Donald Trump the Megathread part II - Mod Warning added to OP 10/1/26

I'm not fully buying this. There's still a small amount of private trade happening with Russia of higher value than some of the countries on the list so it looks unusual to exclude them, especially as more is coming out about the crude method of calculation proving that not much common sense came into the thinking

North Korea and Cuba escaping tariffs is more understandable

But Belarus? That's the really off one. There's some individuals and companies sanctioned there, but there's not the same sweeping sanctions across the Belarusian economy as there is in Russia

Have the administration commented on why Belarus didn't get any tariffs at all?

Doesn't smell right

Have they blamed Biden yet?

wasnt Biden…its the Haitians that were in Springfield,the ones eating the dogs…

Bizarre stuff.

It will get worse too. They'll do everything to stay in power.

However, they are betting on the stock market turning around this year before the mid terms next year.

If people get hit badly in the pockets it's game over for Maga.

There may well be a plan, but there is nothing to indicate from this or the previous time he was in power that it is a GOOD PLAN

Having a plan is meaningless if the plan is ridiculous.

Like Mike Tyson said,

"Everyone has a plan until they get hit in the mouth. Then, like a rat, they stop in fear and freeze."

Oh yep totally agree on the diplomatic level. It's more the posters assuming there's a rational end goal with Trump. I no longer believe there is at this stage.

Trump clearly doesn't [want to] understand how the imports process works where costs are involved. No one could be that thick to keep on spouting the same line after months of economists advice and tutoring on how it works. Trump on how the patient [the US] is doing after the tariffs announcement: 5/6 Trillion is coming in.

He, not by accident, lets the fact that the 5/6 Trillion is the value put on and paid, or to be paid, in US dollars by the US importers and customers for the imported goods sail completely over his head. The dollars are not coming in from abroad, only the goods. in the eventual analysis, the dollars are going abroad out of the US economy into other economies.

The UK is progressing it's negotiations for the removal of the 10% tariff there. They say it's going well.

Micheál Martin saying this morning that the US administration has shown 'worrying antipathy to the EU' so far in negotiation attempts.

It would be a particular blow to us if the UK ends up with no tariff and we're stuck on 20%. That's a real competitive disadvantage especially for food/drink and also those multinationals exporting to the USA. Production jobs and manufacturing could start leaking to the UK or the North.

The US would be screwed if the 20% on EU goods remains. There simply isn't an alternative source for most of that trade.

Manufacturing is not going to leak to the north or UK because manufacturing is a capital intensive process to set up and it takes huge time and effort to move. The tariffs will not last 3 months

He's 100% out of his mind. He suggested injecting bleach for Covid. Like he's mad as March hare. It's why he's box office 🤣

This is an extract from an article I read this morning.

https://www.thebulwark.com/p/the-american-age-is-over

There are only three possible explanations as to why Americans voted for this man:

1. they wanted what he promised;
2. they didn’t believe what he promised; or
3. they didn’t understand what he promised.

Pick whichever rationale you want, because it doesn’t matter. Whatever the reason was, it exposed half of the electorate—the 77 million people who voted for Trump—as either fundamentally unserious, decadent, or weak.

…..

We have the government we deserve.

The American age is over. And it ended because the American people were no longer worthy of it.

Will the tariffs be based on where the goods manufactured or where the goods coming from? Companies manufacture goods here package them in another country with lower tariffs and export from there. Car manufacturers have been doing this for decades. Most car factories around the world are just assembly lines with most of the parts coming from the manufacturer's country.