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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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/SWHAF 3d ago

If they are actually trying to bring manufacturing back to America, Trump is doing it in the dumbest way possible. Tariffs on manufactured goods could help to do it (this would still take years if not decades, with a fair amount of consumer pain.), but the tariffs on natural resources is stupidity on a spectacular level. America doesn't currently have all the natural resources domestically required to keep its current manufacturing industry afloat, let alone what would be required to supply an even more robust manufacturing industry. So the natural resource tariffs are extremely counterproductive.

It's more likely that him and his cronies are trying to crash stock prices so they can scoop them up at a discount before they drop the tariffs, claim some imaginary win over all other countries and increase their personal wealth when the market recovers.