created by acceptablerose99 on 01/02/2025 at 22:21 UTC
384 upvotes, 66 top-level comments (showing 25)
Comment by MrRaspberryJam1 at 01/02/2025 at 22:30 UTC*
256 upvotes, 22 direct replies
Can someone please explain what the benefit, or at least perceived benefit of this is?
Comment by bluskale at 01/02/2025 at 22:26 UTC
277 upvotes, 12 direct replies
It’s completely inane that Trump wants tariffs without any particular reason (as there is “nothing” either Canada or Mexico can do to stop them). At least demand something if you’re going to make everyone suffer for it.
Trump is so much more unhinged this time around, it’s not even funny.
Comment by Justinarian at 01/02/2025 at 23:19 UTC
108 upvotes, 5 direct replies
Canada and the US used to be pretty great Allies. How can conservatives go along with this economic war with Canada? I remember during 911 how Canada lent a helping hand with their airspace and fed and homed thousands of stranded Americans for days during that event. This is not a great look I don’t care how you lean politically. Is Canada a bigger enemy than Russia now? Since I’m not aware of any tariffs on Russia. This is not going to end well for anyone.
Comment by parisianpasha at 02/02/2025 at 00:10 UTC
16 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Most comments are focusing on the “trade war” aspect of this decision. Since I do not see a coherent strategy from Trump’s team, I do approach this a bit differently.
Normally, such a tax increase would be extremely unpopular. They are trying to provide legitimacy via the trade war rhetoric. That is the only explanation that I can come up with.
Comment by 258638 at 01/02/2025 at 22:28 UTC*
194 upvotes, 4 direct replies
You get what you vote for. Americans voted for higher prices. Simple as that.
Economics is hard. Most people don’t really understand it, even if they like to think they do. The world has gotten progressively more complicated and overconfident actors pretend they have an understanding of something they frankly don’t.
It’s a shame and it’s painful, but it’s realistic.
Comment by bobcatgoldthwait at 01/02/2025 at 22:29 UTC
115 upvotes, 6 direct replies
For so long it's been frustrating to see people still agreeing with everything Trump does, but it's easy to see why; most times we say things are going to happen and they do, it's kind of abstract. Like for example, earlier today there was a post about him instructing the army corps to release water from dams, and there was speculation that it might lead to water shortage issues in the summer. But by then, people will have forgotten about it, or enough time will have passed that they can blame it on something else.
I see this as a pretty big moment. Either things are going to go up in price very quickly - immediately proving most economists and the rest of us correct - or they won't, and Trump really is some genius who must know what he's doing. If it's the former - as I expect it will - I really hope his voters are quick to admit they were wrong.
Comment by JFKontheKnoll at 01/02/2025 at 22:24 UTC
82 upvotes, 6 direct replies
I genuinely didn’t think he’d go through with them. I assumed they’d be a negotiating tactic like his last administration.
Comment by oath2order at 01/02/2025 at 22:30 UTC
24 upvotes, 4 direct replies
Why are the tariffs on Canada and Mexico larger than the tariffs on China?
Comment by RetainedGecko98 at 01/02/2025 at 22:24 UTC
154 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Stuff like this is why I have never had much sympathy for the “I don’t like his personality, but I like his policies” argument. He is petty, vindictive, mean-spirited, self-absorbed, dishonest, and fickle. You don’t get to put someone like that in charge of the world’s most powerful country and then pull a surprise pikachu face when chaos ensues.
As for the MAGA true believers, I have always found it ironic that they claim to be fierce patriots who dearly love America, while they undermine American influence and prestige at every turn. When our adversaries say that America is just another big country that is out for its own interests and can’t be trusted, who can credibly say that isn’t true?
Comment by alotofironsinthefire at 01/02/2025 at 23:07 UTC*
10 upvotes, 1 direct replies
People in here seem to have a lot of trouble understanding that there's a very large difference between putting a strategic tariff on an end product versus putting them on everything.
Just about every domestic product needs imported materials or equipment somewhere in the line.
Everything is going to get expensive foreign and domestic.
Comment by classless_classic at 01/02/2025 at 23:19 UTC
47 upvotes, 1 direct replies
“Risking”
Eating gas station sushi is a risk.
Betting your life savings on the Super Bowl is a risk.
Swimming in a meat suit in shark infested waters is a risk.
Tariffs raising prices is a guarantee.
Comment by Sensitive-Common-480 at 01/02/2025 at 23:22 UTC
10 upvotes, 0 direct replies
It was unclear what specific actions the U.S. was looking for the three countries to take in order to lift the tariffs.
“There’s going to be a wide range of metrics,” said a senior administration official during a Saturday call with reporters about the tariffs.
“In Donald Trump’s golden age, we will have only legal immigration and we will have zero Americans dying from Chinese, slash Mexican, slash Canadian fentanyl,” the official said.
Well the fact that the Trump Administration will not really even tell the other countries what exactly he wants does make it seem like this is just rhetoric to legally justify invoking the IEEPA instead of going through the lengthier standard process required to impose tariffs. Hopefully I am wrong and there is something that can convince President Donald Trump to change his mind, though.
Comment by EdwardShrikehands at 01/02/2025 at 22:31 UTC
50 upvotes, 4 direct replies
Can’t wait to hear the defense of this by the usual suspects.
Honestly, why do this?
Comment by howlin at 01/02/2025 at 22:31 UTC
37 upvotes, 3 direct replies
Stock futures are down 1% as of this announcement. Interested to see if they will slide more. I don't think anything close to a full trade war is being priced in to the market yet.
I'm guessing that the oligarchic powers that be will be talking a little sense to Trump on this. Unfortunately, these seem to be one of the few checks on Trump's power that is still remotely functional.
Comment by [deleted] at 01/02/2025 at 22:48 UTC
51 upvotes, 8 direct replies
[removed]
Comment by Patjay at 01/02/2025 at 22:24 UTC
36 upvotes, 0 direct replies
No ‘risk’ it’s guaranteed
Comment by StockWagen at 01/02/2025 at 22:55 UTC
4 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I can’t quite articulate it but I imagine the tariffs share some type of logic in his mind that the “Mexico will pay for the wall” line did.
Comment by Aiden2817 at 02/02/2025 at 03:23 UTC
6 upvotes, 1 direct replies
trump was visited this Christmas by the ghost of Hawley Smoot who told him “I created the Great Depression” and trump said, “I can do better than you. I’ll create the Greatest Depression ever”
Comment by unixkernel101 at 01/02/2025 at 22:33 UTC
31 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I don't wanna see Americans complaining about higher prices. Trump said he would do this over and over and over again, the democrats warned everyone. Now he's doing exactly what he said he would do. The people should be in the streets celebrating, they are getting what they wanted. When you make your bed, sleep in it.
Comment by rrogers47 at 02/02/2025 at 00:12 UTC
7 upvotes, 0 direct replies
We played this tarrif game during his last administration. One of the many ramafications was bailing farmers out to the tune of 50 billion dollars.
Comment by Sabertooth767 at 01/02/2025 at 22:33 UTC
13 upvotes, 1 direct replies
What exactly is the goal of these tariffs? Trump's comments suggest that this is a negotiating tactic. We'll lift the tariffs, they deal with the fentanyl problem and buy more US exports.
On the fentanyl question, the northern border is effectively irrelevant. Meanwhile, I don't think Mexico is *capable* of dealing with the problem. An economic jab isn't going to make Mexico wake up and decide to stop being a narco-state, that's now how things work.
Regarding the trade deficit, if we really wanted to shrink it (a questionable goal in itself), how are tariffs going to help? This doesn't aid American businesses in accessing Canadian/Mexican markets, it hinders them.
Comment by acceptablerose99 at 01/02/2025 at 22:27 UTC
21 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Starter Comment: Trump followed through with his threat to levy tariffs on the United States closest trade partners in Canada, Mexico, and China this afternoon. 25% tariffs on all goods coming from these countries can now be expected with the exception of oil which started at a 10% tariff.
Trump is using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act as the mechanism to enact these tariffs and is already threatening to increase tariffs on the three countries if the countries retaliate with tariffs of their own. All three countries have created retaliatory tariff packages in anticipation of Trump's actions and it is expected that retaliatory tariffs against the US will be enacted shortly.
I expect legal challenges to this order as the claim that fentanyl is a legitimate reason for enacting 25% tariffs on Canadian goods is not supported by the data.
Now that Trump has pulled the trigger how do you think our economy will react to these tariffs and what is the end game that Trump expects to achieve through these actions? Right now reporting on what Trump expects to achieve through these actions is extremely vague.
Comment by mulemoment at 01/02/2025 at 23:16 UTC
8 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Why does Trump even want to tariff Canada? Did he list demands before doing this?
Comment by k0ug0usei at 02/02/2025 at 01:11 UTC
5 upvotes, 0 direct replies
R.I.P. north American auto industry... car parts cross US/Canada/Mexico so many times before a finished car is assembled the tariffs will snowball to a insufferable amount. And many auto part suppliers are running on very thin margins they cannot absorb the cost in any way. This is going to hurt.
Comment by Optoplasm at 02/02/2025 at 04:03 UTC
4 upvotes, 0 direct replies
So basically we are just voluntarily signing ourselves up for another huge wave of unnecessary inflation. After the largest wave of inflation in the last 40 years starts to finally die down. Truly fucking brilliant.