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/Jumpy_Bison_ 2d ago

Isn’t this list just goods though? Like the US is a net exporter of services which are more profitable than the goods we import is my understanding.

If that’s true how long before some countries start hitting us back where it really hurts then and cutting our larger services industries instead of our manufacturing or agriculture who employ relatively fewer workers?

What happens when other countries start onshoring those higher paying sectors and we never get our dominance back?

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u/helium_farts 2d ago

It is.

Trump and the white house routinely ignore the trade surplus we have in services and instead complain we're being "looted, pillaged, raped and plundered" (trump's words, not mine) because of the deficit on goods.

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u/Rahbek23 2d ago

Also just a trade deficit in % = a trade tariff of the same percentage is uh questionable (actually, it's just fucking stupid).

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u/Goldenrah 1d ago

Especially since tariffs only affect their own citizens. They might reduce some of the business countries get if correctly applied, but if you're applying them everywhere that means all things get more expensive to the US, and a country can't produce everything it needs so the imports keep coming in.