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Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs

bloomberg.com

251–260 of 931 posts

Re: Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs

#251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a handful of powerful, connected "insiders" will be allowed to operate businesses, and will dominate... while everyone else gets wiped out, by acts of government Note that this is not an exemption for companies, but an exemption for goods: > A new list of goods to be exempted from the latest round of tariffs on U.S. importers was released, and it includes smartphones, PCs, servers, and other technology goods, many…

So all anyone has to do to qualify is produce some of the most complicated electronic devices and components in the history of the world at the largest scale possible, without which there is zero chance of being sustainable or competitive, and then they can benefit from the gifts to the established giants? What a gift. What a great idea. That'll surely spur innovation and domestic production and have no effect to fur…

> without which there is zero chance of being sustainable or competitive

It seems like some of these comments are missing how competition works.

Competition happens within the same type(s) of goods, not across them.

That is, the companies making the goods still affected by tariffs aren’t in competition with the companies making goods now exempt by tariffs.

Yes, its true that they will have a better chance at thriving under these exemptions, but whether they thrive or not should have little impact on the other companies.

To be clear, I’m not arguing in favor of this decision — or any of the tariffs, for that matter.

I’m just simply arguing that competition isn’t really the angle to use to argue against this particular decision.

Re: Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs

#252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn’t really cheap or easy to build a PC or smartphone business with name recognition… Nor is it cheap or easy to build a company that would likely be able to appeal tariff exemptions…

It’s exactly as easy or cheap to build a smartphone or PC business as it was a month ago. The headline is misleading.

I like the way that you phrased “I agree with you, it is not cheap or easy” here

Re: Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs

#253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What crimes were committed and could be prosecuted under the Supreme Court's immunity ruling?

Market manipulation? https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/well-timed-options-... (Besides, at this point I wouldn't be surprised if Trump's Russian oligarch friends were among these traders.)

Pausing tariffs was an official act. The Supreme Court ruled courts could not consider presidents' motives for official acts.

Re: Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs

#254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. I hope our government can survive the next 4 years for criminal investigations into this era. We can't become Russia.

Trump won the popular vote. I don't think this is going away without a major demographic shift, time probably measured in decades.

> Trump won the popular vote.

He did not, he got <50% of the total votes at final tally. People who parrot this are under-informed, or lying to claim a mandate his administration lacks.

Re: Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs

#255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A large minority is still large. And not voting is a signal of apathy. Not opposition.

Might be true, but a president is a president for all, not just those who voted for him.

How would this platitude apply to this discussion even if Trump believed it?

Re: Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs

#256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trump won the popular vote. I don't think this is going away without a major demographic shift, time probably measured in decades.

> Trump won the popular vote. He did not, he got <50% of the total votes at final tally. People who parrot this are under-informed, or lying to claim a mandate his administration lacks.

The person who received the most votes is the popular vote winner.

Re: Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs

#258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. I hope our government can survive the next 4 years for criminal investigations into this era. We can't become Russia.

What crimes were committed and could be prosecuted under the Supreme Court's immunity ruling?

It's very clear that the system of Constitutional governance has been intentionally broken. It is very common for authoritarian regimes to have compliant judiciaries and broad legislative control.

Effective restoration and reconstruction of Constitutional governance will necessarily be dramatic. It's still doable, but optimism is more of a survival strategy than an obvious conclusion at this stage.

Re: Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs

#259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Market manipulation? https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/well-timed-options-... (Besides, at this point I wouldn't be surprised if Trump's Russian oligarch friends were among these traders.)

Pausing tariffs was an official act. The Supreme Court ruled courts could not consider presidents' motives for official acts.

But what about leaking information about it?

Re: Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs

#260
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

America has finally become the banana republic it has accused others of being.

That's a funny way of looking at it because the banana republics weren't called that because they were "bananas" or something. They were called that to identify which of those countries had had state and megacorp interference and government toplings, by mostly the United Fruit Company - an American company. Whatever the banana republics were they were turned into that by the US's doing, so it's funny that now the ter…

People commenting here about Trump corruption are correct, but it's also not new. This is regression to the mean. America has historically been a highly corrupt nation with extreme wealth inequality that occasionally has shocks (e.g. Abolitionism, the Progressive movement, WWII) that allow liberals to take over and purge the system of corruption. If anything, we've had to deal with and defeat (or at least, outlive) smarter and more well-connected fascists than Trump.
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