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Sri Lankan here. They just slapped 44% on us (higher than on China). The country is just trying to recover from the economic crisis and the sovereign debt defau
by hliyan 2y ago
Sri Lankan here. They just slapped 44% on us (higher than on China). The country is just trying to recover from the economic crisis and the sovereign debt default of 2022, so we have very high import duties on certain items (e.g. vehicles) to discourage dollar outflow. Looks like the US just saw that as hostile and decided to strike back.
- re-thc 2y ago> They just slapped 44% on us (higher than on China). Not true, China's is on top of its existing tariffs.
- Danmctree 2y agoThe numbers appear to be based on the trade deficit alone, not on any differences in import duties etc.
- matt-p 2y agoYou're right I think it's MAX(10%,(imports-exports)/imports) as a general tariff plus targeted reciprocal (in some cases, not all)
- throwaway2037 2y agoThat is correct. It was empircally proven here: https://www.ft.com/content/c4f9c7f6-0753-4458-840e-bcde1b74ae7e https://www.ft.com/content/c4f9c7f6-0753-4458-840e-bcde1b74a... To quote Alex Scaggs of FT: Take the US’s goods trade deficit with any particular country, and divide it by the total amount of goods imported from that country. Cut that percentage in half, and there’s the US’s “reciprocal” tariff rate. All countries tested against this theory are correct within 1-2 percent.
- credit_guy 2y agoThis is interesting. I don't know the details of Trump's tariff policy, but if this is correct, it would follow that the policy should have some mechanism to reduce the tariffs as the trade imbalance is reduced.
- brookst 2y agoNot sure why? It’s an irrational policy not based on any kind of sense. I don’t think I’d expect it to be logically consistent. Besides, what do you do with a country where US is a net exporter? Provide subsidies for imports? It’s all drunk monkeys driving a train… there is no economic theory to expect consistency from.
- libertine 2y agoUnless they think that because it came out of an Excel formula, there's a logic behind it - and honestly, I wouldn't be shocked if these folks have that insight. > Besides, what do you do with a country where US is a net exporter? Provide subsidies for imports? In this instance, I believe the thought pattern is: "we're being smart here".
- jkestner 2y agoThey’re even adding Greek letters, very intelligent. https://x.com/Brendan_Duke/status/1907741651172311353 https://x.com/Brendan_Duke/status/1907741651172311353
- libertine 2y agoI'll be damned, I had no idea and I still got it right. Once people accept that this administration is very much like the Russian regime, where everyone is the type of person playing to an aesthetic, you see this stuff coming miles away. This is what these sorts of people would do.
- rayiner 2y ago
- blacklion 2y agoIt does nothing with "hostile". For China, yes, but for most other countries tariff is simply ($USA-import - $USA-export)/$USA-import. That simply, numbers are check for many many countries. I'm sure, USA imports a lot of tea from Sri Lanka and some fruits and wood/furniture. (Freshly made Sri Lankian tea is the best, IMHO! I mean, proper tea, not all these grasses, berries and synthetic aromas which are named "tea" in modern western world).
- JKCalhoun 2y agoI would have assumed it was Sri Lankan textiles that were a major cause of the tariffs.
- mycatisblack 2y agoAny recommendations for tea brands/products?
- blacklion 2y agoUnfortunately, no, as I've changed country of living year ago and still can not find way to good tea in new place. Also, I'm not sure, that recommendations from Europe is actual for you even if I have one. But really best "black" tea of my life (and I spent most of my life in country with strong tea culture, where loose tea and teapots are still very popular, and not, it is not UK!) was bough at random tea factory in the middle of nowhere in Sri Lanka, packed in simple 1kg vacuum bags. No brand, no name, only date of picking (two days ago) and packing (today at the day of bought) :-)
- griffzhowl 2y agoAhmad Ceylon Tea is a good strong black tea. They mainly trade in Middle Eastern markets I think so check Arab/Indian grocery shops
- hliyan 2y agoAs a local, the brand called Dilmah is just a regular supermarket brand for us, but I hear it's quite popular in places like Australia and New Zealand.
- bandrami 2y ago(waves from across Lake Beira) It's mind-boggling because the US has been trying very very hard to pull Sri Lanka away from China for a decade now
- testplzignore 2y agoI would be surprised if the current US administration even knows where Sri Lanka is, let alone our pre-Trump foreign policy with them.