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Trump Believes Apple Could Manufacture iPhones in the U.S.
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Dude. The board with “the list of tariffs to be imposed on individual countries” has a coloumn to the left with the headline “Tariffs charged to the U.S.A” which does not, in fact, show tariffs charged to the USA. It shows trade deficits. So I will repeat my question:
“If Trump is not “dumb”, please explain why he went on TV with a big board that presented trade deficits as “tariffs”. If he is not “dumb”, there is only one other option: Deception.“
I will wait.
There’s a very, very big distinction between simplifying the message and falsifying the message, which is very clearly what Trump did. That cannot be explained away by callling it a simplification. This is not similar to pretending that the value Pi is about 3. This is pretending that a circle is a square.
I will not continue any discussion with you until you answer my question above. Did he (for the sake of humouring your simplification argument) “simplify” trade deficits into tariffs thereby creating a false statement, because he is too dumb to see the difference, or to deceit the American people? If there is a third option, I’d very much like to learn about it.
The trouble with what you are saying is that instead of the state being all powerful, we have corporations being all powerful. Not what the founding fathers wanted...
Fact!
It did not even show average tariffs or something (which would be „simplified messaging“ that may be somehow justifiable).
It showed „tariffs charged to the U.S.A.“ - which is is factually wrong.
And the „including currency manipulation and trade barriers“ does not change that a bit.
What Trump’s implying is this If there‘s a trade deficit that exceeds the relative proportion of tariffs actually charged, it must be due to „manipulation“ or further „barriers“.
👉 Which is not true. A trade surplus or deficit can emerge even in the total absence of tariffs or trade barriers.
When the tiny nation of Lesotho - with a per capita GDP of only about USD 1000 (per year!) - does not buy as much in American goods in reserve as they’re exporting (in mainly textiles and diamonds) to the U.S.A., that does not mean they have trade barriers in place. They may simply be unable (or unwilling) to afford many U.S. products.
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Yes, our economic relationships have been badly damaged. Ask the Canadians; they’re furious at the U.S.
I think you probably possess an extremely oversimplified understanding of how manufacturing works. And Trump clearly does. Manufacturing consists of factories supplying factories supplying factories supplying factories. These tariffs, especially their extreme unpredictability and volatility, makes business impossible. It’s not a game; companies invest tens of millions or more in production and logistics and inventory and it’s impossible to do it if your costs are subject to 100% increases at the whim of an irrational dictator.
Ask yourself a simple question: How can a China eliminate the tariff? You don’t know. China doesn’t know. Trump probably doesn’t know.
I think you probably possess an extremely oversimplified understanding of how manufacturing works. And Trump clearly does. Manufacturing consists of factories supplying factories supplying factories supplying factories. These tariffs, especially their extreme unpredictability and volatility, makes business impossible. It’s not a game; companies invest tens of millions or more in production and logistics and inventory and it’s impossible to do it if your costs are subject to 100% increases at the whim of an irrational dictator.
Ask yourself a simple question: How can a China eliminate the tariff? You don’t know. China doesn’t know. Trump probably doesn’t know.
They can be laughable and companies can spend capital trying to bust them. The two concepts aren't mutually exclusive.
Translation: Unions make it harder for companies to fire the lazy, the incompetent & those with little to no skills.
If you don't want to be expendable then quit flipping burgers or putting clothes on a mannequin for a living. Get an education or a trade and better your station in life. Retail is an entry level position in the workforce, not a career destination.
Why do you get to decide what people’s career aspirations should be?
Are you talking about this big beautiful board that clearly says Reciprocal Tariffs at the top? Are you sure you haven’t been hanging out on blue sky or watching ABC or CNN or MSNBC, getting some leftist propaganda?
How exactly do you make a case for tariffs when you yourself can’t make a simple case? Trump has said that the US is a premium market and that countries should pay for the privilege of selling to Americans. He also stated that many countries have been ripping us off, either with tariffs, currency manipulation and/or regulations/policy. Tariffs is his overarching solution to that.
You’re so keen to find fault with Trump that you’ve become pedantic and fixated on little details that don’t even matter, to the point that you’ve completely missed the big picture and his accomplishment of bringing 75+ countries to the negotiating table which should significantly reduce our trade deficit. At the very least, he’s making an attempt and fighting for Americans which I appreciate.
That column of white and blue numbers, it's labeled as tariffs charged to the USA but look up how they calculated, it's explained at the government's web site.
Reciprocal Tariff Calculations
Executive Summary Reciprocal tariffs are calculated as the tariff rate necessary to balance bilateral trade deficits between the U.S. and each of our trading partners. This calculation assumes that persistent trade deficits are due to a combination of tariff and non-tariff factors that prevent...
I've highlighted the explanation from the government 's website, not some main stream media website .
The Chinese companies aren't forcing Americans to buy their goods. Walmart has workers go out and find the cheapest goods and orders them. American citizens go on websites like temu and order things by themselves. they aren't stealing credit card numbers.
If the President really said this, it’s more proof that he doesn’t understand the first thing about economics. What a stupid thing for him even to suggest.
No negotiation took place and trump has put all the reciprocal tariffs to 10% except for china. What happened? What a deal maker. Even fox News is now admitting the tariffs are a tax on US citizens
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Since you won’t answer my question, I’ll call it: It’s deception, and you’ve clearly fallen for it.
Yes, that’s the one. I’m talking about the LEFT coloumn. It falsely says tariffs, to allow the right coloumn to say “reciprocal”.
You still do not acknowledge that the information in the left coloumn is not in fact “tariffs” as the headline says?
You aren't forced to join a union. If you dislike unions so much, find a job at a company which doesn't have a union contract. Oh, you want to demand a right to have employment at a company on your own terms? Are you sure you are anti-union? Your demand for employment on your own terms is kind of the same thing unions do.
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Just a little context. Trump may say China should pay for access to the American market, but that shows his ignorance of both history and the way the economy works. We in America, people of both parties, implemented the great Republican free-trade plan and opened trade with all countries, regardless of their respect for human rights and liberty. We didn't just give them access, we begged and subsidized them to come.
Back in the 90s Walmart used to advertise about buying American. Then Clinton normalized trade with China. Walmart coerced American manufacturers to move their production to China. They did this by telling American manufacturers the price they were going to pay for the product in the future. When told the American manufacturer couldn't produce at that price, Walmart would tell them to move their production to China or lose business to a Chinese manufacturer. Many did move to China. Those who didn't lost their biggest customer.
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That column of white and blue numbers, it's labeled as tariffs charged to the USA but look up how they calculated, it's explained at the government's web site.
View attachment 2501008Reciprocal Tariff Calculations
Executive Summary Reciprocal tariffs are calculated as the tariff rate necessary to balance bilateral trade deficits between the U.S. and each of our trading partners. This calculation assumes that persistent trade deficits are due to a combination of tariff and non-tariff factors that prevent...ustr.gov
I've highlighted the explanation from the government 's website, not some main stream media website .
But the explanation is nonsense. These are tariffs not reciprocal tariffs. He’s threatened countries that respond with hikes how can it be reciprocal if there’s no equity allowed?
I know it's nonsense but the US government can't block Chinese web sites cause people can just use VPNs. The US government wants people to buy American, and the only way they can do that is add a tax to Chinese goods and lie to Americans, saying the Chinese government pays the tax.
So why add tax to countries that import more American goods than Americans buy?
How is America being ripped off by regulations?
If American goods aren’t up to the standards deemed essential by that country and everyone else meets how is it a rip off?
American manufacturers/producers choose not to access these markets rather than being banned.
I suspect that Apple will be willing to make a bit less in Europe, Asia and all of the civilized world. They are not going to be selling in the United States and they need sales from someplace. It's better to sell with half the markup than to let your factories idle.
The United States is a democratic republic or you could say a representative democracy; At least it was.
It will need a re-calculation for sure, but remember that the idle factories are not Apple’s, and won’t directly cost Apple anything.