Trump threatens 'far larger' tariffs if EU and Canada unite to do 'economic harm' to the U.S.
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It's like he can't comprehend that other people would react to his actions.
He raised tariffs, other nations reduced trade with the US and looked elsewhere. If he continues to raise tariffs it will inevitably cause the US to be isolated in trade.
It's not even a shocking/daring tactic, it's a self destructive tantrum because his misunderstanding has led to mismanagement and now he's doubling down
For many years I have argued that Putin's actions in Ukraine and Europe "make sense" based on the assumption that no country in the world actually has agency in its actions other than a handful of superpowers - Russia, the US, and China. Any other country not on that list must be a vassal state of one of the ones that is, so if the Eastern European countries are no longer Russian vassals then that must logically mean they are now American vassals.
It would appear that Trump is under a similar delusion. He's apparently trying to beat countries into submission that he views as already being American vassals. Hence why he thinks stuff like the "51st state" garbage is no big deal, since in his view Canada's already 90% of the way to being a state anyway.
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For many years I have argued that Putin's actions in Ukraine and Europe "make sense" based on the assumption that no country in the world actually has agency in its actions other than a handful of superpowers - Russia, the US, and China. Any other country not on that list must be a vassal state of one of the ones that is, so if the Eastern European countries are no longer Russian vassals then that must logically mean they are now American vassals.
It would appear that Trump is under a similar delusion. He's apparently trying to beat countries into submission that he views as already being American vassals. Hence why he thinks stuff like the "51st state" garbage is no big deal, since in his view Canada's already 90% of the way to being a state anyway.
I'm sorry, but I completely disagree. I don't see any evidence for this vassal worldview (apart from extreme cases like Belarus and Russia). Without that first assumption the whole premise falls apart.
Even assuming the main characters (MC) and vassals idea is true to reality, the rest of the argument is flimsy at best. Even if a MC loses a vassal through mismanagement or foreign interference, that doesn't automatically mean that the vassal has a new MC overlord. They could be in a limbo state where some of the MCs are vying for control.
As for Trump, I think it's much less of a stretch to assume that Trump loves the sound of his own voice and what better way to hear his own voice than to create sound bites, hence the 51st state nonsense. If anything Trump's actions say to me that he has NO capacity for the mental mapping required to envision this kind of complex interweaving of interests and angles that is geopolitics. I find it even less likely that this is the one he would subscribe to.
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He can not seem to grasp
...anything, really. And his closest henchmen know this well, too! Just read the entire chat on Signal.
They're just using him because he pulls (or used to pull) public consensus, while working around his bullshits.
He's just gone. Nothing's going on upstairs. I sometimes think of an ancient clip of Ali G trying to sell him some kind of ice cream glove and there was enough brainpower to realize it was bullshit and try to get out of that situation. Now tho, there is nothing there. He doesn't grasp the most basic things.
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I agree with almost everything here, but I don't think an embargo on China would be as damaging as you think it would.
It would hurt, don't get me wrong, but China is largely in the position it is now because the developed world was looking for cheap labour and China fit the bill. There is no lack of underdeveloped nations who would gladly shift their economy if it meant they could support a fraction of the manufacturing supply that China currently commands. Africa and South America (not a single nation, I know but this is true of many African and South American nations so I'm combining for simplicity's sake) is positioned both politically and geographically, to be a sudo-China in terms of manufacturing if the wider world decides to embargo China-proper.
The US and EU pulling out of China would devastated them far more than it would affect the former. I'd like to think that the EU at least, would be willing to withstand some economic damage to aid another nation in need.
Not really, for the same reasons Russia's economy is now in the shitter: sure they could sell oil to another country, but changing the whole infrastructure is not something that can be done in days. Same with moving the whole production of goods to a completely new country.
Also consider that nowadays western countries have lost the knowhow to produce efficiently goods (while their service industry still remains unmatched)
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He can not seem to grasp that your enemy is allowed to fight back and if you make enemies of friends eventually that is all you will have.
The word is "crybully"
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Hey dipshit (not OP), the whole point of tariffs is to reduce imports. Of course a, sane person would ramp them up over time to allow any domestic production the chance to fill the gaps.
Not to mention some sectors will probably see a loss in revenue as costs become out of reach due to more expensive labour. Not to mention the movement of wealth from bottom to top also reduces people's spending power so if you make things more expensive at the same time... Well... Wcgw? Lol.
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I heard he said these new tariffs are gonna be "yuge"
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There's an old saying that says: "Tarrif me once, shame on you. Tarrif me twice - you can't get tarrifed again".
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I agree with almost everything here, but I don't think an embargo on China would be as damaging as you think it would.
It would hurt, don't get me wrong, but China is largely in the position it is now because the developed world was looking for cheap labour and China fit the bill. There is no lack of underdeveloped nations who would gladly shift their economy if it meant they could support a fraction of the manufacturing supply that China currently commands. Africa and South America (not a single nation, I know but this is true of many African and South American nations so I'm combining for simplicity's sake) is positioned both politically and geographically, to be a sudo-China in terms of manufacturing if the wider world decides to embargo China-proper.
The US and EU pulling out of China would devastated them far more than it would affect the former. I'd like to think that the EU at least, would be willing to withstand some economic damage to aid another nation in need.
It took 30 years for Chinese manufacturing to reach what it is today.
Yes, other countries would love to take on that role.
But it would take another 30 years, IF China cooperated and pushed the transition like the west did. Which they won't. -
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It really is like Homer being angry he's not allowed in the No Homers Club
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Not really, for the same reasons Russia's economy is now in the shitter: sure they could sell oil to another country, but changing the whole infrastructure is not something that can be done in days. Same with moving the whole production of goods to a completely new country.
Also consider that nowadays western countries have lost the knowhow to produce efficiently goods (while their service industry still remains unmatched)
I can see the point your making. I'm not suggesting it'd be easy but if we moving to Russia as the example Russia would be the standin for China, not the wider world.
Russia's economy is now shit because they got embargoed, as China's would be, it hurt the wider world briefly, but that has mostly passed.
And I didn't suggest western countries take on the brunt of the manufacturing, I suggested it should be countries that would benefit from the overhaul to their economy
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It took 30 years for Chinese manufacturing to reach what it is today.
Yes, other countries would love to take on that role.
But it would take another 30 years, IF China cooperated and pushed the transition like the west did. Which they won't.But that only takes into account the time when China started their shift into manufacturing. China has been THE dominant manufacturer for at least 20 years now. So we shouldn't judge by today, but should judge by their rise to dominance.
Plus having a distribution of countries to use as manufacturers allows for specialists to emerge, likely speeding up their individual adoption of the role they choose.
And why would China cooperate with their own exclusion from the world market? And even if they chose economic suicide, why would their assistance be required for other countries to become manufacturers?
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I agree with almost everything here, but I don't think an embargo on China would be as damaging as you think it would.
It would hurt, don't get me wrong, but China is largely in the position it is now because the developed world was looking for cheap labour and China fit the bill. There is no lack of underdeveloped nations who would gladly shift their economy if it meant they could support a fraction of the manufacturing supply that China currently commands. Africa and South America (not a single nation, I know but this is true of many African and South American nations so I'm combining for simplicity's sake) is positioned both politically and geographically, to be a sudo-China in terms of manufacturing if the wider world decides to embargo China-proper.
The US and EU pulling out of China would devastated them far more than it would affect the former. I'd like to think that the EU at least, would be willing to withstand some economic damage to aid another nation in need.
I'm not well read on india's modern manufacturing capabilities, but I do know that they have been trying for a while to up their manufacturing exports and entice jobs that would normally go to china. 1 billion ppl is a competitive sized workforce.
If America and EU needed an immediate substitute, india could fit the bill.
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There's an old saying that says: "Tarrif me once, shame on you. Tarrif me twice - you can't get tarrifed again".
I'm pretty sure that was deliberate. Bush didn't want a soundbite of him saying shame on me.
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The US is not the only purchasing country numbnuts. He seems to think it's the 1950s when it was (essentially) only the US with purchasing power. Companies will just try to sell internationally.
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It's like he can't comprehend that other people would react to his actions.
He raised tariffs, other nations reduced trade with the US and looked elsewhere. If he continues to raise tariffs it will inevitably cause the US to be isolated in trade.
It's not even a shocking/daring tactic, it's a self destructive tantrum because his misunderstanding has led to mismanagement and now he's doubling down
To be fair, if you look at it from the perspective of a narcissist who has never been told "no" his entire life, it makes perfect sense.
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I agree. He seems to think countries should be paying tribute to the US.
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do economic harm to the US
.... Like the economic harm you're doing to Europe and Canada?
You're literally that bully that's starts screaming "don't hit ME!" when the victims punch back
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The trump regime’s only purpose is to TANK the US economy so that stocks, businesses, and industries can be bought by billionaires at rock bottom prices.
Ding ding ding. We have a winner
