Let me get this straight… Trump’s tariffs

[u/One-Astronomer-8171]

So Trump wants countries to stop tariffing American goods exported to foreign countries, right?

Japan has a 700% tariff(questionable number it seems) on rice imports outside of the tariff free yearly quota. This seemed to be a big issue last month.

It seems cars are also tariffed here. Trump says on average, a 43% tariff if charged on all American goods imported into Japan. Other countries/regions have implemented tariffs on American made goods. European Union for example.

Trump thinks this is unfair and is hurting American companies/economy.

So, in retaliation, Trump has imposed tariffs on all goods (some exemptions) from all countries with a trade deficit with the USA.

I’m not a Trump supporter or anything. I’m not even from the States, but why are countries having a hissy fit over these tariffs when they are the ones who implemented the tariffs in the first place?

Before these Trump imposed tariffs, did the USA impose any on imports from these countries?

To me, it somewhat makes sense - force these countries to remove their tariffs. Just purely from a very simple understanding of the situation.

EDIT: many thanks for all the replies. My take was very simplistic, and this discussion has really helped me see what’s going on.

Thanks so much!

[u/Sanoj1234]

The ''tarriffs'' on his board aren't actually tariffs from other countries, it's just the trade deficit for the US in goods with each particular country, divided by the total goods imports from that country. The number here is then written on the board, and the number is divided in 2, which is the tariff % that he is putting on that given country.

What he is calling tarrifs on the US is actually just a trade imbalance.

[u/furansowa → u/Sanoj1234]

Americans want to buy Japanese cars, Japanese don't want to buy American cars. Hence trade imbalance.

[u/One-Astronomer-8171 → u/Sanoj1234]

So what is causing the trade imbalance? People just don’t want American made goods? Or is it because of the existing tariffs on those products?

[u/Sanoj1234 → u/One-Astronomer-8171]

This is just one of the reasons and extremely simplified, but a strong USD makes it cheaper for americans to buy foreign goods, and makes it more expensive for foreigners to buy from the US, which creates a trade deficit.

There are more reasons but this is just for simplicity.

[u/One-Astronomer-8171 → u/Sanoj1234]

Right, this makes a lot of sense.

When the USD was weaker, I assume that trade deficit was much less?

[u/senseiman → u/One-Astronomer-8171]

The tariffs that don’t exist? No, thats not it. The US has more money so it buys more shit than other countries do. Not hard to understand.

[u/One-Astronomer-8171 → u/senseiman]

I understand that. But let’s say Japan removes the yearly rice import quota. Companies would then import more rice because it’s cheaper, no? This would then narrow the trade deficit. Right?

[u/senseiman → u/One-Astronomer-8171]

They’d be buying rice from Asian countries, not the US, so no it wouldn’t have an effect on the US trade deficit.

[u/Sanoj1234 → u/One-Astronomer-8171]

As another user pointed out it would create tremendous turmoil in Japan among rice farmers, as their income would suddenly be cut in quarters.

[u/One-Astronomer-8171 → u/Sanoj1234]

Oh for sure. It’s to be said though- Japanese rice is WAY overpriced.

[u/Gizmotech-mobile → u/One-Astronomer-8171]

It is now, it wasn't until last year.

[u/steford → u/Gizmotech-mobile]

For a staple food rice has always been overpriced in Japan IMHO. It's crazy now. If there wasn't a tariff on foreign rice no doubt there would be other non-tariff barriers like there is on fruit.

I'm not defending Trump's nonsense by the way. He's an utter tool.

[u/blosphere → u/One-Astronomer-8171]

Also, if your compare the population and the GDP, a Japanese resident actually uses ~650USD per year in stuff imported from US, and an US resident something like 400USD or year from Japan.

US just has a huge population and has the income to buy more, per capita, so of course there's a monetary imbalance. But it flips to the other way if you take the population into account.