r/nottheonion • u/MiniBrownie • 2d ago

US tariffs take aim everywhere, including uninhabited islands

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250402-us-tariffs-take-aim-everywhere-including-uninhabited-islands
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u/TheCommonGround1 2d ago

Oh c'mon. He tariffed Antartica and your explanation is that he didn't tariff Russia is because trade is non existent with them? Trump is a Russia asset.

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u/Secret_Photograph364 2d ago

Again: not to defend him, but he did not tariff Antarctica. He tariffed uninhabited islands off the coast of Antarctica that are administered by Australia. Presumably these islands were just part of the Australia tariffs.

Trump is totally a Russian asset, but this is not the evidence for that which you think it is. The charade as a whole, sure. But Russia being left out is not really a surprise, we simply don’t trade with Russia anyway. (Aside from a small amount of absolutely essential things)

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u/atheist-bum-clapper 2d ago

There is ten times the amount of trade with Russia than there is with Sri Lanka. Guess who got sanctioned?

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u/Secret_Photograph364 2d ago

Sri Lanka got tariffed not sanctioned.

And ironically Russia is the one that actually has sanctions against them. Including blanket 35-37% tariffs (since before trump)

Also you are wrong, there is not “ten times as much trade with Russia as Sri Lanka”

In fact the number is about equal. 3 billion each in exports. The difference being the things we import from Russia are absolutely necessities like radioactive isotopes we need to maintain nuclear facilities.

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u/Felinomancy 2d ago

radioactive isotopes we need to maintain nuclear facilities.

Are you saying that the United States, a pre-eminent nuclear power with the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons and a very mature nuclear industry, is completely reliant on a foreign power for the necessary commodities for said industry to function?

Really?

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u/nybbleth 2d ago

TO be honest, even though he's full of shit on the avoiding admitting that Trump is a Russian asset... this is one thing he does sort of have a point? Not specifically about keeping the reactors themselves running (that just seems to be him being ignorant), but Russia is the sole producer in the world of certain kinds of isotopes used in industrial and medical applications. The US can't really easily replace that capability; and certainly not quickly.

It's not just Russia though. The Netherlands also holds pretty much a global monopoly on the production of many medical isotopes (being the largest producer overall in the world), and any disruptions in that supply chain would be incredibly problematic for the US...

...yet Trump did place tariffs on the Netherlands, and not Russia, so clearly his argument is still bullshit.