Tariffs and Potential Inflation

[peterk1234]

probably not gonna miss much anyway…..

In all seriousness, Trump is one of the few out there who tells you what he’s going to do and then actually does it.
He talked plenty pre-election about tariffs. One reason, in regards to Mexico, was to discourage more US companies from relocating manufacturing there for cheap labor. The rest of it is to slap train them into doing something with their border.

I don’t get Canada though. Seems like picking a needless fight with an ally. There is a hefty trade deficit with them though, and in my experience, getting goods out of Canada is way easier than selling into Canada. Maybe this will change that?

All in all, hopefully this trade war doesn’t last too long as it will negatively affect consumers. Which will make it harder for him to reverse the inflation he’s been crowing about for the last year and a half.

I think it could be a couple of things.

First, I believe we heavily subsidize Canada. I recall Trump talking about it. That's why he made the comment that Canada might as well be the 51st State. When he makes wild comments like this, he has a reason. He is stirring the pot.Their threat to tariff us is probably very weak because we likely have the ability to cutoff a lot of funding to Canada that would impact them hard.

Second, I think he is dead nuts serious about shutting down drugs flowing into this country. I believe a staggering amount of fentanyl is coming from our neighbors up north.

 

[thebestusernamesaretaken]

Our agricultural system provides subsidies on commodities that we export (soybean, wheat, sorghum, barley, oats, peas, lentils chickpeas, peanuts, corn, potatoes, cotton, rice) but not as much on other fruits and veg. as a result the costs of competing with those products are higher and and less attractive to plant to US farmers. We import much of the fresh fruit and veg.

The vast majority of these foods in the US come from our friends in Canada and Mexico. These foods spoil so there will not be a warehouse stocked up to price protect these items. A 25% tariff is simply going to go to your grocery bill unless you have a fruit and veg gardens or you just stop eating that stuff.

Between 2007 and 2021, the percent of U.S. fresh fruit and vegetable availability supplied by imports grew from 50 to 60 percent for fresh fruit and from 20 to 38 percent for fresh vegetables (excluding potatoes, sweet potatoes, and mushrooms).

 

[thebestusernamesaretaken]

 

[Sytes]

Just immagine if the roles were reversed and PM Justin Trudeau were going around talking crap about annexing the US or taking it by force. Now immagine if Trudeau's political lackies and fan base were all in on it and joking about a 13th Province and so on

That's the crap I can not stand about his flipping mouth. If he knew when to shut his piehole, he would stink far less the turd he is... (still less than Harris) and that says a whoopload.

That is simply a flat out non-starter. Agree 100%. Pure dip-chit move that made it ten times more challenging to revamp our valued North American solidarity. We've bled together. I can't say enough about it. Peeves me even thinking about it as I type.

 

[ismith]

https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/yuan-hits-record-low-mexican-peso-canadian-dollar-tumble-trump-tariffs-2025-02-02/

 

[SAJ-99]

First, I believe we heavily subsidize Canada. I recall Trump talking about it

And people get upset when they say it’s a cult. SMH.

 

[thebestusernamesaretaken]

Someone had previously asked what kind of solutions are there for trade issues and bringing manufacturing back into the United States.

In certain conditions the US provide tax incentives and some of those incentives are tied to employment in the area. Most of that activity is on the local level. One of the issues with this is that a company has to be profitable in order to pay taxes.

Many of these investments are hugely expensive and would require several years before they find a return on investment. Other countries are providing cash incentives to make those investments as well as marking up those incentives to cover the all or some of the tariffs for doing business in their country while exporting to the targeted country. That's one one the reasons why manufacturing became so difficult in the U.S..

The US supplies incentives for foodstuffs and recently semiconductor chips. That's working but maybe they need to be reviewed on a regular basis without political intervention (ie - can't change the scope of the mission when creating the subsidies to payoff an unrelated crony), to ensure that the subsidies are doing what we wanted them to do.

Billionaires (i have nothing against them), are getting farm subsidies because that it is part of the business model. Is this what we wanted? Maybe, maybe not. If the intention is to secure food security for our country then maybe its working, if the intention of the subsidies is to keep the small farmer in business - then maybe not.

If the US wishes to be competitive in world markets with disjointed or unrelated rules - then we have to change how we do business and accept that government investment in US society is imperative to do that business to equalize the playing field. Many would call that a form of socialism but its just competitiveness.

The government of China invested $3.6 billion in the Chinese auto battery and automaker company BYD between 2018 and 2022. They also invested in their road systems infrastructure and provided tax incentives to customers to buy these cars. They are currently kicking Teslas but in sales (Tesla produced over half of their cars in China). BYD is making good cars less expensively than we could in the US, they are a world leader in electric vehicles and if they enter the US and if they pay for the infrastructure, they will most likely have the majority market share.

 

[noharleyyet]

And people get upset when they say it’s a cult. SMH.

It’s not like Trudeau hasn’t played to the camera SAJ.

 

[TheJason]

 

[ismith]

View attachment 359386

Flaunting your wealth a bit, aren’t you?

 

[Nick87]

View attachment 359386

Jalapeños and limes?

 

[ismith]

And people get upset when they say it’s a cult. SMH.

 

[Hem]

 

[Nick87]

Oh come on let's not start a meme war....I'd like to not get the boot.

 

[Hem]

Oh come on let's not start a meme war....I'd like to not get the boot.

I had to slip just one in....
No worries, I'm done.

 

[SaskHunter]

I think it could be a couple of things.

First, I believe we heavily subsidize Canada. I recall Trump talking about it. That's why he made the comment that Canada might as well be the 51st State. When he makes wild comments like this, he has a reason. He is stirring the pot.Their threat to tariff us is probably very weak because we likely have the ability to cutoff a lot of funding to Canada that would impact them hard.

Second, I think he is dead nuts serious about shutting down drugs flowing into this country. I believe a staggering amount of fentanyl is coming from our neighbors up north.

Okay buddy!

 

[INMT]

View attachment 359396

My cousins husbands wife works for the new administration. That’s a real picture from Mar A largo from this weekend. Don’t leg faux news tell you otherwise.

 

[TheJason]

Jalapeños and limes?

Si

 

[thebestusernamesaretaken]

My cousins husbands wife works for the new administration. That’s a real picture from Mar A largo from this weekend. Don’t leg faux news tell you otherwise.

nasty

 

[cgasner1]

Okay buddy!
View attachment 359401

You should do your homework here. The Simpsons are know for telling the future