Tariffs for everyone!

[Smit]

Kamala Harris, during the debate with Trump.

This shows her complete lack of understanding on the subject, while also inciting more unfounded fear and falsely misrepresenting Trump's position.   

Ah, I see.

If Trump follows through with his idea of placing tariffs on $400 billion dollars worth of imports (from your post) prices will certainly go up for those consumer goods so let's use the post Beej just made.

The tariff is a tax levied by government. Prices will go up for all those products. We can bicker about the terminology but that won't really matter when we're paying more for the products we're purchasing.

If you don't like the "national sales tax terminology" replace it with something that will make spending more for the goods more palatable. The bottom line is we'll be paying more for those items.

A tariff or duty (the words are used interchangeably) is a tax levied by governments on the value including freight and insurance of imported products. Different tariffs applied on different products by different countries.

[neurosis]

Here is some light reading if anyone is interested.


Just in case I get accused of posting liberal media:

The Impact of Trade and Tariffs on the United States

https://taxfoundation.org/research/all/federal/impact-of-tariffs-free-trade/

Conclusion:

Clip-


History has shown that tariffs fail to achieve their intended objectives, and result in higher prices, lower employment, and slower economic growth in the long run. Rather than erect barriers to trade that will have negative economic consequences, policymakers should promote free trade and the economic benefits it brings.

Further reading:

Trump-Biden Tariffs Hurt Domestic Manufacturing

https://taxfoundation.org/blog/trump-biden-tariffs-manufacturing/

[Jim at Gentex]

ORRRRRRRR...
We just stop buying foreign goods and put America first.

That is Trump's thing in case you haven't noticed. 

[beej]

If you don't like the "national sales tax terminology" replace it with something that will make spending more for the goods more palatable. The bottom line is we'll be paying more for those items.

I think everyone already knows that. That is what the unions have been asking for, for as long as I can remember. They want imported goods to cost the same as "made in America" goods. Thus the pressure for companies like Walmart to sell more Made in America goods, or at the very least to stop pressuring corporations like Zebco and Stanley to make their goods in China in order to lower the prices.

[Smit]

I think everyone already knows that. That is what the unions have been asking for, for as long as I can remember. They want imported goods to cost the same as "made in America" goods. Thus the pressure for companies like Walmart to sell more Made in America goods, or at the very least to stop pressuring corporations like Zebco and Stanley to make their goods in China in order to lower the prices.

So you're good with putting tariffs in place that will raise prices across the board for all those products? And that's a LOT of products. The bottom line is it's not much different than inflation.

How about everybody else? Everybody is good with that?

And at the same time we're going to kick all the illegals out of the country to free up jobs for American citizens? Especially those jobs we all want in meat packing plants and picking strawberries.

I can't imagine how that is going to work well out for us.

Just sayin.

[Smit]

Here is an interview with Trump by Fox News host Maria Bartiromo. It's Fox news so you all may be more inclined to believe it.

Bartiromo Grills Trump On Tariff Plan That Could "Increase The Debt More Than Kamala Harris"

Excerpt:

MARIA BARTIROMO: The Committee for a Responsible Budget says your plans will increase the debt by $7.5 trillion.

DONALD TRUMP: But they don't know. They have no clue.

BARTIROMO: The Wall Street Journal said that your plans will increase the debt and deficits more than Kamala Harris.

TRUMP: If I do this, you're going to have car companies coming back to the country because of the taxes and the tariffs.

[beej]

So you're good with putting tariffs in place that will raise prices across the board for all those products? And that's a LOT of products. The bottom line is it's not much different than inflation.

How about everybody else? Everybody is good with that?

And at the same time we're going to kick all the illegals out of the country to free up jobs for American citizens? Especially those jobs we all want in meat packing plants and picking strawberries.

I can't imagine how that is going to work well out for us.

Just sayin.

I never said that I was good with it. I generally like tax cuts across the board. my original question is why do Democrats today complain about the tariffs put on corporations and complain about tax cuts for corporations? If corporations are going to pass the tariff costs on to customers, doesn't it make sense that they would also pass their earnings tax on to customers?

[Del.]

Tariffs are just a tool used in trade. The importer pays the tariffs. They may or may not pass the costs to consumers. The government keeps the tariff money as revenue. I would think that unions would love foreign products to be a competitive rate like steel and aluminum. Tariffs can be good or bad. It's still just a trade tool.

[Smit]

I never said that I was good with it. I generally like tax cuts across the board. my original question is why do Democrats today complain about the tariffs put on corporations and complain about tax cuts for corporations? If corporations are going to pass the tariff costs on to customers, doesn't it make sense that they would also pass their earnings tax on to customers?

Of course they would.

But the opposite is not true. When taxes go down they don't pass that on to consumers. Their profits go up, along with the national debt.

But the thing is, with taxes, they still have to compete to sell their products so that  limits their ability to pass them along.

[Jeff]

Things were pretty damn good from 2016 to 2020 when he was in office. But Dumbsmit was told to parrot the opposite. BRAWK! BRAWK!

[Jeff]

Does anyone know if the last round of Trump tariffs had a positive or negative effect?

PedoJoe didn't kill them, so... they must have been good. But they don't talk about the good things Trump did.

[beej]

Of course they would.

But the opposite is not true. When taxes go down they don't pass that on to consumers. Their profits go up, along with the national debt.

But the thing is, with taxes, they still have to compete to sell their products so that  limits their ability to pass them along.

in the short term company profits go up, but in the long term, places like Walmart put pressure on companies to drop their prices, and companies like walmart have the leverage to drive that. In that past that leverage caused to companies to move production to china and mexico. Trump is banking on the fact that with the tariffs they will stay in the US. My suspicion is that they will move to some country most of us haven't heard of.

But right now, Democrats like Kamala Harris are trying to raise taxes on corporations, isn't that also going to raise inflation. The one thing that is different about tariffs than an income tax, a corporation can simply move out of the country to avoid the income tax. That doesn't help them get out of the tariff tax. So by charging a tariff but reducing and income tax there is some benefit to keeping the production in the US.

https://www.foodandwine.com/walmart-cutting-prices-on-7000-items-8697877

[Rstewart]

John Micklethwait (who I don't think you could call a liberal, maybe a centerist?) tried to have an intellectual conversation with Trump about Tariffs.  The conversation amounted to Trump saying "Tariffs good, you're wrong" with a few anecdotes mixed in. Micklethwait tried to get in to the weeds a bit and it went nowhere. You get the impression that Trump thinks it's the other Country that pays for the tariffs and wouldn't even acknowledge the cost to the American people. Making that point (it will cost US consumers) isn't a talking point.

I'm not necessarily opposed to tariffs.  I'd like to know how much this is going to end up costing me at the end of the year and if it's going to have the intended affect?   

I know this isn't about liberty, but it reminds me of the Benjamin Franklin quote: Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety

[CNCAppsJames]

I thought you worked in manufacturing at some point in your life @Smit ? 

How could you be sofaking ignorant as to "Make things here = no tarriffs." ?

No wonder you... nevermind. You're not worth the effort.

[ghuns]

I only know about tariffs in relation to injection molds.

We pay a 25% tariff on the molds we source in China. But when we issue the PO for a mold, we issue two. One for the tool, one for design/engineering. The tool is 70% of the total price, the D and E is 30%. The 25% tariff only applies to the tool. No tariff on D and E work.

I have seem many in the trade advocate for raising this tariff to 50% to encourage more domestic tool builds. That's great and all, but who the fuck they think is gonna build them?

The decision to outsource injection mold tooling was pioneered by the big three auto makers. It then was embraced by the consumer appliance industry. This literally removed an entire generation of mold makers from the workforce. We have had 5 guys retire in the last year. We have only been able to hire two kids as apprentices to replace them. And being millenials, they'll never really 'replace' the old guys we lost.

One of the shops we use in China has 300+ emoloyees and 250,000sq/ft of manufacturing space. We use four other that aren't far behind. Shops like that are a dime a dozen over there. Over here, probably 2 in the entire country bigger than that.