Trump Tariffs & Trade War megathread

[AustralianSwingVoter]

Anyone else spot how desperate Fox has gotten...?

[emailking]

That looks like Harold Ford.

Are we sure that's real? lol

[Crumpets]

Anyone else spot how desperate Fox has gotten...?

Fellas, is it gay to have money?

[K.W.R.A.E. 8647]

[President Johnson]

The longer this goes on, the more it makes the 2024 election look like the biggest act of masochism in American history.

[You are responsible]

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:mxc7liuon6iq5gzapmmwkq22/post/3lmdevbne7s2e

[Banana Republican]

Regardless of errors Trump's formula makes zero sense to begin with. For example there were 100% tariffs on Lesotho...why? Well the answer is that Lesotho produces a lot of diamonds, but it's such a third world country it has hardly any US imports, so of course the US has a huge trade deficit with Lesotho. What are the tariffs supposed to do, get people to buy diamonds mined in the US....of which there aren't any? (The sole diamond mine in the US was in Arkansas but it's no longer in use and is now part of a state park.)

Gonna be really fun to see Hawaii, Florida and a handful of territories have to substitute for all tropically-grown produce we import from around the world and go back to solely seasonal fruits and veggies.

Hawaii has a LOT of coffee it's going to need to grow. Good thing it is not a small volcanic mountainous island chain with limited arable landmass.

[K.W.R.A.E. 8647]

Regardless of errors Trump's formula makes zero sense to begin with. For example there were 100% tariffs on Lesotho...why? Well the answer is that Lesotho produces a lot of diamonds, but it's such a third world country it has hardly any US imports, so of course the US has a huge trade deficit with Lesotho. What are the tariffs supposed to do, get people to buy diamonds mined in the US....of which there aren't any? (The sole diamond mine in the US was in Arkansas but it's no longer in use and is now part of a state park.)

Gonna be really fun to see Hawaii, Florida and a handful of territories have to substitute for all tropically-grown produce we import from around the world and go back to solely seasonal fruits and veggies.

Hawaii has a LOT of coffee it's going to need to grow. Good thing it is not a small volcanic mountainous island chain with limited arable landmass.

No worries bro. We can live on years-old jars of instant coffee like they had to do during the f**king Blitz!

[Banana Republican]

Said before the goal here seems very North Korea like. If you can't source and/or manufacture a certain product in the US, you just won't have access to it. Expect shortages on many good or for some goods to outright leave the US market because the prices are so high that there is no demand for them.

What goods could we lose?

One potential example might be Asian grocery stores, or else at least some particular goods in Asian grocery stores which are imported from particular countries with high tariffs:

https://bsky.app/profile/npr.org/post/3lmcforrq7k2k

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ln72v57ivz2g46uqf4xxqiuh/post/3lmcforrq7k2k

If the cost of importing is too high, then consumers will substitute too much demand to regular grocery stores, and specialty grocery stores will have to close down.

So you end up with less food variety then.

But I guess Trump's goal is for everyone to only eat McDonalds every day. That's the American dream, right?

[Tekken_Guy]

Regardless of errors Trump's formula makes zero sense to begin with. For example there were 100% tariffs on Lesotho...why? Well the answer is that Lesotho produces a lot of diamonds, but it's such a third world country it has hardly any US imports, so of course the US has a huge trade deficit with Lesotho. What are the tariffs supposed to do, get people to buy diamonds mined in the US....of which there aren't any? (The sole diamond mine in the US was in Arkansas but it's no longer in use and is now part of a state park.)

Gonna be really fun to see Hawaii, Florida and a handful of territories have to substitute for all tropically-grown produce we import from around the world and go back to solely seasonal fruits and veggies.

Hawaii has a LOT of coffee it's going to need to grow. Good thing it is not a small volcanic mountainous island chain with limited arable landmass.

No worries bro. We can live on years-old jars of instant coffee like they had to do during the f**king Blitz!

Why not just pay the extra price?

[Banana Republican]

Why not just pay the extra price?

Most people have a limited amount of money, which means they have to make trade-offs when deciding what to buy.

So if the prices of something goes up, people will generally have to respond by buying less of it.

Of course, if you are someone like President Musk, you don't have to worry about that because your spending is not constrained by money. But most people are not sufficiently wealthy to have price-inelastic demand for consumer goods.

[Tekken_Guy]

Why not just pay the extra price?

Most people have a limited amount of money, which means they have to make trade-offs when deciding what to buy.

So if the prices of something goes up, people will generally have to respond by buying less of it.

Of course, if you are someone like President Musk, you don't have to worry about that because your spending is not constrained by money. But most people are not sufficiently wealthy to have price-inelastic demand for consumer goods.

I think well-off suburbanites in stable jobs will hold up fine.

Working class folk though will get hammered.

[DaleCooper]

I know it's a long shot, but is there any hope that he'll cave on any of this over the next 24 hours?

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

I know it's a long shot, but is there any hope that he'll cave on any of this over the next 24 hours?

Sure, if someone he knows needs to make a killing inside trading.

[afleitch]

Why not just pay the extra price?

Most people have a limited amount of money, which means they have to make trade-offs when deciding what to buy.

So if the prices of something goes up, people will generally have to respond by buying less of it.

Of course, if you are someone like President Musk, you don't have to worry about that because your spending is not constrained by money. But most people are not sufficiently wealthy to have price-inelastic demand for consumer goods.

I think well-off suburbanites in stable jobs will hold up fine.

Working class folk though will get hammered.

Which 'stable jobs'? The ones DOGE are gutting? The ones where the establishment has to bend the knee to secure funding? The ones reliant on foreign trade?

This is all just asset stripping for Trump.

[Tekken_Guy]

Why not just pay the extra price?

Most people have a limited amount of money, which means they have to make trade-offs when deciding what to buy.

So if the prices of something goes up, people will generally have to respond by buying less of it.

Of course, if you are someone like President Musk, you don't have to worry about that because your spending is not constrained by money. But most people are not sufficiently wealthy to have price-inelastic demand for consumer goods.

I think well-off suburbanites in stable jobs will hold up fine.

Working class folk though will get hammered.

Which 'stable jobs'? The ones DOGE are gutting? The ones where the establishment has to bend the knee to secure funding? The ones reliant on foreign trade?

This is all just asset stripping for Trump.

Financial sector jobs, law firms, science jobs, medical jobs.

[Spectator]

Why not just pay the extra price?

Most people have a limited amount of money, which means they have to make trade-offs when deciding what to buy.

So if the prices of something goes up, people will generally have to respond by buying less of it.

Of course, if you are someone like President Musk, you don't have to worry about that because your spending is not constrained by money. But most people are not sufficiently wealthy to have price-inelastic demand for consumer goods.

I think well-off suburbanites in stable jobs will hold up fine.

Working class folk though will get hammered.

Which 'stable jobs'? The ones DOGE are gutting? The ones where the establishment has to bend the knee to secure funding? The ones reliant on foreign trade?

This is all just asset stripping for Trump.

Financial sector jobs, law firms, science jobs, medical jobs.

You mean the law firms that Trump is currently cutting off security clearances to and extorting? And that will inevitably lose business in a recession? Or the medical jobs where funding for research has been dramatically cut? No, white collar jobs are gonna be hurting just as bad.

[K.W.R.A.E. 8647]

Why not just pay the extra price?

Most people have a limited amount of money, which means they have to make trade-offs when deciding what to buy.

So if the prices of something goes up, people will generally have to respond by buying less of it.

Of course, if you are someone like President Musk, you don't have to worry about that because your spending is not constrained by money. But most people are not sufficiently wealthy to have price-inelastic demand for consumer goods.

I think well-off suburbanites in stable jobs will hold up fine.

Working class folk though will get hammered.

Which 'stable jobs'? The ones DOGE are gutting? The ones where the establishment has to bend the knee to secure funding? The ones reliant on foreign trade?

This is all just asset stripping for Trump.

Financial sector jobs, law firms, science jobs, medical jobs.

You mean the law firms that Trump is currently cutting off security clearances to and extorting?

Literally all the jobs he just described are getting decimated by Trump.

[Mike88]

Anyone else spot how desperate Fox has gotten...?

Fellas, is it gay to have money?

Well, Judge Jeanine has basically given up her 401K, so...

[You are responsible]

Anyone else spot how desperate Fox has gotten...?

Fellas, is it gay to have money?

Well, Judge Jeanine has basically given up her 401K, so...

Trump's tariffs are the very definition of toxic masculinity.

[afleitch]

Why not just pay the extra price?

Most people have a limited amount of money, which means they have to make trade-offs when deciding what to buy.

So if the prices of something goes up, people will generally have to respond by buying less of it.

Of course, if you are someone like President Musk, you don't have to worry about that because your spending is not constrained by money. But most people are not sufficiently wealthy to have price-inelastic demand for consumer goods.

I think well-off suburbanites in stable jobs will hold up fine.

Working class folk though will get hammered.

Which 'stable jobs'? The ones DOGE are gutting? The ones where the establishment has to bend the knee to secure funding? The ones reliant on foreign trade?

This is all just asset stripping for Trump.

Financial sector jobs, law firms, science jobs, medical jobs.

The financial sector is taking a hammering. Science and medical jobs rely on international co-operation and the ability to work without ideological oversight. Pharmaceuticals themselves come from Canada, India, now tariffed. An anti-science figure like RFK Jr potentially interfering in the delivery of medical research and drug authorisation. The US won't be an international base for science and research.

Lawyers always do well, I'll give you that.

But, I don't think you're getting it. It's over. I think the rest of the world has a great opportunity, particularly the UK with regards to science and research, but the US has closed the door.

[Tekken_Guy]

Why not just pay the extra price?

Most people have a limited amount of money, which means they have to make trade-offs when deciding what to buy.

So if the prices of something goes up, people will generally have to respond by buying less of it.

Of course, if you are someone like President Musk, you don't have to worry about that because your spending is not constrained by money. But most people are not sufficiently wealthy to have price-inelastic demand for consumer goods.

I think well-off suburbanites in stable jobs will hold up fine.

Working class folk though will get hammered.

Which 'stable jobs'? The ones DOGE are gutting? The ones where the establishment has to bend the knee to secure funding? The ones reliant on foreign trade?

This is all just asset stripping for Trump.

Financial sector jobs, law firms, science jobs, medical jobs.

The financial sector is taking a hammering. Science and medical jobs rely on international co-operation and the ability to work without ideological oversight. Pharmaceuticals themselves come from Canada, India, now tariffed. An anti-science figure like RFK Jr potentially interfering in the delivery of medical research and drug authorisation. The US won't be an international base for science and research.

Lawyers always do well, I'll give you that.

But, I don't think you're getting it. It's over. I think the rest of the world has a great opportunity, particularly the UK with regards to science and research, but the US has closed the door.

The door will reopen when Trump’s gone though.

Also how about journalists, real estate agents, IT guys, or marketing guys.

[Banana Republican]

Why not just pay the extra price?

Most people have a limited amount of money, which means they have to make trade-offs when deciding what to buy.

So if the prices of something goes up, people will generally have to respond by buying less of it.

Of course, if you are someone like President Musk, you don't have to worry about that because your spending is not constrained by money. But most people are not sufficiently wealthy to have price-inelastic demand for consumer goods.

I think well-off suburbanites in stable jobs will hold up fine.

Working class folk though will get hammered.

Which 'stable jobs'? The ones DOGE are gutting? The ones where the establishment has to bend the knee to secure funding? The ones reliant on foreign trade?

This is all just asset stripping for Trump.

Financial sector jobs, law firms, science jobs, medical jobs.

You mean the law firms that Trump is currently cutting off security clearances to and extorting?

Literally all the jobs he just described are getting decimated by Trump.

Also we don't need doctors any more, because RFK Jr. informs us that we can all just overdose on Vitamin A instead of receiving evidence-based medical treatment, and we'll all be just fine that way - as long as we can get the fluoride out of our water, anyway.

[Darthpi - Crush the Oligarchy]

Anyone else spot how desperate Fox has gotten...?

One of these days Fox is going to put a headline up so stupid that I, as cis man, will start using they/them pronouns just to not be associated with this nonsense.

[Spectator]

Why not just pay the extra price?

Most people have a limited amount of money, which means they have to make trade-offs when deciding what to buy.

So if the prices of something goes up, people will generally have to respond by buying less of it.

Of course, if you are someone like President Musk, you don't have to worry about that because your spending is not constrained by money. But most people are not sufficiently wealthy to have price-inelastic demand for consumer goods.

I think well-off suburbanites in stable jobs will hold up fine.

Working class folk though will get hammered.

Which 'stable jobs'? The ones DOGE are gutting? The ones where the establishment has to bend the knee to secure funding? The ones reliant on foreign trade?

This is all just asset stripping for Trump.

Financial sector jobs, law firms, science jobs, medical jobs.

The financial sector is taking a hammering. Science and medical jobs rely on international co-operation and the ability to work without ideological oversight. Pharmaceuticals themselves come from Canada, India, now tariffed. An anti-science figure like RFK Jr potentially interfering in the delivery of medical research and drug authorisation. The US won't be an international base for science and research.

Lawyers always do well, I'll give you that.

But, I don't think you're getting it. It's over. I think the rest of the world has a great opportunity, particularly the UK with regards to science and research, but the US has closed the door.

What are you talking about? The Great Recession was horrific for lawyers, and even grads from places like HLS and YLS struggled. The ones that didn’t go to a T14 had big law foreclosed entirely even if their credentials would normally have gotten them in (valedictorian, law review)