Summary

Donald Trump has announced plans to impose 25% tariffs on the European Union, claiming the bloc was “formed to screw the United States.”

While details are pending, he suggested the levies would target cars and other imports. The EU, a major U.S. trading partner, has vowed immediate retaliation, with potential tariffs impacting $29.3 billion in exports.

French President Emmanuel Macron had attempted to dissuade Trump, urging focus on China instead.

Critics, including economists and conservative media, warn the tariffs could harm the U.S. economy.

    • Zron@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      It did for Mexico and Canada.

      They agreed to nothing new, and the terrifs vanished.

      It must be like trying to negotiate with a toddler.

  • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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    20 hours ago

    The EU has an official mechanism to combat economic pressure like this that includes suspension of all intellectual property from the country imposing the tarrifs.

  • Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee
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    1 day ago

    I remember John Kerry’s election in 2004 was thwarted due in part to the perception that he was flip-flopping around a lot of issues. Trump is constantly making an absolute fool of himself by constantly backing away from shit he said he was going to do.

    • driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br
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      7 hours ago

      He has never flip-flopped on his electorate more important issues, like blaming immigrants for every problem on their lives.

    • whoisearth@lemmy.ca
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      1 day ago

      Studies show the majority of Americans don’t have a passport let alone have left their own state. 3rd world country.

      • JLock17@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        That’s unfortunately what happens when people get gaslit into thinking being a debt slave is morally righteous.

  • jmsy@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Based on an overwhelming amount of economic studies of tariffs in the last 100 years, the EU should ignore it. Why enact tariffs on American goods and make life more expensive for Europeans? Studies show EU businesses will raise prices accordingly. The citizens will be worse off.

    However, based on our knowledge of how politicians act, they’ll take the bait and retaliate, thus making things more expensive for EU citizens.

    • engene@lemmy.ca
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      1 day ago

      This is what I’ve been thinking about for Canada’s reaction - do nothing! I can’t say how it will affect us now and in the immediate future but it seems the damage is already done anyway. BTW. this is my 1st post on Lemmy - thank you!

      • ragepaw@lemmy.ca
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        44 minutes ago

        We didn’t do nothing. We announced massive retaliatory tariffs. The do nothing impression came from the fact that they asked for concessions we already offered.

        Also, the US is still hitting us with tariffs. Starting March 4, 25% on everything then in April an additional 25% on steel and aluminum.

      • T00l_shed@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        Maybe not “do nothing” but I like the remove certain products from shelves. Like stop the sale of American alcohol from shelves.

    • Lifter@discuss.tchncs.de
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      1 day ago

      I don’t get it. If we do retaliate, the US will have something to gain (back) by removing the tariffs.

      I don’t know what studies you are referring to (please leave a link) but it seems counterintuitive to not have that bargaining chip to force a quick end to the tarriffs (See US vs Canada 2025, US vs Mexico 2025).

      I don’t see how one could reasonably measure policies like these through time; of course it’s worse in the short term for all involved parties but should resolve the situation faster. If they only measure the time during active tarriffs of course it’s better through survivorship bias.

      • jmsy@lemmy.world
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        11 hours ago

        Eugster, J., Jaumotte, M. F., MacDonald, M. M., & Piazza, M. R. (2022). The Effect of Tariffs in Global Value Chains. International Monetary Fund.

        Furceri, D., Hannan, S. A., Ostry, J. D., & Rose, A. K. (2020). Are tariffs bad for growth? Yes, say five decades of data from 150 countries. Journal of Policy Modeling, 42(4), 850–859. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpolmod.2020.03.009

        Schularick, M., & Solomou, S. (2011). Tariffs and economic growth in the first era of globalization. Journal of Economic Growth, 16(1), 33–70. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10887-011-9061-6

        York, E. (2018). The Impact of Trade and Tariffs on the United States. Tax Foundation.

        • Lifter@discuss.tchncs.de
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          3 hours ago

          I read the abstract of the two links. The first one just says “tarrifs bad” without even mentioning our discussion above.

          The second abstract said they did not find any evidence of “tarrifs good”, other factors had greater impact for growth. This is not the same question either.

          • jmsy@lemmy.world
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            2 hours ago

            try reading the entire articles. the question you asked are described in the lit reviews and discussion

    • MrMakabar@slrpnk.net
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      1 day ago

      Capitalism strives to make money. Competition means profit margins shrink. So yes capitalists are against competition.

      That is one of the many reasons listening to companies is not good economic planning for countries.

  • technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 day ago

    Ofc the EU was created to screw the USA. Good for them. Nobody wants to be subservient to the paper petrol-dollars of a genocidal empire that’s literally destroying the planet for a few ultra privileged man babies.

  • JLock17@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    “This again? See you next month, Don.”

    He’s like clockwork, but he’s more of a fake Rolex.

    • samus12345@lemm.ee
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      2 days ago

      The bat needs to bounce back and also hit the fascist ball in the face. Making things worse for everybody for no reason!

    • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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      2 days ago

      I mean, we have retaliatory tariffs ready to go too, and I’m not sure they’d be any less damaging.

      If we went nuclear shutting off power to New York and water to Seattle and Boise is a thing we could do.

        • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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          2 days ago

          Twice? Are you thinking of the first term thing?

          The last time, it really looked like he panicked when the Dow (predictably, to everyone else) fell. If he blinks every time, yeah, it’s never going to actually happen, although I can’t see him deciding that actually he’s wrong about tariffs being awesome.

          • PlaidBaron@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            He pushed it by a month again. Now its for sure actually defenitely gonna happen in April Im serious guys no really.

              • PlaidBaron@lemmy.world
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                2 days ago

                Huh. There were some CBC articles floating around saying they were postponed again. I guess not? The articles are gone.

                I feel like nobody knows wtf is going on.

                • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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                  1 day ago

                  After I sent this, I saw a clip about it. It looks like he did suggest it was all on April 2 in some interview. If he had it wrong, was deliberately being confusing or what is unclear, but it hardly matters.

                  We’ll see what happens then, basically. Either way, we should be getting the hell away from American dependence.

        • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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          1 day ago

          And hopefully Trump would care? Last time we blacked them out (by accident) all hell broke loose in just a day, but they don’t vote Republican.

          Come to think of it, we could also cut off land access to Alaska. We’re going to wait for him to escalate this first, though.

        • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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          2 days ago

          Assuming their supply is related to the Colombia river system, yes. It looked like all of Washington was in the watershed in the map I saw.

          How badly impacted they’d be by us messing with the upstream supply, I can’t say.

          • AbsentBird@lemm.ee
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            1 day ago

            The Columbia flows through Eastern Washington, it’s on the other side of a mountain range from Seattle. That’s like threatening to cause an avalanche at Banff to hurt Vancouver.

            In either case it’s the environment that would bear the brunt of the conflict. If you want to hurt Seattle you could just raise our electric bill.

            • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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              1 day ago

              Ah, my bad. So many mountain ranges makes it hard to keep track of what flows where. I’m a little unclear on the bits I’ve been through many times, even.

              Well, IIRC the rest of Washington is a militia-ridden red state, so maybe that’s even better. (Or am I thinking of Oregon?)

              • AbsentBird@lemm.ee
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                20 hours ago

                Both actually, as depressing as that is. The entire region started as the Oregon Territory just before the civil war, and ever since the beginning has had to grapple with far right nutjobs.

                Over time the coastal west of each state became more and more blue and populous, while the east stayed rural and backwards.

                Things are slowly changing though, Spokane county has voted blue for the past decade.