Election Year or Fear!

[Geoff Parkstone]

Exports*

[Trickytreesreds]

You sure about all that, Tricky? I understood that the South Koreans are seriously pissed off at having tariffs raised to 25%.
In my experience there are a huge number of Hyundais and Kia?s in the U.S. and its a part of the world that Trump should avoid alienating.

why ask me, ask the bbc

[ramAnag]

why ask me, ask the bbc

Because you posted it?

[Trickytreesreds]

Because you posted it?

I quoted the BBC there is a difference
A man of your intelligence should know that

[swaledale]

I?m off to the U.S. in about a month, RS. Is that GBP v $ advice a likely scenario? Don?t worry, won?t hold you to it.

Word of advice, wipe your phone of any data that might be critical of the US, its president or any policy. remove apps if you have them such as WhatsApp if there are any discussion on there which is negative of Trump or his policies. I kid you not, people ahve been stopped, their phones interrogated and been refused entry despite having a valid visa, just because there is evidence on their phones of criticism of trump ad the current administration.

[swaledale]

Hmmm?but we?re now talking about comparatively huge tariffs and it would seem the US$ has fallen to a six month low this morning on the back of yesterday?s announcements, but then I don?t claim any economic expertise beyond the personal. GP?Swale?

Firstly much as our Red Friend talks about a trade deal, Mexico, South Korea and indeed Canada have trade deals with the US, which have been ignored by Trump in imposing tariffs. So any thought that a trade deal would be a plus is hogwash. Plus what's being demanded by the US for any trade deal, basically involves allowing tech firs free rein on content and little to no tax and allowing the import of chlorinated chicken, hormone injected beef and other sub standard food products which would **** our farmers even more.

[swaledale]

I could have sworn else thread and some time ago that you indicated Mrs Swale was a younger Asiatic lady? Perhaps it's my poor memory

I've not to my knowledge made any comment on the ethnicity or *** of my current partner. Unlike a certain sad forest fan who if memory serves me well has supposedly had relationships with various foreign nationals despite his often xenophobic comments on here.

[swaledale]

So all those who voted brexit can say 'finally' a benefit we can shout about.

Nope, we still have 25% on steel, cars and aluminium despite having a trade surplus with the US and 10% might be less than the EU, but its a bit like saying burning ones hand at 75 degrees is better than burning at 120 degrees, they both do damage and ****ing hurt!!

[swaledale]

You sure about all that, Tricky? I understood that the South Koreans are seriously pissed off at having tariffs raised to 25%.
In my experience there are a huge number of Hyundais and Kia?s in the U.S. and its a part of the world that Trump should avoid alienating.

Of course he is not sure!

[swaledale]

So, after the two elections?any thoughts, especially from the more economically literate amongst us, about the reasoning behind and consequences of the orange ogre?s new tariffs?

The reasoning is clear, Trump likes power and attention and despite going bankrupt 5 times still believes he is a wheeler dealer and can in politics use the same mafia style tactics he used in his deals, which by the way often meant a lot of people and firms losing money!!

Even the way the so called tariffs have been calculated is bizarre, and incoherent and bear no relation to existing trade agreements (some signed by trump last time he was in power) and include things like VAT which isn't a tariff in any case.

To cut a long story short, the effect will be to spark a global trade war, unless the tariffs are withdrawn pretty soon, threaten the dollar's role as the worlds reserve currency, **** up the US's influence and trustworthiness and spark a recession in the US.

The impact on the rest of the world will be to undo decades of free trade agreements and indeed international respect for law and legal agreements and basically put a bomb under financial stability and adversely affect investments and economic growth.

The big question is how long until the negative impacts in the US turn opinion against Trump and his stupid incompetents in government?

Those good ole MAGA ****s are going to be might pissed off when prices rise, the economy slumps and those much promised jobs don't magically reappear in the US as promised. Much like trumps much vaunted promise to stop the war in Ukraine in a day is coming apart at the seams. This will to, its just a question of how much collateral damage there will be.

What's clear is its performative politics, there is no grand strategy, other than using the power of the US to bully and threaten other nations until they concede to his demands. IMO Canada has it right, appeasement is a no no, it will in the long run cost more than standing firm, because if Trump gets what he thinks he wants (its by no means clear if he actually knows what he wants apart from appearing powerful and having the worlds attention on him) then he will repeat the actions and come back for more.

The boycott of tesla by the way is how to defat these ****s, if you don't use or buy their services and products then they won't survive. I'm all for boycotting anything made in the US, I won't be going on holiday there (I know you have relatives so slightly different).