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Originally about tariffs and watches ... now just political rambling

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glownyc
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According to the White House they are close to an agreement with Japan and India. However...

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/...expect-them-to-be-light-on-specifics-00302762

"In the absence of full-fledged trade deals, administration officials are working to ink what three people close to the White House described as “memorandums of understanding” or a broad “architecture” for future deals. They were granted anonymity to discuss the details of internal deliberations.
It “may take months to hammer out the final deals,” said one of the people, conceding, “these things are complicated.”"

"“I wouldn’t even call them deals,” another person close to the White House said of the frameworks the administration is looking to announce. “Basically, [it’s] an agreement that we would like to talk about doing a deal.”
“They’re going to start rolling out a bunch of stuff that just says, you know, we’re signing something that says we’re going to start talks,” they added."

"The people briefed on the talks with India and Japan said that the agreements are expected to be structured to imply that the United States is the countries’ major trading partner, not China - though one cautioned the language will contain significant and purposeful ambiguity."

::facepalm1::::facepalm1::::facepalm1::
 
glownyc
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Trump says the U.S. and China are 'actively' discussing tariffs. Beijing says that's false.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/...rump-washington-us-economy-markets-rcna202535

"China on Thursday directly contradicted President Donald Trump’s claims that Beijing and Washington are actively discussing resolutions to a trade war that threatens to upend the global economy. While Trump said Wednesday that the world’s two largest economies are “actively” talking, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson responded that “China and the U.S. have not engaged in any consultations or negotiations regarding tariffs, let alone reached an agreement.”
The spokesperson, Guo Jiakun, made the comments at a briefing in Beijing, saying that reports of ongoing talks were false."

"Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave conflicting accounts of the state of negotiations Wednesday, with Bessent saying “both sides are waiting to speak to the other,” without providing further detail."

"Trump, meanwhile, said that “everybody wants to be a part of what we’re doing” and that the U.S. and China had direct contact on trade “every day.”"

::facepalm1:: Not a good sign when you can't even agree if you're talking or not.
 
Dan S
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glownyc glownyc
According to the White House they are close to an agreement with Japan and India. However...
It would be great to have some trade deals in the bag. I would welcome that, and maybe there will be some marginal wins, where trade is more even. I just hope it happens before the irreversible damage becomes too great.

But because of the way this has been pursued I have to think that other countries are (1) distrustful that deals will be honored, and (2) feeling that the US is in a rapidly weakening negotiating position. While they may be talking to the US, I'm sure they're talking to each other even more actively.
 
The Father
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Tariff policy into 3 weeks now. Let see what we have in 3 months. The same economic experts (in the media) that mewl about tariff policy, are the same ones that have said “the United States head for recession” the last 3 years.
 
ErichPryde
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The Father The Father
Tariff policy into 3 weeks now. Let see what we have in 3 months. The same economic experts (in the media) that mewl about tariff policy, are the same ones that have said “the United States head for recession” the last 3 years.

Please outline the policy
 
TasMike
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bsowers34 bsowers34
And pretty soon we need to cat bomb this depressing thread.
Go on... give me a kiss!
AMP254.webp

I'm not living with a cat at the moment, hoping this will do.
 
Emeister
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gatorcpa gatorcpa
If I wrote what I think MAGA stands for, this thread would be shut down.

I’ll just let you all guess.
gatorcpa
Hand up. 🙋‍♂️ Ooh, ooh pick me!

Is MAGA the new brand name for Omega now that ShoopaChrono has stolen all of the O's for "them/their"self and we don't believe in clear, intelligent communication anymore?

What do I win?
 
gatorcpa
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Emeister Emeister
Is MAGA the new brand name for Omega now that ShoopaChrono has stolen all of the O's for "them/their"self and we don't believe in clear, intelligent communication anymore?
Not even close.
gatorcpa
 
ErichPryde
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Emeister Emeister
Hand up. 🙋‍♂️ Ooh, ooh pick me!

Is MAGA the new brand name for Omega now that ShoopaChrono has stolen all of the O's for "them/their"self and we don't believe in clear, intelligent communication anymore?

What do I win?

Lmao
 
pdxleaf
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The Father The Father
Tariff policy into 3 weeks now. Let see what we have in 3 months. The same economic experts (in the media) that mewl about tariff policy, are the same ones that have said “the United States head for recession” the last 3 years.
An argument can be made that we were headed for a recession the last three years, but we had knowledgeable leaders in charge, and a bit of luck.

But I admit that I haven't understood the economy since Covid. The trillions of dollars pumped into people's hands and zero percent interest had a lot to do with keeping it all going.

But does anyone think 145% tariffs make any sense? People are losing jobs all over.
 
Goseki
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I always tell people to try this thought experiment. Imagine the policies that you currently support, example, omega. Now close you eyes. All those trade deals, changes to infrastructure, alliances, features. Imagine if those things were being done by the opposite. Imagine the coaxial on a Rolex. The crown where the omega symbol was. Are you still a fan. If the answer is no, you may want to take a good hard look dm figure out what you're exactly a fan of.
 
arturo7
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Goseki Goseki
I always tell people to try this thought experiment. Imagine the policies that you currently support, example, omega. Now close you eyes. All those trade deals, changes to infrastructure, alliances, features. Imagine if those things were being done by the opposite. Imagine the coaxial on a Rolex. The crown where the omega symbol was. Are you still a fan. If the answer is no, you may want to take a good hard look dm figure out what you're exactly a fan of.

Gotta say, it is quite odd the the righties are now for tariffs and the lefties are suddenly against them.
 
ErichPryde
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arturo7 arturo7
Gotta say, it is quite odd the the righties are now for tariffs and the lefties are suddenly against them.

That's nuanced. Most of the center spectrum is essentially for free trade. If you're talking about Sanders, two things: what's very important to keep in mind is that there is a big difference between targeted tariffs and blanket tariffs. They aren't the same. Secondly- isn't it fair to recognize that Sanders never had enough support to run for the office of president?


I think what's fairly scary is this left vs right, us versus them stuff. It's okay to have fringe politicians that don't control primary Spectrum ideology that have narrow or unusual political goals. It's probably not okay when we start thinking of both groups as being representative of the most Fringe section, or when groups become too dominated by those fringes.
Edited:
 
styggpyggeno1
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I never thought I would get into this thread and post - but the other day I had a thought that I would like to air here. I was thinking of trade balances.

The things I like and buy - what countries are they from? Of course - some brands are attributed to a certain country but the goods can be/are manufactured in a totally other part of the world. But my thought is directed to things where the brand and manufacturing is in one country and then sold to the rest of the world.

The trade balance that the orange fellow is so angry about sort of has to have its grounding in a firm belief that the rest of the world actually want things that are manufactured in the US - and that our countries tariffs on US goods hinder our populations to buy american. Thus throwing the balance off.

Sooo... What goods do I want from the US? Personally? Apart from Estwing leather-handeled hammers (Estwing founded by a Swede) and Leatherman multitools - nothing. Both manufactured in the US and made to last forever. You buy a couple of them and then you are set for life. This is not repete-buy things. Unless you are a collector of course...

US cars - no
Trucks - no
Drinks - no
Guns - no (I am a hunter - not Ukraine)
Clothes - no
Food - no
etcetera, etc.

Apart from Estwing and Leatherman I cannot think of a thing from the US that I want. All other quality things that I want are made somewhere else. And the cheap consumer stuff that I sometimes need are also made somewhere else. So - the US loose me in/on all levels of trade. And I believe I am not the only one thinking like this.

What things does the orange man want us to buy? That are competative in price and/or quality.

One thing I do want to put forward here and with emphasis - Nowhere in this do I say anything negative about the population of the US. They are great! At least half of them.
Edited:
 
ghce
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Only time will let us know, what he says today he changes next day. History will judge him but I am getting in early with this appraisal.

file_00000000a76c61f79312fd2ba5377259.webp
 
Walrus
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In seriousness one thing I am relieved of is the busses stopped. Towards the end of the last administration it seemed movement of people who crossed the border illegally or seeking asylum went into high gear and we would have a charter bus full show up at 9pm. Normally 50-60 people if full. They would show up and we had three beds available.

I’d get the call have to run in and figure that out which was a nightmare. Not only that but as I checked their paperwork their hearings were often 3 years in the future. I was able to get some (working with their lawyers) their work permits and some kind of legit ID. At that time 1 in three HUD dollars was going to US citizens the rest towards housing for (Greenland issues) we were never allowed to say illegal we had to refer to their status as “Greenland issues”.

That was some crazy stuff. Sometimes I’d be there 48 hours just trying to figure out what I was supposed to do. Eventually 80% of them just took off and we got the rest to NYC. It was sad a lot of them had severe physical and mental health issues so finding treatment, if they wanted it, was difficult.

I’m down to maybe 15 left but one chokes me up she came here from Jamaica in a psychotic state 20 years ago missed her one shot to become legal when some money grubbing lawyer gave her some wrong info. She is stable and a nice person as of now I can’t find anything for her. I actually just had a meeting with the only organization I haven’t tried yesterday and came up blank. Best they could do is put her on a list for a 90 day respite program for housing after which she would still come out the same problems.

I can’t say the “bus era” was as bad as working early Covid but it was pretty close. I just went into cruise control kept plugging along.
 
Dan S
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Walrus Walrus
In seriousness one thing I am relieved of is the busses stopped. Towards the end of the last administration it seemed movement of people who crossed the border illegally or seeking asylum went into high gear and we would have a charter bus full show up at 9pm. Normally 50-60 people if full.
Respectfully, this is totally unrelated to the topic of the thread. I don't know if you are being intentionally provocative, or if you just lost track of the fact that this thread is intended to discuss tariffs and international trade war issues, and is not a general thread to discuss issues that you think the current administration is handling differently. If you want to discuss immigration policies, I'd ask that you start a new thread, and we'll see how long it lasts before being frozen.
 
pdxleaf
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styggpyggeno1 styggpyggeno1
What things does the orange man want us to buy? That are competative in price and/or quality.
So no interest in Danner boots? Come from the same town as Leatherman.

Edit: we also export a lot of trees/lumber. A day doesn't go buy where I don't see a lumber truck. We have pretty great wine, too, although not cheap. Great beer.

And planes, although they have parts from all around the world and aren't made in my state.

Still, your point is taken.
Edited:
 
Walrus
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Dan S Dan S
Respectfully, this is totally unrelated to the topic of the thread. I don't know if you are being intentionally provocative, or if you just lost track of the fact that this thread is intended to discuss tariffs and international trade war issues, and is not a general thread to discuss issues that you think the current administration is handling differently. If you want to discuss immigration policies, I'd ask that you start a new thread, and we'll see how long it lasts before being frozen.
And respectfully back this has gone well beyond tariffs a long time ago. Someone let out their thoughts on the idea of protections for Christian’s which has nothing to do with tariffs. I didn’t report or chastise them. But to pretend this thread is limited to tariffs is being dishonest. I stated nothing but the truth of what I dealt with and how I’m glad it’s improved
 
Dan S
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styggpyggeno1 styggpyggeno1
I never thought I would get into this thread and post - but the other day I had a thought that I would like to air here. I was thinking of trade balances.

The things I like and buy - what countries are they from? Of course - some brands are attributed to a certain country but the goods can be/are manufactured in a totally other part of the world. But my thought is directed to things where the brand and manufacturing is in one country and then sold to the rest of the world.

The trade balance that the orange fellow is so angry about sort of has to have its grounding in a firm belief that the rest of the world actually want things that are manufactured in the US - and that our countries tariffs on US goods hinder our populations to buy american. Thus throwing the balance off.

Sooo... What goods do I want from the US? Personally? Apart from Estwing leather-handeled hammers (Estwing founded by a Swede) and Leatherman multitools - nothing. Both manufactured in the US and made to last forever. You buy a couple of them and then you are set for life. This is not repete-buy things. Unless you are a collector of course...

US cars - no
Trucks - no
Drinks - no
Guns - no (I am a hunter - not Ukraine)
Clothes - no
Food - no
etcetera, etc.

Apart from Estwing and Leatherman I cannot think of a thing from the US that I want. All other quality things that I want are made somewhere else. And the cheap consumer stuff that I sometimes need are also made somewhere else. So - the US loose me in/on all levels of trade. And I believe I am not the only one thinking like this.

What things does the orange man want us to buy? That are competative in price and/or quality.

One thing I do want to put forward here and with emphasis - Nowhere in this do I say anything negative about the population of the US. They are great! At least half of them.
Yes, many of the economists (and other experts) who I've heard discuss the trade wars have been pointing out that it's an unrealistic goal (and not even desirable) for every pair of countries to have even trade balances. For the reasons you mentioned (different preferences in goods) and also because of vast differences in wealth. Consumers in some countries are unlikely to afford most US-made goods. It seems that balancing trade will mainly occur by a reduction of imports. Tariffs will cause this to happen, of course, but it's doubtful that most of these imported items will be duplicated by manufacturers in the US, so people in the US will probably just have fewer options.
 
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