cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/64750194

  • President Donald Trump on Friday said he is “recommending a straight 50% Tariff on the European Union” after complaining that trade negotiations have stalled.

  • The EU “has been very difficult to deal with,” Trump wrote. “Our discussions with them are going nowhere!”

The European Union, which was formed for the primary purpose of taking advantage of the United States on TRADE, has been very difficult to deal with. Their powerful Trade Barriers, Vat Taxes, ridiculous Corporate Penalties, Non-Monetary Trade Barriers, Monetary Manipulations, unfair and unjustified lawsuits against Americans Companies, and more, have led to a Trade Deficit with the U.S. of more than $250,000,000 a year, a number which is totally unacceptable. Our discussions with them are going nowhere! Therefore, I am recommending a straight 50% Tariff on the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025. There is no Tariff if the product is built or manufactured in the United States. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

  • Vincent@feddit.nl
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    16 hours ago

    Please please please if this happens, institute reciprocal tariffs on services. Nobody would care if it becomes more expensive to advertise on Facebook, and we have a trade deficit in services.

    (OK I guess lots of companies would care if their IT infrastructure gets more expensive, but 🤷)

    • darko@feddit.org
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      14 hours ago

      Companies have the option to migrate to EU providers to avoid the taxes on their infrastructure. Yes I know it’s not that easy. Bite the bullet or pay the tax.

      • iglou@programming.dev
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        6 hours ago

        I honestly don’t understand why it’s not already the norm. We’ve got plenty of great providers in Europe.

    • Mihies@programming.dev
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      15 hours ago

      I said it before, EU not implementing any tariffs so far to appease the Orange was a mistake and sign of weakness in Orange’s eyes. No wonder Orange swings random numbers around now.

      • Melchior@feddit.org
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        14 hours ago

        I disagree. It was very smart to stay out of the spotlight and look at what happens with China. After all the EU got 10% tariffs fairly quickly without doing too much.

  • Akasazh@feddit.nl
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    13 hours ago

    Just copy China’s playbook and don’t flinch. Trump will blink first

  • BigShammy80@feddit.org
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    16 hours ago

    Problem is a lot of companies will crawl on their bellies and start producing in USA to avoid this tariffs.

    Some German car manufacturers already think about building a factory in USA.

    For big companies it’s no ethical thing, it’s just about money. Sadly.

    • GenosseFlosse@feddit.org
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      4 hours ago

      German car manufacturers already have plants in the US since many years. The US cars have different regulations and need different parts, and they take advantage of the lower manufacturing costs and don’t have to add expensive shipping from Europe to US ports to the sales price.

    • Ooops@feddit.org
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      15 hours ago

      Some German car manufacturers already think about building a factory in USA.

      German car producers don’t think at all. They just love to exist in their total standstill without any need to change or innovate and then cry for public money.

      Nobody believes that they will actually go to the US where they would pay massive tarrifs for a lot of their components just to then sell the cars without tarrifs.

    • Mihies@programming.dev
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      15 hours ago

      I don’t think anybody is considering that for real in these insanely volatile and unpredictable conditions lead by a stupid orange toddler.

    • Melchior@feddit.org
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      14 hours ago

      No. Building a factory takes a decade and a lot of money. Chances are very good that Trump flinches, as he did with China. At that point a factory in a cheaper country would be a better deal. So they probably just choose to do nothing and keep their current factories.

      However they will promise to built factories, as that is incredibly cheap. It is not like companies are honest.