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US vs everyone else tradewars

Lukraak_Sisser

Philosopher
L
Joined
Aug 20, 2009
Messages
6,013
So, now that it is clear the US will soon be in a trade war with all of it's biggest traders, how do you think this will affect your country?

The feeling I get in the Netherlands is a big "meh, we'll import that stuff from somewhere else and retaliate" so there is not that much worry about imports.
Most of our export seems to be farming goods, so this will probably hit that sector harder as China and India grow different crops than the US.
 
I suspect that 'TROTW' really won't give a damn,after all, we all knew what trumpy poopy pants would do as soon as he got in, most countries have already been setting up alternate arrangments for the last three months...

I know the company I used to work for has been doing exactly that- literally the day he 'won', they started arranging for the few US made components to be sourced from elsewhere (mainly Japan, Taiwan and China), and all the US based staff were made aware they would best start looking for a new job, because they likely wouldn't be doing any further US based sales or repairs if he started doing the 'trade wars' crap again... (plus all assets etc in the US are ready to be liquidated at a moments notice now, as in literally a single phone call to 'sell everything')


The owners aren't willing to 'see whats going to happen', or 'give them a chance'- the US has used up all its goodwill, and we no longer care to pander to trumps insanity...

Really won't make that much difference to most of us, but the US??? well its gunna hurt them in the long run...

Congrads US/trump, you literally just ended any chance of being of any significance to most of the world...
 
I suspect in the USA a lot of things will cost more. But this isn't inflationary because it will bring back American jobs. Eventually. I'm sure. (sarcasm if not obvious)

The tariffs are the main reason I voted for Harris. After Trump won I hoped he'd use them to saber-rattle. No such luck apparently.
 
Trump's supporters in big business (including my former employer, Boeing) have been aggressively off-shoring for decades. Wal-Mart forces suppliers to move production to China. Wonder how they're liking him now?
 
Trebuchet said:
Trump's supporters in big business (including my former employer, Boeing) have been aggressively off-shoring for decades. Wal-Mart forces suppliers to move production to China. Wonder how they're liking him now?
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He who imposes tariffs can carve out exceptions to tariffs for his friends.
 
JayUtah said:
He who imposes tariffs can carve out exceptions to tariffs for his friends.
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Of course. But that will mean all the retaliatory tariffs will need to be "excepted" if he is not to offend any of his backers.

This is us.
Australia's largest exports to the US are financial services, gold, sheep/goat meat, transportations services and vaccines. US direct investment in Australia is more than in any other country in the Indo-Pacific.
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By "finance services" that means: Finance and insurance, royalties, telecommunications, research & development, professional & technical services, and tourism-related services.

I guess we can find other clients for all the above exports if the USA...sorry, Trump, decides they would rather be ultra-stupid and dick about with and repudiate a whole bunch of trade agreements already working. Which includes the same trade agreements as with Canada. We really think he thinks the US government works like his (shabby, shoddy, failing) businesses, and as president he can screw his "clients" however he likes.
 
I guess the US might have 'won' a trade war against Mexico. And even against Canada, though at a far greater cost.
But against the rest of the world?
There comes a point when people just stop trading with the US at all. Sure, it will cause some disruption, but so did Covid, and once new supply routes are in place that will vanish as well, and by now it's clear agreements with the US are not worth the paper they are written on.
 
Tariffs are supposed to be an instrument to shield your Industries against foreign competitors to allow them to get more competitive and reduce the dependency on global trade. They are an admissions that your economy is being left behind in comparison to other countries.
What Trump is doing is make things worse by allowing US companies to avoid any true reinventing and reorienting to what will be necessary to run a successful economy in the 21st century.
 
It might affect how I invest. Around now is when I would normally contribute my annual max to my Roth IRA. Trump seems hell bent on destroying the economy so I'm debating whether to even do it this year and whether I should lower my 401k contribution % from my paychecks to only what my employer matches.

Anyone else changing their normal investment strategy or considering doing so as a result of the current administration and the economic outlook?
 
The Great Zaganza said:
Tariffs are supposed to be an instrument to shield your Industries against foreign competitors to allow them to get more competitive and reduce the dependency on global trade. They are an admissions that your economy is being left behind in comparison to other countries.
What Trump is doing is make things worse by allowing US companies to avoid any true reinventing and reorienting to what will be necessary to run a successful economy in the 21st century.
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Looking at Detroit with an arched eyebrow, and at all the shuttered businesses in the USA, and the failing hospitality and tourist industries... In what way is totally leg-roping trade by imposing tariffs in any way a boon to rebuilding the US economy? Biden was trying his hardest to make it happen, with measurable success. Now, due almost solely to petty personal fits of pique from the Persimmon Prat, even that is to be reversed. So what on Earth does he think (if that is the right word) is going to happen to the USA? What is the ultimate goal here? Star-spangled glory like pre-Civil War days?
 
The_Animus said:
It might affect how I invest. Around now is when I would normally contribute my annual max to my Roth IRA. Trump seems hell bent on destroying the economy so I'm debating whether to even do it this year and whether I should lower my 401k contribution % from my paychecks to only what my employer matches.

Anyone else changing their normal investment strategy or considering doing so as a result of the current administration and the economic outlook?
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Might be worth starting a thread in the Economics and Business subforum.
 
Norman Alexander said:
Looking at Detroit with an arched eyebrow, and at all the shuttered businesses in the USA, and the failing hospitality and tourist industries... In what way is totally leg-roping trade by imposing tariffs in any way a boon to rebuilding the US economy? Biden was trying his hardest to make it happen, with measurable success. Now, due almost solely to petty personal fits of pique from the Persimmon Prat, even that is to be reversed. So what on Earth does he think (if that is the right word) is going to happen to the USA? What is the ultimate goal here? Star-spangled glory like pre-Civil War days?
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All the money flowing into the US from the tariffs (I honestly think he believes that the foreign governments pay them) will mean the US will be awash with cash. The gilded class will accumulate more and more wealth and there will be ghettoes of extreme wealth. These are all that Trump will see and he doesn't give a stuff about the little people.
 
The Don said:
All the money flowing into the US from the tariffs (I honestly think he believes that the foreign governments pay them) will mean the US will be awash with cash. The gilded class will accumulate more and more wealth and there will be ghettoes of extreme wealth. These are all that Trump will see and he doesn't give a stuff about the little people.
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Yep. So there's this.

 
Well, Trump now says he's willing to meet Canada and Mexico in the middle.
I guess that's doublespeak for 'I take a little and you give a little.'
 
I don't know if anyone else has realized it, but Trump WANTS the economy to fail. It is a gift to the oligarchs, who can buy up everything when all the businesses, property, land and stocks after the values tank. Recessions and depressions are money-makers to the billionaire class.
 
This is so good for Europe's relations with Canada, Mexico, and South America, and really everywhere except the States. Thanks, USA, you did us a solid. Dude! (y)

Now all we have to do is replace your entertainment industry, particularly militarized cop shows, syndicated "news", and imperial/colonial war movies.

Just imagine, fresh air, new horizons, a better future!
 
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As with pretty much all issues Republicans decided to be concerned about, the Trade Deficit is something they want to complain about, but never fix.
It's not bad trade deals or unfair competition or de-industrialization that are the problem - they are the symptom, not the cause.

The issue is the singular role of the Dollar in the world economy - it causes exporters to the US hold onto US assets like T-bonds instead of buying US goods to get rid of Dollars again.
Insisting that commodities be traded in dollars was a power move in the Cold War, and an insurance after the Oil Shock, but those times have passed, with the US itself being the biggest producer of oil and gas.

Letting countries trade in whatever currencies they want would very quickly eliminate the trade deficit and boost US exports due to a relative declining dollar value.
 
Not necessarily everyone else...Modi is definitely willing to take anything Trump will throw at him. They have been trying to woo Musk and TESLA by reducing import tax on EVs from 70% to 15%. I think with Modi it will be a quid pro quo. Accept very skewed trade deals in return for quashing US indictments against his crony Adani.
 
So, in the usual insecure bully style Trump (and the tame congress/house) are going to put even MORE tariffs on goods if a country does not bend over and takes it, but retaliates with counter tariffs as everyone with a single brain cell predicted.
Again, the US can win a trade war against most countries. But against all countries? (except Russia and it's pets?)
 
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