Trumponomics - Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying & Love Tariffs

[IceBear]

If you go to cbc.ca right now, a lot of the news articles are discussing how Trump is clearly trying to annex Canada. Now they have intelligence folks talking about how Musk will weaponize X to get our young people who will be hurt hardest by the economic downturn to want to join the US.

I half jokingly said to my wife yesterday and this summer may be the last Canada Day we celebrate; by next July we'll be American. Again, nervously chuckling at it.

[IceBear]

Technically we are in a bad situation for leadership right now.

Yeah, I forgot to read the room there

[hepcat]

I still honestly believe Trump's comments about annexing Canada were/are intended to piss off Trudeau/Canada in order for him to get some perceived advantage in future trade negotiations. He views business the same way a mob boss does. It's all about throwing your opponent off balance instead of actually being smart and knowledgeable about trade. I doubt anyone would support him in this endeavor beyond the hardcore footsoldiers who sold their souls to Trump years ago.

[GreenGoo]

Yeah, I forgot to read the room there

Lol. I actually read Zax's meme as "it's a good time to annex Canada, then, given their leadership problems"

[Zaxxon]

Yeah, I forgot to read the room there

Lol. I actually read Zax's meme as "it's a good time to annex Canada, then, given their leadership problems"

People are saying...

[Rumpy]

At least Europe gets to join the fun tariff game today

It is very confusing why an American president, even one so unintelligent and inept as drumpf, would start a trade war with the entire world, simultaneously.

Does he have an overconfident view of America's place in the world?

Is he planning on replacing all western trade partners with Russian aligned ones?

I mean, what is the plan here? Destroy America so he's remembered forever? Any attention is good attention, even bad attention?

What in the actual fuck. It's wild.

It definitely is weird. It's like he's never played Risk before.

[GreenGoo]

I still honestly believe Trump's comments about annexing Canada were/are intended to piss off Trudeau/Canada in order for him to get some perceived advantage in future trade negotiations. He views business the same way a mob boss does. It's all about throwing your opponent off balance instead of actually being smart and knowledgeable about trade. I doubt anyone would support him in this endeavor beyond the hardcore footsoldiers who sold their souls to Trump years ago.

I believe there is likely some truth to that. He does try to bully those he's negotiating with, and this seems to be no exception. I don't believe for a second that drumpf is actually going to try to annex Canada, no matter what the speculation is at the cbc. I can't speak to whether he *wants* to annex Canada in his fever dreams, but even I think this is a bridge too far, even for drumpf.

[IceBear]

I think that's how it started, but once he started looking into it and having his yes men tell him it was the bestest idea I think it's more than a joke now. I'm not sure how hard he's willing to push the idea past verbal barbs right now, but I'm not willing to disbelieve he won't

Edit: Rubio was just asked about the annexation threats and he tiptoed around it rather than confirm or deny. And that's before the G7 here in Canada tomorrow. He's going to have a fun time in Quebec. Heck, they were dressed in full on Handmaiden's Tale robes for Women's Day in Quebec to protest Trump

[IceBear]

Windows update hung up my browser...double post

[hepcat]

At least Europe gets to join the fun tariff game today

It is very confusing why an American president, even one so unintelligent and inept as drumpf, would start a trade war with the entire world, simultaneously.

Does he have an overconfident view of America's place in the world?

Is he planning on replacing all western trade partners with Russian aligned ones?

I mean, what is the plan here? Destroy America so he's remembered forever? Any attention is good attention, even bad attention?

What in the actual fuck. It's wild.

It definitely is weird. It's like he's never played Risk before.

He's played. That's the game where he sits down, rolls a die, and whatever he gets he declares himself the winner and fucks off to watch the Gorilla Channel.

side note: like the Vance couch thing, the Gorilla Channel joke will NEVER not be funny to me.

[Smoove_B]

Until you realize that America is the couch.

[Rumpy]

I do wonder what his favourite TV shows are. He doesn't come across as someone who can just have 'fun' and chill out beyond golfing.

[hepcat]

I'm going with scat porn.

[Max Peck]

He watches a lot of Fox News. Not that there's much of a difference between that and scat porn.

[Punisher]

He's gambling that tariffs will work to replace tax income so that he can eliminate the income tax, making him the most popular president of all time (for about three months until the economy completely and irrevocably collapses).

He has even said this out loud.

Yes, I've read this and if it ends up being right I guess everyone else will have egg on their face. Most articles I've read seem to say that as of right now the only tax cuts are to the ultra rich (who aren't know to pass along their savings) and that if he gets businesses to move back to the US then the money he collects from the importers goes away as nothing to import to tax

Are you crazy? Have you even seen the price of eggs?

[Holman]

I do wonder what his favourite TV shows are. He doesn't come across as someone who can just have 'fun' and chill out beyond golfing.

I'd assume that his favorite form of entertainment is scrolling Twitter/TruthSocial, where he's flooded with more adulation and parasocial love than he would ever have time to exhaust.

[IceBear]

He's gambling that tariffs will work to replace tax income so that he can eliminate the income tax, making him the most popular president of all time (for about three months until the economy completely and irrevocably collapses).

He has even said this out loud.

Yes, I've read this and if it ends up being right I guess everyone else will have egg on their face. Most articles I've read seem to say that as of right now the only tax cuts are to the ultra rich (who aren't know to pass along their savings) and that if he gets businesses to move back to the US then the money he collects from the importers goes away as nothing to import to tax

Are you crazy? Have you even seen the price of eggs?

According to CNN, the price of eggs have just started to come down...in time to go up again for the Easter and Passover demand.

[Rumpy]

He's played. That's the game where he sits down, rolls a die, and whatever he gets he declares himself the winner and fucks off to watch the Gorilla Channel.

side note: like the Vance couch thing, the Gorilla Channel joke will NEVER not be funny to me.

If he's played, a more likely scenario would be, he plays one round, then throws a tantrum scattering all the pieces across the room while claiming his opponents are unfairly playing by the rules.

[Zarathud]

He really pisses me off. He put tariffs on world wide steel and aluminum, so Canada and the EU are replying with tariffs of their own. Now Trump is mad and said he's going to up the ante. What the fuck does he think everyone is going to do? Just roll over and take it? So he's probably going to raise the tariffs (I hope that's all he's going to do) and everyone will probably raise their response back into a vicious cycle. He could just decide to negotiate with everyone.

Trump doesn’t want to negotiate because this is how you destroy Western economies without Russia firing a single bullet.

[Isgrimnur]

[Blackhawk]

"I'd like to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike, as a warning to the next ten generations that some favors come with too high a price. I want to look up into your lifeless eyes and wave like this."

[Isgrimnur]

[gbasden]

I'd like to believe that I would live long enough to see heads on pikes like Vir did, but that's not the way our timeline is rolling.

[IceBear]

So CTV is covering the G7 meeting here in Quebec. From their article:

Lutnick praises U.K. and Mexico, blasts Canada on trade retaliation
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick praised the U.K. and Mexico for refraining from engaging in tit-for-tat tariff hikes with the U.S., warning that trading partners who upset Trump with their responses to American protectionist steps open themselves to a severe reaction.

“If you make him unhappy, he responds unhappy,” Lutnick said of Trump’s move Thursday to slap a 200 per cent tariff on European Union alcohol products in reaction to the EU’s retaliation against new U.S. steel and aluminum duties.

So, again this administration is fine with doling out financial pain but if you do it back it's "OMG, that will hurt us, stop that or we'll hurt you harder".

Fucking bullies. Our guys are just asking to sit at a table and discuss what can be done to make everyone happy before you just start tariffing. That and STOP.WITH.THE.ANNEXATION.THREATS. At this point I'd settle for tariffs if it meant we'd never be American, and maybe that's why he does it; so people can say "Well, it's not as bad as it could be"

[RunningMn9]

Absolutely fuck these people. What an embarrassing clown.

[hepcat]

Unfortunately, the slightly lower inflation numbers reported recently are causing Trump to run around like a prize rooster, claiming it was all him. It was not. And those numbers were generated BEFORE he started imposing tariffs.

[LordMortis]

Nationally the price of eggs went up last month. Here, they went up another $.50 moving from $5 a dozen to $5.50 a dozen. Oh, that's right food and energy aren't included in the inflation report.

[IceBear]

10:50 a.m. EDT: Trump lashes out against Wall Street Journal editorial
Trump has fired back at the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) following a recent critique from its editorial board, accusing the business news outlet of “antiquated and weak” thinking.

“The Globalist Wall Street Journal has no idea what they are doing or saying,” he wrote in a post to Truth Social Thursday morning. “They are owned by the polluted thinking of the European Union, which was formed for the primary purpose of ‘screwing’ the United States of America.”

The WSJ opinion piece, entitled “How Do You Like the Trade War Now?” took aim at Trump’s tariff strategy as stock prices continue to decline.

“The trouble with trade wars is that once they begin they can quickly escalate and get out of control,” the editorial published Tuesday reads. “We said from the beginning that this North American trade war is the dumbest in history, and we were being kind.”

Minutes after his initial post lambasting the outlet, Trump posted again, writing that “The U.S. doesn’t have Free Trade. We have ‘Stupid Trade.’ The Entire World is RIPPING US OFF!!!”

You guys have the economy that the world envies but sure, you're being ripped off. Also Mr Trump you're the one acting like it's the 1920s and 30s when it comes to antiquated thinking

[pr0ner]

Oh, that's right food and energy aren't included in the inflation report.

Yes, they are. The CPI, which includes food and energy, went up 2.8% year over year; core inflation, which doesn't include food and energy, is up 3.1% year over year.

[Rumpy]

So CTV is covering the G7 meeting here in Quebec. From their article:

Lutnick praises U.K. and Mexico, blasts Canada on trade retaliation
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick praised the U.K. and Mexico for refraining from engaging in tit-for-tat tariff hikes with the U.S., warning that trading partners who upset Trump with their responses to American protectionist steps open themselves to a severe reaction.

“If you make him unhappy, he responds unhappy,” Lutnick said of Trump’s move Thursday to slap a 200 per cent tariff on European Union alcohol products in reaction to the EU’s retaliation against new U.S. steel and aluminum duties.

So, again this administration is fine with doling out financial pain but if you do it back it's "OMG, that will hurt us, stop that or we'll hurt you harder".

Fucking bullies. Our guys are just asking to sit at a table and discuss what can be done to make everyone happy before you just start tariffing. That and STOP.WITH.THE.ANNEXATION.THREATS. At this point I'd settle for tariffs if it meant we'd never be American, and maybe that's why he does it; so people can say "Well, it's not as bad as it could be"

That went pretty much the way I would have expected it. Nevermind the fact that Canada's very unhappy with how it's been treated as of late. But no, the U.S is the victim. Always.

[IceBear]

Keep in mind this statement was made before any of the meetings today, but I don't expect any miracles

[Smoove_B]

Up next, champagne:

President Donald Trump said Thursday he plans to put a 200% tariff on alcohol from France and other European nations in the latest escalation of global trade tensions.

The U.S. tariff comes after the European Union moved to reinstate an import tax on American whiskey.

“The European Union, one of the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the World, which was formed for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the United States, has just put a nasty 50% Tariff on Whisky. If this Tariff is not removed immediately, the U.S. will shortly place a 200% Tariff on all WINES, CHAMPAGNES, & ALCOHOLIC PRODUCTS COMING OUT OF FRANCE AND OTHER E.U. REPRESENTED COUNTRIES. This will be great for the Wine and Champagne businesses in t

[stessier]

He might be right that high tariffs would be good the domestic alcohol business. I don't drink, but my sense is people could switch brands pretty easily. They may be wistful about not getting exactly what they want, but I don't see them becoming teetotalers as a result.

That being said, it's like his schooling never got the part where isolationism was bad when we last tried it. Fascinating to see it play out in real time.

[GreenGoo]

Kentucky doesn't agree, but maybe the difference will even out in the future.

I do agree that watching this administration flail about on the world stage is fascinating. I just wish it wasn't so dangerous at the same time.

[LordMortis]

That being said, it's like his schooling never got the part where isolationism was bad when we last tried it.

It helped give power to Nazis and build the Soviet Union, didn't it? I think they'd consider that a win.

[Blackhawk]

Fascinating to see it play out in real time.

It's kind of like sharks. It's fascinating to watch them feeding.

But not much fun from the inside.

[hepcat]

Can they put a tariff on foreign "models"? Hit the Trumps where they live, man.

[GreenGoo]

Fascinating to see it play out in real time.

It's kind of like sharks. It's fascinating to watch them feeding.

But not much fun from the inside.

I'm impressed, because they've taken a basic premise, a "fact" as far as western culture is concerned, and made it debateable for a large swath of Americans.

Nazis are bad: Yes/No?

(some) Americans: Well, that depends...

At that point all bets are off.

[pr0ner]

Up next, champagne:

President Donald Trump said Thursday he plans to put a 200% tariff on alcohol from France and other European nations in the latest escalation of global trade tensions.

The U.S. tariff comes after the European Union moved to reinstate an import tax on American whiskey.

“The European Union, one of the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the World, which was formed for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the United States, has just put a nasty 50% Tariff on Whisky. If this Tariff is not removed immediately, the U.S. will shortly place a 200% Tariff on all WINES, CHAMPAGNES, & ALCOHOLIC PRODUCTS COMING OUT OF FRANCE AND OTHER E.U. REPRESENTED COUNTRIES. This will be great for the Wine and Champagne businesses in t

Champagne is literally not made in the US.

[Rumpy]

Keep in mind this statement was made before any of the meetings today, but I don't expect any miracles

Oh ok. Context is important in this case. I hope it went more smoothly than that.