this post was submitted on 23 May 2025
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Here it is, our big unifying moment. (lemmy.ca)
submitted 12 hours ago by Sunshine to c/[email protected]
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[โ€“] [email protected] 7 points 7 hours ago

No, blind retaliatory tariffs would be stupid. When someone is punching themselves in the face, the correct thing to do is not to also punch yourself in the face.

Tariffs have 3 effects:

  • The buyer pays more.
  • Because the buyer pays more, the seller makes fewer sales.
  • The government collects tariff tax revenue.

Whichever way the tariff goes, export or import, it will negatively affect that nation's people. An import tariff, like this, would negatively affect local consumers. An export tariff (eg Canada tariffing electricity exports to the US) would negatively affect local businesses through lost sales (the genius with Canada is the US can't stop buying electricity, so sales local sales would stay the same).

The only way a tariff makes sense for a country is if the tariff tax revenue is reinvested into the local economy. For example, if you tariff imports, you should use that revenue to incentivise local businesses to grow to replace that import.

Trump is not doing that. He's just collecting tax money from American people. He's almost certainly going to spaff that away on some scam, probably crypto, and basically bankrupt the American taxpayer and fuck up everyone's livelihoods.

EU countries should not copy Trump and blanket tax their citizens for American imports. If the EU were to implement tariffs (and I argue this isn't necessary or worthwhile), they should only be done with a plan to reinvest, such that there is a net benefit. Blunt tariffs with no plan will almost certainly have a net negative effect.

China is like Trump, in that neither of them care much about the negative effects on their people. That's why China went hard with retaliatory tariffs. The EU does not need to emulate that behaviour.