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

[JudgeDredd]

OK

I think the titles are more inflammatory than the content though.

This last one was specifically talking about corruption due to the constant changing and not corruption at the top level.

Not enough people in government agencies (i think) being able to implement any checks due to the constant changes.

The thread was about tariffs and looking for the explanation and implications of them. I can't vouch for all the videos I've posted because my memory is piss poor, but as far as i recall, they related to the tariffs and the effects of the tariffs or the tariffs and the effects of the constant changes of said tariffs.

I found them interesting. I don't believe any of them reinforced (there might have been one) my belief that Trump was doing it so as people got rich off the back of the chaos.

I could be wrong (piss poor memory)...they may all actually be inflammatory R&P stuff..but I genuinely don't think they were.

But I will cease if it keeps the peace.

Perhaps I should have countered the inflammatory titles with a brief synopsis of the actual content.

[Jarhead0331]

OK

I think the titles are more inflammatory than the content though.

This last one was specifically talking about corruption due to the constant changing and not corruption at the top level.

Not enough people in government agencies (i think) being able to implement any checks due to the constant changes.

The thread was about tariffs and looking for the explanation and implications of them. I can't vouch for all the videos I've posted because my memory is piss poor, but as far as i recall, they related to the tariffs and the effects of the tariffs or the tariffs and the effects of the constant changes of said tariffs.

I found them interesting. I don't believe any of them reinforced (there might have been one) my belief that Trump was doing it so as people got rich off the back of the chaos.

I could be wrong (piss poor memory)...they may all actually be inflammatory R&P stuff..but I genuinely don't think they were.

But I will cease if it keeps the peace.

Perhaps I should have counters the inflammatory titles with a brief synopsis of the actual content.

You don't need to go out of your way to summarize a video that has a click-bait title. I just ask all to not post things that are overtly political or partisan in nature and which stray from the fundamental economics of tariff policy.

Thanks.

[Crossroads]

Based on those videos I would second that the content is quite informative on how tariffs work, while the titles indeed are pure click baits. I did not watch them first for said reason, but then thought to give one of them a try.

He does a good job explaining how tariffs work and how difficult it is for the supply chain to work if there is less continuity in the system.

[JudgeDredd]

You don't need to go out of your way to summarize a video that has a click-bait title.
...

I know. I just meant to make sure people know its an informative video and not some hate bashing nonsense.

I watched a few of his videos and whilst I'm not keen on click bait titles, I will still give them a look in the hope they are informative. Some prove to be so...others get dumped in a minute.

I actually heard about this guy on these very forums. I'd never heard of him before.

[al_infierno]

Does anyone understand what exactly this means?  How exactly does a tariff of "movies coming into our country" work?  I assume he doesn't mean literal Blu Rays and 4K discs, because he talks about "movies made in America again," but at this point, I can't make heads or tails of this tweet.

[Jarhead0331]

I'm just shocked he wants to help Hollywood. That is very magnanimous of him.

[al_infierno]

I guess that's one way to put it.

To me, the underlying motive makes perfect sense: Hollywood represents a multi-billion dollar industry and one of America's biggest cultural exports, maybe second to Coca Cola or McDonalds.  Why would he want Hollywood to shrink and die and for foreign film productions to thrive?  That Hollywood is largely liberal/leftist and repeatedly makes movies making fun of him seems secondary to the bottom line.  If Hollywood can grow, and he can claim that as a win, that's a good thing all around for him.  Not like he's not used to people making fun of him.

In any case, that's all a side conversation to the point I was making: that Trump's tweet is utter nonsense.  If I'm understanding right, he's saying that if a foreign film producer spends $5 million to distribute their film in the United States (an exceptionally small number, as I understand), that they would have to pay another $5 million in tariffs?  I don't really see how that helps Hollywood thrive, it seems more like it'll strangle already-struggling movie theater chains by limiting what they can show, since nobody in their right mind would pay that kind of fee to distribute their films in the US.

I'm not trying to be argumentative here, I'm genuinely trying to understand WTF his tweet even means, and how that will impact the economy going forward if it goes beyond just farts in the wind.

[Jarhead0331]

^honestly, who cares? There are only two kinds of people who even pay any attention to what he says or tweets. Those who hate him and can't help but hang on every word so they can get all riled up about it, and those who love him like he's Jesus and think everything that comes out of his mouth brings the US one step closer to being great again.

I'm not going to worry about tinseltown. The industry isn't dying because producers are being drawn abroad. It's dying because they've managed to churn out mostly garbage films for decades and other forms of interactive media are becoming more dominant. This is just a distraction.

[JudgeDredd]

...
It's dying because they've managed to churn out mostly garbage films for decades and other forms of interactive media are becoming more dominant. This is just a distraction.

I don't want to derail the thread too much - but JH, I don't think you've been to the cinema very often in the last decade.

There have been some excellent movies made - just last week I went to see Sinners. Outstanding film. A Complete Unknown. The Brutalist.

I will grant you there's been a lot of tripe too mind.

[JudgeDredd]

I guess that's one way to put it.

To me, the underlying motive makes perfect sense: Hollywood represents a multi-billion dollar industry and one of America's biggest cultural exports, maybe second to Coca Cola or McDonalds.  Why would he want Hollywood to shrink and die and for foreign film productions to thrive?  That Hollywood is largely liberal/leftist and repeatedly makes movies making fun of him seems secondary to the bottom line.  If Hollywood can grow, and he can claim that as a win, that's a good thing all around for him.  Not like he's not used to people making fun of him.

In any case, that's all a side conversation to the point I was making: that Trump's tweet is utter nonsense.  If I'm understanding right, he's saying that if a foreign film producer spends $5 million to distribute their film in the United States (an exceptionally small number, as I understand), that they would have to pay another $5 million in tariffs?  I don't really see how that helps Hollywood thrive, it seems more like it'll strangle already-struggling movie theater chains by limiting what they can show, since nobody in their right mind would pay that kind of fee to distribute their films in the US.

I'm not trying to be argumentative here, I'm genuinely trying to understand WTF his tweet even means, and how that will impact the economy going forward if it goes beyond just farts in the wind.

I guess coutnries give tax breaks to film companies to shoot in their country...if he puts tariffs on movies shot abroad, those tax breaks, I guess, aren't as lucrative and perhaps movies get shot all over America again instead of the rest of the world.

More jobs - presumably - for US citizens.

I actually thought that was perhaps one of his more "sensible" tariff plans because it could have an immediate impact unlike expecting other industries (car/computer/*insert other manufacturing industry) to suddenly sprout up across the US.

Seems to me this could have an immediate effect in "bringing jobs home".

As for this...

I'm genuinely trying to understand WTF his tweet even means

Don't bother. The rest of the tweet is absolute nonsense.

[Jarhead0331]

I don't want to derail the thread too much - but JH, I don't think you've been to the cinema very often in the last decade.

There have been some excellent movies made - just last week I went to see Sinners. Outstanding film. A Complete Unknown. The Brutalist.

I did say, "mostly" garbage, but you are correct. I've been to a theater maybe three times in the last 3 years. But, I do watch movies that catch my interest when they stream so it's not like I don't know what's out there.

[Pete Dero]

Chinese sellers have quickly outwitted Trump's tariff master plan, by "washing" their products in third countries. With tariff negotiations at an impasse, Chinese imports remain loaded with 145 percent U.S. levies. After they were issued, Xi Jinping's government slapped American goods with reciprocal 125 percent import duties.

In a bid to contravene Trump's tariffs, sellers in the Asian mega economy have started shipping goods to third party countries to conceal their genuine provenance. The process is known as "place-of-origin washing." U.S. trade laws state that goods must undergo a "substantial transformation" in a country for it to become the new 'origin.'

This has presented an opportunity to black market businesses, with Chinese social media sites now awash with people offering origin-washing services. "The U.S. has imposed tariffs on Chinese products? Transit through Malaysia to 'transform' into Southeast Asian goods!" said one advert on Xiaohongshu, posted by "Ruby—Third Country Transshipment." South Korea is another hotspot for this transformative process.

The country's customs agency said it had found $21 million worth of goods with clandestine origins in the first quarter of 2025. "We have found numerous cases where the origins of Chinese products were falsified as Korean," the agency said.

Source : Financial Times



https://www.ft.com/content/56519df4-79cc-4b72-979b-6a3402e3e9b9

[Jarhead0331]

There is nothing new about this. For instance, it has always been very common with government contracts that prohibit certain products from being manufactured with components or raw materials originating in certain prohibited countries.

As long as there are rules, people will try to cheat!

[Redwolf]

One good thing came out of this for me:

I learned that Germany (the EU?) has 10% import duties on US cars.

Why? It's just ripping off their own citizens. Or it would be if Germans would buy American cars in the first place.

Anyway, if duties like this fall in the wake of this affair that would be a positive outcome. For Germans. Well, 1 or 2 of them.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

The film industry here in Canada and in Vancouver especially is pretty huge and friends who work in it are freaked out right now.

I don't know exactly how the tariffs would be imposed but there's a definite chilling effect on the industry here.



I'm guilty of more than a bit of schadenfreude based on other, tangentially-related recent events in this country.