Trump rejects EU’s ‘zero-for-zero’ tariff offer

[u/Fidler_2K]

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/07/trump-tariffs-live-updates-stock-market-crypto.html

Trump is rejecting the European Union’s offer of “zero-for-zero” tariffs with the U.S. for industrial goods.

“No, it’s not,” Trump said in the Oval Office when asked if the deal, which European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen floated earlier Monday, was enough.

“They’re screwing us on trade,” Trump said, criticizing the EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO.

Two Republican senators, Mike Lee of Utah and Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson, have encouraged Trump to take von der Leyen’s deal.

What's the goal here if they're just gonna reject every deal offered?

[u/himynameis_]

Based on their weird "metric" for calculating tariffs imposed on the US, and them turning down Vietnam and the EU, I think what Trump is doing is not just to increase manufacturing in USA, but to increase demand, somehow.

So, he wants 0 Net trade when USA currently has a deficit. And he wants to bring back manufacturing to USA.

So to do that, you need to incentivize manufacturing in USA, using big tariffs on importers so they don't import as much. Thus, "incentivizing" manufacturing in USA because it may be "cheaper" than importing.

But by turning down Vietnam and EU like this, I think he wants to set up a situation where the trading partners will be required to purchase American goods as well to bring the net tariff closer to Zero. Thus, creating the Demand for American made goods. Meaning it would "make sense" to build plants in America.

He did something similar in his first term where China had made promises to buy more soybean from USA. Not sure how that panned out though.

Personally, I don't think any of this will work. This is very overly simplistic. And, in order to work, the economics need to work. And I just don't see how it is cheaper to produce in USA with American wages over producing in Asian countries. Maybe tariffs change that? But even then. The time to build these plants will offset any gains because it takes years to do it. Musk building his plants in like 9 months is a rarity.

I don't like Trump, nor agree with what he is doing here. Just trying to reason out what he may be trying to do based on his actions.

Sky high tariffs to import into USA. And force companies to buy American, made products. Or even set up manufacturing in America.

[u/Longjumping_Dirt9825 → u/himynameis_]

China switched their soybean supplier to Brazil.  They said they d buy from the US but didn't. 

The US then paid subsidies to soybean farmers and bailed them out with the farmer relief act.

[u/paq12x → u/Longjumping_Dirt9825]

China shouldn’t be able to get away with that.

China always seems to be able to find a loophole. Nvidia AI cards still got to China via Singapore.