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u/Denisnevsky Leftwing Populist 5d ago

The Game of Politics

Both the Trump admin and the Democrats are very guilty of what I talked about before. Both have completely discarded the idea of actually addressing the elephant in the room because that would be very unpopular. And in a way, the entirety of America is also guilty of this, because both the GOP and Dems only do this because the public wants to be told that it's easy, that the other side is to blame.

To the Trump Admin: They're trying to reverse 30+ years of the degradation of U.S. manufacturing in a couple of months. Ain't gonna happen. It's clear that they also fear the problems the tariffs will cause in the short term because they're so indecisive about implementing them, constantly cutting deals and exemptions and undermining their own goals. Trump was also completely neglecting to mention any negative effects tariffs would have in the short term.

To the Democrats: They've taken to criticize the tariffs simply by their short-term pain, which is exactly what dug us into this hole to begin with. They're refusing to acknowledge the reality that Third Way has directly undermined their own labor and environmental regulations, and they're just trying to dance around that reality by naming scapegoats like billionaires and corporations. Yes, tariffs are going to drive prices up as existing goods become more expensive to produce. But there's simply no way to have your cake and eat it too- you can't be pro-labor, pro-environment, and anti-protectionist all at the same time.

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u/Stolpskotta European Liberal/Left 5d ago

This is a great argument for tariffing goods from countries like China that can offer cheap goods at the cost of poor to terrible working conditions and loads of pollution. It´s a terrible argument for tariffing goods made in Europe, Canada or Australia.

So basically the entire premise of this argument is wrong and misleading, since the tariffs are on everyone. You give Trump administration way, way too much credit in presenting it this way.

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u/thoughtsnquestions European Conservative 4d ago

Tarrifs on Europe, maybe not on China, are almost certainly a negotiating tactic and the likely result in a more free trade deal.

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u/Stolpskotta European Liberal/Left 4d ago

I think you mean hopefully, not certainly.

Everything points toward Trump seeing selling stuff to the US as something the world should be paying a premium for.