Trump temporarily drops tariffs to 10% for most countries • Hacker News Board

Re: Trump temporarily drops tariffs to 10% for most countries

#471

Post by jauntywundrkind » Wed, Apr 09, 2025, 7:33 PM UTC

isleyaardvark wrote: post #311

Buttons840 wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The President can only legally set tarrifs in an "emergency". Planning tarrifs 90 days out is really stretching the definition--I'm not holding my breath, but maybe the courts will uphold the constitution on this one?

Normally there are rules regarding how long an emergency can last. This is why, I kid you not, the Republican controlled Congress declared there are no more calendar days in this session of Congress. Every day is March 11. So they'll let him do it as long as he likes.

/s

This is also how this shambling ghoul gets what any actual citizen of earth would consider a third term. It's already done! This is why he said "you'll won't have to vote again."

The president is only 50 days into his term forever; time is stopped. Hell upon us eternal.

Re: Trump temporarily drops tariffs to 10% for most countries

#472

Post by poormathskills » Wed, Apr 09, 2025, 7:34 PM UTC

VectorLock wrote: post #428

ProfessorLayton wrote: post #42

So we're all in for another ride like this in 3 months? How are businesses supposed to plan anything in this environment? As nice as this surge is, I'm more focused on upping my cash reserves and bracing myself for a recession.

>How are businesses supposed to plan anything in this environment? They're not supposed to. The only people who are planning anything in this scenario are Whitehouse insiders coordinating stock frontrunning from Signal group chats. https://bsky.app/profile/unusualwhales.bsky.social/post/3lmf...

Trump tweeted "it's a good time to buy" right before the tariff drop announcement.

Re: Trump temporarily drops tariffs to 10% for most countries

#473

Post by SpicyLemonZest » Wed, Apr 09, 2025, 7:35 PM UTC

re-thc wrote: post #404

SpicyLemonZest wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The administration has signaled that they expect to negotiate acceptable balance-of-trade deals with the US's Asian allies over the next few weeks. If that happens, I can see businesses being certain enough to make investments. Until then I'm bracing for a recession too.

> If that happens How does that help? The steel and auto tariffs are still in place. There are plans on tariffs for other industries. You'll be hit 1 way or another.

You'll definitely be hit one way or another. The question is whether businesses can predict what their tariff hit will look like next year and plan around it, or can't and need to hold onto their cash until they know which investments are or aren't worth it.

Re: Trump temporarily drops tariffs to 10% for most countries

#474

Post by 4ndrewl » Wed, Apr 09, 2025, 7:35 PM UTC

grandempire wrote: post #312

4ndrewl wrote: post #218

Pulling stunts like this just makes the USA even less investable. Markets operating at the whims of a capricious King (is there even a functioning government right now?)

Do you recommend any alternative markets to be more investable?

Somewhere with a predictable economic policy that doesn't flip flop from week-to-week.

Re: Trump temporarily drops tariffs to 10% for most countries

#475

Post by Kwpolska » Wed, Apr 09, 2025, 7:35 PM UTC

> “This was his strategy all along,” Bessent said at the White House, where officials, including him, had denied for days that the tariffs would be suspended.

And why should we believe them? If it was the strategy, you could have made the tariff announcement into an acrostic or something.

Re: Trump temporarily drops tariffs to 10% for most countries

#476

Post by macspoofing » Wed, Apr 09, 2025, 7:35 PM UTC

magicloop wrote: post #397

"It’s the T-bills wot dun it." That’s my read on why the U.S. just paused the global tariff hike to 10%. From the beginning, I’ve believed the executive branch's real goal was to push down the yield on the 10-year Treasury. Why? Because Uncle Sam has to refinance a mountain of debt this year, and the cost of that depends heavily on Treasury yields — especially the 10-year. That’s the rate that sets the tone for every…

>From the beginning, I’ve believed the executive branch's real goal was to push down the yield on the 10-year Treasury

You're making it seem that there's a plan ... but what if this is just regular incompetence coupled with capricious behavior from a chaos agent?

I'm watching various officials give interviews and all of them are non-committal as it pertains to expectations. Why? Because none of them actually know!!! Trump has arbitrarily and capriciously changed "the plan" many times.

Re: Trump temporarily drops tariffs to 10% for most countries

#477

Post by Hikikomori » Wed, Apr 09, 2025, 7:36 PM UTC

SpicyLemonZest wrote: post #174

ProfessorLayton wrote: post #42

So we're all in for another ride like this in 3 months? How are businesses supposed to plan anything in this environment? As nice as this surge is, I'm more focused on upping my cash reserves and bracing myself for a recession.

The administration has signaled that they expect to negotiate acceptable balance-of-trade deals with the US's Asian allies over the next few weeks. If that happens, I can see businesses being certain enough to make investments. Until then I'm bracing for a recession too.

Like wanting EU to drop VAT for US import sales or forcing EU to buy oil/gas/coal. None of that is happening.

Re: Trump temporarily drops tariffs to 10% for most countries

#478

Post by muzani » Wed, Apr 09, 2025, 7:36 PM UTC

consp wrote: post #448

muzani wrote: post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's literally in his book. He does a crazy thing. Big. Massive. Then gets the other party to negotiate it down to what he really intended. 10% is a lot, but now it looks smaller. He's also fighting back very hard on a few fronts, as per the book.

And it is entirely predictable which is why most countries did not kneejerk into action.

Exactly. I would be surprised if most kings and prime ministers haven't hired a Trump expert by now. If there's one skill democratic leaders are good at, it's figuring out what the other party wants. It probably just plays out like a game of checkers.

Re: Trump temporarily drops tariffs to 10% for most countries

#479

Post by mulmen » Wed, Apr 09, 2025, 7:37 PM UTC

SpicyLemonZest wrote: post #174

ProfessorLayton wrote: post #42

So we're all in for another ride like this in 3 months? How are businesses supposed to plan anything in this environment? As nice as this surge is, I'm more focused on upping my cash reserves and bracing myself for a recession.

The administration has signaled that they expect to negotiate acceptable balance-of-trade deals with the US's Asian allies over the next few weeks. If that happens, I can see businesses being certain enough to make investments. Until then I'm bracing for a recession too.

I don’t get this take. We already negotiated trade agreements. That’s what got ripped up with all this tariff nonsense. Why would anyone expect the US to respect the next negotiation? The damage here was reputational. That can only be repaired with time. It can’t be negotiated.

Re: Trump temporarily drops tariffs to 10% for most countries

#480

Post by jpmattia » Wed, Apr 09, 2025, 7:37 PM UTC

magicloop wrote: post #397

"It’s the T-bills wot dun it." That’s my read on why the U.S. just paused the global tariff hike to 10%. From the beginning, I’ve believed the executive branch's real goal was to push down the yield on the 10-year Treasury. Why? Because Uncle Sam has to refinance a mountain of debt this year, and the cost of that depends heavily on Treasury yields — especially the 10-year. That’s the rate that sets the tone for every…

James Carville in the 90s: “I used to think that if there was reincarnation, I wanted to come back as the president or the pope or as a .400 baseball hitter. But now I would like to come back as the bond market. You can intimidate everybody.”