Comment by Sharlin
2 days ago
> even if it's a 1eur phone case (1eur + 3eur customs +
That's the fucking point for fuck's sake! Pardon my language, but the entire point of the tariff is to stop people from buying masses of trivial things from the other side of the world, with all the externalities that it entails. This tariff tries to cover at least some fraction of said externalities.
People on HN should not be this clueless about basic economy. This tariff is one of the good things that the EU has done lately, but unfortunately it won't be popular among the common folk who just want their cheap unsustainable stuff without having to think about the consequences.
This is obviously not the point if the surcharge disappears on packages with total price over 150 €.
It is, because (one of) the big problem(s) is people impulse buying individual cheap things in large numbers, taking advantage of free shipping when the shipping is obviously not free. These stores exploit the fact that international postage and customs agreements were never written with a giant volume of small parcels in mind, making it artificially cheap (for the sender) to spam the system with them.
When Trump introduced tariffs everyone screamed but now the EU does EXACTLY the same and suddenly it's okay.
Exactly? I find it very different.
> That's the fucking point for fuck's sake! Pardon my language, but the entire point of the tariff is to stop people from buying masses of trivial things from the other side of the world, with all the externalities that it entails. This tariff tries to cover at least some fraction of said externalities.
Boy, when you put it that way it makes me wonder why people didn't appreciate the genius of Trump's tarrifs.