Sounds good.

Tough love is the way to keep your allies on the straight and narrow.

The world needs to stand firm against this fascist. Like the President of Colombia, who bravely countered Trump's tariffs with his own (enjoy paying double for your coffee, MAGAs). If you want a smile, read his passionate letter denouncing the orange idiot.

Errr, I think you'll find the Colombian president folded like a cheap deckchair.

Winning.

You need to stop watching Fox and switch to a neutral network like CNN or MSNBC if you think he did anything other than the morally right thing.

You mean by refusing US deportation flights and showing the moral backbone to send his own 'planes to collect his citizens with dignity instead of humiliation?

Yeah, big win right there for Colombia who have a president that stands up for his own citizen's dignity and faced off against a man who wears diapers and won't even own the fact that he's bald and needs coating with woodstain to look vaguely alive.

He rejected the planes because they transported Colombian citizens in handcuffs, Trump put tariffs on Colombian imports, Colombia ordered reciprocal tariffs, and then once the US changed its plans so they were transported with a minimum of dignity, both sides withdrew tariffs.

If a foreign country expels citizens there's little you can do apart from take them in but you can ensure they're treated like human beings.

I'd like to be able to say "See you in four years" and just go to sleep and stop hearing about this clown.

There's no real guarantee there'll be anything left in four years.

"There's no real guarantee there'll be anything left in four years."

China will be there, no doubt. But will there still be a United States in America?

I am not so sure.

I can’t argue with the principle of increasing self-sufficiency and supporting multiple suppliers for essential products/services. Would be good for Europe too.

If tariffs are the right means to reach that end, no idea. That’s where the popcorn comes in handy.

As I am fond of pointing out, Adam Smith advocated tariffs in two cases—as bargaining chips in trade disputes, and for national security (i.e. the British Empire's shipbuilding industry).

Autarchy (posh name for economic self sufficiency) was a big thing with past generations of fascists. And before some plonker mentions Godwin, check the parallels between Trump and previous fascists. Trump's talking about expansionist policies such as incorporating Greenland into the US, by force if necessary.

All wealth comes from trade. More trade mean more wealth. Autarkies are the poorest societies on earth.

It is still unclear to me whether or not the Greatest Sanest Genius in history actually believes tariffs are a tax on foreign trading partners or not. But he acts like he does believe it.

Americans might get an unwelcome lesson in basic economics the coming years.

One of the issues with this kind of trade policy is that importers have no idea what it will cost them on any given date in the future to get goods across the border. Uncertainty kills. One day Colombia is getting 50% tariffs 'cause they pissed somebody off, the next day it isn't. God knows what the tariff structure will be like in 6 months.

This happened to us, here in Canada. We ordered a new sofa that was made in Mexico, but when it got to the border, the Canadian government introduced a massive "emergency" duty on them. IIRC a complaint came from some Canadian producers that some of the leather came from China and that it was undercutting them unfairly. OK, well fair comment. But we'd already paid for it and now we couldn't get it into the country. Also, bear in mind the fact that very few people here can afford a Canadian made sofa costing upwards of $5-6K. So no lost sales at all.

What really bit was that our sofa was actually at the border but couldn't make the last few kms to our house. Quite a few people got stung by that.

Somebody might want to remind the orange prick about the last time that sort of protectionist nonsense was tried, and how it helped to royally screw up their own economy...

[1]Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act (Wikipedia)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot%E2%80%93Hawley_Tariff_Act

I don't think the Great Depression (which hit Europe just as hard, BTW) is a relevant example.

Oh, it's not? Why the fuck not? We (the US) are literally recreating the exact same environment that existed a century ago. We have a useless, corrupt fuckwit Republican president who was elected entirely because of populist appeal and who lacks any sort of skill to govern. We have a huge economic bubble floating on the back of debt, along with excessively powerful oligarchs (this time based on software rather than oil), and we're implementing policies which caused the Depression last time around. And let us not forget the Oklahoma dustbowl, for which we have an analogous condition in global warming and climate change. The only thing that appears to be different is that the Republicans are actively working to destroy the country rather than doing it incidentally.

I don't think the Great Depression (which hit Europe just as hard, BTW) is a relevant example

Yes it is, because its primary cause was a worldwide tariff war. Trump threatens the same.

It would almost be worth the US entering a depression to wake republican congressmen up how awful Trump is. If the economy takes a big enough nose dive their fear of losing for supporting the one who got us there will outweigh their fear of Trump making mean tweets about them and primarying them.

It takes a bit of time to set up import substitution. You have to

1) Licence IP

2) Build facilities

3) Train employees in the techniques

What do US people here think the impact during the lead time (decade?) might be of higher priced components in electronic products and pharmaceuticals?

[ I'm all for moving away from neo-liberalism, but hitting an existing manufacturing supply chain with a heaviside step function miltiplied bu the height of a skyscraper might result in some initial er - instability perhaps? ]

Icon: local breweries.

Upvoted for Heaviside step function mention :)

You forgot that those engineering electronic and digital marvels are developed to a large extent by knowledge migrant students and scientists as American students prefer law or medical careers over STEM careers as they earn them more.

And those migrant workers are supposed to be kicked out.

It is not that the current administration has any plans to educate more Americans better to take up the required job

So who are the people who can build and work those high tech facilities that should replace the imports?

The nice thing about tariffs is that they can be wielded at will and great fanfare, but also be withdrawn in silence when they hurt yourself.

It is not that the Greatest Sanest Genius in history has to follow up on any policies he initiates on Xitter.

...sounds like a plan to kill the economy.

I gave no idea why these countries are worried.

The USA has no choice but to buy these parts, so fuck em. Why not make it 1000%, or even a million.

Yes, but given the tariffs the shipments need to traced very, very carefully, so add a few months to the delivery time for tagging, processing, handling and, given that the US still tries to sell as backwards (kinda hard now they tanked the whole US AI nonsense), all of that needs to be done on paper becayse automation is too risky with all these foreign computers.

Also known as death by compliance.

The fucking Republicans, utter useless and corrupt gobshites that they are, want to move manufacturing back onshore but the ALSO are going to entirely dismantle the public education system in America, making it even worse than it already is, AND they want to block immigration, ensuring that offshore technical talent won't want to come to the US. With no local skilled workforce and no way of attaining one, the only conceivable short-term outcome is massive economic collapse.

If there are any of the aforementioned useless, corrupt gobshites reading this post, I invite a critique of it based on facts and merit, i.e. explain to me how these policies will help America rather than hurt it without using jingoistic phrases or the words "socialism" or "woke." I won't hold my breath because you are, one and all, stupid and shortsighted. Go on, prove me wrong, you empty-headed, thick-witted, addle-pated poltroons.

Oh, I'm sorry. Am I calling you names ? Am I hurting your little feelings ? Get the fuck over it, you fucking snowflake. Or go crawling on your knees to Big Daddy Trump and suckle on his tiny, misshapen mushroom in the vain hopes that he'll personally intervene and rescue you from the bad man on the Internet who stirred uncomfortable feelings in what little of your soul still exists.

Or you can just click on the "Report Abuse" button, but make sure to revel in your rank hypocrisy having done so after all the hand-wringing about "censorship" on this and other platforms. "One rule for me and one for thee," after all.

> going to entirely dismantle the public education system in America

Thank Ryan Walters. I saw a video of home marvelling at how great education in Oklahoma is. He neglected to mention it is about 5th from the bottom in national rankings. Keep 'em stupid.

He's edumucating them to believe it's the best.

The Republicans realized early on (half a century ago) that educated people don't vote Republican.[1] Also, educated people demand higher wages or even salaries.

So the Republicans started this war against higher education, or all education.

And now they won.

[1] See the example of Oklahoma that does reliably vote Republican.

Now tell us how you really feel :).

It's a gun nation, so it's perfectly legal [1]to shoot yourself in the foot. Twice.

And reload.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j0FlIn8kt0

Excellent. Sounds like there will be some surplus stock available for The Rest of the World(TM) to buy up.

This is particularly concerning because if Trump does move forward with an import tax on foreign semiconductors, US consumers could be hit by a double whammy as a large quantity of electronics assembled in China also contain foreign-made semiconductors.

It's only a concern if you live in the US. For other countries it sounds very much like an opportunity.

I predict that all the big US chip consumers will move their consumption abroad, by building datacentres in a business-friendly country like Ireland. Services can be provided from anywhere, as we know.

- No tariffs on chips, check.

- Secure access to the European market, check.

- Low taxes, check.

- No living on tenterhooks waiting for the next wobbly from El Trumpo, check, mate.

Tariffs always hurt the citizens of the country that levies them. Other countries can sell overstock to the rest of us, hopefully a bit cheaper. Just pivot away from the US for Trump's term.

We've just lost a large order for a US company that was looking to buy our parts, one big reason was the cost uncertainty due to potential tariffs from UK.

So we'll done Donald.

However a day later we won a much bigger contract from another company in Europe that is dropping its US supplier, due to, get this, the risk of retaliatory tariffs.

So, well done there???

You see, one this businesses hate is uncertainty. And that's all he is doing

BTW Donald. How are the price of eggs doing?

What's that? Prices up 22% since you came into power?

Wonder why.

TSMC started doing the USA's bidding vis-a-vis China. Now it gets shanked in the back.

The world needs to get it into its head: when the USA says it is number one, everyone else is at the bottom of the heap. Yet still the idiots keep sucking up to the USA. It's probably due to all the spying that America does around the world - it knows the peccadillos and indiscretions of the politicians. BUY AMERICAN GAS OR IT WILL BE MADE PUBLIC. Yes, Oh Master. How far do you wish to shaft us?

Trump is simultaneously threatening to impose tariffs on Denmark if they don't sell Greenland to the USA (residents' opinions on the matter be damned). This gives Denmark enormous leverage to hit Trump back by imposing an export ban on ASML's photolithography equipment to the USA. Still let them sell to Intel, Nvidia, etc - but only at their fabs outside the USA.

How can Denmark impose an export ban on a Dutch company's products to the US?

Danish and Dutch alliterate?

:)

If the US doesn't have the capacity or facilities to make semiconductors in the quantities that American companies need then they have no choice but to import them, pay the tariffs and then pass those costs onto the end user. As its not like you can just magic up US semiconductor fabs overnight because Trump says that from this date hes imposing tariffs.

So all those that voted for Trump because they thought prices were too high under Biden and Trump promised to lower them, will have a shock when their next TV, Laptop, Phone etc is suddenly 25%+ more expensive than it was a year ago.

I'm waiting for the 100% tariffs on cell phones.

Come in packages and I am sure this is the only chip packaging The Unstable Genius is aware of.

Making chips (aka wafers) is one thing but what about the packaging.

So you have two insurmountable issues: building fab plants and building packaging plants.

But we all know he knows more about semi-conductors than anyone else so as many have pointed out all of this onshore capability wont happen overnight (or for years)

And while it cant happen it would be interesting to think that if it did, the EU could prohibit ASML from maintaining the US facilities as a retaliatory move soon after they go online... rendering them dead in the water.

Or given ASML can only make so many systems per year and they are back ordered, the US can wait their turn in the queue. Existing and long standing customers take priority.

I do wish that country blocks (say all South American countries) had adopted an "all for one, one for all" strategy prior to 20 Jan. Its easy for the Bully Arsehole to pick on smaller countries with regard to tariffs but if they worked together and enacted a collective tariff response when an individual country was threatened then the pressure goes back on the Fascist Pig.

Bluck

I'm totally shocked.

[quote] The incentive is going to be they're not going to want to pay [/quote]

err, I thought that 'THEY' don't pay the tariffs, the US customer, in this instance, would