Tariff - The Official Tariff Thread

[harrybarracuda]

His advisers are worried that if they go against his ideas they will be sacked, so they are taking the money and keeping quiet.

If you've seen the video of the cabinet meeting, they're all snivelling fucking sycophants.

It's almost vomit inducing.

He can't function without people massaging his frail ego.

[harrybarracuda]

And the wanker's backing down again.

For sure this is a feeble attempt at hiding the inflationary impact of his stupidity.

Electronics such as smartphones and laptops will be excluded from reciprocal tariffs, the Trump administration has said.
US Customs and Border Protection listed 20 product categories in a notice to shippers, including the very broad 8471 code for all computers, laptops, disc drives and automatic data processing.

Smartphones and laptops among items excluded from reciprocal tariffs, US says | World News | Sky News

[beachbound]

China will “never yield“.

[misskit]

China's Xi courts Southeast Asia as Trump tariffs bite

Chinese President Xi Jinping will kick off a five-day, three-nation Southeast Asia tour on Monday (Apr 14) as Beijing seeks to tighten regional trade ties and offset the impact of huge tariffs unleashed by his US counterpart Donald Trump.


Xi will visit Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia in his first overseas trip of the year, China's foreign ministry said.


He will meet his three Southeast Asian counterparts on a tour that "bears major importance" for the broader region, ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.


Beijing is trying to present itself as a stable alternative to an erratic Trump, who announced - and then mostly reversed - sweeping tariffs this month that sent global markets into a tailspin.


Trump's tariffs "inflict serious harm on developing countries", Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao told World Trade Organization chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in a call on Friday.


The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was the biggest recipient of Chinese exports last year, data from China's customs authority shows, importing US$586.5 billion in Chinese goods.


Vietnam was the biggest ASEAN buyer with a bill of US$161.9 billion, followed by Malaysia, which imported US$101.5 billion in Chinese goods in 2024.


The manufacturing powerhouse rushed to seek a delay on the 46 per cent tariff Trump initially imposed before the US leader granted most countries a 90-day pause.


Trump, however, also hiked a blanket China tariff to 145 per cent.


Despite temporary reprieves - which now include an exemption for consumer electronics - Trump's tariffs "instilled major anxiety" in developing Asian nations, said Huong Le Thu, deputy director of the International Crisis Group's Asia Program.


"The tariffs, if really implemented beyond China, will leave economies no choice but drifting away further from the US," she said.


"BAMBOO DIPLOMACY"


Xi will be in Vietnam on Monday and Tuesday, his first trip there since December 2023.


Vietnam has long pursued a "bamboo diplomacy" approach, striving to stay on good terms with both China and the United States.


It shares US concerns about Beijing's increasing assertiveness in the contested South China Sea but it also has close economic ties with China.


Xi will then visit Malaysia from Tuesday to Thursday.


Malaysian Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said Xi's visit was "part of the government's efforts... to see better trade relations with various countries including China".


Xi will then travel on Thursday to Cambodia, one of China's staunchest allies in Southeast Asia and where Beijing has extended its influence in recent years.


"The Cambodian-Chinese ties have not changed... and we will continue to make it robust," Prime Minister Hun Manet said at the recent inauguration of a Chinese-funded road.


He said Xi's visit would confirm their close relationship and called China "a key partner" in the development of Cambodian infrastructure.


Firming up ties with Southeast Asian neighbours could also help offset the impact from a closed United States, the largest single recipient of Chinese goods last year.


Beijing "wants to use this time to show it's the opposite to the coercive and self-interested US", the ICG's Le Thu said.


"China has been a dominant and resident power centre in the region, and there will only be stronger pull," she said.

China's Xi courts Southeast Asia as Trump tariffs bite - CNA

[harrybarracuda]

Any remaining influence the US might have had in Cambodia is now gone, not that there was much left anyway.

[Shutree]

China will “never yield“.

Amongst Trump's many misjudgments, I think his action against China could be the biggest single impetus for a change in the world order. Not in a good way.

[david44]

Amongst Trump's many misjudgments, I think his action against China could be the biggest single impetus for a change in the world order. Not in a good way.

You may well be right I hope not. While the Jingye (Chinese owned) British steel confirms that China always put its own interests first the USA had a tradition of abiding by International agreements, pro free trade and working with democracies like Denmark and Canada sooner than threatening them.

Not sure any future POTUS can swiftly restore that loss of faith, even NATO members.
There is a flaw in USA that cannot unite the majority more concerned about jobs good universal affordable health care , gun control and crime than pronouns or overseas issues. The failure of the democrats to choose a votewinner is being paid by the whole world.

To win the democrats do not just need a centrist probably a personable mid age mid American without baggage but someone who can attract back some who voted for Trump,many Hispanics , younger men and some Blacks, Harris Buttigieg nor Warren fit the bill. This is urgent and they should get the new leadership ready for the mid terms.

If you think just 3 more years of Trump a disaster imagine 8 years of Vance or POTUS Pete Hegseth it's teh stuff of nightmares. Of couse the puppetmasters and there control of media will encourage divide and rule and as the recession bites be sure it will be blamed on Alternately inter alai immigrants, gays, persians, Europeans, blacks, unions, Chinese, Mexicans, Indians, the woke, the soak, the broke or aliens, anyone bar Trump the marionette of the Wall St and Tech billionaires and his Russian chums,

[Looper]

I don't think Trump has played his best poker strategy with these tariff gambles and bluffs.

It is OK to use caprice as a weapon in some strategic spheres of international conflict, but markets rely on knowing the rules to be confident of investment.

In the absence of knowing what the rules will be next week or next month investment withers.

We need a clearer proposed framework and vision for how a dangerous China can be manouevred into a position of economic weakness through tariffs (which should be possible with a concerted effort from the democracies), and then many other advanced economies may get on board.

We need investment in alternative supply chains from other developing low wage economies.

[harrybarracuda]

I don't think Trump has played his best poker strategy with these tariff gambles and bluffs.

He hasn't got one, you imbecile.

[misskit]

^ Exactly the problem. Trump’s edict contained no strategy at all. No real thought, either. Just chaos.



China suspends rare earth exports, kneecapping US industry reliant on Beijing’s ‘monopoly’

China has stopped shipping some heavy rare earth metals and magnets critical to US production of everything from cell phones to fighter jets as Beijing’s trade war with Washington simmers, leaving American industry in a bind.


Effective April 3, China is no longer exporting seven heavy rare earth metals processed exclusively in the Asian power, as well as heavy rare earth magnets — of which about 90% of the world’s supply are also synthesized on Beijing’s territory.


The export halt applies to all countries, but access to elements like dysprosium and yttrium are critical to US industry — especially in the tech, electric vehicle, aircraft and defense sectors, according to Drew Horn, who served as the top US official on strategic minerals and energy supply chain development in President Trump’s first administration


“Rare earths are in everything,” he told The Post Monday, singling out “the EV and auto space … [and] everything from cell phones, defense key components, [and] space travel.”


“China,” Horn added, “has essentially created an all-powerful monopoly with them.”

Instead of only hiking the price US companies have to pay to sell goods inside China via tariffs, Beijing also appears to be using its export capability to move the needle against Washington.

“The Chinese have been threatening this because they do have that leverage to basically cut us off and cut the world off, which essentially cuts us off through all sorts of different means, and now they’re doing it,” said Horn, whose consulting firm GreenMet Advisory works to expand the US mining industry.


Beijing had previously threatened to stop shipping the rare earth elements during Trump’s first administration, with President Xi Jinping making a public visit to a magnet factory in Ganzhou during a time of tense US trade relations in 2019.


Nearly a decade earlier, in 2010, China did suspend the export of heavy rare earths to Japan during a territorial dispute.

“Beijing’s rare earth play is a card they’ve used before — and overplayed,” says Craig Singleton, senior China fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies “The US response this time is less panic, more resolve. Washington sees these latest moves as further justification to fast-track domestic production and friend-shoring strategies, thereby reducing China’s ability to escalate today’s tariff fight to other domains, like rare earths, where it has leverage.”


Becoming independent — or at least less reliant — on China for rare earths has been a growing interest of Trump’s since before he took office a second time this past January.


His recent pursuits of both a mineral deal with Ukraine and a partnership or takeover of resource-rich Greenland have been motivated by an understanding of overreliance on China for key manufacturing components, insiders have told The Post.

But even if the US got its hands on the pure rare earths, experts say it would still need to build facilities to process the elements, which could take years.


“In a lot of ways, the midstream processing is the most difficult to do, not necessarily from a technology perspective, but because China owns all of it, or controls all of it,” Horn said. “So even if you dig it up, you have to ship to [Chinese refineries] exclusively.”


Still, Horn believes that processing facilities could be up and running before 2026 if action is taken now.

“I think there needs to be industry support and buy-in,” he said. “I’m not an advocate of eternal government subsidies or artificial industries, but what I think needs to be done is, there needs to be a variety of incentives, protective measures, tax incentives, funding grants, loan guarantees, etc., to allow some of these new — honestly better, cleaner, more innovative solutions to get up and running in the United States.”


Horn warned such incentives and safeguards are needed to shield potential American competitors and their customers from Chinese retaliation.


“If went to Boeing and said, ‘OK, you need to source exclusively from us or from non-Chinese sources,'” he said, “the retaliatory actions [by Beijing] would basically be to go through the entire Boeing supply chain, throughout their entire ecosystem, and basically cut them off.”

China suspends rare earth exports, kneecapping US industry reliant on Beijing's 'monopoly'

[cyrille]

We need investment in alternative supply chains from other developing low wage economies.

For obvious reasons none will offer significant competition to China, and China of course knows it.

Trump is a moron and his busted casinos make it clear he should steer clear of gambling.

[david44]

For obvious reasons none will offer significant competition to China, and China of course knows it.

Trump is a moron and his busted casinos make it clear he should steer clear of gambling.

ravishingly pellucid have a banana

[harrybarracuda]

For obvious reasons none will offer significant competition to China, and China of course knows it.

Trump is a moron and his busted casinos make it clear he should steer clear of gambling.

His six bankruptcies suggest he isn't much of a "businessman" either. And he can't count.

Trump’s Taj Mahal opened in April 1990 in Atlantic City, but six months later, “defaulted on interest payments to bondholders as his finances went into a tailspin,” The Washington Post’s Robert O’Harrow found. In July 1991, Trump’s Taj Mahal filed for bankruptcy. He could not keep up with debts on two other Atlantic City casinos, and those two properties declared bankruptcy in 1992. A fourth property, the Plaza Hotel in New York, declared bankruptcy in 1992 after amassing debt.
PolitiFact uncovered two more bankruptcies filed after 1992, totaling six. Trump Hotels and Casinos Resorts filed for bankruptcy again in 2004, after accruing about $1.8 billion in debt. Trump Entertainment Resorts also declared bankruptcy in 2009, after being hit hard during the 2008 recession.
Why the discrepancy? Perhaps this will give us an idea: Trump told Washington Post reporters that he counted the first three bankruptcies as just one.

[harrybarracuda]

Donald Trump’s tariffs will send international trade into reverse this year, depressing global economic growth, the World Trade Organization has warned.
In its latest snapshot of the global trading system, the Geneva-based institution says it had previously expected goods trade to expand by a healthy 2.7% this year. As a result of Washington’s trade policy, it is now forecasting a 0.2% decline.

Presenting the forecasts, the WTO’s director general, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said she was particularly concerned about the “decoupling” of the US and China, calling it “a phenomenon that is really worrying to me”.
She said trade between the two geopolitical rivals was expected to plunge by 81-91% without exemptions for tech products such as smartphones – saying this was “tantamount to a decoupling of the two economies” and would have, “far-reaching consequences”.

Okonjo-Iweala said the WTO was canvassing its member countries about whether to convene an emergency meeting to discuss the situation.
In its report, the organisation says: “The outlook for global trade has deteriorated sharply due to a surge in tariffs and trade policy uncertainty.”

Trump tariffs will send global trade into reverse this year, warns WTO | Trump tariffs | The Guardian

[harrybarracuda]

BEIJING, April 20 (Reuters) - DHL Express, a division of Germany's Deutsche Post (DHLn.DE)BEIJING, April 20 (Reuters) - DHL Express, a division of Germany's Deutsche Post, said it would suspend global business-to-consumer shipments worth over $800 to individuals in the United States from April 21, as U.S. customs regulatory changes have lengthened clearance.
The notice on the company website was not dated, but its metadata showed it was compiled on Saturday.
DHL blamed the halt on new U.S. customs rules which require formal entry processing on all shipments worth over $800. The minimum had been $2,500 until a change on April 5.

reuters.com

[misskit]

Government measures to help Thai SMEs affected by US tariffs

The government is rolling out measures, through the Export and Import Bank (Exim Bank), to help SMEs cushion the impacts of the 36% reciprocal tariffs to be imposed on Thai products entering the US market.


Citing the information from the SMEs Promotion Office, Deputy Government Spokesperson Sasikarn Watthanachan said that about 3,700 Thai SMEs, which exported goods worth about US$7.6 billion to the US, are expected to be hard hit by the tariffs, once they come into effect.


The Exim Bank has set up an “Export Clinic”, offering assistance to SMEs exporting goods to or importing them from the US. SME debtors will have their repayment periods extended, to a maximum of 365 days, and will receive interest rate reductions, as well as additional credit to improve their liquidity.


The bank will also provide advice and consultation on how best to cope with the increased tariffs, said Sasikarn, adding that this will help SMEs find new markets, by supporting participation in trade exhibitions, and will help to cover 75% of any damage incurred as a result of their foreign customers defaulting on payments for goods exported.


Total Thai exports last year are estimated at over US$300 billion, including US$55 billion to the US.


Sasikarn said that the government is helping Thai SMEs to cope with the new trade challenges and has confidence in their ability to adapt and survive.
Meanwhile, People’s Party Deputy Leader Sirikanya Tansakul said she expects that it will be 2-3 months before the actual amount of reciprocal tariffs on Thai exports to the US is known.


While waiting for the end of the current 90-day pause in the imposition of the tariffs, she suggested that the government reviews its budget for the 2026 fiscal year in reaction to the US tariffs.

Government measures to help Thai SMEs affected by US tariffs

[harrybarracuda]

So much winning.

China Set to End One of Its Last US Dependencies Thanks to 35 Million Tons of High-Purity Quartz Deposit Worth 1.4 Billion Euros

[david44]

Looper how would you feel If US threatened your nation, well that's how the Danes, panamians and Canadians feel about a new transactional double dealing former ally.

They may do back door deals in the future you'll see how popular a US medical system is.You are luckily far way Stanstead library is already suffering, a free educational institution buggr'd by Trump and ignorance.

US blocks Canadian access to cross-border library, sparking outcry | US news | The Guardian

If you associate with the views shitty people do not be surprised if you are disdained as a trumpanzee moron.

Imagine being deported tosome central American cell then decide if ignoring the law is a good plan. Imagine beinga arent of the 20k+ Ukrainian kids to be abandoned by Trump-Putin axis a nasty murderous child abducting alliance. I assume you are opposed to child abduction and dictators murdering citizens of a democracy in their homes?

[harrybarracuda]

The jobs report is due today.

Economists expect the U.S. Labor Department on Friday will report that employers added 135,000 jobs last month. That's a healthy number, but it would be down sharply from the surprisingly strong 228,000 jobs added in March.

Some expect it to be a lot lower, but it is early days.

[harrybarracuda]

I'm a little baffled how these jobs keep rising, especially when you consider all the jobs that DOGE cut.

It makes you wonder who is producing the figures these days...

Trump calls on Fed to lower interest rates after new jobs report

Employers added 177,000 jobs last month as the labor market keeps humming, for now, despite all the turmoil caused by President Trump's tariffs. The White House is taking credit for the job growth after blaming former President Biden for the drop in gross domestic product earlier this week. Mr. Trump said this is a sign that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell should cut interest rates

[harrybarracuda]

I honestly had to check it wasn't April 1st...

Trump announces 100% tariffs on movies ‘produced in foreign lands’

Donald Trump on Sunday announced on his Truth Social platform a 100% tariff on all movies “produced in Foreign Lands”, saying the US film industry was dying a “very fast death” due to the incentives that other countries were offering to draw American film-makers.

In his post, he claimed to have authorised the commerce department and the US trade representative to immediately begin instituting such a tariff.

“This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat,” Trump said in the Truth Social post. “It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!”

“WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!” Trump added.

Trump announces 100% tariffs on movies ‘produced in foreign lands’ | Donald Trump | The Guardian

Added: And in an early contender for understatement of the year...

Former senior commerce department official William Reinsch, a senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said retaliation against Trump’s foreign movies tariffs would be devastating.
“The retaliation will kill our industry. We have a lot more to lose than to gain,” he said, adding that it would be difficult to make a national security or national emergency case for movies.

[cyrille]

And he doesn't rule out the use of force to take Greenland.



The US needs to rid itself of this lunatic, and soon.

[harrybarracuda]

And he doesn't rule out the use of force to take Greenland.



The US needs to rid itself of this lunatic, and soon.

I can only agree. FFS. It's like the twerp has never heard of the SuperMax.

US President Donald Trump says he is directing the Bureau of Prisons to rebuild and reopen the infamous Alcatraz prison in the San Francisco Bay to “house America’s most ruthless and violent offenders”.
“REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ!” he posted on the Truth Social platform. “When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm.”
The closure of the federal prison in 1963 was attributed to crumbling infrastructure and the high costs of repairing and supplying the island facility, because everything from fuel to food had to be brought by boat.
It is now one of San Francisco’s most popular tourist destinations.

[harrybarracuda]

US Soybean producers are $6Bn down...

So much winning.

Tariff impacts on U.S, Brazil, China soybean triangle

[harrybarracuda]

Chinese exporters are routing goods through nearby nations to disguise their origin and dodge tariffs of up to 145% imposed by United States President Donald Trump, according to traders, logistics agents and customs officials.
Advertisements for “place‑of‑origin washing” have started appearing on popular Chinese social media sites, according to Financial Times. The posts promise to lower tariffs by sending the goods to another Asian country from where they’ll leave again carrying a fresh certificate of origin, allowing them to clear U.S. customs at the lower duty rate.
The surge in such offers shows how worried exporters are about losing the American market. “The tariff is too high,” said Sarah Ou, who sells for Baitai Lighting in Zhongshan, Guangdong. “We can sell the goods to neighboring countries, and then the neighboring countries sell them on to the United States, and it will reduce.”
Under U.S. trade rules, a shipment must undergo “substantial transformation” — processing that adds real value — before it can legally claim a new national origin. Yet one post on lifestyle app Xiaohongshu this week urged shippers to “Transit through Malaysia to ‘transform’ into Southeast Asian goods.”
Another highlighted U.S. tariffs on Chinese wooden flooring and tableware, adding, “Wash the origin in Malaysia for smooth customs clearance.”

Just a moment...