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Absolutely. Large scale tarifs are bad for everybody. US could win a trade war against any single country. But Trump and his cronies thought they can win a tra

Absolutely. Large scale tarifs are bad for everybody. US could win a trade war against any single country. But Trump and his cronies thought they can win a trade war against the world war, or at least use it as a threat. China did not blink. Now EU will 100% follow that and slap retaliatory tariffs on US and Trump will have to make a choice: to cave or to send US economy into the abyss. Given the man's ego, I would rather bet on the second option. As to your question, the rest of the world doesn't need to do anything - in reality tariffs are already mostly low (not even remotely close to what Trump showed). Everybody will be hurt, but US will be hurt MUCH more than any single other country. For some reason US thinks it's the only game in town, but it's not. This isn't 1945... EU economy is on par with US. China's too. Trump tries to bully everybody, but results are pretty poor so far. The drama in the White House with Zelensky seems ages ago, but what was the result ? Zelensky stand there with his head held high, and despite the show, in the following weeks US restored the aid to Ukraine, without them agreeing to anything at all. Trump thinks he can project strentgh, but so far it's pretty much the opposite.

jjgreen 2y ago
Spot on with EU following China's lead; so now the rest of the world is seeing China as a leader ... not quite what was intended?
- energy123 2y ago
  Vietnam and Cambodia moving even more into China's influence is one outcome, undermining the China containment strategy that many conservatives say they want.
  - Yeul 2y ago
    What was even the goal here? Does anyone in the US want to work in a sweatshop making Nikes?
    - ZeroGravitas 2y ago
      Trump repeatedly says that a trade deficit is a subsidy that America is paying the country. No one really understands why he'd say that. And no one has succeeded in talking him out of it. So we're now seeing global trade policy collapse based on this weird invention of his.
    - busyant 2y ago
      > What was even the goal here? Like many of us*, Trump has one tool in his chest. For Trump, that tool is extortion. Extortion has worked for him a lot, so why not apply that to all facets of his life? I don't like the fact that I'm glibly summarizing someone like that, but I think it's pretty close to the truth. When your one tool is a hammer (extortion), you think everyone else is a nail. See, for example ... - Columbia University, etc. - Law firms that investigated him - every single country that just got hit with tariffs. * I think many of us have our own "one tool" that we like. Extortion, however, is a malevolent tool.
- rsynnott 2y ago
  The EU is likely to be more measured, and start with tariffs aimed at Trump-supporting regions. It would be slightly surprising if it jumps straight to blanket tariffs (though it may if it's believed that the shock-and-awe approach will cause Trump to back down).

jjgreen 2y ago

Spot on with EU following China's lead; so now the rest of the world is seeing China as a leader ... not quite what was intended?

energy123 2y ago
Vietnam and Cambodia moving even more into China's influence is one outcome, undermining the China containment strategy that many conservatives say they want.
- Yeul 2y ago
  What was even the goal here? Does anyone in the US want to work in a sweatshop making Nikes?
  - ZeroGravitas 2y ago
    Trump repeatedly says that a trade deficit is a subsidy that America is paying the country. No one really understands why he'd say that. And no one has succeeded in talking him out of it. So we're now seeing global trade policy collapse based on this weird invention of his.
  - busyant 2y ago
    > What was even the goal here? Like many of us*, Trump has one tool in his chest. For Trump, that tool is extortion. Extortion has worked for him a lot, so why not apply that to all facets of his life? I don't like the fact that I'm glibly summarizing someone like that, but I think it's pretty close to the truth. When your one tool is a hammer (extortion), you think everyone else is a nail. See, for example ... - Columbia University, etc. - Law firms that investigated him - every single country that just got hit with tariffs. * I think many of us have our own "one tool" that we like. Extortion, however, is a malevolent tool.
rsynnott 2y ago
The EU is likely to be more measured, and start with tariffs aimed at Trump-supporting regions. It would be slightly surprising if it jumps straight to blanket tariffs (though it may if it's believed that the shock-and-awe approach will cause Trump to back down).