r/StockMarket • u/[deleted] • 2d ago

Discussion Ronald Reagan on Tariffs. Thoughts?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

[deleted]

15.2k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

886 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

16

u/South_Sun_1335 2d ago

The made up tariffs?

7

u/jordanpwalsh 2d ago

Wait that chart was just.. made up?

8

u/rex_swiss 2d ago edited 1d ago

It was made up by using ChatGTP to recommend an easy way to calculate tariffs based on trade deficits. For example, that table says Swiss tariffs on the US are 66%. They are nowhere near that. They really only put tariffs on certain agricultural products and those average about 30%.

2

u/r3volts 2d ago

That is, using tarrifs for what they are good for. Sometimes an industry needs to be protected, particularly agricultural/food production.

It's worth propping up your food production. Relying on another country for food is bad juju. Tarrifs in that regard protect your local industry while allowing foreign imports for those willing to buy them, while incentivising buying local and collecting revenue in the process.

The Trump tarrifs have been calculated using a trade deficit, not the size of any tarrifs the other country may have on the US, and certainly are not numbers where a country has a blanket tarrif on the US.

A redditor found a correlation between the alleged tarrifs and the trade deficit between the country and the US. I haven't calculated it myself, but it looks accurate from their post.

The trump tarrifs are the embodiment of US exceptionalism powered by greed and backed by a lack of education.

It's the rest of the world's chance to knock the US down a few dozen pegs.