It’s worse than that.
Let’s say I want to open a widget factory in America because of the tariffs. Sure, I can avoid the tariffs on the widgets themselves by making them here, but there’s a big problem…
What about the tariffs on the materials needed to make them?
So Trump wants to strong-arm a minerals deal with some country via a protection racket only to… tariff them?
Jesus Christ.
Unironically, depending on how the supply chain is arranged for your industry, it may actually be cheaper to move your manufacturing off shore and eat the tariff once instead of getting nickeled and dimed for every single item you need to assemble on shore. Hell, Vietnam already figured out you can ship Chinese products through to America as grey imports and skim off the top.
It is hard for me to articulate just how fucking stupid all of this is. It’s no small wonder how this guy bankrupted six casinos.
But hey, Art of the Deal, baby.
Maybe a bit of a hot take, but I think Trump is also doing this at least partly to distract from his spat with Musk’s Epstein implications. Not to mention Trump’s upcoming parade. Also, keep in mind that 2,000 Nat’l guard troops is surprisingly low, especially for an area the size of L.A. In '92 they brought in almost 10,000.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about this, too, but personally I believe people need to keep their cool, here. I’m seeing a lot of doom spiraling and panicking all over the place online and we need to be mindful of how this affects us mentally and emotionally.
We’re in the long game.