• Maple Engineer@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    29
    ·
    edit-2
    6 days ago

    Everyone needs a lesson in how tarrifs work. Tarrifs are a tax on thing that US companies buy. They are intended to make foreign products more expensive to protect domestic producers. So, the American company pays the tariff. They then pass that tariff on to their customer, either another company or an American consumer. Then, the country that the tariff had been applied to applies offsetting tarrifs on American goods.

    When the product that the tariff is applied to can’t be produced in the US, think advanced microchips or Canadian softwood lumber, Americans pay more but still have to buy the foreign product. With the softwood lumber tarrifs the cost of building a home with Canadian softwood lumber went up by tens of thousands of dollars and Canadian companies laughed all the way to the bank. American consumers paid more and Canadian companies made record profits because the US can’t produce enough softwood lumber to meet its needs.

    So, the price to American companies and consumers goes up and the cost of American goods overseas goes up. Americans pay the tarrifs and American companies sell less goods overseas.

    America loses.

    • Oaksey@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      6 days ago

      So in your example, I guess the tariffs don’t apply to Canada? Because the proceeds of tariffs go to the government of the country charging them.

      • Maple Engineer@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        edit-2
        5 days ago

        I’m not sure what you’re asking. If you’re referring to softwood lumber the profits of Canadian lumber companies were at record levels because the US needs Canadian softwood lumber with or without tarrifs. The tarrifs didn’t affect sales at all so with the increased demand despite the tarrifs Canadian companies didn’t suffer at all. US consumers spent more and the money went to the US government which presumably gave some of the money to uncompetitive US softwood lumber companies to subsides their unprofitable operations. It’s a tax on US consumers.

        Canadian softwood lumber companies pay a stumpage fee to sustainably harvest softwood on public land. US softwood lumber companies pay much higher prices to harvest lumber mostly on private land. It’s all about extracting the highest profit for the most wealthy people. Canada has a better system and the US is salty about it. The US has lost at the WTO every time but refuses to accept the result so it ignores its treaty obligations and just forges ahead with the illegal tarrifs which hurt US consumers.

  • cordlesslamp6891@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    18
    ·
    6 days ago

    TIL, lots of Trumps voters don’t even know how tariffs work and thought the foreign companies are the one who paid those instead of the domestic buyers themselves.

    • Randelung@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      15
      ·
      6 days ago

      Even if, did they think prices would just stay the same? Tariffs only work if production is moved back home, which for many industries won’t happen, which means costs will be passed on to consumers.

    • Kichae@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      6 days ago

      Doesn’t matter who the tax is levied against. All costs will be passed on to the buyer. They should be familiar with this idea. It’s the Republican’s key talking point against business taxes.

  • Furbag@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    23
    ·
    6 days ago

    Good. I hope he does it. Don’t let any of his yes-men or cronies tell him what a horrible idea it is. Let the whole fucking country burn.

  • Juigi@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    14
    ·
    6 days ago

    Rich get richer, poor people suffer. Americans are so f dumb i cant take it

  • Lord Wiggle@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    23
    ·
    7 days ago

    Where so you think American farmers buy their fertilizer? Where they sell most of their soy and corn sell to? Maaaaany companies are either buying or selling to/from China. Many will go bankrupt, bany will struggle.

    • Nuke_the_whales@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      edit-2
      6 days ago

      China is strengthening ties with Russia to replace u.s trade, and it shows that Putin is laughing his ass off at how he played a whole country, other than his I mean

  • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    35
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    7 days ago

    Can someone please explain to me why he STILL doesn’t have any understanding of how tarrifs work?

    • DigitalDilemma@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      50
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      7 days ago

      You’re making the mistake in that his intention is to improve things.

      He doesn’t have to make things better, he just has to say he has made them better. That’s all he’s ever done and it’s worked.

    • jj4211@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      16
      ·
      7 days ago

      A candidate that expressed nuanced understanding of economic principles would have been less likely to win the election.

      A candidate that instead promises answers that intuitively sound right. If imports are expensive, then obviously the big business owners will build domestic and give us more money. If you get rid of immigrants, then the business owners will have to pay more for citizen workers. Simple answers that are easier for people to believe in.

      Attempts to explain nuance? That ranges from nerds overcomplicating things and/or those darned liberal elites trying to truck them.

      This cuts both ways. In 2020 Biden won not due to a more sophisticated understanding of things, but simply because things were bad, and the other guy therefore was the obvious choice. So to overcome an incumbent, you just have to have people believe stuff is bad, and provide some believable explanation that you could fix it.

    • rdrunner@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      13
      ·
      7 days ago

      I believe that he does, and he knows shit will cost more, but he ALSO knows that his followers have no clue whatsoever. So prices will increase, and he’ll blame it on one of their many “others”. Keeping them scared and mad is the key to their control over them

  • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    19
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    7 days ago

    Fuck.

    It hasn’t even started yet and I know that I have 4 more years of this stupidity news ever single day

    Oh wait

    Since Trump will install himself as a dictator, then die, we have a few decades of couche fucker Vance to look forward to, yeeeiii

    • Ultraviolet@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      6 days ago

      I’m not convinced we’ll go even a single decade of this regime without total socioeconomic collapse.

      • WaxedWookie@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        6 days ago

        The Hitler lasted from July 1932, and Hitler killed himself in April 1945 - 13 years.

        Mussolini lasted from 1922 to his execution in 1945 - 23 years.

        Stalin lasted 1924-1953 - 29 years.

        Fascism inevitably implodes and crates untold suffering along the way, but you might have longer than you think.

          • WaxedWookie@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            6
            ·
            6 days ago

            Fascism and idiots - I couldn’t name a more iconic duo - though I do agree with you point… Trump is exceptionally stupid, and has surrounded himself with gibbering idiots like Musk and RFK.

            …that said, when Trump’s heart inevitably explodes, Vance will almost certainly have competent (evil) advisors, and they’ll get (horrible) shit done.

  • beebarfbadger@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    5 days ago
    1. Not true at all. Vile lies spread by the Democrats.
    2. Okay, maybe it is true, but it’s actually a good thing.
    3. Okay, maybe the results are catastrophic, but it’s actually the Democrats’ fault. The solution is higher tariffs.