America are the bad guys.

[Spider-Dan]

Those "Tariffs charged to USA" numbers are completely made up.  Total bullshit.

People have already figured out what those numbers actually represent, and how Elon's child-idiots came up with them:

Trump’s tariff numbers appear to have been calculated through a simple math formula, which works with every single country on the list

The formula used to calculate President Donald Trump’s new batch of tariffs announced Wednesday is based on dividing the U.S.’s trade deficit with a given country divided by their total exports to the U.S. A memo from the office of the U.S. trade representative acknowledged this was the methodology used because it was too “complex, if not impossible” to calculate the full extent of each country’s U.S. trade policies. [...]

To calculate the tariffs it decided to impose on countries around the world, the White House used a formula that focused on trade deficits and total exports. The formula didn’t include an assessment of tariff rates for specific products in individual countries, or take into account other trade barriers that weren’t tariffs.  

Instead, the reciprocal tariff rate applied to each country was: their trade deficit divided by exports to the U.S., divided by two.

If the country has a trade surplus with the U.S., or the number resulting from the above formula was less than 10%, then a flat rate of 10% was applied.

For example, the U.S. has a $235.6 billion trade deficit with the European Union, which exports a total of $605.8 billion to the U.S. Based on the White House’s formula, $235.6 divided by $605.8 equals 0.388, which divided by half is 0.194. That number gets rounded up to 0.2, which leads to a 20% tariff rate.

"The blind application of such a simple formula ignores so much nuance," Dominic Pappalardo, chief multi-asset strategist at Morningstar Wealth, told Fortune in an email.

---

Notably, these knuckleheads completely neglected to consider all trade in services, only counting trade in goods.  For example, the US has a trade deficit with the EU in goods, but a trade surplus in services.  Doesn't matter to these clowns!  Math is for nerds, and Strong Men Take Action.

More importantly, a trade deficit is not a tariff.  I purchase more items from Home Depot than they purchase from me, but that does not mean Home Depot is levying a tariff on me.

These fucking morons are going to destroy the nation's economy out of pure ignorance, while 30% of the country is cheering and clapping wildly from their cardboard boxes under the nearest bridge.

[Dave Gray]

Did you see the list of tariffs we pay and the countries we are placing them on?

He is lying to you.

Either he is stupid or he thinks you are stupid.

We are not tariffed 90% to Vietnam.  None of these are correct.

[Pappy13]

The average price for a gallon of gas is also currently below $3 in 34 states, according to GasBuddy.com, which monitors gas prices across the U.S..[/i]

The price of gas in Texas hasn't been over $3 in years. It goes up and down by around 20 cents a gallon from time to time but it's stayed under $3 for a very long time, at least in Dallas. Can't speak for all of Texas.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Trump slapped a tarrif on an uninhabited island in antarctic

[Dave Gray]

It's also just a fundamental misunderstanding.

Like, we don't.....we can't....grow coffee in the US.  We have some small places in Hawaii, but in general, we don't have a coffee industry, but we drink a lot of coffee.  Tariffs on those industries doesn't level anything.  It just means we pay more for coffee.

...or diamonds or whatever else.

Now, a tariff is a tool and if you wanted to scalpel out specific portions of industries with specific countries, paired with a greater economic support plan -- like if you were trying to bring automotives back to Flint, MI so you had very targeted tariffs and incentives for X amount of the production happening here, paired with rebates or whatever....sure, let's have that talk.  But across the board....just dumb.

I'm hearing some "actually crashing the economy is good for the economy" talk from some bozos, so I think we just gotta let this fever break.

[Pappy13]

And now a couple days after Trump's tarriffs, the gas prices in Dallas have just gone over $3 dollars for the first time in a very long time. Long before Trump became President.

[Sibster]

And now a couple days after Trump's tarriffs, the gas prices in Dallas have just gone over $3 dollars for the first time in a very long time. Long before Trump became President.

And at the same time, Vietnam and Switzerland have folded and agreed to mutually rescind tariffs with the U.S. until after deal can be reached and 50 more countries have also reached out wanting to make a deal

[Spider-Dan]

That's the point: every country needs to come to Trump and personally ask for his mercy.

Will "the deal" be any better than we had before?  Will it make up for all that we've already lost in, say, collapsed 401k value?  Who cares!  The only point is for a line of international leaders, corporate CEOs, and the like to make their way to the White House and pay fealty to Trump.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

And at the same time, Vietnam and Switzerland have folded and agreed to mutually rescind tariffs with the U.S. until after deal can be reached and 50 more countries have also reached out wanting to make a deal

I really wouldn't call it folded. 

Vietnam has agreed to exempt the US from tariffs on a bunch of items - none of which are produced in the US.

Switzerland already has abolished most tariffs but will explicitly exempt the US from their nonexistent tariffs.   

Everyone of Trumps so called "victories" have been countries announcing longstanding policy will remain in place. 

I am sure when Brazil announces that they won't charge a tariff on bananas imported from the US and Columbia won't charge a tariff on coffee imported from the US it will be called a great victory by Trump but it won't actually change trade. 

[Spider-Dan]

Man, all that talk last year about Bidenflation and how no one can afford anything, yet only now do we find out that Actually, Money Doesn't Even Matter:



If you think the mere inconvenience of a devastated economy will be enough to shake the Trumpists from their cultish devotion to their orange god, you are mistaken.  We are not in 2008 anymore.

[Dave Gray]

^ For the cristofascists, sure.

But I think the tech-bros are starting to turn.