Donald Trump the Megathread part II - mod warnings in OP, Updated 18/03/25

For anyone who is a US trump supporter what exactly is he doing for you that is going to be of benefit for you and the country you live in over the course of the longer term?

Hey man, it's something, something…transgender…or whatever.

It’s just a total misuse of what a tariff is effective for.

The EU has recently put tariffs on Chinese EVs - not for any vindictive reason, but to protect local industry. Without it the market would flood with cheaper options and would upend the market, harming industry and costing jobs within the EU. The tariffs are there to allow the manufacturer access to the market without the ability to undercut everyone else.

Similarly with Canada and their dairy industry - they want to protect their local dairy producers so they cap how much other countries can sell into Canada. Without them large American producers could flood the market and destroy Canadian dairy producers, costing jobs and income tax.

Tariffs aren’t generally desirable, but are considered necessary to protect an economy in a global market. What Trump is doing is actually the opposite of that - he’s disrupting his own economy by treating or implementing tariffs unilaterally, where Americans have either seen prices jump overnight or companies lose business though uncertainty. And the idea of reciprocal tariffs is a nonsense one, as Americans have been buying a lot of these things because they don’t produce enough locally, or produce it at all.

So basically he’s trying to bully other countries by harming his own.

Are Trump's incoming alcohol tariffs a danger to places like Muff Liquor? It's not long opened in Muff, Co. Donegal and its biggest customer by far is the US. Recently they got a deal for 30,000 bottles to be sold there. I know some people who work for them.

They are genuinely worried about this lunacy from Trump.

Any distillery that exports to the US, yep. Just depends how much they export and if they can find replacement markets.

Stock market gonna tank even further today as EU just floated directly targeting US tech giants who are basically holding up the US stock market

Looks like Trump has become an old style mafia boss, expert at a shakedown…

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-trump-mineral-deal-russia-b2723016.html

Donald Trump is seeking US control over all of Ukraine’s rare minerals and energy assets – including oil and gas – in extraordinary new proposals to Kyiv.

Mr Trump’s latest proposals go far beyond the minerals deal that collapsed last month during Volodymyr Zelensky’s disastrous White House visit, multiple news outlets reported on Thursday.

The new deal would see the US receive all royalties from such assets until Ukraine has paid off at least $100bn of war debt, and hand Kyiv just 50 per cent thereafter – while offering no guarantees of security from Russian aggression in return.

Furthermore, it would hand the US a veto over any sales of the Ukrainian resources to other nations, potentially blocking any future path for Ukraine to join the European Union.

One Kyiv official described the proposal as “robbery” to the Financial Times, while Alan Riley, an expert on energy law at the Atlantic Council, told The Telegraph: “I’ve never seen anything like it before ... I have to wonder whether the real intention might not be to force Zelensky to reject it.”

that's exactly the result/answer they want from Kyiv.

yup. Trump in a nutshell. A hostile aggressive divisive lunatic. Strange strange man

So I assume he'll take Greenland soon the way things are going. It means turmoil in Europe and an empowered Russia. Economic turmoil on the way I think. Europe needs to stick together no matter what.

"So I assume he'll take Greenland soon"

Really? How will he do that?

The film 'Canadian Bacon' worked as a comedy because of its excellent cast and sharp writing, but also because the plot was based on a completely unrealistic and absurd premise.

It still is an absurd premise, but no longer completely unrealistic. You know you're working hard at being an arsehole if you can, in two months, make an enemy of a country that your own country had been firm friends and partners with for many decades. And not just any country, but Canada - the Ned Flanders of the Americas.

Performances imho, Greenland feels more like the wall all over again. Something he's promising but realistically can't do. If he does then we're in incredibly uncharted territories.

At this stage, Vance is going to save face.

He announced earlier in the week he was going and then various businesses rejected a meet and greet with him and officials said they weren't invited.

So there's close to zero purpose or merit to their trip other than not being seen to have to acknowledge a tiny little country made the VP.of the most powerful country on the planet change their plans.

I think Vance wanted to do something he thought would look powerful because of signalgate, but now all they are doing is observing the US facilities on Greenland.

I can't see the US taking Greenland, they can build a few more bases there, on a NATO members country, as they did during the Cold War.