Comment by refurb
17 days ago
Vietnam does manipulate its currency. It’s not something that hasn’t been widely discussed for the past decade or more.
And if you artificially keep your exchange rate 10% higher, that’s an effective 10% tariff on US imports.
I have no idea if the tariffs will work but I don’t fault a country for saying “we’re matching the tariffs you apply to our exports”
> Vietnam does manipulate its currency.
So does every country in the world, this is neither surprising nor reason to slap tariffs on imports (which will hurt US consumers).
> I have no idea if the tariffs will work
We have lots of examples from history of tariffs not working, so there is that. They lead to trade wars, and then sometimes to real wars, never to prosperity.
The unparalleled prosperity the US enjoyed in the last few decades before 2008 was driven by open global trade and being the currency of last resort and the centre of world markets. I think there is a lot of complacency in the US about that position, and we're seeing the beginning of the end.
No, every country in the world doesn’t manipulate their currency. Most can’t because of the floating exchange rate (which Vietnam doesn’t have).
Do you think Canada’s tariffs on dairy products has worked to protect the industry? Seems like it has?
Claiming that free trade has benefited the US is true, but the benefit has gone to the top at the expense of the bottom.
Europe uses tariffs to protect domestic industry and when the US decides to do it, suddenly it’s wrong?
Interest rates, taxes, subsidies and reserves also affect currency value.
The US uses selective tariffs already, which is fine though not actually that helpful IMO, what is new is absurdly high punitive and blanket tariffs on everything. This will tank the stock market, raise prices, cause a recession and perhaps most importantly ruin the reputation of the US as a safe haven.
The absurd tariffs on trading partners that don’t matter like Laos are a perfect illustration of how much thought went into this.