Please explain the positive value of tariffs to the U.S.

[Jarhead0331]

I am losing a lot of money right now...i am pissed. I have funds for my kids and they are melting like snow in the sun.

Yep. There's a lot of money leaving people who really need it and worked hard for it and going to deep pockets - pockets that really, really don't need it.

Can you explain to me who is getting richer and how it is part of some scheme, rather than a natural occurrence of the significant change in the global trade framework and order? I'm not asking to be confrontational, I'm genuinely curious about how this angle is being spun.

There are different ways to get richer in time like these. Warren Buffet for instance is getting richer.

https://youtu.be/zKgEl9TCKGI?si=y8Hhxv3vpGa31u8t

Of course people are going to make money and some are going to lose it too. The suggestion seems to be that the tariffs are the product of a plan to line certain pockets at the expense of others. I'm curious what the basis for this claim is.

[Jarhead0331]

I thought this was an interesting debate...

[Pete Dero]

https://abc7chicago.com/post/donald-trump-tariff-formula-team-cites-chicago-economist-brent-neimans-work-he-says-math-doesnt-check/16141896/

https://www.thedailybeast.com/economist-trump-cited-on-tariff-math-says-he-got-it-all-wrong/

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/opinion/trump-tariff-math-formula.html

"I think they grabbed the wrong number from our research. The one that I would use from my own research and plug into their equation is actually four times larger than the number they used, and as a result, the deficits they calculated are four times larger than I think they should have got."

[JudgeDredd]

I am losing a lot of money right now...i am pissed. I have funds for my kids and they are melting like snow in the sun.

Yep. There's a lot of money leaving people who really need it and worked hard for it and going to deep pockets - pockets that really, really don't need it.

Can you explain to me who is getting richer and how it is part of some scheme, rather than a natural occurrence of the significant change in the global trade framework and order? I'm not asking to be confrontational, I'm genuinely curious about how this angle is being spun.

Mate - I really, really don't have any evidence. I'm not that clever  As you pointed out - I'm just cynical.

I'm not making this political - Trump's name is here because he implemented the policy.

Trump knew (as everyone says how astute he is and how he knows business and how to make money and the art of the deal thingy) that the market will drop like a stone - as would everyone else who knows what he's going to do - and the cynic in me would absolutely believe he would let people know what he's going to do and when.

So they sell high, he implements tariffs and they buy low. Then, he drops the tariffs, market picks up, money made. Well that worked - lets do that again.

You either think Trump knows what he's doing or you think he doesn't. If you think he does know what he's doing, then it stands to reason that you would believe that he would know the market will drop when he implemented tariffs.

Do we not agree that Trump would know what's going to happen to shares when he implemented Tariffs? If you believe he would know, then you kind of would understand if he wanted to shed his shares before he implemented such a policy.

Just about everyone everywhere says implementing tariffs will increase prices locally, will not bring manufacturing back (in the short term) and even if it did, would still mean higher prices because - guess what - it costs more to make something in the US (you know - workers rights, health and safety and everything else) than it would being made in - I don't know, India where workers rights and health and safety are almost non existent.

I reserve the right to be cynical and believe that very rich people are getting much richer - and it's a known consequence of the policy.

I'm not smart enough to go looking at the markets and see what's happening - but I don't know - in my simple head, that makes sense to me.

I would love to see someone investigate his (and others) share activity...just to see if shares were sold and bought and when. It might tell a story.

[Jarhead0331]

Please watch the videos I'm posting. They are informative in a bipartisan way in my view and will give you a good education on the history and purpose of tariffs, while pointing out the pros and cons.

There are going to be short and long term consequences of the reaction of the economy to the tariffs and the potential of a trade war. However, the long term goal is to rebuild the US manufacturing base and some believe that the benefit of this will outweigh the short term consequences. Some disagree. But simply saying that Trump knew that the tariffs would destroy the economy while generating money in some sectors at the expense of others somehow makes the policy unsound is a very simple view of it. You have to look at the deeper policy goals. As I have stated above, where I do criticize the tariffs is in the way they have been rolled out and in some of the communication which has left a feeling of uncertainty causing more instability than is probably necessary. But this is entirely separate and apart from the actual policy of tariffs themselves.

[Pete Dero]

https://www.npr.org/2025/04/08/nx-s1-5354937/as-global-markets-fall-trump-says-he-will-not-pause-tariffs

Well, the president was asked if he might put a pause on his tariffs while negotiations play out, and he said no.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/09/business/reciprocal-tariff-pause-trump/index.html

President Donald Trump announced a complete three-month pause on all the "reciprocal" tariffs that went into effect at midnight, with the exception of China, a stunning reversal from a president who had insisted historically high tariffs were here to stay.

[JudgeDredd]

 

[Jarhead0331]

You see, this is the problem with partisan politics. You try something new that people don't like, you get criticized. You make changes or walk it back, you get criticized.

Theoretically, people who were bitching about this being a disaster or complaining about losing all their money should now be grateful, no? I mean, a President who actually changes something that may be having more of a negative impact than anticipated is a good thing, right? Alas, nobody will ever praise Trump for anything, except maybe finally dying.

[JudgeDredd]

I won't get into why I don't like Trump. It doesn't really matter anyway...he won't care that I do or not.

You're correct JH - they should be able to change their minds - but if you bear in mind that I'm cynical of the reasons for the tariffs in the first place - you might understand why I was rolling my eyes.

Only a couple of posts agao I said "rinse and repeat". Unless someone actually is able to look deep into his shares activity, I guess we'll never know.

The bipartisan stuff I could go into because we have almost the same issue as yourselves (2 main parties running the show) - but that isn't for this thread.

I will depart now and shout at the clouds   

[Jarhead0331]

I won't get into why I don't like Trump. It doesn't really matter anyway...he won't care that I do or not.

You don't have to convince me. There is no shortage of things NOT to like about Trump. If you pay any attention to the mainstream media, you're bombarded by those things constantly in a neverending 24/7 "news" cycle, so we're always reminded. Some of it is justified, while, of course, some of it is not.

[Anguille]

My opinion on this specific subject is purely from an economic point of view. It's also too erratic and too fast. Even if you want to raise tariffs, you need some form of negotiation and time schedule. From an economical point of view I understand and support the idea that he wants to bring back production facilities in the US. I fully agree. I just don't think that's the way to do it.

[JudgeDredd]

Well, it seems at least Sen Adam Schiff is going to be asking questions about whether there was any inside trading going on.

I don't know Senator Adam Schiff from...Adam. I don't know what he stands for and I don't know what he's like as a politician.

I am just glad that someone else is at least curious as to whether there's been any inside trading going on with these tariff moves.

[Jarhead0331]

Well, it seems at least Sen Adam Schiff is going to be asking questions about whether there was any inside trading going on.

I don't know Senator Adam Schiff from...Adam. I don't know what he stands for and I don't know what he's like as a politician.

I am just glad that someone else is at least curious as to whether there's been any inside trading going on with these tariff moves.

You might want to look into who Adam Schiff is before you rejoice for accountability and assume this is anything other than another highly partisan effort to disrupt the Trump agenda.

[JudgeDredd]

Yeah...I did read he's very, very anti Trump after I posted.

I'm not bothered about his motives. Frankly I'd have preferred a Republican to do it so the "partisan" argument could be left at the door. Alas...partisanship appears its on both sides of the house.

I'm just glad someone is asking if there could be a check on who was trading and when, the timings of those trades and whether they had knowledge of the tariff plan or not.

[Jarhead0331]

Yeah...I did read he's very, very anti Trump after I posted.

I'm not bothered about his motives. Frankly I'd have preferred a Republican to do it so the "partisan" argument could be left at the door. Alas...partisanship appears its on both sides of the house.

I'm just glad someone is asking if there could be a check on who was trading and when, the timings of those trades and whether they had knowledge of the tariff plan or not.

Ask yourself why any politician on capital hill, whose salary is maybe $200,000 annually at best, is a millionaire many times over. Every single last one of them. Why do you think there is so much virulent resistance to DOGE?