I hear some countries have dropped tariffs or come to negotiate with Trump already so some see it as a success already. Then there are those considering retaliatory tariffs because tariffs are bad (takes a few more mental gymnastics). I hope the UK has more sense than to join in this foot shooting contest but I doubt it.

Its not like the EU imposes high import duty on anything.. oh wait!

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly20n4d0g9o

It really is time for the EU to stop pretending they are a global superpower and do something useful for once. The whole 'forcing' Apple to adopt USB-C when Apple had already started moving its products to that standard anyway and then we have the utterly awful attached lid on bottles.

"It really is time for the EU to stop pretending they are a global superpower and do something useful for once."

You mean, like, protecting consumers and their population in general from bad and harmful products and hidden costs?

That would certainly be unfair towards countries that don't care about the health and well-being of Europeans.

I am so grateful that they are protecting me from dropping the lid of my drink bottle. It was such a worry before and caused me the many anxieties.

I am grateful the parks, gardens, and roadside are a little less littered with plastic waste.

I don't mind if that requires some more work for you.

Some people think they need to share all their refuse with the world. It is good to do something against that.

It doesn't solve the entire bottles being dropped. Or the entire contents of McD's bags being dumped by the side of the road. It is a performative gesture like banning plastic straws and replacing them with non-recyclable waxed paper.

I saw the most amazing claim last week that the ban on junk food advertising on the London Underground had prevented 100,000 cases of obesity. The entire basis of the study boiled down to people who take public transport eat on average 1000 calories less per week. So essentially saying people who drive everywhere get fat and people who walk a lot don't.

"It doesn't solve the entire bottles being dropped."

Plastic bottles have deposit. You get money back when you hand empty bottles in. That does work.

The downside is that there are people who search all litter boxes to find deposit bottles. That does occasionally give a mess.

"So essentially saying people who drive everywhere get fat and people who walk a lot don't."

And that strikes you as odd? Maybe people who have to walk a lot have less time to eat snacks?

But there are other possible explanations.

I'd suggest re-reading the post. The claim was the junk food advertising ban was the root cause for the lack of fatty fatness. The reality was actually people walking vs people driving.

Its a bit like the AI 'breakthrough' in the USofA a few years ago that could determine if a streetview image was in a republican or democrat majority area. It was actually just looking for pickup trucks.

I'm grad I'm protected by the GDPR!!!

Please remove your head from you ass before posting

That link is literally a link to a retaliatory tariff. i.e. a tariff retaliating to someone subsidising the ability to undercut into your markets. So what-about-is your point?

The EU subsidises its own industries, especially the car industry. The decision to hike import tariffs on Chinese EVs is protectionism.

"The decision to hike import tariffs on Chinese EVs is protectionism."

Indeed, but I do not think many people will argue [1] that China is an open market without competition distorting subsidies or taxing by the Chinese government.

With subsidies, it is pot vs kettle, whether it is EU, USA, or China.

[1] Unless they are paid to do so.

Explain to me like I'm 5....what's wrong with a country or trading block protecting its own workers and populations from the shite that China dumps onto African countries that can't protect themselves from this kind of fuckwittery. As to the American tech firms...you're talking about firms like Metà...a company where one major leader said that "child abuse, genocide fraud & fake news is a price worth paying for growth ". Or Amazon, a company that used its VC funding to drive local businesses bankrupt.

I personally LOVE the fact that we don't have the kind of high fructose corn syrup or chemicals in our food that the Americans have. That I have consumer protections of me personal data & that I can charge airlines for screwing up.

"...to negotiate with Trump already so some see it as a success...".

The majority would have negotiated anyway, or were already negotiating, there was absolutely no need for Trump to impose tariffs in this way.

He did it solely to get himself in the spotlight, and at the expense of investors, business and jobs everywhere, including the USA, the only 'success' was to Trump's ego and the suckers who believe him.

"He did it solely to get himself in the spotlight"

He and his court also want to devalue the dollar.

Also, he has a special hatred for the EU as they rather hang together than be hanged separately. Something the Orange utan hates with a vengeance.

Since Trump has [1]just openly admitted he doesn't know what a trade deficit is , it seems that the US is playing this foot-shooting contest with a bazooka, has fired the first shot, and has won by default.

[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/04/wall-street-trump-tariffs/682304/#main-content

From the link:

"In fact, that’s exactly how a White House official explained the reasoning: “The model they used is based on the concept that the trade deficit that we have with any given country is the sum of all the unfair trade practices, the sum of all cheating.”"

This is true. It is also fairly easy to translate these American phrases into the language of the foreigners:

Foreign people are too poor to buy expensive American products because of the sum of all the unfair trade practices and cheating by the Americansto make and keep them poor.

“The model they used is based on the concept that the trade deficit that we have with any given country is the sum of all the unfair trade practices, the sum of all cheating.”

A profound delusion of the Tangerine Toddler that the balance of demand (surplus/deficit) has something to do with corruption.

Every allegation is a confession. He's confessing that he would exploit customers whenever possible. Despicable as ever..

"He's confessing that he would exploit customers whenever possible."

The Orange utan has done so, and done so repeatedly. And not just customers, but also employees, investors, suppliers, allies, siblings, wives, his children.

Actually, he has exploited and deceived everyone he has ever been able to do so.

@Dan 55

"Since Trump has just openly admitted he doesn't know what a trade deficit is, it seems that the US is playing this foot-shooting contest with a bazooka, has fired the first shot, and has won by default."

And now we see how many think Trump did something so massively stupid they decide to do it to themselves in retaliation!

Trump doesn't think he's doing something massively stupid because he's doing it again just now and is threatening 50% more on Chinese imports on top of what was previously announced. Perhaps he'll blow his head off with his bazooka, Trumponomics will die, and the rest of us can finally relax.

You really cant stop defending trump can you?

@Casca

"You really cant stop defending trump can you?"

If that is your interpretation of my comment I can only hope you didnt read it in the first place. Otherwise what the hell are you talking about? At no point did I defend him

I hope the UK has more sense than to join in this foot shooting contest but I doubt it.

It is a bit disconcerting that Starmer is running around like a headless chicken, proclaiming "globalisation has failed" when it hasn't, and it can still continue - just without America.

Many are already looking to mitigate Trump's insanity, are envisioning a world where America is treated as a basket case while the rest of the world continues just the same as it has for more than a century.

Even as Trump rages at the world, insults everyone, labels them enemies, says he's going to punish them, or invade them, China is already putting up banners advertising themselves as the friendly and welcoming alternative, the best choice for anyone who wants to switch their relationship.

Having burned our bridges with the EU and China the UK is more fucked than most, has fewer options. For us recession and long term decline is far more likely. Others should be more able to adjust and survive, carry on as they always have.

The world allowed itself to become too dependent on America, got fooled into believing America could be trusted, but this is no worse than a favoured supermarket charging an entrance fee and putting its prices up. You simply go somewhere else. Move on, suck it up. It doesn't take long to forget they ever existed, only remembered for being the cunts they turned out to be.

All it needs is to recognise that no one needs America, that the world is a far bigger place than the US.

This is America's brexit and they will find the world needs them less than they need the world. The EU hardly noticed our departure and there's no reason the world should notice America's departure either. Of course there's going to be some short term pain in that readjustment period, but it will be worth it.

@Jason Bloomberg

"It is a bit disconcerting that Starmer is running around like a headless chicken, proclaiming "globalisation has failed" when it hasn't, and it can still continue - just without America."

I cant say I have found many politicians with a clue for a while and will probably try retaliating.

"Having burned our bridges with the EU and China the UK is more fucked than most, has fewer options. For us recession and long term decline is far more likely."

This is about the only point I really disagree. I am pro leaving the EU (I am sure you know) and dont see it as a downside. Considering the EU wants to retaliate I see leave as a good thing and its our govs fault if they are stupid enough to put tariffs on things. Hopefully they will reduce them.

"and it can still continue - just without America."

Except that America is the centre of globalism. We've already established that the EU can't do much better than rampant protectionism and stupid performative actions like tethered bottle caps.

> Then there are those considering retaliatory tariffs because tariffs are bad (takes a few more mental gymnastics)

I'm curious: what would you propose?

The USA raising tariffs means that both the volume and value of your exports to them will drop. In addition, while it's arguably a form of cannibalisation, the US government will be able to take the revenue from the tariffs and use it to both subsidise their export industries and spin up domestic production[*].

Countering by raising tariffs on US exports re-levels the playing ground to some degree; everyone's still worse off as a result, but at least the US government isn't getting to both have it's cake and eat it.

[*] Admittedly, whether the current US government would actually do this is up for debate...

"The fact that Microsoft primarily sells software and services rather than hardware did not shield it from losing $165 billion in market value last week."

Windows is bundled with H/W so tariffs on H/W are also on the bundled S/W and the latter is also the mechanism for signing up more punters to Microsoft services. Like any other US business it's also going to cost them on the imports they need to build all those data centres. Maybe the back-pedalling on data centre leases wasn't just lack of confidence in AI, it was also anticipation that they were going to cost more to build.

"I hope the UK has more sense than to join in this foot shooting contest but I doubt it." - Mr junky

Who started this "foot shooting contest"? Donny dumb dumb? We'll see how it turns out. Crashing the world economy, an excellent feather in your cap as US president :-) - and in such a short time after coming to power!

(Still not down voting anyone.)

I honestly believe you are correct. I think the Orange one just wants to go down in history as the biggest fuckup ever to run a country.

"I think the Orange one just wants to go down in history as the biggest fuckup ever to run a country."

He might even win that pageant! [1]Although there really is tough competition .

[1] https://gosocial.co/these-are-the-dumbest-rulers-in-history-according-to-experts/

Never going to beat Brexit, Cameron’s gamble.

Retaliatory tariffs might not make sense in the strictest economic sense, but here we are dealing with political and ego-based decisions in the first place and then punching the bully back does make sense, more so if you can target products & services that cause greater political blow-back compared to the impact on your own economy. Musk's businesses (Tesla, Starlink, etc) are an obvious target given his combination of closeness to the Trump administration and notoriously thin skin.

Not so sure. Because the Orange Felon is both stupid and a bully, he'll likely react to raised tariffs on US goods with additional tariffs against anybody imposing them. Surely better to do nothing, take the pain on EU exports, and let the US enjoy the fruits of their electoral labours.

Having said, that, he's given Europe the golden opportunity to implement harder anti-avoidance rules on tax, a tax on digital services, and a prohibition on AI trained on the content of EU creators without their explicit permission.

No point targeting Tesla, as Elon has screwed that up pretty comprehensively himself. Perhaps mandate that all EU registered Teslas must carry an "I love Elon" sticker.

So far he's flip flopped on tariffs when challenged thus adding inconsistency to his feature set. Obviously the market reaction has been even worse than tariffs alone. $5 Tn is of federal deficit proportions,so maybe that's the point..

In other words, I wouldn't give a shit if it was just other people getting hurt, but this is affecting ME!

There was a time for all these rich guys who are now moaning to publicly criticise the tariffs, and it was before the election when he was proposing them, not after the election when he's implementing them.

Well the EU. A (and the UK) have been dragging their tentacles over taxing the likes of Googlies and Amazon and MS etc etc for years now

Imposing tariffs on them might go some way to getting some money out of them. Obviously, most of that extra money will come from the locals because it’s unlikely the tech companies will lower their prices to any noticeable extent to compensate