For Christmas wish lists, my daughters always have ways of surprising me with items from Africa retailers, Netherlands… I had to tell them this year to stick with U.S. only because of tariffs. I guess that's awesome for the U.S.?
(The political cartoon of Santa having to pay tariffs kind of draws itself at this point.)
Britain, Canada, and one Nordic country or another are getting some business within a few months of tariffs dropping, lol. Maybe also Spain or Portugal.
What really blows is watching great stuff come up used on EBay overseas and not being able to buy it. It’s used, FFS! Sometimes it’s even US-made, which is extra goofy.
Cohn starts assembling every piece of economic data to try and convince Trump that American workers did not aspire to work in assembly factories. “See,” he says to Trump at one point, “the biggest leavers of jobs – people leaving voluntarily – is from manufacturing.” “I don’t get it,” replies Trump. Cohn soldiers on. “I can sit in a nice office with air conditioning and a desk, or I can stand on my feet eight hours a day. Which one would you rather do for the same pay?” Trump still wasn’t buying it. Eventually, exasperated, Cohn simply asks Trump: “Why do you have these views?” “I just do,” Trump replies. “I’ve had these views for 30 years.” “That doesn’t mean they’re right,” says Cohn. “I had the view for 15 years I could play professional football.”
https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/the-best-fights-betwee...
The current administration has not proven itself to be stable. Even for their base they’ve walked back beneficial tariffs when the anticipated price increases happen (e.g. beef).
And that’s before you get into the constitutionality of their actions or how likely they are to be reversed with the next congress
Or shop American and help keep manufacturing and jobs alive here.
I think it's a fair compromise. As Americans we are used to having an overwhelming amount of choice, partly due to our previous open trade policies. Something you don't really see in other countries. Go to Japan and you can count the American products sold on your hand.
I'm living on Japan right now and this is absurd. There are American brands everywhere (although as usual who knows where the products are made). American food brands. American steak. American sportswear. American backpacks. Entire shops in the mall devoted to American fashion. I'd say appliances and cars are more rarely American brands but there are reasons beyond trade barriers why that's true.
There are certain clothing brands (at a much higher cost), large fast food chains, and Apple are the exceptions. Basically really large companies that make specific deals.
https://www.seiyu.co.jp/assets/images/flyer_blackfriday25112...
Could coffee be grown in reasonable quantities inside the USA? I find some mention of very expensive high-end 'boutique' coffee grown in California but it is not generally a crop that grows well in the continental USA.
(until global warming reduces the chances of frost in Florida perhaps?)
Another example from the article was a tea grower. Again, niche growing is limited to just some regions of the USA, with less than 0.1% of consumption domestically produced.
And of course with these products they have distinctive tastes that reflect where they were grown, so tea from California is distinctive tasting and not a direct substitute for tea from Japan from the article.
The growers in the article had been heavily disrupted by tariffs.
I don't mind at all reducing tariffs for things we dont manufacture or can't for various reasons.
I believe the administration is lowering tariffs for things like that.
Beef on the other hand should be temporarily lowered since our cattle herd is half of what it should be. (It plummeted under Biden takes awhile to return as the herd matures) Soooo import from Argentina until it's back up.
The reason is that there are hardly any products made in America.
I realise that my experience is limited to the handful of times I've tried to buy stuff from the US. Perhaps I've just been very unlucky, but frankly, the odds are against it.
That’s not a new thing. It seems like you guys are the only ones whose goods aren’t interesting.
Or you know, drive us into a recession. You do recall tariffs (Smoot-Hawley) were a contributing factor to the length and depth of the Great Depression, right?
Which part of the mutually exclusive triangle of "add manufacturing" or "add revenue" or "reduce deficits" do you consider to be "the intended effect"?
If that's the model the US chooses, then i guess that's their choice.
They mentioned that before the tariffs deadline, American businesses were rushing to make giant international orders. And since then, work had been slow for my friend.
A mad king imposing tariffs (taxes) on a whim is not okay. Republicans control all three branches of government, they'd craft coherent policy if they wanted to bring back manufacturing to the US. Unserious and frankly stupid crowd of people who still support this government.
This is such an obviously self-inflicted wound it's maddening.
The Man Behind Trump’s Tariffs Strategy: https://archive.is/llGGR
Update: fixed link
(This is in addition to the fact that imposing big, likely-illegal, capricious taxes on Americans is a de facto reduction in the freedom of all American citizens. We are being deprived of our freedom to purchase what we want from wherever we want, and now it extends far beyond cheap Chinese EVs and into practically everything. People should understand the tariffs first as an assault on our personal liberties and only second as a business matter.)
Sorry, but that is not a freedom you have in the US or anywhere else on earth. Of course you are right that tariffs on intermediate goods hurt US producers, but your claim that your freedom is being assaulted is laughable.
There is a modern Bastiat style essay waiting to be written here.
Notably, China, India, etc. still tax the every loving crap out of most imports in their jurisdiction (yes, tariffs!).
Notably, those in power in both countries live pretty cushy lives.
I can't buy anything overseas anymore. For example, used guitars from Japan used to have free shipping. It's now hundreds of dollars.
I can't buy my cat's medicine from Canada anymore, and the U S. distributor was already price gauging, as the American health system is wont to do.
How is any of this make sense? Nothing prompted this.
The American public got taxed while the rich got tax breaks, and his followers are lapping it up.
Cameras and bicycles are my two main hobbies. Essentially zero US production for either. Prices have gone up, but for no good reason - there's no US industry to protect.
Limited, highly-targeted tariffs can serve a purpose. But the blanket stuff we've seen this year make zero sense at a macroeconomic level.
The Trump trade policy makes no sense and has been horribly executed on op of that, but I think that in the long run moving away from a policy of "as much cheap stuff for consumers as possible no matter the externalizes" will be a good thing.
That everyone was willing to stand by and let him do it (as in not apply real consequences or physically/procedurally actually stop him) is the opportunity that presented itself.
If a criminal suddenly walks by and steals your unlocked car (or breaks the window and steals it), and gets away, it’s a bit silly to stand there complaining you didn’t ask them to do that!
Obviously deals expire and can be renegotiated, but what Trump has done is just said "deal is off just because I said so, even ones that I myself previously negotiated and signed!"
Do you like to do business with people who just shred your prior deals when they change their mind? It makes no sense.
