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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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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....

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.

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

It’s part of their plan to eliminate the IRS and federal taxation, to be replaced by a universal sales tax. However, trump doesn’t have the authority to do that. But he can tariff. And a tariff is a little bit like a sales tax.

Therefore, we get tariffs.

Now, the other problem is that the tariff revenue is going to be like 1/10 that of the IRS tax revenue, which will require a 90% reduction in federal spending. Including defense, research, healthcare, and social security. Can’t collect social security tax if the IRS doesn’t exist either, so social security is getting axed.

It will of course make 56 million seniors homeless, but thats a small price to pay for a 15% pay bump for me!