Trump 2.0 official thread

TK3600

Major
Registered Member
That's not what the joint statement said. I think it said both sides go to 10%, although I didn't understand why they said they'd remove 24%; I just don't know where the 24% came from. They negotiated to set a baseline. Trump went all over the place from 80% to 245%. There's no way China would negotiate from the standpoint of the tariffs removed instead of the baseline targeted.

From what I remember, this started with US blanket tariffs at 20% on China and China had 0% on the US because China's not stupid so it actually bothers to target its tariff percentage depending on the product (several hundred percent for useless shit like designer shirts and bags, to nothing for things that China benefits and needs). Not sure how this addressed that aspect.
24% is fentynl tariff. It was 34% on China pre war. 10 universal + 24% punitive tariff cuz fentynl bad, I am gonna charge more on all your stuff.

But given HK is 10%, the 30% on China is just face saving.
 

manqiangrexue

Brigadier
If HK is 10%, then effectively China is 10% not 30%. Total capitulation.
Where do you see that it differentiates between Mainland China and Hong Kong? It says, "China (including articles of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Macau Special Administrative Region)... retaining the remaining ad valorem rate of 10 percent." So my understanding is that they're altogether at 10%.

Walmart and shit were right when they made orders to China at a 145% tariff rate saying they're figure something out by the time the ships arrive and we can just forget about that.
 

TK3600

Major
Registered Member
I have said it before, China needs to follow up the tariff of the US (US 145%, China should also 145%) so that when negotiation, China has the tariff for negotiation. Now China is on the losing side because US's tariff still at 30% while China is only 10%. At the beginning, you might argue that 145% and 125% don't make any difference. But 30% and 10% do make difference.
See my reply. HK clause make it 10% China effectively, 30% on China is face saving concession only.
 

TK3600

Major
Registered Member
Where do you see that it differentiates between Mainland China and Hong Kong? It says, "China (including articles of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Macau Special Administrative Region)... retaining the remaining ad valorem rate of 10 percent." So my understanding is that they're altogether at 10%.

Walmart and shit were right when they made orders to China at a 145% tariff rate saying they're figure something out by the time the ships arrive and we can just forget about that.
Then it is even better. 10% China to 10% US. Total capitulation?
 

horse

Colonel
Registered Member
Damn, Trump folded so soon, I was hoping for at least three months:(

He basically had no choice.

It is Chairman Mao deja-vu with his quotation, the Americans are not reasonable, give them no choice then they are reasonable.

As long as I can remember, China always did 3 things to undermine American power worldwide.
  1. Direct intervention such as Korean War or lately trying to distance itself from the US Dollar hegemony.
  2. Try to split the American alliances.
  3. Hurt US politicians domestically by withholding big orders for stuff.
Since the trade war started this round with Trump rather short lived Liberation Day, seems like China put all three planks into a higher gear.

This time, simply put, President Trump is not going to survive, because if nothing changes in another two weeks or four weeks, there will be inflation, empty shelves, and a recession.

With the empty shelves, that kind of supply shock will not be fixed anything time quick, so once a recession bites, it will not leave. The best they can hope for in America is stagflation.

They underestimated the centrality of the China supply chain to worldwide production.

How ironic, the communist own all the factors of production, because they were cut throat capitalist who out competed everybody.

If the Americans did not know that, now they learned.

This trade war had to end ASAP. If negotiations dragged out for a month, then there was no way for the Americans to avoid inflation, supply chain shock, and a recession. It was that close.

It is just the timing of things. Trade has to traverse an ocean, and people had to make their orders, while considering all the uncertainty.

Nothing will get back to normal in terms of business for maybe 2 to 6 weeks starting now, depending on what situation a person or corporation is in. Imagine if everything stopped for a month or longer, then add this 2 to 6 weeks. This would have been just as bad as the pandemic shut downs, probably even worst.

Still, no one really knows fully what will happen next.

But if the reduced the tariffs to about 10%, then that is alright. The Chinese would prefer zero, but if the Americans insist on a tariff because they want to raise tax revenue that way so they can cut income taxes, at least that is a legit reason that sovereign states decide.

Trump was finished.

I thought it was a clean divorce, and turned out to be completely wrong.

In my view, after the tariffs were over 100% making it a mutual embargo, that was it. The decoupling has happened. Big Chinese corporations the next day announced they were going to help merchants affected by the trade, the Chinese government step up with the stimulus, and it seemed to be open ended.

This decoupling was real and China was prepared to walk away. If it does not work out, then sometimes in business we got to walk away.

It was like China signed the divorce papers and was already out the door. Then, that was when the strange thing happened. America did not want to sign the divorce papers.

So hear we are.

We just went through the crazy girlfriend experience.

Gawd daynm!

:D:oops:
 

Mt1701d

Junior Member
Registered Member
The lowering of tariffs temporarily doesnt mean there was a deal tho… a deal implies that there will be a long/longer term solution to the trade war. Technically the trade war is still on but there is just a temp ceasefire at the moment.

Tho I suspect it going to be a similar thing to the TikTok ban, indefinite extension on the US side, so Trump can call it a win while not completely screwing the economy.

Also all the other issue hasn’t been resolved, so I wouldn’t call it a deal, just a way for the US not to look like jackasses, for starting this BS and now having to cave.
 

manqiangrexue

Brigadier
See my reply. HK clause make it 10% China effectively, 30% on China is face saving concession only.
I dunno. I see no difference in the language of the joint statement that would suggest 10-30 but reading the news, I see some reports 10-10 and others 10-30. Others don't mention numbers probably because they couldn't figure it out...

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"Speaking after talks with Chinese officials in Geneva, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the two sides had agreed on a 90-day pause on measures and that tariffs would come down by over 100 percentage points to a 10% baseline rate."

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"President Trump's "reciprocal" tariff on China will fall to 10% from 125%.
A separate 20% tariff the president imposed over what he described as China's role in the fentanyl trade will remain.
Beijing will cut its retaliatory levies on U.S. goods to 10% from 125%"
 
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