The real reason for the tariffs

[jstell]

Exports tumbled 3.6%

Maybe because nobody wants to deal with the "stable genius"?

[Smit]

Who could have thought the rest of the world wouldn't just cower and submit to being bullied economically by our orange god?

World discovers it can hedge US trade risk

Excerpt:

LONDON, Jan 29 (Reuters) - It will be many years before the United States' allies can contemplate dispensing with the need for its military might or challenging the tech supremacy of its Silicon Valley giants.
But in an ironic twist, given U.S. President Donald Trump's love of tariffs, they are discovering that the trade in goods is one area where they have more options than they may have thought and where they have the ability to adapt relatively quickly.

No one is seriously trying to decouple outright from a U.S. market which remains the most lucrative in the world despite a bipartisan protectionist drift seen well before Trump 2.0.

Instead, the re-drawing of the global trade map that has accelerated with a rash of bilateral pacts in recent weeks is aimed more modestly at "de-risking" ties with the U.S. - a term that until recently was mostly applied to China.

As with any insurance policy, this comes at a cost, be it reconfiguring supply chains or making unpalatable compromises with countries whose values are not fully shared. But the signs so far are that the economic costs at least are digestible.

"Trade is probably one of the areas where middle powers have some of the greatest agency in choices," said Alexander George, senior director for geopolitics at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI).

"Look at the European Union. Suddenly it (Trump's trade threats) focused minds and they got things done," he said of the signing this month of the long-delayed EU-Mercosur trade pact with Latin American countries and this week's deal with India.

On the bright side, China is doing pretty well. Maybe our MAGA folks should trade their MAGA hats in for MCGA hats?

China's trade surplus surges 20% to a record $1.2 trillion, even with Trump's tariffs

Excerpt:

China's trade surplus surged to a record of almost $1.2 trillion in 2025, the government said Wednesday, as exports to other countries made up for slowing shipments to the U.S. under President Donald Trump's onslaught of higher tariffs.

China's exports rose 5.5% for the whole of last year to $3.77 trillion, customs data showed, as Chinese automakers and other manufacturers expanded into markets across the globe. Imports flatlined at $2.58 trillion. The 2024 trade surplus was over $992 billion.

[Brian]

Exports tumbled 3.6%

Maybe because nobody wants to deal with the "stable genius"?

So much winning!!!

[Newbeeee™]

The real reason is to devalue the dollar and create inflation.
Same as UK.
Fuk us all.
We'll own nothing....

[SuperHoneyBadger]

Fuk us all.
We'll own nothing....

I'm getting more and more envious of a former colleague who packed up and moved out to a field with his family. Self-sufficient farm, wooly chickens for wintering, and built a 1500+ yd shooting range. Last I heard he popped some coyotes from 1250 yds in the fullmoon light who were eyeing up his chicken coops.

He's living the goddamn dream - minus the PTSD from fighting Hinds in Angola, but we all have SOME baggage.

[Shazam/TPP]

The real reason is to devalue the dollar and create inflation.
Same as UK.
Fuk us all.
We'll own nothing....

we own nothing now. pay your house off and see what happens when you quit paying property tax.
your car same thing, have to pay your license plate registration which also includes multiple taxes..etc...

[Newbeeee™]

we own nothing now. pay your house off and see what happens when you quit paying property tax.
your car same thing, have to pay your license plate registration which also includes multiple taxes..etc...

In fact, that is a VERY valid point....

[Smit]

How fucked up does it have to be for this supreme court to rule against anything Trump and his sycophants want to do?

Very.

The usual 3 lap dogs dissent of course.

Now if those fuckers would halt the other "emergency" bullshit this administration is doing...

Yeah, hope in one hand...

Or how about this? Get rid of the shadow docket and do everything in the open? 

Supreme Court strikes down Trump's tariffs

The U.S. Supreme Court said President Trump's tariffs policies under IEEPA, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, are unconstitutional, dealing a major blow to the president's signature economic policy.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the 6-3 opinion. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh dissented.

At issue in the case was the implementation of Trump's campaign pledge to impose massive tariffs on foreign imports. After his inauguration, Trump issued an executive order that initially imposed a tariff of at least 10% on goods from most countries doing business with the United States. Goods from countries like China have been hit with much higher tariffs — up to 145%, though they have since come down. Imports from allies like Canada and Mexico have been taxed at 25%; Canada's rate was later increased to 35%.

But the up-and-down, fluctuating tariffs around the world spooked American businesses, prompting a court challenge, contending that the president had exceeded his authority in imposing the tariffs.

In some two dozen previous cases, the Supreme Court has been largely receptive to Trump's claims of presidential authority, but those victories came on the Supreme Court's emergency docket, allowing Trump policies to take effect on a temporary basis while the litigation played out in the lower courts.

In contrast, the tariff cases are the real deal, with the court having ordered full briefing and expedited arguments in the case, and offering the justices the first real opportunity to say "no" to the president. 

On Friday, the justices did just that.

[Bucky Cornstarch]

Eagerly awaiting input from FleeMastercam's resident Constitutional Scholar 

[Rstewart]

I'm glad we have a lot of economists weighing in on this convo.  Let's get to the bottom of it. Maybe we can screen grab the forum discussions and run em up the chain to bounce some ideas.

[neurosis]

I'm glad we have a lot of economists weighing in on this convo.  Let's get to the bottom of it. Maybe we can screen grab the forum discussions and run em up the chain to bounce some ideas.

I thought it was interesting that once again, it's pointed out that Trump does something unconstitutional and his supporters don't give a shit.

[jstell]

Trump does something unconstitutional and his supporters don't give a shit.

FAKE NEWS!!!

[TylerBeer]

I thought it was interesting that once again, it's pointed out that Trump does something unconstitutional and his supporters don't give a shit.

It makes you wonder what it will take for them to believe their own constitution bullshit

[neurosis]

Reporter: why don't you just work with Congress on tariffs?
trump: Because I don't have to. 

what a joke of a president.

[neurosis]

You know we're in upside-down world when Gorsuch makes sense. 


https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/tariffs-case-supreme-court-justices-bicker-biden-trump-treatment-rcna259922

WASHINGTON — Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch pulled no punches in taking aim at his colleagues on the Supreme Court for a lack of consistency in approaching broad assertions of presidential power made by Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

"Gorsuch was part of the 6-3 majority that struck down most of Trump's tariffs on Friday, but he wrote a separate 46-page opinion that chided several of his fellow justices over how they approached the case.

His colleagues were effectively applying the same Supreme Court precedent differently under Trump than they did under Biden, he argued, writing: "It is an interesting turn of events."

His invective focused on a theory known as the "major questions doctrine," which adherents say bars sweeping presidential action not specifically authorized by Congress. The conservative-majority court embraced the doctrine while Biden was in office to strike down broad plans, such as his effort to forgive student loan debt."