2mo ago

Trump floats cutting China tariffs to 80% ahead of meeting as he looks to deescalate trade war

As US and China begin trade talks in Geneva, Trump's tariff hammer looks less mighty than he claims

President Donald Trump on Friday floated cutting tariffs on China from 145% to 80% ahead of a weekend meeting among top U.S. and Chinese trade officials as he looks to deescalate the trade war.

politics @lemmy.world

RandAlThor @lemmy.ca

2mo ago

Trump floats cutting China tariffs to 80% ahead of meeting as he looks to deescalate trade war

apnews.com /article/trump-tariffs-china-41d189bfe510e3ed7692da8647a14e64

35 comments

The trade war HE. BUILT.
- Not even a trade war it’s one man thinking he has more leverage than he does and looking like an idiot.
Art of the deal: make concessions before negotiations.
- Those are preconcessions, a little known tactic. It’s followed by the negotiation crumble and post negotiation victory lap.
Any tariff over 100% stalls trade completely. He's probably feeling pressure over that.
Sounds like he's negotiating with himself in the corner while China laughs at this point.
- Some industries are saying they are completely unviable around 40-60%. See the recent Gamers Nexus video about the computer hardware industry.
  Some companies can survive 10-30% by cutting margins and passing to the consumer, but there are entire classes of product where demand will just evaporate if you raise prices 20-30%, especially budget and value products.
  It's impossible to reshore manufacturing to stop this too. Every single economist is saying that there is a 0% chance that the way Trump has weaponized tariffs will cause any meaningful production in the US. The only outcome from this is empty shelves and stagflation.
  
  The only way this could hypothetically accomplish reshoring is if it was heavily government subsidized which has not been the stated intention. Trump wants to keep tariff revenue to enrich himself and his cronies.
  No one is investing millions to reshore when Trump changes his mind on tariffs every few days.
  
  The only outcome from this is empty shelves and stagflation.
  Wrong, there's also prices dropping for us(no caps) Europeans
  
  So, was this always just the best possible narrative spin for Trump to do some open market manipulation and make him and his peers even richer or is Trump stupid enough to believe the nonsense he was fed and regurgitated to his followers?
He can pussy out all he wants - the damage is already done.
- Some damage is already done. A lot. But flip flopping again and backing down would make it less bad.
- I don't think he committed enough damage. Public opinion has not shifted enough.
How's that trade war going for ya, Donny?
- They're easy to win. All you do is, whatever happens, say you won.
  
  Note: this technique works best if your supporters are fucking idiots
- Thought this was posted on /lepardseatmyface for a sec.
Shut the fuck up, Donny.
I wondered when he'd back down, and what excuse he'd give to his followers.
- whatever excuse they will eat it up and parrot it like it is the most profound economic truth, and then complain about Biden when we hit Depression 2.0 in August
Does it matter? Trade is nearly stalled anyway.
What an obnoxious whiny little bitch... goes and starts a trade war for no reason, and then loses.
- i hated him before he basically ruined my life
  
  and to 40% of the country that makes you mentally ill
- Not for no reason, because he somehow thought it would generate enough profit to cut taxes on the rich
  Literally no one in his administration understands macroeconomics
- The damage is done, we will be in Depression 2.0 by midsummer
  Supply chain is already broken, it will take months to rebuild if they ended the tariff bullshit RIGHT NOW
  But as slow as this is moving, we're going to see massive layoffs in shipping infrastructure and that will take YEARS to rebuild
- That and xi and Putin were in a love nest this morning and posted all the pics. It was very much a rub in trump’s face.
Shun anyone who voted for this for life
- I'll forgive people who voted the first time, I avoid people who voted for him the second time, and I have to constantly restrain myself from being violent on people who voted for him a third time.
This must what winning looks like.
My congratulations to Trade for winning the trade war.

35 comments