Tariffs in the second Trump Administration [SPLIT]

[KaraBulut]

Another day, more tariffs and trillions lost in the market because of it.

 

[rareboy]

He has personally cost millions of US americans individually and throught their pension funds etc. a whole lot of money.

 

[rareboy]

Mark Carney knows what he's doing.

 

[rareboy]

Still want us all to believe this is about less than 40 pounds of Fentanyl?????
Enjoy paying the taxes US americans.

 

[rareboy]

Remember when Canadians would flock south during spring break to spend their time and cash in the US?

 

[rareboy]

Meanwhile the White House just continues to lie to everyone.

"Tariffs are a tax cut for the American people" -- Karoline Leavitt turned reality upside down at the press confernece, then got mad at an AP reporter after he pushed back.

She is the perfect Trumper...lies refelxively.

What she meant to say is:

"Tariffs are a tax cut for the richest American People, because they will shift the tax to the consumers so that we can give income tax cuts to billionaires".

 

[rareboy]

So is the EU responsible for US border control allowing 40 pounds of fentanyl across the border as well?

There must be some explanation for TrumpCo. slapping 25% tariffs on EU aluminum and steel.

Commission responds to unjustified US steel and aluminium tariffs with countermeasures *

In response to the imposition of new, unjustified US tariffs on EU steel and aluminium imports, the Commission has launched swift and proportionate countermeasures on US imports into the EU.

ec.europa.eu

OR does he think that Europe should be the 52nd state?

 

[rareboy]

And Australia finding out what the rest of us have been finding out.

 

[rareboy]

Meanwhile:

 

[rareboy]

 

[KaraBulut]

So is the EU responsible for US border control allowing 40 pounds of fentanyl across the border as well?

Expanding upon this a bit...

Trump's tariffs are only possible because he came into office and immediately declared several "emergencies" which gave him additional executive powers. The legislation that he used is the 1976 National Emergencies Act.

This is where it gets very byzantine. Congress can terminate an emergency. Both houses have to pass a resolution to end the emergency and the President then has to agree. The problems with that need for an executive approval poses some problems.

This week, the Democrats in the US House forced a resolution to require Congress to vote upon whether we are actually "in an emergency". The National Emergencies Act requires that these resolutions go to committee within 15 calendar days and then requires that the resolution be voted upon by the House within 3 calendar days.

In a bizarre maneuver which I'm still trying to understand, the Republicans somehow redefined the term "day". The measure that they passed said, " “Each day for the remainder of the 119th Congress shall not constitute a calendar day”. In other words, the rest of the Congressional session is "1 calendar day".

If this stands, this means that the US House cannot undo Trump's tariffs because a day is no longer a calendar day in the US House, so a resolution to undo Trump's tariffs and the "emergency" would never be voted upon.

This is an unusual situation: there is a Speaker of the House and a Republican majority that no longer believes they are the Article 1 branch of government and is instead, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the White House.

The New York Times tries to explain the day-is-not-a-calendar-day Orwellian alternate universe here:

Republicans Quietly Cede Power to Cancel Trump’s Tariffs, Avoiding a Tough Vote

House G.O.P. leaders tucked the provision into a procedural measure needed to pass a government spending bill.

www.nytimes.com

 

[rareboy]

It is just more proof that the GQP is totally behind shifting taxation onto the consumers in order to pay for income tax reductions for the richest.

Something tells me though that they are having trouble with the math and that until they just come clean and impose a federal sales tax on everything, they will be scrambling to gind more and more things and countries to impose tariffs on.

As I have mentioned before, Canada has been through this and arrived at 8% HST on just about eveything we do or buy in order to clear away varying rates on goods and services and to eliminate this tariff war with the US and other countries in favour of freer trade.

The US is going backwards on this and the worst part is still trying to lie to people in the US that it is a 'tax cut' and that the countries of origin pay the tax.

This is one of the items that has me wondering what the future role of Congress is supposed to be? As all the departments are gutted and programs slashed that used to bring federal dollars to their districts, what will the actual job of a congress rep or senator be? And is this part of the plan? To render Congress totally irrelevant? This seems to be the case in autocracies where assembly members are there to only rubber stamp the dictates of the Supreme Leaders.

As you note:

This is an unusual situation: there is a Speaker of the House and a Republican majority that no longer believes they are the Article 1 branch of government and is instead, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the White House.

 

[KaraBulut]

It is just more proof that the GQP is totally behind shifting taxation onto the consumers in order to pay for income tax reductions for the richest.

America has always been in a dilemma. From the cradle, we're told the story about the Boston Tea Party and how the country was created out of a revolt against "taxation without representation".

Taxes are always a hard sell. We pay ridiculous amounts for our healthcare. There's a constant battle between local, state and federal taxing authorities. Our bridges fall down. Our airports still look like they did back in the 1960s, only with the smell of urine because the facilities weren't built to handle post deregulation traffic. And we accept it all because we don't want to pay taxes.

The traditional line from Republicans has been to push consumption taxes, either a national VAT tax or high state/local sales taxes. They want to shift the tax burden to working people, in the form of regressive taxation methods.

This latest CR is really bizarre with it's redefinition of a "calendar day" and it's legerdemain to do things that Republicans refused to do when there was a Democrat in the White House.

It's trolling but Rep Jared Moskowitz did lay out the hypocrisy, quoting the Republican's own words back to them:

 

[KaraBulut]

The trading day is half over but it's looking like Groundhog day.

 

[rareboy]

I imagine it was the 200% tariffs on European wines and spirits that had the traders throwing in the towel and going out to get drunk.

Every goddamned time...it is the Republicans that create the big recessions and depression.

The world is sick of this shit.

 

[KaraBulut]

Trump was rambling about how American doesn't need anything that other countries make.

Well, the homebuilders have a different opinion. Having gone through several remodels and building a new house, I think $10,000 is a low-ball estimate. Just about everything used in homebuilding, except for the cement, is made in China. The $10,000 might be the isolated cost of Mexican and Canadian imports- particularly lumber, processed plyboard and dry wall.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/13/tariffs-to-add-as-much-as-10000-to-average-cost-of-new-home-trade-group-says.html

• Last week, President Donald Trump paused tariffs on some Canadian and Mexican imports, granting a reprieve for a month.
• Should the duties go through, they could raise material costs for the average new home by as much as $10,000, according to the National Association of Home Builders.
• The trade group said that softwood lumber is mainly sourced from Canada, while gypsum primarily comes from Mexico. Steel and aluminum, along with completed home appliances, come from China, the NAHB said.

 

[rareboy]

$10K is lowballing...the same way that they said tariffs would only cost the average household an extra 1200 bucks a year. But TrumpCo. is counting on the real cost being lost in the haze of inflation and loaded into the long term cost of things.

Even at $10K for a house or $20K for a truck, this shit all gets financed and actually represents a much larger payout for the product over the term of a loan.

I suppose that if Trump decides to log out the national parks, it is with the idea of offsetting lumber imports from Canada, for instance.

But I would ask...where are all the workforces ready to immediately mobilize to clear cut Yellowstone?

One of the real gaps in logic here is that all the fired workers from the IRS aren't likely to be capable of felling old growth timber.

 

[KaraBulut]

The markets did come back up a little bit during the afternoon. The Dow was down 400-500 most of the morning. Still a significant loss again today.

 

[rareboy]

So what happens when you say the quiet part out loud? And you are Trumpist?

And what happens when the countries (Canada&Mexico) aren't charging tariffs on your products but you impose tariffs on them anyway? Isn't this a naked act of aggression and war?

MAGA Senator Admits The Truth About Tariffs—And Trump Won't Be Happy

Someone didn't get the memo 😂

www.comicsands.com

 

[rareboy]

Can't beleive the NYT actually going to the bother...but interesting map showing how the counter-tariffs imposed by TrumpCo. will target the areas that voted for him.