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Tiny Switzerland faces 39% tariffs

ElChupacabra said:
Oh, and don't forget tariffs are also for meddling in the judicial affairs of another nation who is criminally charging one of Trump's good buddies.
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Which is a milder form of punishment when it comes to foreign policy issues? Sanctions or tariffs?
 
Mycroft said:
Which is a milder form of punishment when it comes to foreign policy issues? Sanctions or tariffs?
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That depends why either are being used, and in the case of Trump they've been pretty arbitrary. He decided to go the tariff route without even trying to negotiate or anything, so it was just dumb to begin with. Now we have the even more ridiculous scenario of using tariffs to meddle in the legal affairs of other nations, and that makes it incredibly dumb since tariffs affect American consumers as well.
 
ElChupacabra said:
That depends why either are being used,
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Sorry, but this is not an answer to my question. "Why" isn't an issue. I simply asked which is a milder form of punishment.

btw, sanctions affect American consumers, too.
 
Decypher said:
No need for you to get upset.
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I know you shouldn't be upset it's okay
Decypher said:
Swiss products were already out of your price range before any tariffs.
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Probably why I gave a sarcastic answer.

I occasionally eat lindor and toblerone. They are higher price did ordinary chocolates but they're good
 
SenorXm/Sirius said:
Tariffs never work.. For either country.. Never.. Only a failed businessman and his cult believes they are a good idea..
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Actually, tariffs can work, but it depends on what they're being used for. It's been a while since I've read it, but as I recall, the newly-hatched United States imposed tariffs to protect the textiles industry in the late 1700s and early 1800s. I think Alexander Hamilton was pretty pro-protectionist. But there's a world of difference between the United States now in 2025 and in the 1800s. Bringing back one of the lowest-paying jobs worldwide isn't something the United States should be pursuing.

What we should be doing is using GDP to vastly improve our critical supply chains and critical national security industry. Think more domestication of critical public health supply chains, which were exposed during the pandemic. We should never again be so heavily reliant on one or a handful of countries to protect ourselves against dangerous viruses. Also, as the war in Ukraine (and I guess now the one in the Levant, too) has shown, our weapons production, shipbuilding, etc. is woefully inadequate for the conflicts of the future.
 
I'm surprised he didn't hike the tariffs on the island populated by penguins again.
 

Tsk, tsk, the Swiss president must not know the routine: make empty promises to invest in the US and buy our energy, get tariffs lowered.
 
Wellllllllllllllll... not exactly the whole story. There was this guy.. Samuel Slater, and he basically stole machinery technology from the UK, and that was the basis of the American cotton and textile industry and the US industrialization after the revolution. The UK of course did not like that, and could easily flood the market and destroy the upstart, so the US became protectionist because it had too.. after it stole technology of course. Sound familiar?

multivita-man said:
But there's a world of difference between the United States now in 2025 and in the 1800s. Bringing back one of the lowest-paying jobs worldwide isn't something the United States should be pursuing.
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Agree.
Your problem is that most of the main drug manufactures are non American... and considering how the US consumer is being gauged by the pharma, medical and medical supply industry.. I doubt that even Trump will do anything serious, as there is too much money involved and they dont give a crap about human lives.

But you are pissing off the right people. India, the worlds biggest capacity producer of pharma.. huge tariffs. Europe, where a large portion of big pharma is situated.. big tariffs.. especially Switzerland. Will that push the European companies to move production to the US? not very likely in the amount that many Americans think will happen, because the price of drugs in the US is insane high and there is nothing the current government nor congress will do about it. Why? Because that would mean tackling the elephant in the room.. universal healthcare vs the monstrosity cartel crap the US runs.

So sure, your life saving drug that is patented will go up with 25% in price.. but hey your "insurance" will pay right?
 
 
Airyaman said:
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The only thing these tariffs are doing is making the US look like a trading and political partner that's much less attractive to maintain relations with. The assumption that these MAGA buffoons are making is that our trading partners have no choices, that they absolutely must capitulate to us now or we will ruin them. It would seem that Europe has basically caved to the MAGA threat. India, however, has not, and other countries are surely going to follow India's lead.

Some will argue to the contrary, saying that the G7 will eventually fall into line by pointing out our military defense capabilities and our democratic values or some shit, but it's 2025 and we've actually - checks notes - threatened to take Greenland and Canada by force and hinted that we might just drop NATO like a cigarette butt. Nobody is buying any of our freedumz bullshit anymore. Well, maybe Europe is, but I think they will eventually wake up from their stupor and realize that the US under MAGA is really not much worse than Russia under Putin or China under Xi, so what the hell...might as well do business with them.
 
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