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Tariffs Are Proving 'Big Headache' for Tech Giants, Says Foxconn

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Re: Tariffs Are Proving 'Big Headache' for Tech Giants, Says Foxconn

#21

Post by tempodox »

brookst wrote: post #7
sourtrident wrote: post #6

It's wild - tariffs meant to shield U.S. interests end up giving Apple and Foxconn headaches, shifting their entire strategy. Reminds me of closing one door only to notice everyone's sneaking in through the window. Protectionism might feel good, but tech always finds another route around.

I’m skeptical the tariffs were mean to shield US interests rather than just being intended to do exactly what they’re achieving: isolating the US by driving investment and allies away, while contributing to a recession where oligarchs can further consolidate power and wealth. If you look at them as an attack on the US, everything makes a lot more sense.

Yep, when Trump is through America will lie in ruins.

Re: Tariffs Are Proving 'Big Headache' for Tech Giants, Says Foxconn

#22

Post by andrewmcwatters »

jonplackett wrote: post #18
sourtrident wrote: post #6

It's wild - tariffs meant to shield U.S. interests end up giving Apple and Foxconn headaches, shifting their entire strategy. Reminds me of closing one door only to notice everyone's sneaking in through the window. Protectionism might feel good, but tech always finds another route around.

They don’t really want to collect tariff $. They want to force production in the US, which the article says is what they are going to do. That’s not a window being jumped through, that’s the intent. Or am I missing something here?

No, you're not missing anything. That's the intent.

Re: Tariffs Are Proving 'Big Headache' for Tech Giants, Says Foxconn

#25

Post by Terr_ »

unavoidable wrote: post #16
standardUser wrote: post #14

Everyone hates tariffs because everyone hates taxes. If a government uses protectionism for a specific policy goal, like developing a domestic auto industry, that can be very effective and we've seen that work lots of times in lots of countries. The US may have recently managed to achieve this with microchip production. But when tariffs are applied broadly we all pay more in taxes. And it's worse than a more familiar…

If tariffs work at all (which is doubtful), they're supposed to be part of an overarching plan with a long-term strategy in coordination with industry so that they can actually invest in creating new manufacturing. It certainly isn't going to work when tariffs are going on-off-on-off-25%-200%-10%-off-on-sometimes-off-on again. How in the world is _anyone_, American or otherwise, supposed to plan around this?

Also, they shouldn't be part of 4-front trade war against the country's biggest partners comprising >50% of all trade.

"Do something or we'll trade with somebody else" is not a credible threat if they know you've already pissed off everybody else.

Re: Tariffs Are Proving 'Big Headache' for Tech Giants, Says Foxconn

#26

Post by oceanplexian »

brookst wrote: post #7
sourtrident wrote: post #6

It's wild - tariffs meant to shield U.S. interests end up giving Apple and Foxconn headaches, shifting their entire strategy. Reminds me of closing one door only to notice everyone's sneaking in through the window. Protectionism might feel good, but tech always finds another route around.

I’m skeptical the tariffs were mean to shield US interests rather than just being intended to do exactly what they’re achieving: isolating the US by driving investment and allies away, while contributing to a recession where oligarchs can further consolidate power and wealth. If you look at them as an attack on the US, everything makes a lot more sense.

> Isolating the US by driving investment and allies away

Foreign government's have an easy solution to solve the problem.

Don't unfairly advantage your goods and services against American products and we won't do the same. Free trade shouldn't mean "Free trade for one side". Free trade should be contingent on reciprocity, both in terms of social and economic alignment.

Re: Tariffs Are Proving 'Big Headache' for Tech Giants, Says Foxconn

#27

Post by BLKNSLVR »

skylurk wrote: post #11

Offshoring to stable countries is looking really smart now.

Exactly. The US has revealed itself to be prone to wild swings of policy, which will not be a lesson soon forgotten by prior trade allies.

Even if sanity and democracy are brought back by a future adminstration, the US public have proven they can't be trusted not to vote in another clone of their current dictator. DJT Jnr and Barron will probably have a shot at the title in the not too distant future to maintain some kind of North Korean-like dynasty.

There's enough of an undercurrent of overconfident, no-consequence, chest thumping "individuality and independence" in the US that, unless complete ruination occurs this time around, they'll vote for having another bash at complete ruination.

Good trade relations is what keeps the trust and respect for the laws of the US in place in other developed countries. Copyright for example. If the US isn't a reliable trade partner then their power to influence copyright laws around the world would rapidly diminish, which Disney wouldn't be happy with. (I'm sure there are other examples of this, but international US copyright Law is one I'm vaguely familiar with. Use of the US Dollar for trade is another possible avenue for decline of US global influence).

Yes, the US could be self sufficient to keep it's entire population alive and well, but not with the lifestyles to which many of them have become accustomed.

Re: Tariffs Are Proving 'Big Headache' for Tech Giants, Says Foxconn

#28

Post by tzs »

jonplackett wrote: post #18
sourtrident wrote: post #6

It's wild - tariffs meant to shield U.S. interests end up giving Apple and Foxconn headaches, shifting their entire strategy. Reminds me of closing one door only to notice everyone's sneaking in through the window. Protectionism might feel good, but tech always finds another route around.

They don’t really want to collect tariff $. They want to force production in the US, which the article says is what they are going to do. That’s not a window being jumped through, that’s the intent. Or am I missing something here?

But Trump is also saying that he wants to get rid of income taxes and replace them with tariffs. That suggests that they do want to actually collect tariff dollars long term.

Re: Tariffs Are Proving 'Big Headache' for Tech Giants, Says Foxconn

#29

Post by whatshisface »

BLKNSLVR wrote: post #27
skylurk wrote: post #11

Offshoring to stable countries is looking really smart now.

Exactly. The US has revealed itself to be prone to wild swings of policy, which will not be a lesson soon forgotten by prior trade allies. Even if sanity and democracy are brought back by a future adminstration, the US public have proven they can't be trusted not to vote in another clone of their current dictator. DJT Jnr and Barron will probably have a shot at the title in the not too distant future to maintain some…

The US doesn't need to prove to the world that a bad president will never be elected again, which as you say is probably impossible and definitely false. What the US can do to rejoin the world in something akin to its former capacity is to walk back the extreme levels of authority granted to an individual who changes every four years (why is the executive able to change tariff levels every day?) in a way that relatively elevates rule of law and deliberative, compromising decision making.

Re: Tariffs Are Proving 'Big Headache' for Tech Giants, Says Foxconn

#30

Post by Terr_ »

jonplackett wrote: post #18
sourtrident wrote: post #6

It's wild - tariffs meant to shield U.S. interests end up giving Apple and Foxconn headaches, shifting their entire strategy. Reminds me of closing one door only to notice everyone's sneaking in through the window. Protectionism might feel good, but tech always finds another route around.

They don’t really want to collect tariff $. They want to force production in the US, which the article says is what they are going to do. That’s not a window being jumped through, that’s the intent. Or am I missing something here?

> They don’t really want to collect tariff $. [...] Or am I missing something here?

You may have missed where Trump and apparatchiks repeatedly stated they want to collect so many billions of dollars from tariffs that it replaces Federal Income Tax. [0]

Do they really want that in their souls? With the benefit of the past few years, I say that's the wrong question. Hanlon's Razor [1] fails on some pathological inputs, flavors of bullshit that cause it to time-out and situations where the costly result has no practical value. Sometimes it's just malcompetence.

[0] https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/20/economy/trump-abolish-irs/ind...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor

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