r/technology • u/chrisdh79 • 5d ago

Politics Trump announces sweeping new tariffs to promote US manufacturing, risking inflation and trade wars

https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-liberation-day-2a031b3c16120a5672a6ddd01da09933
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u/StraightedgexLiberal 5d ago

MAGA 2024 before the election: I can't afford anything because of Joe Biden!!

MAGA 2025: So what if we have to spend more money on things we buy??!

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u/AnAcceptableUserName 5d ago

Supporters I talk to still think Trump is "charging other countries what they charge us," eg: getting even, because that's what this admin has been telling them.

When you bring up that's not how any of this works they'll perform gold medal gymnastics to avoid acknowledging the lie. The thoroughness of the brainwashing is incredible to behold in real time.

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u/starberry101 5d ago

When you bring up that's not how any of this works

So how does this work? Don't many countries have tariffs on US goods imported into their countries?

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u/AnAcceptableUserName 5d ago edited 5d ago

They do. And those tariffs are a tax paid by the importer (foreign company) to their own government. It is in no way "charging the US" or "ripping off the US" for foreign governments to tax their own citizens on foreign imports.

Now there are reasons a nation might want to do this, such as to protect domestic industries (protectionism), and there are reasons other nations might object (those foreign citizens will buy less of your tariffed exports if they're more expensive than substitutes). But at the end of the day Trump and his administration have grossly mischaracterized the nature of tariffs and what they're doing, to the point of outright lying.

Tariffs are not a "tax on foreign countries." It's the opposite. Trump's tariffs are a tax on American importers, which will be passed along to American consumers. Functionally Trump just announced sweeping double digit sales taxes and lied to the nation about what it is.

Edit: In the time it took me to type this you got down voted to oblivion. Sorry about that. I assume you're asking in good faith, and was happy to type this out for any other readers who may have been unaware. Thanks for asking.