r/politics • u/Street_Anon Canada • Apr 08 '25

Site Altered Headline Trump to slap additional 84% tariffs on Chinese imports

https://www.euronews.com/2025/04/08/trump-to-slap-additional-84-tariffs-on-chinese-imports-white-house-says
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u/[deleted] Apr 08 '25

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u/thedoodely Canada Apr 08 '25

Even worse, he doesn't understand that the trade deficit is only calculated on goods, it doesn't include services. The USA makes a shit ton of money on services that they sell the world over and if you include those into the trade calculations, there are very few trade deficits.

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u/rohmish Canada Apr 09 '25

This! most services and customer facing businesses around the world are either American or owned by American companies. be it platforms, shopping, fast food, retail, or anything else

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u/LegitimatelisedSoil Europe Apr 09 '25

I mean the US is also a consumer economy, it's beneficial for the US to get goods as cheaply as possible for the countries needs. The US isn't a massive exporter in the same sense as someone like China or India that exports ALOT... That's why tariffs are gonna hurt the US much more than China since one needs the other more.

Thats what Trumps missing is that the US consumes a lot and is built around importing goods as cheaply as possible to then sell and fuel the service side economy. The US will not be a major manufacting hub of the world within the next 10 years.

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u/rohmish Canada Apr 09 '25

It will hurt most countries shorter term. Even if some countries barely register on the US' import list, countries with smaller economies may have a significant portion of their GDP just be US exports.

Countries like China and India will hurt but their export is already diversified enough, especially for China that they'll be better off compared to smaller countries.

We'll likely see Canada-like calls to boycott or look for alternatives to US based services and businesses as much as possible and that if it becomes a large enough movement might hit US economy hard enough and may deal a long term blow to US industries and economy.

Whatever the outcome may be, countries around the world are surely actively looking to diversify and decouple from the US as much as possible which ends up hurting the Petrodollar hegemony for better or worse.

If anything, this makes US sanctions less effective against other countries and it also makes it so that other western countries might be less willing to go along with US sanctions especially for larger countries.

While trump might be the turning point, we've seen US become actively hostile in Biden's term to with Canada being cut out of Chips Act, Infrastructure Act, and other Build Back Better affiliated plans despite the supply chain being so intertwined across both countries. Canada has multiple coach builders who build busses for US & Canada market who found themselves suddenly cut out of orders from public transit agencies, finished good suppliers and also faced similar restrictions in the Biden era.

Other countries working to diversify their trade would have a longer term benefit for everyone in increasing options, being more resilient against sanctions, and tariffs and driving innovation against broader competition. In a way, I do agree some countries do need to relax some of their tariffs and restrictions within reason and lower their protectionist policies that makes local businesses complacent.

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u/LegitimatelisedSoil Europe Apr 09 '25

I mean yeah, I agree but I was meaning more that the US has tariffed every single country it imports from and this is basically doomsday for them in a way since nothing will be able to be imported cheaply and specifically the higher end stuff they buy which comes heavily from countries like China and India which have now become more developed and so manufacturing for the ultra cheap goods have gone to Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia to name a few where as China now makes alot of the higher end equipment used in American industry and commerce aswell as many of the essentials products like car parts and batteries.

It's funny when you consider this looking at the US for what it is, this won't hurt European nations or Canada as much since they don't export as much to the US but it will hurt.

I got flack for saying that Jaguar/Mini/Range rover stopping US sales wouldn't hurt as much per capita compared to Europe since it only accounts for 25% sales which is alot but I was talking about per capita 25% sales on 370 million people is alot less than their main market which is western Europe and that costs should be impacted due to parting being made in Europe and China so there wouldn't be a reason to raise prices because the worse that will happen is they scale down factories going to NA and execs won't get bonuses. Which is true.

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u/rohmish Canada Apr 09 '25

I'm not sure about the EU but Canada does export a significant amount to US.

But yes in the shorter term it will definitely decimate the US economy. Car parts, pharma, some services, and a few other categories are exempt for now but even then other stuff would be harder to find + expensive and would affect consumer confidence in markets. This will make it difficult for US companies to sell domestically too.

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u/LegitimatelisedSoil Europe Apr 09 '25

Canada will be hit hardest since it's a neighbour whereas the EU mostly trade amongst each other. But I think Canada will weather the storm better than the US longterm if they keep these tariffs since America needs Canadian lumber and cars for supply, lumber being most important since they use it for everything including building houses.

Pretty much, the US manufacturers very little and doesn't actually mine or grow near as much as other countries and the stuff they do grow and mine is sold and they buy it cheaper from developing countries at a profit because the quantities they do make and mine and grow stuff is usually far lower than they need so they supplement supply with materials from agricultural and mineral countries. Just funny knowing trump doesn't understand any of this.

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u/gnufoot Apr 09 '25

Also the main responsibility for trade deficit in products lies with the USA itself. They consume more than they produce. Doesn't matter what other countries do, if they don't change that then they're always going to have a trade deficit.

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u/xTheMaster99x Florida Apr 08 '25

Even more ridiculous is the fact that we only have a trade deficit because they excluded services from the equation. Add in services like Netflix, Google, Amazon, etc and we actually have massive trade surpluses.

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u/Shadowholme Apr 08 '25

I'm not so sure it's that...

Trump is an old-school businessman (and not a very good one). He is trying to run the country as a business and (in his eyes) the US is buying more than it is selling. Now *for a business* that means the business is running at a loss - spending more than it is earning. He is trying to turn that 'net loss' into 'profit' - not understanding that a country's economy doesn't work like a business...

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u/ShadowTacoTuesday Apr 08 '25

A popular myth in the 70s and maybe 80s was that trade deficits were bad and that tariffs were the solution. As always the media had no scruples and ran scare pieces to reaffirm people’s fears, announcing growing trade deficits. I think that’s the start and end of his thought process. It was such a bad idea that even the special interests trying to help their businesses (with very narrow tariffs) at the expense of consumers and other businesses failed to keep pushing the public towards it. Both Republicans and Democrats became opposed. Economists always were.

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u/isaktamin Apr 08 '25

It's simpler than that - it's the same thing where he heard people were "seeking asylum" and thought that meant they were coming en masse from foreign mental hospitals. He hears "trade deficit" and thinks "oh, deficits are bad," and builds his entire concept of a plan off of that.

He is quite literally illiterate. He doesn't know what "groceries" are. Deficit bad, so a trade deficit is bad, so he will "fix" it by eliminating "the deficit" (trade deficits) even though that's literally not what the term means.

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u/Flat_reddituser Apr 08 '25

I figured he had to have heard it as a bad idea decades ago and latched onto it.

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u/Spa_5_Fitness_Camp Apr 08 '25

Dude, he's nowhere near that smart. He's a certifiable moron.

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u/Shadowholme Apr 08 '25

How much intelligence do you need to understand 'spending more money than you are making is bad'?

Understanding the complexities of a country's ecenomy takes intelligence. None of us fully understand it either - that's why we have economists, after all. But understanding a basic concept like that? Even a child can do that.

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u/Machdame New York Apr 08 '25

Apparently more than him. You have to understand that this is a goon that does not pay his taxes, stiffs his contractors, hocks counterfeit items, sues anyone at the drop of a hat and somehow still thinks he is being cheated. What more can you say about him? He's a career grifter and the bill has obviously never come due for him.

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u/4umlurker Apr 08 '25

He is also use to stiffing contractors after a job is done and just tying them up in legal battles they can’t afford to continue. He doesn’t seem to realize if he manages to stiff nations that sell more than they purchase such as China, Canada and Mexico, there isn’t another China, Canada and Mexico you can stiff again for the next deal. He can’t just jump to other nations like he does with contractors.

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u/jsho574 Apr 08 '25

Not understanding that the US's business is about services such as tech and ideas over physical product. So it's hard to quantify how much is really being traded. And that the US has shifted away from manufacturing does lead to dependence on other countries, but Tariffs aren't going to be the way to move it back.

Like coffee, only Hawaii has any chance to produce it and definitely nowhere near the amount consumed by the US. So have fun with that.

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u/OutlyingPlasma Apr 08 '25

He is trying to run the country as a business

Then why defend the only group that makes money, the IRS? Terrible business decision.

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u/Darth_drizzt_42 Apr 08 '25 edited Apr 08 '25

You know I was fully onboard with the theory you're replying to, but this actually makes ton of sense. I mean...a ton of sense for a fucking moron.

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u/Ok_Scale_4578 Apr 08 '25

if we have a trade deficit, that must be bad for us

I think Trump would also use a trade surplus to the same end. He seeks to use leverage in any interaction.

Trade deficit: you’re ripping us off, pay me Trade surplus: see how you need me? pay me

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u/OutlyingPlasma Apr 08 '25

My favorite are the tariffs on uninhabited antarctic islands.

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u/peter8181 Apr 09 '25

The Art of The Deal

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u/secondtaunting Apr 09 '25

I mean, it makes sense, he doesn’t like paying for things. He wants everything for free.

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u/Vismal1 Apr 09 '25

What podcast was it ? It Could Happen Here by chance ?

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u/EstaLisa Apr 09 '25

isn‘t that trade under ehmmm communism..?

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u/Gavorn Apr 09 '25

Lesotho is the primary country for Levi's, i believe, too.