patrick.net

And? It's their internal business. Whether they have VAT or not does not change how our goods compete on their market. Tariffs do.

Actually Jaguar (I’ve owned several) and Landrover are now owned by Tata Motors, based in India.

I love Jaguars, especially the XJS. I had one friend restore a 63 XKE and another friend restore a 67 XKE. A guy where I used to work had a later model Jaguar non-convertible with a Ford engine.

They've been using the Robotics excuse for 30 years. It's all about lowest wages.

If Robotics was the reason, the huge supply of skilled engineers and some of the cheapest electric IN THE WORLD $/kwh (esp. vs. China, Mexico, Vietnam as well as the EU) would mean MOAR, not less, US Factories.

So 900 Chrysler workers just lost their jobs.

RWSGFY says

So 900 Chrysler workers just lost their jobs.

In Canada, right?

RWSGFY says

So 900 Chrysler workers just lost their jobs.

In Canada, right?

Stellantis has said it is temporarily laying off 900 workers across five U.S. facilities following the announcement of sweeping tariffs from President Donald Trump, Reuters reported.

“Trump’s decision to put a 32 percent tariff on Switzerland stunned politicians and business leaders in the Alpine country. Switzerland has an open trade policy and recently abolished all industrial tariffs, including on goods from the United States, which is also its largest export market.”

OK, explain this one:

“Trump’s decision to put a 32 percent tariff on Switzerland stunned politicians and business leaders in the Alpine country. Switzerland has an open trade policy and recently abolished all industrial tariffs, including on goods from the United States, which is also its largest export market.”

What tariff should Switzerland lower to avoid this "reciprocal" tariff? They have nothing to lower anymore, it's literally 0%. Shall they pay the US importers now?

OK, explain this one:

“Trump’s decision to put a 32 percent tariff on Switzerland stunned politicians and business leaders in the Alpine country. Switzerland has an open trade policy and recently abolished all industrial tariffs, including on goods from the United States, which is also its largest export market.”

What tariff should Switzerland lower to avoid this "reciprocal" tariff? They have nothing to lower anymore, it's literally 0%. Shall they pay the US importers now?

It seemed the 10% tariff on countries like Australia were arbitrary as the USA has a trade surplus not deficit with them.

They've been using the Robotics excuse for 30 years. It's all about lowest wages.

If Robotics was the reason, the huge supply of skilled engineers and some of the cheapest electric IN THE WORLD $/kwh (esp. vs. China, Mexico, Vietnam as well as the EU) would mean MOAR, not less, US Factories.

Also federal-to-town government regulations like OSHA and local zoning are another factor as well as supply chain challenges.

So 900 Chrysler workers just lost their jobs. Why?

OK, explain this one:

“Trump’s decision to put a 32 percent tariff on Switzerland stunned politicians and business leaders in the Alpine country. Switzerland has an open trade policy and recently abolished all industrial tariffs, including on goods from the United States, which is also its largest export market.”

What tariff should Switzerland lower to avoid this "reciprocal" tariff? They have nothing to lower anymore, it's literally 0%. Shall they pay the US importers now?

Not wrong at all. But we all knew or at least I did, this was going to be a shit storm with tariffs. Trump is ripping the bandaid off. Yes it will hurt for 10 seconds (10 months in real time) but it needed to happen.

NCLA Sues to Stop Trump Admin. from Imposing Emergency Tariffs That Congress Never Authorized

Washington, DC (April 3, 2025) – Today, the New Civil Liberties Alliance filed the first Complaint challenging President Donald Trump’s unlawful attempt to require Americans to pay a heavy tariff on all products they import from China. President Trump imposed the tariff by invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). However, this statute authorizes specific emergency actions like imposing sanctions or freezing assets to protect the United States from foreign threats. It does not authorize the President to impose tariffs. In its nearly 50-year history, no other president—including President Trump in his first term—has ever tried to use the IEEPA to impose tariffs. NCLA’s lawsuit does not quibble with President Trump’s declaration of an opioid-related emergency, but it does take issue with his decision to impose tariffs in response, without legal authority to do so.

...

Under art. 1, § 8 of the Constitution, Congress has sole authority to control tariffs, which it has done by passing detailed tariff statutes. The President cannot bypass those statutes by invoking “emergency” authority in another statute that does not mention tariffs. His attempt to use the IEEPA this way not only violates the law as written, but it also invites application of the Supreme Court’s Major Questions Doctrine, which tells courts not to discern policies of “vast economic and political significance” in a law without explicit congressional authorization. If the IEEPA were held to permit this executive order, then the statute would run afoul of the nondelegation doctrine because it lacks an “intelligible principle” to limit or guide the president’s discretion in imposing tariffs. NCLA is joined by Bryan Gowdy of Creed & Gowdy, P.A. as local counsel in this important case.

will have to buy American made products now.

Booger says

will have to buy American made products now.

Why is that?

RWSGFY says

Booger says

will have to buy American made products now.

Why is that?

I just think a lot of Americans will slow or stop non essential consumption. I know I am. Groceries and maybe a meal out occasionally. Any big purchases are on hold. The prices will come down.

Opposite of what most think, but margins on a lot of products are higher sold in America than most understand. Foreign countries will drop their tariffs and we drop them on our end and the prices slowly fall. Lower interest rates follow as inflation stops. It's just going to take a year. Might be a hot mess for a while.

RWSGFY says

Booger says

will have to buy American made products now.

Why is that?

I just think a lot of Americans will slow or stop non essential consumption. I know I am. Groceries and maybe a meal out occasionally. Any big purchases are on hold. The prices will come down.

Opposite of what most think, but margins on a lot of products are higher sold in America than most understand. Foreign countries will drop their tariffs and we drop them on our end and the prices slowly fall. Lower interest rates follow as inflation stops. It's just going to take a year. Might be a hot mess for a while.

People who are truly intelligent know when they were wrong about something. Usually when smart people are wrong, it’s because they have flawed assumptions.

I was once a staunch advocate of the system we called “free trade.” (Even though it was really not free trade, so for purposes of this post I’ll call the restrictive reality “globalist free trade.") My support for globalist free trade was based on the following four assumptions:

1. Globalist free trade will result in fair trade policies honored by all nations.

2. Countries like China, Myanmar and Vietnam will abandon their tyrannical governments and oppressive social conventions once globalist free trade is in place, and will join the world of free, peaceful, democratic societies.

3. Globalist free trade will make unskilled workers in poor countries into a robust middle class.

4. US manufacturing jobs will leave, but all American citizens will then have robust opportunities in the knowledge economy that will raise the standards of living for all.

These four assumptions underpinned all support for globalist free trade.

All four of these assumptions were badly, badly wrong. They were wildly off the mark.

Today, our intelligentsia are unable to do what I did (admit my assumptions were wrong) and instead cling to the same Chamber of Commerce 1990s rhetoric that brought us to this hellscape.

The mark of true intelligence is the ability to admit you were wrong. Our self-appointed “elites” are showing us in the tariffs argument just how unintelligent they actually are.

From the internets:

I keep hearing people interpret the cost of tariffs incorrectly. Let's use an example with easy math.

I import 100 pairs of sneakers from a foreign country to sell in my home country. Each shoe costs me $100 to produce, package and ship to my warehouse. My total customs declaration is $10,000. If the tariff is 10%, then I pay $1,000 to the Customs and Border Patrol. My total cost for the sneakers is $11,000.

I now have a choice. Do I pass the $10 cost increase per sneaker to my customers, or do I accept a smaller profit margin? The answer, of course, depends on the price sensitivity of my customers.

What I keep hearing from people is that the tariff is on the retail value of the goods, and the price is going to increase by the tariff rate. This is not at all how it works. Please, conduct a bit of research for yourself. Trust but verify.

Trump Tariffs Praised by U.S. Shrimp Harvesters: President ‘Threw Us A Lifeline’

“The U.S. domestic shrimp industry has been on a downward trajectory for decades now as a direct result of the unfair trade in the overseas aquaculture industry for growing shrimp overseas,” Leann Borsarge, the COO of Bosarge Boats, told Fox Business on Friday.

“And these tariffs threw us a lifeline that we needed to hopefully live to fight another day in our industry in this country,” Borsarge added.

On Wednesday, President Trump announced a baseline levy of 10 percent on imports from foreign countries and “individualized reciprocal higher” tariffs on certain countries, which shrimp harvesters believe will help them compete against the foreign shrimp industry.

A staggering 94 percent of shrimp eaten in the United States is reportedly imported from foreign countries — typically India, Ecuador, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Argentina.

Except... Trump just eliminated tariffs on all Argentine goods.

Except... Trump just eliminated tariffs on all Argentine goods.

How many people actually eat shrimp frequently?