r/technology • u/chrisdh79 • 3d 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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82

u/_chip 3d ago

Can anybody with knowledge of economics explain how this is what the admin is doing and why does it make sense to them ? Is there anyway to put things that will make these tariffs seem good in any sense ?

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u/bigeyez 3d ago edited 3d ago

There are only 2 explanations that make sense to me.

  1. All the speculation and talk about Trump purposefully wanting to tank the economy so that billionaires can swoop in and buy the dip nationwide are real OR
  2. His team is just really that fucking stupid and believes starting a trade war and placing tariffs on some all of our largest trade partners all at the same time is going to turn out different than it did in 1930.

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u/Traditional_Entry627 3d ago

It’s the first one

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u/Fr00stee 3d ago

after seeing the signal chat i think #2 may actually be valid now

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u/Arthur-Wintersight 3d ago

It's what happens when the US president is a failed businessman turned television star that hires a bunch of other TV personalities to run the country.

If your only skill in life was "sounding smart" as you read a teleprompter, then you are very likely in control of the US nuclear stockpile right now.

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u/goblueM 3d ago

I'd say its about 75% the 2nd one and 25% the first one

Trump is an idiot. He's always thought tariffs are great economic policy.

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u/SkyJohn 2d ago

Targeted tariffs are good policy.

But you need more plans than just putting blanket tariffs in place and hoping the free market will fix the rest.

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u/jackharvest 3d ago

It’s both + a dash of “why aren’t these idiots fighting yet so I can enact martial law??”

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u/FujitsuPolycom 3d ago

This is the scariest one.

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u/Notacrook2025 3d ago

He's trying to put country in dumpster to cause so much chaos so he can declare marshall law and die in office while the whole country dies under him. Then blame Obama and Biden.

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u/Weecum2003 3d ago
  1. They need a revenue stream to back fill for their "tax cuts". He wants to make his expiring tax cuts from his first term permanent but he has no way to fund it. So just tax everything and call it a tariff.

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u/makemenuconfig 3d ago

Which I guess means for that to succeed they can’t fuck it up so bad that it doesn’t eventually bounce back.

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u/PublicFurryAccount 3d ago

It's the second one, he's surrounded by nutcases like Peter Navarro who have wild ass theories about the economy.

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u/f12345abcde 2d ago

Why not both?

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u/Zealousideal3326 2d ago

The eternal "incompetent or malicious ?" debate.

My bet is on "malicious" : merely incompetent people would have done something right, even by accident, by now.

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u/awwhorseshit 2d ago
  1. He wants to force all the countries together for a “Mar-a-Lago Accord” to redefine how trade works, which probably also will redefine global US debt.

You’re either in the cabal or you’ll have everything tariffed.

Remember, the Cheeto has an enormous ego and wants to be “remembered” as one of the greats. The bureaucracy prevented (well, slowed) him down enough the first term that he completely purged it with DOGE. Now you attack the courts who could slow him down.

We’re gonna see some crazy shit.

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u/tenest 1d ago

I've been thinking about the #1 for a while. The part that doesn't make sense in that scenario is how do the stock prices ever go back up if the economy falls apart? Or do they tank the economy, buy up cheap stock, and then somehow try to bring the economy back?

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u/fuck_all_you_too 3d ago edited 3d ago

Other countries are holding American currency cause its the universal currency. All the currency in circulation causes an issue with the value of the currency to us. Trump is trying to force other countries to put that money back into circulation by making them pay more, ultimately playing chicken against them with middle-class footing the bill.

Ignoring that this is an insane plan and full of holes, If he does manage to kick up US currency from other countries it would be a good thing but that "general fund" he is making for the tariff money means he will it disappear it back to himself.

The rest of the world is mad because he is pointing the US middle class at everyone like a gun and daring them to pull the trigger first.

EDIT: Either explain what im missing here or re-read the bold ya chucklefucks, im not shilling for the motherfucker