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Is America really being "raped" on trade ?

Mycroft said:
The reason for the 10% baseline tariff that Trump has imposed on UK, Australia and others is to prevent countries with higher tariffs from selling their products to, say, Australia and then Australia turning around and selling the product to the US...as if they had produced it...with no tariff.
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That's a stupid reason.
 
Mycroft said:
The reason for the 10% baseline tariff that Trump has imposed on UK, Australia and others is to prevent countries with higher tariffs from selling their products to, say, Australia and then Australia turning around and selling the product to the US...as if they had produced it...with no tariff.
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More likely, it’s Trump’s desire to generate more federal tariff revenue allowing further reductions in the FIT revenue.
 
ttwtt78640 said:
That “failed system”, of having continuous annual federal deficit (stimulus?) spending, has resulted in a re-election rate of over 90% for congress critters.
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Thats a stretch. Who knows why people vote the way they do. Not in their best interests obviously.
 
trumptman said:
If the current trade system is exploitative shouldn't it be ended and not defended?
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I havent made that judgement. That is your interpretation. But even in trump was trying to create a fairer system (he isnt) tthere would be better ways to go about it.
 
ttwtt78640 said:
More likely, it’s Trump’s desire to generate more federal tariff revenue allowing further reductions in the FIT revenue.
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Nah.

The big money is coming from countries like China.
 
panic buyer said:
The shortcomings of your electoral system are not the problem of vietnamese factory workers trying to keep their kids fed.
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Neither is the salary of Nike’s CEO or the wealth of their investors.
 
ttwtt78640 said:
Tariffs are paid by US importers and eventually by their US customers.
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That's not what happened back in 2018/2019 and it won't happen now.
 
And how we got here. So American manufacturers are raping us?

I started moving factories out of the United States in the late 1980’s. It began with simple products, consumer appliances and electronics.

In the early 1990’s, I was full time in moving factories to China. We were focusing on the large “big name” appliance companies. If you (the reader) are aware of an American company logo, it was pretty much moved offshore. By the end of the decade, the vast spectrum of factories were already packed-up and operating in China.

The first decade of the 2000’s was involved in dealing with the smaller sized factories and companies. And by the end of my time in the ONI we had pretty much moved 95% of American industry overseas.
 
NatMorton said:
Even if we are this is the wrong way to respond to it.
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I agree with that. However, given that Israel and the EU have already agreed to zero for zero tariffs, that's a big win right?
The only question there is whether or not Trump will accept that deal, since he may well want more.
 
Lolno. America made this happen. Nobody stole those jobs, capitalists sent those jobs to exploit cheap labor. You cant get any simpler than that. The cheap labor was part of the agreement to get cheap goods. By the by Republicans are super late to the party and squawking as if a foreign sweatshop worker has any power in this.

You want better? Unionize workers all over the world and take over foxconn factories.
 
Mycroft said:
That's not what happened back in 2018/2019 and it won't happen now.
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That happens every time there are tariffs. There is no evidence that something different happened with tariffs in 2018/2019.
 
Mycroft said:
Nah.

The big money is coming from countries like China.
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The tariff money comes from the American purchasers of the goods, not other countries. As for the "calculations" they're nonsense.

 
Mycroft said:
I'll let someone else explain it to you. Maybe you'll gain a better understanding.



You might want to call Lutnick a liar. That's your choice.
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Heard and McDonald islands are territories of Australia.

Lutnick's explanation doesn't make a whole lot of sense given that these islands already belong to a nation and aren't exempt to the tariffs placed on that nation anyway.

And, no, America was not getting raped by tariffs. It was a normal state of being that existed with tariffs being used in normal and mutually beneficial trade negotiations that we Americans greatly benefitted from. That isn't to say that some nations won't try, or that there are trade imbalances...but going into an economic war by choice and not from a position of strength with the entire world is a singularly stupid thing to do. It appears that you all have selectively forgot that we were still in a trade war with China that no one was winning (and that Trump had no real strategy or end game), but everyone was losing from (and yes, I am pointing a finger at Biden as well as Trump) and should have understood that this tariff business was the height of stupidity.

What you all fail to understand is this: while it would be better to have the US as a trading partner, the world can walk away from the US and trade with each other while Trump plays golf at Mar a Largo as America burns to the ground like a modern day Nero myth.
 
Mycroft said:
That's not what happened back in 2018/2019 and it won't happen now.
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A nation puts a tariff on an item being produced and sold from another nation.

The producer from the nation that receives the tariff doesn't really pay the tariff, but may decide to increase the cost to the direct buyer and/or distributor, who actually pays the tariff as a cost of business.

The distributor will pay the increase of cost of the product that the producer is charging in addition to the tariff. The distributor will turn around to the retailer...and to maintain their profit margin...they will pass on the cost to the retailer.

The retailer (aka direct buyer) will buy either directly from the producer (and then pay the tariff) or the distributor, but in either case...in order for the retailer to maintain their profit margin...they will pass on the cost to the consumer. You.

Now, what I haven't mentioned yet, and haven't seen mentioned yet, is how the distributor and the retailer/direct buyer will not only charge for the cost of the tariff...but will almost certainly add a percentage to the cost to create a larger profit margin if they feel they can get away with it. Sometimes, the producer will also do that as a "cost of business".

I've been doing purchasing in retail for a couple decades now...while I simplified it, this is how it works. Lutnick and Trump and whoever else who hasn't gotten their hands dirty working in retail/purchasing/trade can say whatever they want: they don't know what they are doing. Ask someone in retail and/or distributions and look at the anger in their eyes, watch them laugh when you try tell them how tariffs work. Ask the sales reps from distributors how well sales are going. Have retail managers show you their revised formulas to calculate costs and pricing and compare it to what was happening before all of this.

And here's the kicker...whatever their politics may be, almost all of them won't agree with you because they are experiencing firsthand the pain. No amount of cheerleading for MAGA and Trump will affect that. Not by a long shot.
 
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Jason Warfield said:
A nation puts a tariff on an item being produced and sold from another nation.

The producer from the nation that receives the tariff doesn't really pay the tariff, but may decide to increase the cost to the direct buyer and/or distributor, who actually pays the tariff as a cost of business.

The distributor will pay the increase of cost of the product that the producer is charging in addition to the tariff. The distributor will turn around to the retailer...and to maintain their profit margin...they will pass on the cost to the retailer.

The retailer (aka direct buyer) will buy either directly from the producer (and then pay the tariff) or the distributor, but in either case...in order for the retailer to maintain their profit margin...they will pass on the cost to the consumer. You.

Now, what I haven't mentioned yet, and haven't seen mentioned yet, is how the distributor and the retailer/direct buyer will not only charge for the cost of the tariff...but will almost certainly add a percentage to the cost to create a larger profit margin if they feel they can get away with it. Sometimes, the producer will also do that as a "cost of business".

I've been doing purchasing in retail for a couple decades now...while I simplified it, this is how it works. Lutnick and Trump and whoever else who hasn't gotten their hands dirty working in retail/purchasing/trade can say whatever they want: they don't know what they are doing. Ask someone in retail and/or distributions and look at the anger in their eyes, watch them laugh when you try tell them how tariffs work. Ask the sales reps from distributors how well sales are going. Have retail managers show you their revised formulas to calculate costs and pricing and compare it to what was happening before all of this.

And here's the kicker...whatever their politics may be, almost all of them won't agree with you because they are experiencing firsthand the pain. No amount of cheerleading for MAGA and Trump will affect that. Not by a long shot.
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Trump has no understanding of tariffs and his fams have even less.
 
The EU has a 10% import duty tax on US imported cars, while the US only has a 2.5% import tax on EU imported cars.

So on cars only, yes the US is getting raped
 
ttwtt78640 said:
Australia has VAT (GST) of 10%. The UK has VAT of 20%. Many in the US don’t like those regressive (unfair?) consumption taxes, yet seem fine with other countries having them.
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A VAT applies to all goods, not just imported ones. Do you think the US should dictate how these countries run their internal affairs?
 
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