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Maybe Trump is just doing what's good for America and he's strategy is exactly being unpredictable and chaotic. This is stressful for others and they make polit

Maybe Trump is just doing what's good for America and he's strategy is exactly being unpredictable and chaotic. This is stressful for others and they make political concessions to please him in exchange for a period of stability. EU for example bulged for exactly this reason and accepted 15% one-way tariff for access to US market. Before the deal the uncertainty about the level of coming tariffs was deemed worse for European companies trading to US than the negotiated tariff itself. European political leaders including the head of NATO have also practically turned to giving rimjobs to Trump's ass wishing he would not throw tantrums at them in important meetings: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c17wejpw79qo https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c17wejpw79qo Ultimately this all just strengthens US hegemony and makes other countries weaker, which is the explicitly stated goal he keeps repeating..

IAmBroom 1y ago
You make the preposterous claim that "what's good for America" is increasing its hegemony at the cost of other nations. What's good for America is protecting her people's liberties and increasing their satisfaction in life. The first is clearly going downhill; Trump's plummeting popularity amongst his followers suggests the second is, as well.
duxup 1y ago
> Maybe Trump is just doing what's good for America and he's strategy is exactly being unpredictable and chaotic. I haven’t seen an explanation of how this works as far as the current tariff methodology goes.
stouset 1y ago
The amount of mental gymnastics y’all seem to constantly have to do to try and find some way to make sense of the inherently nonsensical looks exhausting.
philistine 1y ago
What do you make of the bold faced lie that the external country is paying the tariffs that Trump is putting in place? Part of the same desire for maximum chaos? When does chaos stop?
- XajniN 1y ago
  It's not a bold faced lie, it's a relative truth. An importer needs to pay the tariff upfront, before pushing the increased price to the final consumer. This has an immediate effect on the exporter.
pschastain 1y ago
Or maybe Trump is a sociopath felon with a penchant for young girls who is acting solely in his own self-interest Given his history of failed businesses and association with a known pedophile, what seems more likely?
- ethbr1 1y ago
  How are the tariffs even in his own self-interest? Insider trading?
  - vesinisa 1y ago
    The goal of tariffs is to strengthen your own domestic manufacturing economy. Under high tariff regime, domestic manufacturing gets a pricing advantage over imported goods. The best scenario is if you can get other countries to not place reciprocal tariffs on your goods - meaning foreign companies are disadvantaged in your home market but your companies have uninhibited access to the consumers abroad.
  - SpicyLemonZest 1y ago
    They're in his self-interest because he can, and did, turn around and convince people to bribe him for exemptions and reductions. I recognize this sounds crazy when I say it, but you can literally look up the video - Tim Cook gave him a big block of gold on public TV to get iPhones exempted from tariffs on India.
    - ethbr1 1y ago
      On the magnitude being insinuated, that doesn't even blip. 50 lbs of solid gold is what, $2.5M?
      - ModernMech 1y ago
        $2.5M is not a blip, it's a bribe by any measure. We need to call things what they are. Trump has done worse for less. Anyway, the $2.5M isn't the point, it's bending someone like Tim Cook to your will so that they would just give it to you and thank you while bending over. To some degree, he's now directing Apple Inc, since he can get Tim Cook to act according to his will. How much is that worth to Trump?
jleyank 1y ago
Perhaps, although I can't see the point in damaging the American economy or currency. More likely, he's only talking to his proctologist and posting what they decide. Throwing away 80+ years of mostly-Republican soft power and foreign policy seems foolish. Making it difficult to ship or sell to the US only makes sense if they want to detach from the world's economic system. They're welcome to try to be Tibet, but folks might find it difficult to get what they want. And losing the reserve-currency status for the USD will hurt. So will being unable to (easily) sell debt.
- crusty 1y ago
  I'm guessing you meant Bhutan — Tibet is/occupied/governed by China.
  - jleyank 1y ago
    Sorry. I might have meant Nepal. One of those small countries, I thought, are self-isolating. Thanks for the correction re: Tibet.
michaelhoney 1y ago
It really doesn't strengthen the US. Everyone knows Trump is a senile fool and placating him is the less-bad option until he dies.
Yeul 1y ago
Ah the fuhrer knows what he is doing and we should al have faith in his genius defence?
jrochkind1 1y ago
It seems pretty stressful for Americans as well. I guess we too are being asked to make concessions for a period of stability... that doesn't sound great. Maybe the trains will run on time if we make enough concessions.
AlecSchueler 1y ago
Everything you listed are reasons why half world is scrambling to disentangle itself from American hegemony.
- vesinisa 1y ago
  But is that really happening? If that was actually true, Trump would obviously have no leg to stand on. But what we have seen instead is exactly the opposite - countries are scrambling to strike "trade deals" with Trump no matter how terrible terms they get (like the one-way 15% tariff EU "achieved".) There is really no downside at all for Trump. If it actually starts hurting US economy at any point, he can easily just signal reversing the policy and everyone will let out a big sigh of relief and markets rebound. If it causes some long-term harm for US, he will be long gone by then. But if he is succesful in establishing a new US-first world order he will be forever remembered as one of the greatest American presidents in history.
  - judahmeek 1y ago
    The disentangling will be gradual & organic. It'll be the fear that the U.S. can shut down weapons they have sold that are used without the U.S.'s explicit permission. It'll be the fact that Trump raises tariffs over tech regulation & internal criminal cases. It'll be because few will consider the U.S. a reliable partner for trade & military support. It'll be because the U.S.'s own tariffs will raise the prices of American products & services to uncompetitive levels and what American brands don't suffer from such inflation will still suffer from association with the U.S. itself. Trump does have additional leverage in the fact that the dollar is the global reserve currency, but he's actively testing how much friction he can introduce into the global trade system before that changes. On that note, it's interesting that every country Trump has targeted for higher tariffs (China, Brazil, India) is a member of BRICS.
  - AlecSchueler 1y ago
    Yes, it is happening, in both business and political spheres. You're maybe making the mistake of looking only at the very short term while forgetting how entrenched these systems are. There can't be overnight changes, right now the world has is forced to "play along." I'm not sure where to start with giving you sources for actions being taken because it seems that you want things to have already changed before you believe it. You've surely read any the strengthening of intra-EU defence arrangements? Things like that mean that in the future the US won't be able to bully for leverage like they are today. It's short term versus long term thinking. Also not sure what "actually starts hurting" the economy means. Is the hurt that's been caused so far not actual hurt? No true Scotsman economics.

IAmBroom 1y ago

You make the preposterous claim that "what's good for America" is increasing its hegemony at the cost of other nations. What's good for America is protecting her people's liberties and increasing their satisfaction in life. The first is clearly going downhill; Trump's plummeting popularity amongst his followers suggests the second is, as well.

duxup 1y ago

> Maybe Trump is just doing what's good for America and he's strategy is exactly being unpredictable and chaotic. I haven’t seen an explanation of how this works as far as the current tariff methodology goes.

stouset 1y ago

The amount of mental gymnastics y’all seem to constantly have to do to try and find some way to make sense of the inherently nonsensical looks exhausting.

philistine 1y ago

What do you make of the bold faced lie that the external country is paying the tariffs that Trump is putting in place? Part of the same desire for maximum chaos? When does chaos stop?

XajniN 1y ago
It's not a bold faced lie, it's a relative truth. An importer needs to pay the tariff upfront, before pushing the increased price to the final consumer. This has an immediate effect on the exporter.

pschastain 1y ago

Or maybe Trump is a sociopath felon with a penchant for young girls who is acting solely in his own self-interest Given his history of failed businesses and association with a known pedophile, what seems more likely?

ethbr1 1y ago
How are the tariffs even in his own self-interest? Insider trading?
- vesinisa 1y ago
  The goal of tariffs is to strengthen your own domestic manufacturing economy. Under high tariff regime, domestic manufacturing gets a pricing advantage over imported goods. The best scenario is if you can get other countries to not place reciprocal tariffs on your goods - meaning foreign companies are disadvantaged in your home market but your companies have uninhibited access to the consumers abroad.
- SpicyLemonZest 1y ago
  They're in his self-interest because he can, and did, turn around and convince people to bribe him for exemptions and reductions. I recognize this sounds crazy when I say it, but you can literally look up the video - Tim Cook gave him a big block of gold on public TV to get iPhones exempted from tariffs on India.
  - ethbr1 1y ago
    On the magnitude being insinuated, that doesn't even blip. 50 lbs of solid gold is what, $2.5M?
    - ModernMech 1y ago
      $2.5M is not a blip, it's a bribe by any measure. We need to call things what they are. Trump has done worse for less. Anyway, the $2.5M isn't the point, it's bending someone like Tim Cook to your will so that they would just give it to you and thank you while bending over. To some degree, he's now directing Apple Inc, since he can get Tim Cook to act according to his will. How much is that worth to Trump?

jleyank 1y ago

Perhaps, although I can't see the point in damaging the American economy or currency. More likely, he's only talking to his proctologist and posting what they decide. Throwing away 80+ years of mostly-Republican soft power and foreign policy seems foolish. Making it difficult to ship or sell to the US only makes sense if they want to detach from the world's economic system. They're welcome to try to be Tibet, but folks might find it difficult to get what they want. And losing the reserve-currency status for the USD will hurt. So will being unable to (easily) sell debt.

crusty 1y ago
I'm guessing you meant Bhutan — Tibet is/occupied/governed by China.
- jleyank 1y ago
  Sorry. I might have meant Nepal. One of those small countries, I thought, are self-isolating. Thanks for the correction re: Tibet.

michaelhoney 1y ago

It really doesn't strengthen the US. Everyone knows Trump is a senile fool and placating him is the less-bad option until he dies.

Yeul 1y ago

Ah the fuhrer knows what he is doing and we should al have faith in his genius defence?

jrochkind1 1y ago

It seems pretty stressful for Americans as well. I guess we too are being asked to make concessions for a period of stability... that doesn't sound great. Maybe the trains will run on time if we make enough concessions.

AlecSchueler 1y ago

Everything you listed are reasons why half world is scrambling to disentangle itself from American hegemony.

vesinisa 1y ago
But is that really happening? If that was actually true, Trump would obviously have no leg to stand on. But what we have seen instead is exactly the opposite - countries are scrambling to strike "trade deals" with Trump no matter how terrible terms they get (like the one-way 15% tariff EU "achieved".) There is really no downside at all for Trump. If it actually starts hurting US economy at any point, he can easily just signal reversing the policy and everyone will let out a big sigh of relief and markets rebound. If it causes some long-term harm for US, he will be long gone by then. But if he is succesful in establishing a new US-first world order he will be forever remembered as one of the greatest American presidents in history.
- judahmeek 1y ago
  The disentangling will be gradual & organic. It'll be the fear that the U.S. can shut down weapons they have sold that are used without the U.S.'s explicit permission. It'll be the fact that Trump raises tariffs over tech regulation & internal criminal cases. It'll be because few will consider the U.S. a reliable partner for trade & military support. It'll be because the U.S.'s own tariffs will raise the prices of American products & services to uncompetitive levels and what American brands don't suffer from such inflation will still suffer from association with the U.S. itself. Trump does have additional leverage in the fact that the dollar is the global reserve currency, but he's actively testing how much friction he can introduce into the global trade system before that changes. On that note, it's interesting that every country Trump has targeted for higher tariffs (China, Brazil, India) is a member of BRICS.
- AlecSchueler 1y ago
  Yes, it is happening, in both business and political spheres. You're maybe making the mistake of looking only at the very short term while forgetting how entrenched these systems are. There can't be overnight changes, right now the world has is forced to "play along." I'm not sure where to start with giving you sources for actions being taken because it seems that you want things to have already changed before you believe it. You've surely read any the strengthening of intra-EU defence arrangements? Things like that mean that in the future the US won't be able to bully for leverage like they are today. It's short term versus long term thinking. Also not sure what "actually starts hurting" the economy means. Is the hurt that's been caused so far not actual hurt? No true Scotsman economics.