Tit for Tat Tariffs - The US versus the World

[Perpetual Student]

All those poor Americans where I live could afford Trump flags, hats, and bumper stickers. They will be fine.

Hey aren't they made in China? A 145% tariff on MAGA hats - ain't that ironic?

 

[sjastro]

This man just screwed economies all over the world, started a trade war with endless countries, after running on a platform of bringing down prices on Day 1, and you think it's cool that "prices are going to rise." What is wrong with you? There is a video of Trump in the White House with his billionnaire friends bragging about the money they made on stocks they bought after the market got screwed and I guess you think that is cool too. People are hurting left and right - but hey - that's ok too?

It's called cognitive dissonance.

 

[Aryeh Jay]

It's called cognitive dissonance.

Some call it being a stable genius.
Others call it real leadership.

 

[Postvieww]

This man just screwed economies all over the world, started a trade war with endless countries, after running on a platform of bringing down prices on Day 1, and you think it's cool that "prices are going to rise." What is wrong with you? There is a video of Trump in the White House with his billionnaire friends bragging about the money they made on stocks they bought after the market got screwed and I guess you think that is cool too. People are hurting left and right - but hey - that's ok too?

Was it ok that a mentally incompetent Biden sat in the Oval Office while unelected people ran the country? That happened! Liberals did not complain. Was it ok that our borders were opened to whom ever will come in including murders, rapist, terrorist, drug and human traffickers. That happened, liberals did not complain. Was it ok that money was passed out like candy one example, Stacie Abram’s. That happened liberals did not complain. That is just the tip of the iceberg and all of whining from many on the left about billionaires and oligarchs is just noise and distraction. Liberals loved Musk until he aligned with Trump to bring physical sanity to this nation. The real problem for many on the left is digging in to and exposing the corrupt slush funds of many politicians.

 

[BNR32FAN]

This man just screwed economies all over the world, started a trade war with endless countries, after running on a platform of bringing down prices on Day 1, and you think it's cool that "prices are going to rise." What is wrong with you? There is a video of Trump in the White House with his billionnaire friends bragging about the money they made on stocks they bought after the market got screwed and I guess you think that is cool too. People are hurting left and right - but hey - that's ok too?

This is exactly the problem with so many democrats, they distort the facts and throw around false accusations whenever it suits their position. Unfortunately it’s also the same problem with so many republicans as well. It’s so hard to just have an honest discussion with either side that it’s usually not even worth trying. So you don’t care that those countries are charging us more in tariffs than we’re charging them? I like the idea of reciprocal tariffs, we charge you the same you charge us doesn’t sound unfair at all to me. In reality Trump hasn’t actually changed the tariffs for anyone except China. In reality he has threatened to if they refuse to renegotiate a better deal where America isn’t getting ripped off anymore. Hence the 90 day suspension of tariff increases. Your statements aren’t accurately describing the facts.

 

[Nithavela]

In reality Trump hasn’t actually changed the tariffs for anyone except China.

The 10 % "base" tariffs and 25 % tarrifs on steel, aluminium cars/car parts are still active.

https://www.axios.com/2025/04/09/trump-tariffs-90-day-pause-china

 

[loveofourlord]

Was it ok that a mentally incompetent Biden sat in the Oval Office while unelected people ran the country? That happened! Liberals did not complain. Was it ok that our borders were opened to whom ever will come in including murders, rapist, terrorist, drug and human traffickers. That happened, liberals did not complain. Was it ok that money was passed out like candy one example, Stacie Abram’s. That happened liberals did not complain. That is just the tip of the iceberg and all of whining from many on the left about billionaires and oligarchs is just noise and distraction. Liberals loved Musk until he aligned with Trump to bring physical sanity to this nation. The real problem for many on the left is digging in to and exposing the corrupt slush funds of many politicians.

you got any evidence of that or just right wing lies and talking points as usual, and lets take a look at trump who seems to show many signs of mental impairment.

 

[Postvieww]

you got any evidence of that or just right wing lies and talking points as usual, and lets take a look at trump who seems to show many signs of mental impairment.

False Trump just passed a cognitive test Biden would not take one or if he did would not release the results. If you need evidence of the mess The Biden administration caused you may just be out of touch with events.

 

[Aryeh Jay]

False Trump just passed a cognitive test Biden would not take one or if he did would not release the results. If you need evidence of the mess The Biden administration caused you may just be out of touch with events.

It's sad that Biden didn't take a test that measures if you can tell the difference between an elephant and a triangle.

Trump is truly sharp as a tac.

 

[BNR32FAN]

Was it ok that a mentally incompetent Biden sat in the Oval Office while unelected people ran the country? That happened! Liberals did not complain. Was it ok that our borders were opened to whom ever will come in including murders, rapist, terrorist, drug and human traffickers. That happened, liberals did not complain. Was it ok that money was passed out like candy one example, Stacie Abram’s. That happened liberals did not complain. That is just the tip of the iceberg and all of whining from many on the left about billionaires and oligarchs is just noise and distraction. Liberals loved Musk until he aligned with Trump to bring physical sanity to this nation. The real problem for many on the left is digging in to and exposing the corrupt slush funds of many politicians.

This isn’t accurate either, because illegal immigrants have been allowed to remain in the US after crossing the boarder illegally and apply for a green card as far back as I can remember, for several decades. Long before Trump or Biden was in office. Furthermore during the green card application process EVERYONE undergoes a background check. It’s the first thing USCIS does. In reality the boarders weren’t open for anyone to cross which is why there were thousands of people camping out on the Mexican side of the boarder. Why would you have thousands of people camping out on the Mexican side of the boarder if they’re allowed to enter? The reason those people were camped there was because they were WAITING TO BE PROCESSED. Why were they waiting to be processed if they were allowed to enter without any background check? I worked in concrete construction for 29 years and I know numerous immigrants who came into America illegally then applied for their green card while they were living in the US and got it because they couldn’t make enough money to pay the application fee working in Mexico. This has been going on for decades before Biden. Most of the people I know who did this, did it back in the 80s and 90s and are US citizens now. It’s not easy to leave your family and friends and your home for several years in order to get a better paying job to support your family, but I imagine it’s a lot better that watching them struggle and starve not knowing if you’re going to be able to keep a roof over their head knowing that you can actually provide for them if you leave and endure that hardship in order to give them a better future. I can’t imagine how hard that would be knowing that you can’t come home and visit for birthdays and Christmas or for any reason because you stand the chance of losing everything you’ve endured so much hardship to accomplish. People act like these people are mostly murderers, rapists, drug dealers, and gang members but in reality that’s only a very minuscule percentage of them. Most of them are just hard working honest people trying to support their family. What Trump is doing is stereotyping all immigrants into this category of hardened criminals in order to get rid of all illegal immigrants when the truth is, their percentage of hardened criminals is probably less than that of US citizens because they have a lot more to lose for getting arrested than we do. They get arrested and their family goes back into poverty whereas if we get arrested our family still has a lot better chance of survival. Another fact is, I’ve lived in Texas my entire life, both in Houston and Dallas areas and I’ve never been in fear of immigrant gang members, the truth is I’m more in fear of US citizens than any other demographic. I see more US citizens joining gangs and becoming hardened criminals than immigrants. I’ve lived in predominantly Mexican communities for several years without any problems. I also lived in 5th ward in Houston for about a year which was the only place I was too afraid to walk down the street at night.

 

[Deborah1$]

It's called cognitive dissonance.

That's a polite way of saying it.

 

[Deborah1$]

Was it ok that a mentally incompetent Biden sat in the Oval Office while unelected people ran the country? That happened! Liberals did not complain. Was it ok that our borders were opened to whom ever will come in including murders, rapist, terrorist, drug and human traffickers. That happened, liberals did not complain. Was it ok that money was passed out like candy one example, Stacie Abram’s. That happened liberals did not complain. That is just the tip of the iceberg and all of whining from many on the left about billionaires and oligarchs is just noise and distraction. Liberals loved Musk until he aligned with Trump to bring physical sanity to this nation. The real problem for many on the left is digging in to and exposing the corrupt slush funds of many politicians.

I'm an independent, I'm not on the left or right nor am I going to defend Biden. He should not have run for a second term and Harris should not have been the choice to run in his place. But I have enough common sense to see when people are being shafted. Trump ran on the border (which Biden should have paid attention to) and he ran on the economy. What you're missing is that Trump's policies are affecting republicans and democrats alike and the majority of Americans are dissatisfied with his performance on the economy - saying it will help in the long run doesn't help those who need assistance now. How is it helping people's 401K plans which are cratering? How many would have voted for him if they knew this is what it would look like? I didn't like Musk then and I don't like him now - and his bestie, Trump, is getting tired of him too and distancing himself from Musk because he sees how unpopular he is. Finally, if you think Trump, Musk and all his other little syncophants aren't enriching themselves whille others are struggling, then you live in a fantasy world. Trump wants to be a dictator like Putin and Xi Zing Ping (sp??). He's creating an autocratic society, like Putin and Xi, threatening members of Congress and the Senate if they don't support him, threatening judges, writing his own rules, and trying to annex other countries like Putin. Now he wants a military parade like Xi's for his birthday. If you really can't see all that is going on, then you're lost. I'll continue to criticize Trump just like I criticzed Biden. They are both old and incompetent.

 

[BNR32FAN]

The 10 % "base" tariffs and 25 % tarrifs on steel, aluminium cars/car parts are still active.

https://www.axios.com/2025/04/09/trump-tariffs-90-day-pause-china

I’m curious how much these countries charge us in tariffs on these products.

 

[loveofourlord]

I’m curious how much these countries charge us in tariffs on these products.

I can tell you who didn't canada, yet because were a smaller country we got punished. Only real tariff I've seen was on milk, wich was never reached.

 

[RocksInMyHead]

I’m curious how much these countries charge us in tariffs on these products.

I don't think anyone outside of developing countries has a 10% baseline tariff.

The EU has a 10% tariff on US vehicles (compared to our 2.5% pre-Trump), but we already imposed a 25% "chicken tax" on light trucks from everywhere but Canada and Mexico, which effectively made foreign-made trucks non-viable here. That's why we don't get the Hilux or the Amarok, or any of the other trucks sold throughout hte rest of the world.

I don't know that anyone has tariffs on US steel and aluminum - we just don't produce a lot of it anymore because we haven't kept up with technology and our labor costs are too high. Trump pulled his steel and aluminum tariffs after about a year the last time around because we weren't able to ramp up production in a cost-effective way. I don't see things going differently today.

 

[GoldenBoy89]

So you don’t care that those countries are charging us more in tariffs than we’re charging them?

I’ll answer this. No I don’t care. Like really, not at all. I care about what makes life more affordable for me.

Why would I care if some government is making its people pay a tax on American goods? We’re not even a goods based economy. So what if Europeans aren’t buying as many Harleys as Harley Davidson would probably want? That’s not my problem. If tariffs are affecting some specific industries, then let’s deal with that and work out some better agreements but imposing tariffs on everything Americans buy and effectively imposing a new sales tax does impact me and you personally, directly and immediately. It raises the cost of living on all of us but of course, running on a platform of promising to purposely make everything more expensive for Americans isn’t a winning strategy.

 

[Nithavela]

I’m curious how much these countries charge us in tariffs on these products.

The answer to that is of course very complicated.

The EU, for example, has a 10% tariff on US cars. But the main reason many US cars don't sell in the EU is that they are not made for our market. They are too big and use too much gas. Ford is relatively popular. Jeep also has a growing amount of cars on german roads, though it's a specialist market segment (think hunters, farmers and people like that who need an off-road capable vehicle).

 

[BNR32FAN]

The answer to that is of course very complicated.

The EU, for example, has a 10% tariff on US cars. But the main reason many US cars don't sell in the EU is that they are not made for our market. They are too big and use too much gas. Ford is relatively popular. Jeep also has a growing amount of cars on german roads, though it's a specialist market segment (think hunters, farmers and people like that who need an off-road capable vehicle).

I’m not convinced that it’s the size of the vehicles that is a huge factor because all American auto manufacturers make midsized and compact vehicles. I would imagine that the fact that our cars are left side drive is probably the biggest factor. I don’t think American car manufacturers are making right side drive vehicles anymore. I remember seeing some back in the 70s but not any within the last 20 years. I could be wrong, I’m pretty much speculating based on not having seen and American made models made in the last 20 years that are right side drive.

 

[BNR32FAN]

I’ll answer this. No I don’t care. Like really, not at all. I care about what makes life more affordable for me.

Why would I care if some government is making its people pay a tax on American goods? We’re not even a goods based economy. So what if Europeans aren’t buying as many Harleys as Harley Davidson would probably want? That’s not my problem. If tariffs are affecting some specific industries, then let’s deal with that and work out some better agreements but imposing tariffs on everything Americans buy and effectively imposing a new sales tax does impact me and you personally, directly and immediately. It raises the cost of living on all of us but of course, running on a platform of promising to purposely make everything more expensive for Americans isn’t a winning strategy.

So what happens when we go to war with a country like China and we can’t get access to important commodities like pharmaceuticals for example because companies don’t make them in the US because it costs too much in tariffs to export them to other countries? America has become too dependent on imports and that’s not going to change as long as it’s cheaper to make the products somewhere else and ship them to the US. Manufacturing products in America not only strengthens our economy, it’s strengthens our self sufficiency.

 

[Nithavela]

I’m not convinced that it’s the size of the vehicles that is a huge factor because all American auto manufacturers make midsized and compact vehicles. I would imagine that the fact that our cars are left side drive is probably the biggest factor. I don’t think American car manufacturers are making right side drive vehicles anymore. I remember seeing some back in the 70s but not any within the last 20 years. I could be wrong, I’m pretty much speculating based on not having seen and American made models made in the last 20 years that are right side drive.

Almost all european countries have their cars driven on the right side of the road.