by SirLJ on 2/1/25, 11:19 PM with 158 comments
by A_D_E_P_T on 2/2/25, 12:27 AM
Say I manufacture a widget in [country]. At present, there is no manufacturer of that widget in the USA. We export to the USA, and now the US importer or distributor pays a ~25% tariff on the declared value to Fedgov. Then that US importer or distributor receives the widgets and sells them. Because its margin is down, it raises its price. Who paid first? The US business that imported the widgets. Who pays in the end? The US customer.
Now say I manufacture some specialty aluminum rods in [country]. We export to a heatsink manufacturer in the US. As they need our rods, they pay the tariffs. Their product is now considerably more expensive and there's more friction in their supply chain.
The only way this ends is with Americans paying more for goods. It could be a lot worse than routine inflation.
The right way to go about things would be to shore up US manufacturing capabilities first, and then utilize tariffs selectively. Right now, there's really no way around foreign inputs in manufacturing and/or wholly foreign-made goods, so there's going to be a lot of pain.
by 3vidence on 2/2/25, 3:15 AM
The biggest things they import for Canada aren't even manufactured goods but raw materials.
The only way to avoid the T tarrif at that point is to import from a different country but there are tarrifs there as well.
What is even the end game here? Make China the new biggest game in town?
by llm_nerd on 2/1/25, 11:50 PM
Which will cause Trump's various sprogs to write mean, threatening tweets, and for Trump to redouble again.
This is going to spiral out of control very quickly.
And for those not caught up, this has absolutely nothing to do with secure borders. Canada contributes a rounding error to US border problems, and the reverse is much more the case. Trump outright said there was nothing we could do. He truly thinks income tax can be replaced by tariffs, despite the latter being incredibly regressive, and the ridiculous fentanyl lie justifies his outrageous abuse of your country's limits of power, allowing him to invent an imaginary threat to push his agenda.
by ConspiracyFact on 2/2/25, 1:16 AM
>Tariffs will only hurt American consumers >Countries targeted by tariffs will retaliate
I think this speaks for itself…
by TheAlchemist on 2/2/25, 12:13 AM
Tariff war with all main trading partners ? According to Trump EU tariffs are coming in soon.
US can win any tariff war against a single country. They maybe could win against China or EU or Canada / Mexico alone. But all of them at once ? This is going to be a disaster for the US.
Because of current sky-high stock market valuations, US thinks it's the only game in town. We will soon see if it's the case. The tide is turning, and it's only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked. US is in for a big surprise.
by maxglute on 2/2/25, 3:18 AM
by _DeadFred_ on 2/2/25, 5:25 AM
by Terr_ on 2/1/25, 11:37 PM
2. Don't worry, even if Mexico retaliates with their own tariffs, we'll just buy from China, leaving Mexico and Canada out in the cold, jealous of our success.
3. Don't worry, even if China retaliates with their own tariffs, we'll just buy from the EU, leaving China and Mexico and Canada out in the cold, jealous of our success.
4. Don't worry, even if the EU retaliates with their own tariffs, we'll just buy from... Hold up, what happened to our four biggest trading partners and over half of all the trade we were doing? Well, their loss.
...
96. Okay, Azerbaijan, you'd better give us a really good deal right now, or else we'll take our business to Turkmenistan, and you'll have nobody to trade with except basically everyone else!
by spacemanspiff01 on 2/2/25, 2:35 PM