Comment by darawk
17 days ago
The loss of trust issue is the one I worry about most. However, it's also true that the key players who we've implemented tariffs against have had them against us for years, and we've simply absorbed that.
I don't like the mechanism he chose to implement them, or the sharpness with which they were imposed, but I do think implementing actual proper reciprocal tariffs phased in over a reasonable period of time was a good idea. And I agree with you re: the service/goods issue. Them excluding services in their trade deficit calculation is by far the dumbest part of this plan.
Why are we talking reciprocal tariffs? It has been widely reported that the tariffs have been calculated based on trade deficit and not based on existing tariffs. That should alreadyy become clear by the fact that nobody in the western world has anywhere close to the same average tariffs, or that there are different rates for the EU and e.g. La Réunion (which is part of the EU and does not have the right to set their own tariffs).