Comments by "Gakusangi" (@Gakusangi) on "SomeOrdinaryGamers"
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So, just as a counter-point, while everyone is talking about the tariffs will increase the costs of living, lets actually talk about why President Trump thinks they'll DECREASE the cost o living. Everyone has the other side covered, so I'll throw in a few points here.
1) By imposing tariffs, Trump aims to make imported goods more expensive, thereby encouraging consumers and businesses to purchase domestically produced items. This protectionist approach is intended to support American manufacturers and reduce reliance on foreign products. We know a big push he's been making is more domestically produced goods, to make us more INDEPENDENT and more export focused. So he's hoping that because the tariffs will, in turn, encourage more costs put on us for imports, that suppliers will then pivot over to domestically produced goods instead. We make a LOT of products here in our own country and we CAN make even more and we see this move already with how Trump is trying to revive the auto industry here in the US. So this is all part of a plan to make us more self-sufficient since we DO have the resources and that can lower our costs, dramatically. Especially when you consider that it's being further pushed by the fact that domestically produced goods will have a lower tax cost as per his other policies. He wants us to be LESS dependent on others.
2) Tariffs serve as a source of income for the government. Trump has suggested that the revenue generated from tariffs could be utilized to fund various domestic initiatives, potentially offsetting the need for other forms of taxation. We've seen how his policies are cutting off more funding we send outside of the country than what we do to benefit citizens IN our country, which is why the funding freeze didn't target direct individual benefits like Medicaid and SNAP, instead it was targeting funds being sent out to other countries. He also has various policies he's putting in place to reduce income tax and, as stated before, taxation on domestically produced goods. As money flows into our economy, everyone can benefit as the amount of money in circulation within our country that isn't being sent outside of it.
3) By imposing tariffs, Trump seeks to pressure other nations into engaging in fairer trade practices, aiming to create a more level playing field for American businesses. FACT, other countries need the US more than the US has ever needed them. We've been a major cash cow for various nations, always paying the lion's share and always backing up our allies to the point of them never needing to spend their limited resources for the sake of security. We always accept the worst deal, the short end of the stick. We don't have to. We've never had to. It's only been that way because we've allowed it to be. Well, why should we? Why shouldn't we get a fair deal if so many other countries rely on OUR business. By imposing the tariffs, people can make a big show of imposing them right back on us and trying to force up to make up the difference, but if we produce good domestically that we're more than willing to switch over to, that won't last. They NEED our money to sustain. So they'll cut us a deal, they'll actually make prices competitive, because if they don't, they're in a lot more financial trouble than we ever will be.
Just thought I'd put that out there because everyone can talk about how the prices can go up, but no-one is actually talking about what the PLAN is here and why it CAN work. WILL it work? We'll have to see, but right now we're in the best position to try.
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@simonorlan I like how you're thinking about this, allow me a few bounce points:
1. I don't expect this to happen tomorrow, in fact I expect prices to go up before they ever go down, because the infrastructure for this just isn't there. However, you can't build that infrastructure without starting it and that's the whole idea is that we start this transition into becoming independent. There are some exceptions, things that CANNOT be produced here, but I'll get into how that gets offset. Also, keep in mind that the US is making moves to seize trade routes for ourselves for a better deal and more control, that being the Panama Canal and the Greenland purchase. This effectively not only put the US in a better position, it helps weaken our major trade competitors (Russia and China).
2 Understand that for most of those valuable imports their value is largely generated by the US market. We are the largest consumers of those goods, so you can't just cut us or threaten to make it not worth buying from you either. When you go that far, you actually end up hurting your own ability to profit because you just gutted your main customer-base. When you say we don't have leverage despite how big we are economically, that's the flaw in that logic. Since we are the largest economically we have the most money to spend on these goods and generate most of their perceived value. It's the exact same reason why we're very likely to become part owners of TikTok. Without us, it makes almost nothing, with us it makes a massive profit. The people that export their goods to the US, they're gonna meet us in the middle if not completely fold after all their threats of tariffs after one conversation with their foreign trade advisers.
3. Yes, there is a reason why we own farms in other countries because it helps with labor costs and providing suitable environment for off-season produce. Those are still subject to tariffs as well because it's about the country it's coming from. However, the US is one of the three (if not the largest) supplier of food products to the rest of the world with key exports being: Soybeans, Corn (I'll talk more about this in a bit), Beef, Pork, Dairy Products, Wheat, Fruits (some), Nuts and our largest, Processed Food and Beverages. Things we more or less entirely dependent on other countries for: Avocados, Seafood (our waters have been over fished), Coffee (Hawaii makes some, but not enough), Chocolate, Bananas and Olive Oil. The prices of these things are likely to fluctuate, but once again we're a major consumer of these goods and threatening to cut out one of your biggest customers isn't a threat, it's a bluff.
4. I wanna largely keep this on the topic of tariffs and trade, because you can easily rabbit hole into a lot of other things going on. I'll just say, I don't think we're relying as heavily on the tariffs to work as people think we are. I think this is more to cut us a better deal than to actually generate revenue. The threat that we are ready to commit to this and will is enough to make other nations meet us on our terms because we aren't bluffing, we WILL do this, because they'll break before we do. If the past like nearly decade isn't an indicator enough, we will put up with it and reduce costs wherever we can until someone is ready to come to the table and deal. However, and like I said I want to keep this mostly on topic, the tariffs are only part of how the US stimulating the economy, cutting off expenditures and getting more money to our citizens. This includes things like backing out of alternative energy which has been a massive money sink for the US, who was paying the lion's share of any other nation. Opening up domestic drilling to no longer be reliant on Russian and Arab oil, and in fact become a major exporter of it, forcing more competitive prices globally. Issuing a freeze on foreign funding, especially in cases where its clearly been abused and not implemented as intended (condoms to Gaza?). Removing a number of persons that are taking residence in the US illegally from the country which will bring down consumption, energy costs and the expenditure State/Federal benefit resources, meaning that supply will start evening out with demand and drive more prices down. It's all part of a bigger picture.
5. The way I put it was a bit overly simplistic, but let me go a little more into it. While the US isn't done over a barrel in every agreement they make and, in fact, have made pretty crap deals for others to take, when you look at the top spending by nation in various global agreements and alliances such as NATO, WHO, the Paris Climate Agreement, etc. it isn't hard to see how negotiating the US's share can easily get a massive surge of money back into the country. In particular, the US had already cut a better deal with the World Health Organization during Trump's first term and then went back to a worse deal when the next administration stepped in. Trump is doing exactly what he did last time, he's threatening to just leave and that's going to force another deal again just like last time he did it because they obvious need US dollars. There will be other cases like this in which we very much have all the leverage because who else is putting up that kind of money. People discount the economic size of the US, you can't. You can't because that's money everyone else wants and needs. We have the most, therefore we can spend the most, that makes any business with us GOOD business.
I think the problem that I see more often in comment sections and forums is the inability to really talk all of this out. People want to jump to it's good or it's bad and never go in-depth on either. More often, depending on the content creator or whoever started the forum post, you're going to get a slanted perspective as well with no-one willing to even talk about what the other side of the topic is or what the other outcomes could be.
What I'm saying is, thank you for the actual discussion.
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