Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/05/30/trump-to-impose-a-5-tariff.html
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Just remember that soon 2.2 face palms will be required.
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A tariff IS a tax. But it’s a tax paid by Americans who buy imported goods, not a tax paid by Mexicans.
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Yes - hence pulling out BOTH Riker and Picard for this occasion.
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Does he even understand how tariffs work? Does he even understand how much stuff we import from Mexico?
I’m sure the answer to both of these is “no”.
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A regressive tax at that, which will be shouldered in large part by the same Know-Nothing base to whose bigotry this move panders. As a secondary effect, it will also hit the stock market.
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The friggin financial crash can’t come soon enough. I want pitchforks followed by an outcry for a new deal.
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Guess I won’t be buying an American car this year.
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His tough-guy plan to make Mexico bend to his will is to… make Americans pay a whole lot more for avocados, bell peppers, onions, and tequila?
Guacamole party at my place on June 9, you’re all invited.
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Don’t get your hopes up. It’ll be hard to beat 2008 in terms of a crash (a market correction and recession are more likely), and despite a jobless recovery that’s only benefited the top 10% of Americans … well, look where we are in 2019.
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Unfortunately all of our pitchforks are made in China and Mexico.
Perhaps this is Trump’s plan from the get-go.
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Me, later tonight: “But honey, if we stockpile cases of Cazadores Reposado, it will be like making money!”
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If he raises the cost of goods coming from Mexico; manufacturers who moved there will start manufacturing in the US. This increases demand for cheap labor- which increases immigration from Mexico.
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Does this violate the re-negotiated NAFTA, I wonder? (Or the original?)
Will Mexico enter into any future negotiations (of any sort) in good faith, given that clearly Trump isn’t?
The irony here is that it seems like the recently elected Mexican president, despite his campaign rhetoric, has been mostly doing what Trump wants him to, in terms of immigrants crossing Mexico for the US. I wonder how much longer that will be the case. It’s not as if Mexico can actually stop people from crossing the border, so there’s no incentive for Mexico to play along if Trump is going to grandstand, ostensibly at their expense, anyways. (Though I can’t imagine that a 5% tariff will cause any US importers to look elsewhere for those products - certainly they won’t find domestic producers at those prices. So it’s just going to be a tax on American consumers and businesses.)
At a 5% increase, though? I can’t see it making much of a difference. (Unless they don’t have any set-up costs to move production and they can easily make it with, as you say, cheap undocumented labor stateside.)
I think we’ve learned by now, for the question, “Does Trump understand [anything]?” the answer is always “no.” That’s not hyperbole.
There was an NYT article today about how there are strong indicators of a looming recession. Partially due to tariffs. These won’t help.
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A more interesting question might be do he care? Again you would be correct…No!
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what a legacy of incompetence he is building
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That’ll only get it in the door… it’s worth nothing if you drink it.
Which is my understanding of what it’s for.
That’s a good one too.
