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Best Buy and Target CEOs say prices are about to go up because of tariffs

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Re: Best Buy and Target CEOs say prices are about to go up because of tariffs

#51

Post by nwatson »

codazoda wrote: post #35
Sabinus wrote: post #3

Any bets on how this will be justified by Trump voters? I'm thinking at first it'll be 'playing hardball negotiating tactic' and when it looks like the tariffs are here to stay 'paying more is patriotic'.

I haven’t paid attention to the politics here much, but isn’t driving up the price the point? If you charge Canada a 25% tariff then products sold in the U.S. and shipped from Canada should cost U.S. consumers about 25% more. That, in turn, makes U.S. products look more attractive. A U.S. business pays taxes at the federal and state levels. A U.S. business also hires U.S. employees, who pay taxes as well and spend in…

The time and expense to set up a manufacturing line for anything nontrivial is large. And Trump's policy volatility makes the risk completely not worth it.

Re: Best Buy and Target CEOs say prices are about to go up because of tariffs

#52

Post by davidw »

vachina wrote: post #5

Reminder to decouple from the US, because they’re gonna export this tariff (ie pass the cost) to the rest of the world.

How would you actually go about doing that? Like if the US economy implodes because enough of this malarkey breaks it, what/where is safe? In terms of your personal wealth/residence, I mean.

The only thing I can kind of think of is maybe some land or housing in Europe or New Zealand or somewhere kind of out of the way; perhaps something that you can rent out. Might not make you a ton of money, but it would hopefully hold its value over time?

Re: Best Buy and Target CEOs say prices are about to go up because of tariffs

#53

Post by throwaway48476 »

rogerrogerr wrote: post #49
msy wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Near term inflation but more broadly increasing paralysis of business investment of all stripes in the fact of a wildly unpredictable political landscape.

The general path of the country is fairly clear at this point - business that manufacture closer to consumers will have fewer issues with the government. Even Biden kept a bunch of Trump1 anti-China policies in place. If I was directing investment at a large business, onshoring manufacturing would be a no brainer in many businesses. Mexico might be the happy medium, but I’d really push for US manufacturing facilities…

Most of the post 2016 China exit investment was to other cheaper southeast Asia countries. My phone was made in Vietnam.

Re: Best Buy and Target CEOs say prices are about to go up because of tariffs

#54

Post by bluGill »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #26
Sabinus wrote: post #3

Any bets on how this will be justified by Trump voters? I'm thinking at first it'll be 'playing hardball negotiating tactic' and when it looks like the tariffs are here to stay 'paying more is patriotic'.

well, going to r/conservative, top answer in a tarriff thread: >To influence companies to produce their goods domestically instead of internationally. What is so hard to understand about this? So they are stuck in Just World Land. another top comment linked this: https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/02/fact-sheet-pr... So they more or less buy into "The extraordinary threat posed by illegal aliens and drugs, i…

What ever happened to the free market consevatives? The ones who were proud to work with Clinton to pass NAFTA in the first place.

Re: Best Buy and Target CEOs say prices are about to go up because of tariffs

#55

Post by ipaddr »

codazoda wrote: post #35
Sabinus wrote: post #3

Any bets on how this will be justified by Trump voters? I'm thinking at first it'll be 'playing hardball negotiating tactic' and when it looks like the tariffs are here to stay 'paying more is patriotic'.

I haven’t paid attention to the politics here much, but isn’t driving up the price the point? If you charge Canada a 25% tariff then products sold in the U.S. and shipped from Canada should cost U.S. consumers about 25% more. That, in turn, makes U.S. products look more attractive. A U.S. business pays taxes at the federal and state levels. A U.S. business also hires U.S. employees, who pay taxes as well and spend in…

They also raise the price of local foods because the materials they import cost more.

Re: Best Buy and Target CEOs say prices are about to go up because of tariffs

#56

Post by cmrdporcupine »

codazoda wrote: post #35
Sabinus wrote: post #3

Any bets on how this will be justified by Trump voters? I'm thinking at first it'll be 'playing hardball negotiating tactic' and when it looks like the tariffs are here to stay 'paying more is patriotic'.

I haven’t paid attention to the politics here much, but isn’t driving up the price the point? If you charge Canada a 25% tariff then products sold in the U.S. and shipped from Canada should cost U.S. consumers about 25% more. That, in turn, makes U.S. products look more attractive. A U.S. business pays taxes at the federal and state levels. A U.S. business also hires U.S. employees, who pay taxes as well and spend in…

Depending on elasticity of demand and supply it will drive up the US made products (if they exist) at the same time.

Also encouraging people to produce the stuff locally only works if they can rely on the stability of the market.

Plus there's an intrinsic advantage that exporters in lower wage zones have over the domestic market. US workers are paid more than Canadian, and certainly paid a hell of a lot more than Chinese ones. So whatever is made domestically is just intrinsically more expensive.

You can make an argument for protectionism and self-sufficiency on various basis. But you can't make a good argument for erratic and sudden and unreliable protectionism.

Re: Best Buy and Target CEOs say prices are about to go up because of tariffs

#57

Post by mitthrowaway2 »

throwaway48476 wrote: post #33
throwaway657656 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"These are external taxes paid by the exporting countries. Beautiful tariffs will allow the US to eliminate the IRS and replace it with an ERS". Basically no point in even having a conversation about it. The same way you don't discuss evolution with someone who thinks the universe is 6000 years old.

Who pays the tariff depends on the relative elasticity of supply and demand.

Is your reasoning that the supplier has the option of eating the tariff by cutting prices, such that the price paid by the purchaser remains the same?

If they had that much margin headroom available to cut prices by 20% and remain profitable, wouldn't that basically prove that they weren't dumping product in the first place?

Re: Best Buy and Target CEOs say prices are about to go up because of tariffs

#58

Post by throwaway48476 »

davidw wrote: post #52
vachina wrote: post #5

Reminder to decouple from the US, because they’re gonna export this tariff (ie pass the cost) to the rest of the world.

How would you actually go about doing that? Like if the US economy implodes because enough of this malarkey breaks it, what/where is safe? In terms of your personal wealth/residence, I mean. The only thing I can kind of think of is maybe some land or housing in Europe or New Zealand or somewhere kind of out of the way; perhaps something that you can rent out. Might not make you a ton of money, but it would hopefully…

Bullets have been a good investment.

Re: Best Buy and Target CEOs say prices are about to go up because of tariffs

#59

Post by zoklet-enjoyer »

aninteger wrote: post #25

I guess it's time to print out those "I did this!" stickers of Trump and put them next to the price tags.

Haha yep, I designed one when he announced the tariffs the first time but never got around to printing them.

Re: Best Buy and Target CEOs say prices are about to go up because of tariffs

#60

Post by toomuchtodo »

davidw wrote: post #52
vachina wrote: post #5

Reminder to decouple from the US, because they’re gonna export this tariff (ie pass the cost) to the rest of the world.

How would you actually go about doing that? Like if the US economy implodes because enough of this malarkey breaks it, what/where is safe? In terms of your personal wealth/residence, I mean. The only thing I can kind of think of is maybe some land or housing in Europe or New Zealand or somewhere kind of out of the way; perhaps something that you can rent out. Might not make you a ton of money, but it would hopefully…

We own a modest flat in Spain. I’ve moved a year’s worth of living expenses to EUR. I can have my family out of the country in 72 hours. Total cost was under $300k USD.

The best time to have a plan is before you need it. If you wait until you need it, you’re too late.

(n=1, ymmv)

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