Trump Announces 100% Tariff on Semiconductors, With Exemptions for Companies Building in the U.S.

[Velli]

It’s actually the way it is in China. The country is amazing. And at the same time, the government and companies treat the citizens terribly to fulfill the government’s vision of the future on the backs of the citizens.

That could be a very apt description of the USA as well. Especially under Trump, but not exclusively.

I’m not glorifying China. There are definite problems, just like the US has problems. But parts of China is great, and not all citizens are unhappy about the way things are going. Most if not all the people mocking Chinese production has never seen it. The evolution in China happens extremely fast. If your view of China is ten years old, it is outdated. For instance I would argue that Beijing and Shanghai now have less air pollution than downtown Los Angeles. And when you are mocking them for child labouring, you are disregarding the many factories that don’t even have labouring, because they are automated, as well as the 500 million(!) middle class employees that are not factory workers. The view the average American has of China is just not what you see when you go there. It’s like saying that Inglewood or Las Vegas is representative of USA. Both are big countries, and there is more to it than that.

 

[Velli]

As the US pulls back from science and research, I'm waiting for China to start inching its way into the gaps.

I agree with your post, just wanted to point out that if you’re still waiting, you are not keeping up. China has ways to go when it comes to creativity, which is why it still comes across as copying, but there are several areas where China has been taking over on research, especially in green tech. And not just because of cheap labour. China is way ahead of everyone else when it comes to automated manufacturing. They are moving quickly towards a world where the Chinese population are not factory workers, but educated white collars, while MAGA wants to pull US in the opposite direction.

I guess being European makes it easier to evaluate the two objectively.

 

[Velli]

I dunno if they actually exist but my point is countries should double tax US products into oblivion so they can’t possibly sell outside of US, hurting US companies (especially like Apple) and businesses in the process, in retaliation to Trump punishing products from other countries.

Nah, actually EU has it right. They sell more to US than they import. If they do what you suggest and “punish” US with tariffs, US will retaliate, essentially killing all business. The big loser then is EU. It is much better to remove the already quite low tariffs, to give Trump the illusion that he is winning, so he will not put as high tariffs up. Then EU still sells to US, and still buys nothing because removing the 2% tariffs changes nothing - we still don’t want your Buicks. As I have pointed out before, this is the reason for Trump’s weird calculation board - the actual tariffs are not high, so he made up a number.

The media in the EU has presented it like Trump strong-armed EU, but in reality EU played Trump like a fiddle. The losers in the new trade agreement is American consumers, not European consumers.

 

[bgillander]

As the US pulls back from science and research, I'm waiting for China to start inching its way into the gaps. As the International Space Station nears retirement and it becomes clear the US/NASA are not going to materialize an actually sustainable replacement... How long until until China is inviting other countries to use their space station?

Start inching? You might want to look into the Belt and Road Initiative:

Belt and Road Initiative - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Footnote 236 is pretty interesting, as I hadn’t seen that article before, so thanks for inspiring me to open that Wikipedia entry, as I hadn’t looked at it in quite a while.

I would be surprised if they were interested in sharing their space station, though, as I would expect them to prefer it as their own exclusive advantage. If they did want to share, I would think they would be more inclined to propose a new, joint station specifically for “non-domestic use”, but that is just me guessing.

 

[GlassFingers]

Thank goodness Tim Cook was able to get an exemption. AAPL stock already on the road to recovery! 💪🏻

 

[GlassFingers]

Trump IS a dictator and US IS now a dictatorship, with power held by republicans.

Generally hyperbole like this doesn’t help change minds. It only undermines your argument.

 

[turbineseaplane]

In case anyone needs a refresher (and we have many here who do)

 

[Shirasaki]

Generally hyperbole like this doesn’t help change minds. It only undermines your argument.

Except this is not an argument this is the observed reality given all the things he has done lately.

 

[kagharaht]

Bribery plain and simple. Which is not allowed in the Constitution. Since we are in a Soft Dictatorship, they are ignored by the current Dictatorship of America that controls House, Senate, DOJ, AG, FBI....soon SCOTUS