this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2025
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Donald Trump just imposed a 25 percent tariff on virtually all goods produced by America’s two largest trading partners — Canada and Mexico. He simultaneously established a 20 percent across-the-board tariff on Chinese goods.

As a result, America’s average tariff level is now higher than at any time since the 1940s.

Meanwhile, China and Canada immediately retaliated against Trump’s duties, with the former imposing a 15 percent tariff on American agricultural products and the latter putting a 25 percent tariff on $30 billion of US goods. Mexico has vowed to mount retaliatory tariffs of its own.

This trade war could have far-reaching consequences. Trump’s tariffs have already triggered a stock market sell-off and cooling of manufacturing activity. And economists have estimated that the trade policy will cost the typical US household more than $1,200 a year, as the prices of myriad goods rise.

All this raises the question: Why has the US president chosen to upend trade relations on the North American continent? The stakes of this question are high, since it could determine how long Trump’s massive tariffs remain in effect. Unfortunately, the president himself does not seem to know the answer.

In recent weeks, Trump has provided five different — and contradictory — justifications for his tariffs on Mexico and Canada...

...more in the article.

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[–] chetradley@lemmy.world 20 points 6 days ago

Tariffs allow Trump to pay for his tax cuts to the ultra wealthy by stealing from the working class, without them knowing. He also gets to position himself as a strongman and negotiator. There you go.

[–] beejboytyson@lemmy.world 10 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Trump said he would annex canada. Either he really knows or he really doesn't. I believe the latter. I also believe he's just doing what elon tells him to do.

[–] Crikeste@lemm.ee 7 points 6 days ago

Trump saying absolutely ridiculous things is just another day. Justin Trudeau, on the other hand, saying the United States will never annex Canada? Now that’s some fuckin’ rhetoric.

Same with China. They outright said “we are ready for war in every shape possible.”

The state of things is absolutely fucked lmfao

[–] lmmarsano@lemmynsfw.com 7 points 6 days ago

The guy who said he'd build a wall & Mexico would pay for it doesn't know why he started a trade war?

That's a shock.

[–] iCreativity@feddit.org 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)
[–] massive_bereavement@fedia.io 260 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Putin said: "go forth and break shit" and here we are.

yup. it's successfully costing america its allies.

It's not inappropriate though. I've been saying for years Canada should not be so closely allied with such a fickle country.

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[–] Today@lemmy.world 152 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Apparently It's supposed to get rid of the browns and the gays and the women and everyone else until it's just a bunch of old white men sitting around, counting money, and masturbating to AI porn? Kind of like a hateful gross version of Scrooge McDuck.

[–] boonhet@lemm.ee 2 points 6 days ago

Don't be daft. There'll still be women and browns! They'll keep the republican pickme women who want nothing in life other than to be bred, and the browns that mow their lawns.

[–] tiefling@lemmy.blahaj.zone 40 points 1 week ago (3 children)

It seems to be working, I signed my ticket out of here. I'm a brown and queer woman. Just need to survive until immigration goes through.

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[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 27 points 1 week ago (2 children)
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[–] otto@sh.itjust.works 21 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

Scrooge McDuck was also pretty awful. They had to invent a nemesis for him, Flintheart Glumgold, just to make him not seem so bad by comparison.

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[–] CosmicCleric@lemmy.world 112 points 1 week ago (19 children)

And economists have estimated that the trade policy will cost the typical US household more than $1,200 a year

Remember this, when you hear about tax cuts for the wealthy.

~This~ ~comment~ ~is~ ~licensed~ ~under~ ~CC~ ~BY-NC-SA~ ~4.0~

[–] Hubi@feddit.org 31 points 1 week ago

Funny, isn't that the exact amount of the stimulus checks he handed out during his first presidency?

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[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 94 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] chaogomu@lemmy.world 45 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Either that or Trump is following orders.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 37 points 1 week ago (5 children)

He's following orders but he forgot what they were, too.

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[–] notsoshaihulud@lemmy.world 81 points 1 week ago (8 children)

All this raises the question: Why has the US president chosen to upend trade relations on the North American continent?

It's because the trade agreement trump's unhappy with was made by a raging moron.

[–] thejml@lemm.ee 69 points 1 week ago (4 children)

For everyone else following along, the USMCA that was put in place after Trump renegotiated NAFTA in his first term… was made by Trump. So he’s unhappy with his own legacy. Which seems on brand for him, tbh.

[–] OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca 27 points 1 week ago

At the time he was extremely proud of it. It was the best deal ever made.

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[–] thesohoriots@lemmy.world 25 points 1 week ago (2 children)

The same moron who sunk casinos somehow

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[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 59 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Just my opinion as a layman: the tariffs give his corporate backers all the excuse they need to jack up prices even higher.

[–] MuskyMelon@lemmy.world 44 points 1 week ago

And when he takes the tariffs off, the prices never go back to the original starting point.

[–] Benjaben@lemmy.world 42 points 1 week ago (11 children)

That, plus it seems very likely that he and friends are just manipulating the market to trade on the predictable moves he's causing. Ya know, the kinda stuff that earned Musk some mild hand slaps and theatrical pearl clutching (in addition to giant financial benefits) in recent years.

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[–] SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 44 points 1 week ago (3 children)

He is a Russian asset and has been since at least 2014

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[–] Yojimbo@lemmy.ca 36 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Cuz he is a puppet, a Russian asset and generally not an intelligent person nor a good businessman.

[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago

Yep, he has no political will of his own, he's a fucking geriatric reality TV host, he has no energy left, he's being paraded around to push the talking points of people like Stephen Miller and Putin. He gives zero shits and it shows. He barely bothers trying to articulate his reasoning for anything, and he still has a rabid following of zealots who have turned off all thought and will just invent his justifications for him.

[–] sundrei@lemmy.sdf.org 32 points 1 week ago

He had the idea to raise tariffs, and he believes all his ideas are really good, so he followed his own good advice and raised tariffs, dead simple.

[–] sasquatch7704@lemmy.world 31 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I know why he did it. Because that's what his best best friend from Kremlin said and his two last working brain cells are in vacation playing golf.

He probably doesn't understand that if US stops all trading, will become just a bigger North Korea with nukes.

[–] R0gueS4t3llite@infosec.pub 28 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (9 children)

I never liked that many seem to be of the idea that Trump is an absolute buffoon who doesn't know what he is doing. He and his goons are not headless chickens. They are not stupid, and know incredibly well what they are doing and why.

You don't get to win an election twice if you're as much of an idiot as most make him out to be. If we keep underestimating our 'opposition', we will continue to be defeated.

See this article for more: https://unherd.com/2025/02/why-trumps-tariffs-are-a-masterplan/

TLDR:

In this article, Yanis Varoufakis analyzes Donald Trump's economic strategy, arguing that it is more sophisticated than his critics assume. Trump's focus on tariffs is part of a broader plan to reshape the global economic order, which Varoufakis describes as an "anti-Nixon Shock." Trump believes the U.S. has been exploited due to the dollar's role as the global reserve currency, which he sees as a burden rather than a privilege. He aims to weaken the dollar to boost U.S. manufacturing and reduce trade deficits, while maintaining its reserve status to fund U.S. deficits and military power.

Trump's plan involves using tariffs to pressure foreign central banks to lower interest rates, thereby depreciating their currencies relative to the dollar. This would offset the price increases caused by tariffs on U.S. consumers. The second phase of his strategy involves bilateral negotiations with key countries, leveraging tariffs and security threats to force them to appreciate their currencies and make concessions, such as buying more U.S. goods or relocating manufacturing to the U.S.

Varoufakis acknowledges the risks, including potential domestic backlash from Wall Street and the possibility of foreign countries, particularly China, creating an alternative financial system. However, he argues that Trump's plan is coherent and should not be underestimated, even if it diverges sharply from traditional economic thinking.

Trump’s plan involves using tariffs to pressure foreign central banks to lower interest rates, thereby depreciating their currencies relative to the dollar. This would offset the price increases caused by tariffs on U.S. consumers.

Nothing about this string of connections makes any sense. Why would they lower interest rates, why would their currency depreciate?

Other countries are just going to form trade partnerships with each other and avoid the US. There will be a new strengthening global economy that skips the US entirely.

It's Brexit all over again, but instead of the UK suffering from leaving the EU, it's the US suffering from leaving the global economy. At some point the US will have to come crawling back just for deals worse than it had in the first place.

Varoufakis' reasoning is fully consistent with the Trump/Musk world of drug-induced delusion.

[–] KeenFlame@feddit.nu 3 points 6 days ago

It is abundantly clear that he is, and that they are. Stop giving credit to people that are in front of you live creating lies on the spot about what they just said, because in their head they have permission to gaslight people into elevating them to godhood? This is a dangerous extreme take, get your glasses on.

[–] toadster@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

So he's basically giving the world even more incentive to create\push BRICS.

[–] FeatherConstrictor@sh.itjust.works 23 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The thing is, I don't doubt there is an actual reason why these plans have some more intelligent purpose behind them; I doubt that Trump is the one thinking of this. I'm of the belief that Trump has a bunch of yes men around him that are smart and able to coerce him to do these things through careful manipulation strategies and feeding into his ego.

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[–] Jollyllama@lemmy.world 23 points 1 week ago

That's definitely someone's opinion of what they are doing. I think he's fallen victim to looking really hard for a plausible reason for emotional behavior. Trump and his admin seem more hell bent on gaining leverage in order to increase greatness and power over others and eventually profit. They aren't looking to save or kill the dollar or reset the economy. In my opinion as an uneducated person they want to deregulate then tank the markets to create an environment where the wealthiest will buy up the discounted assets and profit when the economy swings back. Nothing more than a shortsighted opportunity to consolidate power and wealth, the same way he is trying to consolidate power into the executive branch.

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[–] 0x7466@lemmy.world 27 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Of course he doesn't. He should be in elder care not in the White House.

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[–] Yodan@lemm.ee 26 points 1 week ago

Because his only job now is to sign any papers handed to him by his posse of self enriching gremlins. He doesn't need anyone's vote anymore, he doesn't need anyone's money (except if it starts with a B) and doesn't care anymore because he will likely die in office. If he signs horrible shit billionaires around him want, then he gets to coast as president, no thinking involved. This is what he is doing.

[–] AynRandLibertarian@lemmy.world 26 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Market manipulation. If you can tank the stock market at a time YOU know well in advance, then you stand to profit "tremendously".

He or people in his stead might have purchased put options ahead of the anouncement of tariffs. -> profits When he then says "it was just a prank brooo!" he can make money by buying the now devalued assets and sell them as soon as they recover. rinse repeat.

I smell market manipulation maybe I am mistaken this smell and it is really the smell of mental instability....

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[–] Litebit@lemmy.world 25 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Market manipulation. He is also a TV show host, so he is a showman. He likes creating drama.

He is famous for bad management, causing his casinos to go bankrupt. His management style is going to bankrupt US and somehow make him richer.

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[–] ubergeek@lemmy.today 22 points 1 week ago

He keeps claiming they are "abusing us", but... Like, why did he make that deal then last time he was in office?

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