jfabula1

slickdealer said:

The most likely scenario remains that China lowers tariffs on US goods and our reciprocal tariffs automatically adjust.  

Why all of these articles fail to mention how reciprocal tariffs work baffles me. 

It seems you are the one that doesn't understand how tariffs work. The tariffs enacted by the Trump administration were calculated using the trade deficit divided by the exports. That's not how you determine what China's tariffs are on US goods.

China's original rate was less than 5%, but now they've got no choice but to respond to the US tariffs. The only way prices go down on imported goods is if the US lowers tariffs, not China.

All tariffs are a tax on the country that imposes the tariffs. It is basic economics. The US government tried to impose tariffs in the 1930s to save the economy, but spoiler! It failed and led to the great depression.

Wesley Hilliard said:

slickdealer said:

The most likely scenario remains that China lowers tariffs on US goods and our reciprocal tariffs automatically adjust.  

Why all of these articles fail to mention how reciprocal tariffs work baffles me. 

It seems you are the one that doesn't understand how tariffs work. The tariffs enacted by the Trump administration were calculated using the trade deficit divided by the exports. That's not how you determine what China's tariffs are on US goods.

China's original rate was less than 5%, but now they've got no choice but to respond to the US tariffs. The only way prices go down on imported goods is if the US lowers tariffs, not China.

All tariffs are a tax on the country that imposes the tariffs. It is basic economics. The US government tried to impose tariffs in the 1930s to save the economy, but spoiler! It failed and led to the great depression.

charlesn said:

Marvin said:

This is what the government spending cuts and tariffs are about. If there's a better way to fix the debt issue other than cutting spending and trying to make up trade deficits, they'd probably like to hear some ideas. These moves suggest they don't have any better ones.

In mid-October last year, the widely respected financial journal, The Economist, ran with this headline and cover story: "The American Economy: The Envy of the World." And the sub-head was: "The American economy has left other rich countries in the dust." Not bad for the country that Trump has would have the brain-dead believe is in an "economic emergency" and the trading partner punching bag of the world. If so many countries are taking advantage of us, it would seem they're doing a pretty bad job of it! 

The last time we tried tariffs this insane (Trump's are actually worse than Smoot-Hawley), they helped usher in the Great Depression. So there's your "proof of concept" and the reason high tariffs have been discredited by economists left, right and center ever since. It also goes without saying that triggering a recession and stagflation with this stupidity will cut growth and revenue, thereby driving up deficits even higher. And spare me the BS that Trump, the self-styled King of Debt, has ANY interest in solving the debt problem. In his first term, his unpaid for tax breaks to the richest blew up the national debt by more than all 44 previous presidents COMBINED. 

As for spending cuts: the Pentagon budget is nearly $850 billion dollars and for decades has been spending more each year than the next 8-10 largest militaries in the world COMBINED. So how is it that we're always falling behind our adversaries? Why are so many weapons systems wildly overbudget, hugely behind schedule and never work as advertised? Seems like a place that's rife with waste, fraud and abuse. Musk, himself, has excoriated "idiots who are still building the F-35" and has pleaded, "...in the name of all this is holy, let us stop the worst military value for the money in history, which is the F-35 program." Did DOGE stop it? Nope. Where are the mass DOGE firings at the Pentagon? Why hasn't DOGE taking over the Pentagon computers? Why hasn't DOGE limited Pentagon credit cards to $1? Instead, DOGE is devastating health care and services for the veterans who risked their bodies and lives in defense of this country. Nice! DOGE isn't looking for waste, fraud and abuse--it is indiscriminately taking a chainsaw to the government to free up more money for tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires. 

lordjohnwhorfin said:

I still can’t believe people voted for this moron. It’s sad to see the pathetic joke this once great country has become.