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There is simple logic in it. Punish everyone, and then let them come to you asking for exemptions. Then he can demand things in exchange. After that it's "Pray I don't alter the deal any further."

UK already asked for an exemption and he said they should buy chlorinated chicken first. If every country responds in the same way and gives in he's making bank. If they respond with a boycott on anything American, especially digital services, things get bad.

I hope the EU reacts with something non-tariffy. Like forbidding US online platforms to serve ads and collect personal data, with severe punishments if they still do.

Have we forgotten that he has done this each month since he was Inaugurated?

Today the stock market will crash on this news. The wealthy will buy on this massive dip, and in a few days, HitlerPig will announce that the countries on his list have responded to his tariff threats, so he is postponing them for a month or so.

The stock market will recover a bit, and the wealthy will make a fortune. In a month, he'll do it all over again.

It's deliberate market manipulation.

Vlad Vexler makes the point that the point of is not at all economics but that it does have a basis in logic: it is about asserting that he can do this, that his political power is above economic rationality. It is a political move, not an economic play.

Trump's government has made the US a village idiot - and if the idiot gets into a fight with the whole village, the idiot will have more bruises.

Why he does that - I don't pretend to understand.

Shortly after Trump’s announcement, the British government said the United States remains the U.K.’s “closest ally.”

I'm sorry TERF island, that's not gonna keep Trump from stabbing you in the back too.

If I was Prime Minister, I'd impose a retaliatory tariff of 9000% just because it's all just this stupid.
Call it the Goku tariffs, but drag it out over an hour or two with a lot of screaming.

1. Order tariffs
2. Make everything more expensive for everyone everywhere
3. Piss off the entire world and invite countermeasures
4. ??????????????
5. MAGA

Putting tariffs on Norfolk Island and Heard and McDonald Islands are particularly funny considering Heard and McDonald Islands only has penguins living there lol.

"No basis in logic"

No shit, this whole administration has no basis in logic. Just look at Project 2025 and the progress they've made on it in a little over 2 months.

and the price of bitcoin dropped 4.4%.

I cannot express how much I hate that this appears in a serious economic article.

Dead horse economics:

Wake up you lazy horse!

They’re AI generated tariffs. He asked Grok and these are the numbers it spat out.

Someone asked chatGPT how to apply tariffs to give America an equal playing field and it spit it a formula that looks shockingly similar to how trump calculated the tariffs

All the goods that Trump excempts from tarrifs is tipping his hand. If I were one of these countries like Taiwan where semiconductors are exempted, I would apply an export duty equal to the tarrif on other goods. If you want to tarrif me fine but you're going to have to commit.

You know what's fun? Cancelling stuff and citing the reason as 'tariff-related inflation'. It's too new and there is no response script yet, so customer service doesn't really argue.

Norfolk Island was baffled by a 29% duty despite having no exports.

Ahahaha. For a day, I want to be inside his head and see the world through his eyes. It would be the most valuable insight for humanity... If only to learn exactly what not to do.

None of Trump's policies have any basis in reality

No basis in logic if he were actually trying to do what he says he is. He's not. They make perfect sense if the goal is to destabilize the country. We elected a fucking Manchurian candidate twice, and the in-between term was spent on a bunch of business as usual and not setting up protections in case it happened again. This country is fucking done.

So, now $1 per banana is now real, wow. A complete bunch on my country costs that... We are banana exporters we are the banana republic...

no tariffs on russia, only sanctions?

UK and Italy are playing Trump's game. He doesn't negotiate. He demands tribute and only honours agreements if they are a win for him and he feels like honouring it at the time. Canada has a Trump negotiated trade agreement - the best agreement ever, in his parlance. It is apparently not worth the paper it is written on.
Countries must negotiate trade agreements - with everyone except the USA. And citizens must support their countries by not purchasing any thing from the USA. As for the few Americans that didn't vote for Trump, so sorry but your fellow Americans still fully support him. So it isn't "just Trump", it is America that is the problem. Trump is simply reflecting who the majority of Americans really are.

What about Israel? Aren't they sucking you dry? Perhaps add some tariffs there?