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

The US isn't really concerned about Greenland from a security perspective, I feel Trump is only using that as an excuse when what he wants is

A - Whatever resources are there.

B - Be known as they guy who expanded the US borders.

C - Because people are telling him he can't have it.

”expanded the IS borders”

My spellcheck keeps doing the same thing 🤓

That Apple autocomplete AI thinks US is in same league as Islamic State these days speaks for itself

I think they have to be more than quiet on those issues to undo the damage they've done to the publics perception of them. They will need to come out and actively turn and disown those policies.

Being quiet just won't cut it.

They arent reciprocal from him though, he is the one initiating the 1st level of tariffs or at least threatening them, the reaction to his original tariffs or threats are the reciprocal ones. So he put tariffs on Canada, Canada reacted to those but putting their own on the US, Canadas reaction is reciprocal, any further Tarriffs from Trump are simply him trying to punish Canada further by not letting him away with the original tariffs without any consequences.

Also the simple threat of tariffs is an issue as it means people cannot make any long term plans for their businesses as they dont know what their industry's supply chains, costs or available customer base will look like in 1-2 months let alone 6 months to 2 years down the line.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-27/trump-s-tariffs-threaten-to-endanger-the-cheap-american-car?srnd=homepage-europe

So he threatened car makers to not put up prices

Putting aside for a minute that in a normal administration a Republican threatening businesses and capitalism would itself be a scandal

That is as much of an admission as we at we are going to get that Trump does realise that his tarrifs are highly inflationary and a form for tax on Americans, especially the poorer ones

If they had that meeting, it might have been fun if they had conducted the entire thing in Greenlandic Inuit. Then you'd have that cretin Vance having to choose between trying to get an interpretor or just stuggle along with a language that was totally alien to him. It would be a nice little thematic reminder of how rediculous the idea of Greenland becoming part of the US really is.

They could also do the same in Danish for similar effect, but I feel that using the local language would have had more of a poetic stab to it :P

The time has come for Ireland Inc to take its eyes off the US and prioritise it’s sales efforts to the rest of the world - - - the places our lower Ministers visit on March 17.
The US is a lost cause - its greatness is behind it. It is just a part of a continent and there are five continents - 4•5 markets ready to trade.

I have no indepth knowledge about specific companies in this line of work ,however in my opinion its places like this which will be hit hardest if tariffs go-ahead. We could see massive closures of distillers/ brewing companies. If a bottle of whisky was to cost say 50 dollars and a 200% tariff goes on it, noway will consumers buy it. Hopefully this is all bluster by Trump. If not what's coming is a genuinely scary thought for the whole country.

….prioritise it’s sales efforts to the rest of the world - - - the places our lower Ministers visit on March 17.”

Excellent point! Just what have our politicians achieved from these “rest of the world” visits? Now is certainly the time to start asking

Am I the only one that thinks if a foreign country is decent enough to acknowledge St Patricks day that it's no big deal if we send a politician over to help foster a good relationship with them as a thank you for their recognition of our national day?

And almost all of these trips involve meetings with business leaders or politicians to promote trade or investment as well.

Of all the things to complain about, building international relationships and possible trade/investment, or simply acknowledging a gesture of recognizing our national day, are well down the list of problems in regards of the governance of this country for me.

As for politicians complaining about it, they'd be the first ones on the plane if they had the chance, so let's ignore their cries of foul.

Well that’s a **** 💩 deal for Mericans

They’ve been viewed in the past as junkets - a ministerial perk - they need to move from that to become part of an actual business development strategy for Ireland - politicians who go need to be spearheading clear objectives and achieving those objectives - and in fairness that will do their image no harm so it’s in their interest to take these trips seriously

There are other types of tariffs, like naming rights meaning a cheese sold in the EU can only be called feta if it's made in Greece, so Irish and other producers adapted by simply calling their version "Greek style cheese".

The consumer isn't really affected, however Trump's tariff doctrine really is a daily inflicted punch in the balls for US consumers.

Even before he got reelected cocoa and coffee prices have seen a massive rise in response to Chinese consumer demand.

Irish producers might lose US customers to Trump tariffs but there's pockets of rising consumer demand all over the world.

There's half a billion Spanish speaking potential consumers in the rest of the Americas that can be targeted by Irish food exporters.

English language intransigence can be overcome.

Face to face dealing still better than sending a local language prospectus, although that's exactly how German train makers overtook the British in South America in the 19th century.

The Brits had invested in rail tracks for phosphate mining and had assumed they had those markets tied up.

I guess as NATO members all Trump's threats are bluster until they aren't.

Actually in the early years of NATO the US funded factions to fight the Portuguese in Angola even though Portugal was a NATO member.

honestly I see an outright us civil war happening before an invasion of Canada and Greenland.