Earlier quoted context omitted.
“Now is a good time to buy” isn’t vague.
The point is that this text is not the official policy. It is a hint to investors.
A public hint to investors.
Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs
801–810 of 931 posts
Re: Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs
#802Earlier quoted context omitted.
This aestheticization of factory jobs is something I've noticed to be driving the New Right's worldview. It's not dissimilar to and no less dangerous than the aesthetic fixation on the agrarian economy of Mao and Pol Pot. Frankly, no, sweatshops are not important to the cultural fabric of a country. The US has problems with housing affordability, with medical costs, and with service sector costs emerging from Baumol'…
Tech bros who are frustrated with their job fantasizing about doing "real work". An entire generation has grown up without assembly lines so it is easy to mystify it. People in Vietnam don't enjoy making Nikes but it is better than what came before: subsistence farming. But the Vietnamese factory worker trying to send their kids to university too.
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Re: Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs
#803[flagged]
Re: Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs
#804Earlier quoted context omitted.
Where do you see the populism in favoring Apple, Nvidia, Dell ?
There is no favoring of Apple, Nvidia or Dell. The headline is misleading. “and others” is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
Those companies do benefit from not having to pay the import tax.
This being favored by the decision
Re: Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs
#805Earlier quoted context omitted.
The point is to inflict cost to create incentive for domestic production. Obviously the inconsistency on tariffs undermines this position but the pandemic made it very clear that there are domestic security implications for not having important products produced state side. Its not like the $500 cost of a saline bag has anything to do with its production cost. It seems credit liquidity and confidence in long term pro…
The point is to replace income taxes with tariffs. Domestic production is "desired" but this is not how to rebuild domestic production capability.
> Domestic production is "desired" but this is not how to rebuild domestic production capability
No need to be handwavy. It can be part of a strategy. A painful and ultimately less effective way than another, sure. There will be a lot of factors at play beyond these controls. This administration lacks the ability to focus for very long in any competent sense. I'm not sure there is a strategy that will work, at this time.
Re: Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs
#806Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tech bros who are frustrated with their job fantasizing about doing "real work". An entire generation has grown up without assembly lines so it is easy to mystify it. People in Vietnam don't enjoy making Nikes but it is better than what came before: subsistence farming. But the Vietnamese factory worker trying to send their kids to university too.
Manufacturing employment plummeted in the US after the 90s. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/manemp Lots of people remember the 80s and 90s being better times with quality manufacturing employment without romanticizing the past. To this day multiples of the “information” sector are employed in US manufacturing.
People remember those days because the Republicans hadn't destroyed trade unions and the pension system yet.
Re: Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs
#807Earlier quoted context omitted.
You are pretty confused about why this is. When the only market you ever had was high touch high cost low volume production then that is your default business model. The biggest issue is that Trump is pushing tariffs without first ramping up local manufacturing, the type of manufacturing you are looking for isn't _currently_ being catered for in the US. It may in the future depending on how things pan out, the bet Tr…
> think positive about your country and shift with the times You know I tried to think positively about the United States; but darned if they don't keep doing negative things. Like appointing grossly incompetent people to head Federal departments. Like unlawfully and arbitrarily abducting people from the streets. Like extorting universities - ideally centres of free thought - over non-complying ideological positions.…
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Re: Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs
#808Re: Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs
#809Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s not about trade deficits-it’s about becoming an independent manufacturer again. Whether or not anyone international buys what we make is secondary. Wealth is disproportionately allocated to those that benefit from globalization but the vast majority of Americans are hurting from it, even if a OLED TV costs nickels.
That is a valid use case for tariffs. I'm not convinced the evidence supports that being the reasoning in this case though. Development of manufacturing takes time. If that were truly the logic behind the tariffs, wouldn't it make more sense to slowly ramp up tariffs on particular categories of goods with a long notice period to allow time for industries to develop? Also why all the talk about "punishing" other count…
Development of manufacturing also means not tariffing the steel that's required to make the machines to make the things.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/02/fact-sheet-pr...
Re: Trump exempts phones, computers, chips from ‘reciprocal’ tariffs
#810The 145% tariff is so absurd I wouldn't be surprised to see cheap chips glued to the item to exploit the exceptions. "Oh yeah, that's not a shoe: it's the protective case for an ESP32 WiFi router".
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