what I heard, but I think the goal is not to implement them, but to encourage companies to “play ball” as it were. To get them to invest here and stop undercutting US industry

[rocky spade]

i guess that could make sense but there are other ways to push companies to invest in the us, are there not?

[lethal heart]

but the other factor is that unemployment is low, so why are we trying to get manufacturing jobs back so badly?

and i'm not sure how many companies will actually invest in new manufacturing plants in the US when they could just wait until the tariffs end, 4 years max

[paper python]

Because we dont produce as much as we did, yes unemployment is low but our place as a manufacturing power has slipped. We have become dependent on many other counties to do our producing.

[lethal heart]

and why does that matter? the fact that other countries do the manufacturing for us is a sign of our prosperity

[paper python]

If we have an issue with China and need to produce something.

[lethal heart]

so yeah, that's an argument for tariffs on china

[paper python]

That is an IF, not saying it is the right way to approach this issue.

[lethal heart]

but why vietnam and thailand

taiwan

they're already completely dependant on us for protection anyway

and then makes even less sense for a place like the UK which is a net importer of our goods

also it's bad for small businesses. big companies might be able to eat these costs but not mom and pop shops

[paper python]

Yes there are other ways Raven, idk if they are BETTER or WORSE. But sure there is other ways.

[rocky spade]

yeah

[lethal heart]

biden put a lot of money into getting semiconductor production moved to the us. so there's that

[paper python]

Yeah Im sure there is going to be some stuff hitting the fan because of this. Also as far as them getting lifted in four years I feel that democrats need to make a radical shift in their approach to politics to win in four years.

[lethal heart]

also possible that trump is so unpopular that democrats win like in 2020

[paper python]

I also think 4 years is just too short of a term. It is just enough time to start to do things and like you said, the switch gets flipped in four years and they start pulling in the opposite direction

[lethal heart]

democrats don't really have a platform other than being anti-trump in the last 10 years

[lethal heart]

so longer tariffs then?

[cerulean ice]

that does just fuel another term for the republicans afterwards though, look at how unpopular labour is in the UK after they were just used as an anti-tory vote

[lethal heart]

yeah it doesn't bode well

[paper python]

Correct

[lethal heart]

unless they're led by an invigorating politician like Bernie who'll be dead in a few years (or AOC)

[paper python]

I don’t know what the answer is other than more middle of the road policies, I dont think democrats will tap AOC she is too contentious. It will likely be an anglo Saxon Protestant man.

[paper python]

I think we need less stall politics and more parties than two, we are getting to a point where the average american is so sick on nothing getting done they settle for outrageous answers. Like Trump

[cerulean ice]

careful what you wish for

we were sick of two dominant parties in the UK and now we’ve got fucking NIGEL FARAGE

[rocky spade]

i’ve seen a bunch of different solutions to help the election process but i think a third party would be a huge step for our country, and may have to be leaned into

[cerulean ice]

the right and especially the far right these days are much better at being persuasive, i fear you’d just end up with another one

[paper python]

Yeah maybe it’s not the answer but all these people get paid well to do nothing, Americans are getting more and more accepting of radical politicians who promise big changes

[paper python]

Cooorect

[cerulean ice]

i won’t pretend to know the right answer though, i don’t think there is one

i don’t even know where you’d start

[paper python]

I dont either pal. Doesnt take a genius to see the US and the world has problems.

Just a bunch of morons to think one dude can fix them all in 4 years

[cerulean ice]

too much winning!

[lethal heart]

i'm tired of winning

[cerulean ice]

MOREEE!!

[lethal heart]

anyway this post is just to complain about tariffs as s&p slips below -4%

[paper python]

https://tenor.com/byS3n.gif

[dusk jewel]

Why doesn’t America the largest military simply annex all the smaller ones

[cerulean ice]

someone get this guy in office

[vestal kiln]

holy shoot I missed an interesting thread

[random sorrel]

holy moly, taxes

u all need to be taxed

jk

[lethal heart]

well theyr'e not really taxes

since it's an upfront cost

[random sorrel]

it's like ur blessings

an upfront cost

right BDaps

153k

maybe we can negotiate it down

20% off

ur blessings

[dusk jewel]

get a grip

[low sandal]

big retailers are now announcing that Nintendo is postponing the preorder for Switch 2 to “assess the impact of the tariffs”

Now they’ve done it, they’ve messed with the gamers

[dusk jewel]

https://tenor.com/view/peepawass-maxie-wolf-beast-furry-gif-25346968

[lethal heart]

Don’t worry, pro gamer™ Elon will fix that

[paper python]

There will be an adjustment period, my feeling is he will keep the tariffs in place till some “deal” is made but I imagine the us is a pretty big market for these companies. So it will go something like, companies feel the pressure, they lobby foreign government to make some deals with the US, the US lightens tariffs after a “deal” is reached, world spins as normal. But really I dont fucking know

[paper python]

Rumor is Trump is weighing hitting China with a Double Infinity plus 1 tariff. Checkmate 😎

[cerulean ice]

😭

yeah retaliatory tarrifs to the retaliatory tarrifs

[plush pollen]

104% is diabolical

[cerulean ice]

chinas up to 84% on america now

bizarre

[paper python]

I imagine those Chinese factories are pretty reliant on American consumers. So they will likely be hit hard, but Americans are also addicted to cheap Chinese goods.

[rocky spade]

won’t be that cheap anymore :/

[dusk jewel]

You guys are just too short sighted to see

Soon America will b making Trillions of dollars selling US made goods to other countries

Make sure to say thank you

[paper python]

I will settle for us having manufacturing capabilities again, I be checking under my pillow every morning for jobs from the tariff fairy

[paper python]

Don’t bring up me having glasses in this, its not relevant

:P

[dusk jewel]

No need , Trump will hand pick everyone because he knows what’s best for us

[paper python]

https://tenor.com/bdRQu.gif
The tariff fairy zappin American factories with jobs and alike

[lethal heart]

14% of US imports are Chinese, while only 3% of Chinese exports are to the US

As a percentage of GDP

[paper python]

In 2023, US imports from China accounted for 14% of China's total exports, down from 21% in 2018. According to Caixabank reports.
Maybe I’m reading it wrong or you are but it seems like this site’s number differ slightly

https://www.caixabankresearch.com/en/economics-markets/activity-growth/exposure-chinese-economy-us-tariff-hike#:~:text=After years of trade tensions,Exposure and sensitivity to tariffs

I did just see a video with American steel producers saying they are excited for tariffs. Based on Germany taxing a product their products 128.00 dollars to US taxing their products 1 dollar. So that sort of opened my eyes to the extent of European tariffs

[lethal heart]

yeah that's the percentage of US imports

"Around 3% of the GVA originating in China ends up in the US" from the article you linke

[paper python]

It says it accounts for 14% of total Chinese exports though?

Am I not understanding these metrics correctly?

[lethal heart]

no it doesn't, it says "Whereas in 2018 21% of US imports came from China, by 2023 this figure had fallen to 14%"

"On the other hand, whereas exports to the US accounted for 3.5% of China’s GDP in 2018, in 2023 they represented 2.9% – a significant decline in a relatively short period of time."

[paper python]

Okay you’re right. So in summery the US is more dependent on chinese manufacturing?

Than vise versa

[lethal heart]

yep

[paper python]

Well I won’t argue with basic math these tariffs should hit us harder than them.

[lethal heart]

i'm not sure this is true, from what i can find european tariffs were very low

https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/04/03/fact-check-are-donald-trumps-tariffs-on-the-eu-really-reciprocal

seems to be more fuckery with conflating the trade deficit with tariffs

[paper python]

https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/07/business/video/the-lead-tariffs-export-donald-trump-united-states-manufacture-steel-economy-jake-tapper
this was the particular video.

[paper python]

I read it and it seems to be using the term average often so maybe some particular industries receive more than others. Or the price of the products are high enough to come up with the figure of 128 dollars per unit

So many damn numbers flying around in that article I can hardly see straight, but it does seem the US administration is conflating trade deficit with tariffs but idk for sure, maybe they make it so hard to understand so I cant get a good idea as to what is actually being said

Get Brad Pitts character from Snatch to negotiate these numbers then I could understand them better.

[lethal heart]

yeah, hard to find any info on specifically steel tariffs levied by the EU

however the eu announced today that they're starting 25% tariffs on a range of us exports, including steel

seems odd to have a 25% tariff if, as that steel ceo implies, they had much larger tariffs than that

more likely is that guy is cherry picking numbers

but it's also such a silly attitude because even if it does help those workers, any gains would be offset by the higher prices they would encounter when buying basically anything

[paper python]

The good news is that with all this international trade and tariffs is the whole world can get riled up together.

One big riled up family

https://tenor.com/b0o4j.gif
actual footage of the head of Trumps tariff negotiation team.

[paper python]

125% tariffs announced and a pause on others leading to an explosion in the DOW

[lethal heart]

Great news

Although there’s still a universal 10% tariff

China tariff seems like a move to appease the base

[paper python]

The articles coming out are saying Donald trumps approval rating is collapsing but I looked and according to Gallop, Trump stands at 46% approval which is higher than almost any point during Bidens last term. I get so tired of click bate articles and misinformation.
Which I don’t really approve of every tariff he institutes but something has to be done with Americans outsourcing labor and purchases to China.

[magic vortex]

if you work in the white house and don’t come out of this administration a millionaire you’re an idiot

[paper python]

Brother that happens every time. Obama has a cool 26 million in real-estate alone. I get so sick of it.

All the Money funneled into the Biden family, the Bush family is full of wealthy politicians. It gets a wee bit annoying

[magic vortex]

No i mean with the blatant market manipulation that trump is doing

[somber robin]

Current president of the USA seems to share many traits with former president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovich.

Both men:
-are convicted felons
-multi-billionaires with businesses centred around property acquisition and property speculation
-got elected as a result of electoral fraud, voter intimidation and foreign meddling
-went from a corruption scandal to a corruption scandal
-undermined international alliances and relations they were supposed to support
-noticeably damaged the economy as a result of their policies
-despised by more than a half of country's population at their reputational best
-famously unable to speak their country's main language eloquently and coherently

I was barely not old enough to vote when Yanukovich got elected. In hindsight, he was elected because the majority of voting-age population was "apolitical", held sentiments that all politicians are equally corrupt and horrible, and that voting is an entertainment for elderly and a pointless pastime for people without a real job. Higher popularity of voting for the least horrible candidate out of the ones available, being present at the polls, being an observer at the polls(if you could afford the time), could've made election meddling prohibitively expensive.

[dusk jewel]

He also shares traits with my grandpa- bald and fat

[lethal heart]

This is interesting, and speaks to the unique characteristics of 21st century populists

in the 20th century fascists etc were usually great public speakers and generally had broad support from their people

But 21st century populists don’t really have their country’s best interests at heart, or maybe they’re just too stupid to understand why what they’re doing is harmful to their own country

I do think that the perception of both sides being equally bad is extremely harmful to our democratic process. It really speaks to the average person’s indifference to what happens in politics. Maybe oversaturation from social media plays a role

[magic vortex]

it definitely does. i notice the difference between the US and Italy. when i lived in the US it felt like we were obligated to speak about any news that happened, while here in Italy people have a greater ability to live without being inundated by every bad news story that comes out

living there was exhausting from that point of view

it led me to becoming indifferent, partly because nothing really shocks me anymore after what’s happening everyday, and partly because i needed an “escape” from constantly being fed and talked about the news

[paper python]

Rumor is China is only putting bad fortunes in fortune cookies going forward until tarrifs are lifted