Donald is convinced (is he ?) the importing countries are paying the tariffs on the products they bring in United States. And he wants you to believe it. The more exorbitant the rate, the more the importing country is punished.
Unfortunately, Donald is completely off base (or lying to you if you think he’s smart enough to have figured it all out) : only the final consumers in the United States will pay for the increased prices of imported products.
There’s no scam by Europe or China against the United States, there’s no conspiracy. There’s a trade in products, and if, for example, the United States buys (used to buy) a lot of aluminum from Canada, it’s because Canadian aluminum is cheaper. The competition between Canada and the United States was won by Canada in the 1980s, due to very cheap hydroelectricity.
If Donald increases tariffs on Canadian aluminum, the Canadian seller will be forced to raise their price to the same level. Only to continue to make the same level of profit. Its aluminum will continue to be exported because the United States needs it and hasn’t produced cheap aluminum for a very long time.
Ninety days after the insane Liberation Day, the rate for Europe increased from 20% in April to 30% in July. At the same time, Trump administration was instituting a 25% tariff on European automobiles and a 50% tariff on European aluminum.
Donald wants to win, and he wants it to be known. He wants the taxed countries to fold, like in a poker game.
But that’s strictly impossible. Since with these new rates, the United States is creating a real trade deficit (where none existed before), and to avoid this loss of balance, importing countries must also increase their own duties.
Advice to Ursula von der Layen: if you don’t encourage European banks to sell American debt, we’ll still be here next spring, with rates of 150%. Let’s cut this sh.. madness, like the Chinese already did.