US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU • Hacker News Board

Re: US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU

#951

Post by ryan_lane » Fri, Apr 04, 2025, 1:17 AM UTC

solatic wrote: post #912

svara wrote: post #750

It's true that free trade is hugely beneficial to the US economy as a whole, particularly with the USD being the reserve currency. The flow of goods is balanced by a flow of US dollars to other countries, which are ultimately cycled back into the US financial system - enabling budget deficits and an abundance of capital to invest in high growth industries. The flip side of this is that it also drives inequality - the…

> The obvious solution is... for the government to lower the cost of high-quality education Not everyone is smart enough to land in the professional class. The US does its young population an enormous disservice by pushing low academic performers to go to college. There needs to be, somehow, a way for people to make a living with their hands, because for some people, that is genuinely all they are capable of. > ... b…

> by enabling people in the working class to find genuine work that produces value, not some ditch-digging make-work government program

Like building out clean energy infrastructure?

Modern "ditch digging government programs" aren't necessarily low-skill. Even at the time, the new deal government programs were massively beneficial for society while also providing jobs for folks who needed it, at reasonable wages. Let's not shit on good government programs just because the right has been feeding us propaganda demonizing it for decades.

Re: US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU

#952

Post by h2zizzle » Fri, Apr 04, 2025, 1:21 AM UTC

iteratethis wrote: post #75

This won't bring home manufacturing but let's say that it will... The US doesn't have the people to do the actual manufacturing. I saw a video recently explaining how sectors like the military, construction and the automotive industry each have 100K+ positions that they are unable to fill. A return to manufacturing adds to that shortage. Apparently there's some 7 million young men of working age that are...missing in…

Eh. This always gets presented as a, "Why don't Millennial/Zoomer/Alpha men want to work?" Lack of training? Maybe. But I see that as more of a subset of the actual issue, which is two-fold: work conditions and compensation. So many jobs suck, and pay less than they should, and provide no real opportunity for growth. Let's break it down:

Jobs that suck: bad hours, bad bosses, bad processes that create inefficiency and stress.

Jobs that don't pay: can't afford a house, can't afford to date/get married/have children, can't establish a stable lifestyle .

Jobs that don't allow for growth: masters don't pass along their skills, managers don't promote (and, eventually, step aside), employers push employees out with stagnation and the hoarding of opportunities for nepo-hires or outsiders.

And why are we in this situation? Essentially, because someone likes the way things are. Managers and seniors don't want to change their work styles, even if those styles are dysfunctional. Employers don't want to pay. Older workers don't want to leave, or jeopardize their marketability by training juniors.

Every young worker can tell you about their experiences with older workers who promise to train and won't, managers who promise advancement and don't, having to be in the office at an ungodly hour or the warehouse or factory late into the night. And for what? Nothing of the American Dream, at least without putting up with the more ridiculous end of the job spectrum, or having been born into money, or having been lucky enough to rub shoulders with someone born into money.

It's Japan's hikikomori problem, transposed. Japanese authorities constantly blame the shut-ins, but outside observers recognize that the problem actually lies with the "functional" side of society, and its unwillingness to confront the way it alienates and produces perfectly reasonable, if dysfunctional, responses in these men (and women).

Re: US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU

#953

Post by justonceokay » Fri, Apr 04, 2025, 1:41 AM UTC

rthomas6 wrote: post #613

TaurenHunter wrote: post #599

I don't see anyone mentioning that the United States needs to manage its massive national debt, currently in the trillions, by issuing Treasury securities. These securities mature at varying intervals and require continuous "rolling" or refinancing to pay off old debt with new borrowing. Significant rollovers are expected from April through September 2025, with additional short-term maturities due by June. Higher int…

The flaw I see is centered around this paragraph. > How can rates come down? The present uncertainty around tariffs and a potential crisis could create conditions that pressure interest rates downward before those Treasury securities mature, by influencing Federal Reserve policy. Rising prices due to tariffs won't pressure the Fed to lower interest rates. It will increase inflation and worries of inflation, which wil…

+1. In my relatively uninformed opinion what trump is doing is accelerating a kind of global arbitration in which the US is no longer the dominant economic power. We are going to have to share our toys. The “3rd world” is developing and it isn’t as easy to bully the globe into doing all our dirty work.

In my imagination, 50 years from now we will have a quality of life more similar to Central Europe: fine, but nothing special. Most people will live much more simply, rent smaller spaces, drive less ostentatious cars that they share. People will live with their families out of necessity and strawberries won’t be available in December.

Re: US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU

#954

Post by jalapenos » Fri, Apr 04, 2025, 1:51 AM UTC

svara wrote: post #750

It's true that free trade is hugely beneficial to the US economy as a whole, particularly with the USD being the reserve currency. The flow of goods is balanced by a flow of US dollars to other countries, which are ultimately cycled back into the US financial system - enabling budget deficits and an abundance of capital to invest in high growth industries. The flip side of this is that it also drives inequality - the…

So basically: the solution is "do more of the same".

I suppose that's the point, people were tired of hearing the same old crap by leftists who fancy themselves as smarter, as their quality of life continued to drop, so they figured "screw it let's try the opposite".

Guess we'll see where it lands.

Re: US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU

#955

Post by soderfoo » Fri, Apr 04, 2025, 2:08 AM UTC

jodacola wrote: post #886

I'm an American. I've generally benefited from the system here (which speaks to my privilege, of which I'm aware). I don't want to wade into political battles, but I'm genuinely concerned for my future and the future of my children from an economic standpoint, based on where things seem to be going. I am considering options on the spectrum with ends like: * Staying here, because this is where I was born and raised an…

If you want to relocate to another country focus on the "pull factors" of that place, rather than the "push factors."

I moved to Sweden because my wife and I felt that was the best place to start a family. I'm on parental leave and cherish every moment I get to spend with my kid.

We would have made the move no matter what was happening in the US. Well, unless there was a major cultural shift and a generous grant of child care benefits equivalent to SWE.

Re: US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU

#956

Post by shirro » Fri, Apr 04, 2025, 2:29 AM UTC

hayst4ck wrote: post #297

The golden prize for America's enemies is to remove the US dollar as a global reserve currency. Since trade is conducted largely in USD, that means other governments must purchase USD to trade. This is the core of trade deficits. Foreign countries buy US dollars so they can trade with other people. That guarantees the deficit since they give us something in exchange for USD, which they do not then spend on goods we m…

> The golden prize for America's enemies is to remove the US dollar as a global reserve currency.

I think it is misleading to speak in terms of enemies even if that plays to the fears of US isolationists. It is good rhetoric but I think it obscures the truth, There was a time when the stability and strength of the US made the dollar a good choice for friends and enemies alike. The world is changing and the current US administration is accelerating some of those changes. China is going to play an increasing role as the US turns inward but I doubt they will ever replace the US dollar as a reserve currency. The Euro is the second most held currency after the dollar and there are probably a few others ahead of China.

Re: US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU

#957

Post by Tempest1981 » Fri, Apr 04, 2025, 2:30 AM UTC

solatic wrote: post #912

svara wrote: post #750

It's true that free trade is hugely beneficial to the US economy as a whole, particularly with the USD being the reserve currency. The flow of goods is balanced by a flow of US dollars to other countries, which are ultimately cycled back into the US financial system - enabling budget deficits and an abundance of capital to invest in high growth industries. The flip side of this is that it also drives inequality - the…

> The obvious solution is... for the government to lower the cost of high-quality education Not everyone is smart enough to land in the professional class. The US does its young population an enormous disservice by pushing low academic performers to go to college. There needs to be, somehow, a way for people to make a living with their hands, because for some people, that is genuinely all they are capable of. > ... b…

What happened to the information economy? And getting everyone trained on that type of skills? Nowadays education seems to be frowned upon by those in charge.

Edit: looks like this is discussed in a sibling thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43573036

Re: US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU

#958

Post by poincaredisk » Fri, Apr 04, 2025, 2:35 AM UTC

parsimo2010 wrote: post #602

TrackerFF wrote: post #62

From what I understand, de minimis exemption has also been removed. That is a huge, huge deal. It effectively means that all goods imported from China will be slapped with a 30% import tax, as soon as said goods arrive the US border / customs. Usually what happens then, is that the courier will pay that tax, and then bill the recipient later on - as well as charge some fee/fees for the work done. This is why in some…

I suspect that this $25/50 per item policy is to prevent people from claiming a lower value than the actual price of the item. I've received international packages marked "gift" with a value of $10 that I had paid much more for. I doubt the US will even manufacture substitutes for most of the things I liked and ordered from AliExpress. People with hobbies primarily supplied by Chinese manufacturing (like mine- electr…

Realistically, the $25 minimum is to cover the costs of handling the imports (with some premium), so it doesn't make sense to charge it for every item in a batch separately.

Re: US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU

#959

Post by c0ndu17 » Fri, Apr 04, 2025, 2:54 AM UTC

Out of curiosity, would you still need to pay the full tariff, if the cost of an item that was shifted to a token/smart contract, that only enabled a right to purchase, but reduce the device cost to like a dollar or shipping.

It’d be pretty cool if someone derived a legal smart contract solution. One could argue that, the tech enabled products are two things a digital service, and a manufactured product. Those costs could be potentially be seperated.

Then again, I know nothing ^_^

Re: US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU

#960

Post by baranul » Fri, Apr 04, 2025, 3:14 AM UTC

keithxm23 wrote: post #820

svara wrote: post #750

It's true that free trade is hugely beneficial to the US economy as a whole, particularly with the USD being the reserve currency. The flow of goods is balanced by a flow of US dollars to other countries, which are ultimately cycled back into the US financial system - enabling budget deficits and an abundance of capital to invest in high growth industries. The flip side of this is that it also drives inequality - the…

> but many on this very site would need to give up a little bit of their privilege to reduce the pain felt by many of their fellow citizens. Agreed. However, by imposing tariffs it is not the privileged who are going to be affected the most. The pain is felt most by the low-skill workers you mentioned earlier. If the solution was instead along the lines of changing tax-brackets to tax the 'privileged' more, that migh…

Not only are the poor going to bear the brunt of these tariffs, but this has been tried multiple times before, and failed. As in, catastrophic failure.

"Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it"

People should check out all the tariff insanity before and during the period of The Great Depression. That includes the justifications given.