4 ms·

I'm not American and I'm not politically involved on US politics, but I'm curious whether there's a solid rationale behind Trump's tariffs. My gut feeling tells

by mtrovo 2y ago

I'm not American and I'm not politically involved on US politics, but I'm curious whether there's a solid rationale behind Trump's tariffs. My gut feeling tells me it might make sense if there’s a plan to onshore a strategic industry or keep a non-aligned country out of US domestic market. However, is there an economic justification for applying a blanket tariff on allies, or is this primarily driven by nationalist sentiment? With unemployment that low the only thing I can think of is that this might generate a lot of pressure on inflation.

Tadpole9181 2y ago
Many of these industries would take a decade or more to get running or remotely competitive. But he's also killing all sorts of motivators for domestic manufacturing, infrastructure, and research. And his irrational behavior and frantic changes are discouraging to investors. Some of these industries, such as aluminum, are genuinely unfeasible in the US due to the facts of geology and geography. Some are not feasible due to labor costs. The reality is that Trump doesn't understand economy and just latches onto random concepts. In his prior administration, career professionals could reign this in, but since then he has become increasingly paranoid and angry toward "others". The only requirement for his cabinet and civil servants is now loyalty to him, opposition will not be tolerated (see USAID employees being fired for - required by law - refusing access to confidential information to unauthorized SpaceX employees). So, yes, this is just nationalist garbage. If you wanted to take it to a conspiracy, though, one could argue this plays into the recent tech billionaire reports that there is a coordinated plan to burn the US economy so they can buy and rule over the cities they build on its ashes.

4 ms·

I'm not American and I'm not politically involved on US politics, but I'm curious whether there's a solid rationale behind Trump's tariffs. My gut feeling tells

by mtrovo 2y ago

Tadpole9181 2y ago
Many of these industries would take a decade or more to get running or remotely competitive. But he's also killing all sorts of motivators for domestic manufacturing, infrastructure, and research. And his irrational behavior and frantic changes are discouraging to investors. Some of these industries, such as aluminum, are genuinely unfeasible in the US due to the facts of geology and geography. Some are not feasible due to labor costs. The reality is that Trump doesn't understand economy and just latches onto random concepts. In his prior administration, career professionals could reign this in, but since then he has become increasingly paranoid and angry toward "others". The only requirement for his cabinet and civil servants is now loyalty to him, opposition will not be tolerated (see USAID employees being fired for - required by law - refusing access to confidential information to unauthorized SpaceX employees). So, yes, this is just nationalist garbage. If you wanted to take it to a conspiracy, though, one could argue this plays into the recent tech billionaire reports that there is a coordinated plan to burn the US economy so they can buy and rule over the cities they build on its ashes.