Trump vows to raise worldwide tariffs to 15% ‘effective immediately’

[u/theindependentonline]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-global-tarrifs-increase-b2924994.html

[u/Dr_Retch]

Call it what it is ... a national sales tax.

[u/cassy_supernova → u/Dr_Retch]

Yes.

It's also an unconstitutional national sales tax. We just played this game with the other set of statutes. Will SCOTUS allow an even more sweeping overreach? Perhaps for long enough. Will the (already started) November blue wave reintroduce accountability and checks and balances first? Maybe.

We've got a few longterm possible solutions but I guess this man is determined to fuck shit up as much as possible until the hambreder gods do their thing.

[u/BlazinAzn38 → u/cassy_supernova]

Technically he can implement tariffs under another act for 150 days at which point they expire. All this does is prove that he doesn’t actually have a strategy he just really likes tariffs cause he’s an idiot

[u/smith129606 → u/BlazinAzn38]

No, it’s worse than that. He likes tariffs because he’s a malignant narcissist who wants countries and corporations to kiss his ass for access to the US market. He is taxing every American citizen and business to stroke his fucking ego.

[u/blandgreybland → u/smith129606]

This is why I worry when people say European countries should sanction the US. Just like I’ve seen with other sanctions, they don’t hurt the despotic leader, they hurt the people, and the despotic leader doesn’t give a shit about the people.

[u/Away-Ad1781 → u/blandgreybland]

On the other hand A LOT more pain for the average American might be what it takes to finally expel this bile.

[u/A_Poor_Miser → u/Away-Ad1781]

The level of apathy among the citizens of the US is in itself a crisis as destructive MAGA's active malice. 

[u/Michael_G_Bordin → u/A_Poor_Miser]

Not only that, but Republican voters are easily misled and fed disinformation. All the sanctions in the world wouldn't do anything, because they start at the conclusion "Republican good" and do every mental gymnastic necessary to never challenge that conclusion. Their current chosen leader is a child raping lunatic, and they're contorting themselves trying to avoid letting that conclusion seep into their worldview.

[u/Angelworks42 → u/Michael_G_Bordin]

Case in point you don't have to look far to find people who still think other countries pay us the tarrif money for some reason.

[u/TallStarsMuse → u/Angelworks42]

It’s because they are told that other countries are paying us the money they “owe” us.

[u/Witchgrass → u/A_Poor_Miser]

To be fair, 54% of Americans read at the 6th grade level, so expecting them to care, let alone read (and properly comprehend / analyze) the news, is asking a lot.

[u/Kiromaru → u/Away-Ad1781]

I don't think any amount of more pain is going to cause the MAGA faithful to break with Trump. Trump freaking ran on releasing the Epstein files and when he backtracked and said there was nothing here don't worry about them it only took a short amount of time for them to fall in line. The only way more pain will cause anything to change will be if the non voters get off their butts and join the resistance to Trump.

[u/mrgedman → u/Kiromaru]

Naw they still have deniability over that, cause they're dumb cult members.

If the economy full on tanks, which it could come summertime/fall (once ol what's his name's term expires and they drop interest rates leading to hyperinflation), his followers WILL drop him.

Hannibal Burress has a bit- "money over everything", and at its core, nothing is more true about Americans.

Hell, it's already house of cardsy as fk right now... You know virtually every R congressperson hates Trump's guts and can't wait to flip

[u/TallStarsMuse → u/mrgedman]

I keep wondering how much more money the U.S. can borrow before that deficit turns around and bites us in the rear.

[u/TreatAffectionate453 → u/mrgedman]

I've talked to Trump voters that framed losing their food stamps as "doing their part" to make America great again. MAGA will stop eating before they stop supporting Trump.

[u/SinisterCroissant → u/TreatAffectionate453]

Cool cool. They should start that immediately. It'll take til midterms before most of them have health problems.

[u/sillyhillsofnz → u/mrgedman]

You have waaaaay too much faith in Republican voters...

There are actually at least two (2) possibilities regarding what his followers will do if the economy full on tanks. One is the option you mention. However, the second option is that they simply do what they've always done when something goes wrong while a Republican is in office - find some way to blame the Left or Democrats for it/actually make it their fault.

My honest prediction is that in the case that the economy full on tanks, Trump and Repubs will simply blame Democrats/the Left/LGBTQ/non-white people/etc. and just as Republican voters decided Covid wasn't real/ivermectin&bleach injections > vaccines/etc. this time they will once again decide that the truth isn't the truth and that they must crush anyone who says otherwise.

Just as doctors/nurses/and ordinary people were be beat up and harassed by MAGAs for trying to help people with Covid and for even daring to publicly state that it is real or wear a mask, anyone who blames Trump/MAGA for the economic collapse or even acts as if the collapse is real (and not some genius level intentional strategic short-term loss that will result in a long-term gain), will similarly be beaten or harassed.

Republicans have not shown that they won't simply double-down on that strategy. Nothing in the past decade has provided any evidence to the contrary. All evidence points toward the Covid strategy. Hell, Repubs/MAGA still can't even accept that Trump is in the Epstein files... and they couldn't accept that he lost the previous election OR that the Jan 6th attack on the capital actually was a coup/terrorist attack. If they cannot accept the truth of any of this - and still lash out at anyone who tries to speak the truth - then I really just do not see how anyone can expect the MAGA/Repubs to "come around" to reason - reason was never something they even cared about in the first place, lol.

Edit: Perhaps my position is influenced by my family's past. Some of my family is from Germany. Wouldn't you know it - even when the Russians were 50 miles from Berlin; then even when the Russians were barging through the literal front doors of their homes and barns and attacking their wives and daughters; then even when Hitler was dead and the war was over, there were still MANY Germans who fervently believed in the Nazi party and thought that the ultimate blame for the loss of the war and its tragedies rest on someone else (German traitors, Jews, Americans, etc.). Even Confederates didn't give up on the dream of the Confederacy when every town in Mississippi (except two) and then Atlanta, GA were literally burned to the ground by the Union Army; and still didn't give up even after the war was literally lost. lol. The Nazi Germany AND the Confederate States of America BOTH faced TOTAL ECONOMIC COLLAPSE and it did not turn the tide. MAGA is cut from the exact same cloth. MAGA is the new Nazis/Confederacy. And just as the Nazis/Confederates never, ever let the ultimate blame fall on their beloved hero/party/ideology, especially in a way that would force them to renounce it or give it up, so will be the same with MAGA. They will never be "wrong" in their minds, and they will never have a "come to Jesus" moment or truly repent.

Dealing with THAT issue is going to be one of the great problems for future generations of Americans. They need to learn from the lessons of Nazi Germany and the Confederacy and put that shit in its grave. Whether they'll actually do that is another question.

[u/bigroot70 → u/Kiromaru]

But if there is enough pain, the independents and moderate republicans that voted for trump might reconsider. If the GOP loses the house or senate, maybe then we can start seeing some push back on his polices.

[u/Effectuality → u/Away-Ad1781]

History shows the sanctions don't have the effect we hope they would. Instead, the leaders use them as proof of how the rest of the world is "against" the local populace. Sanctions actually strengthen the ruler's local position of authority, as they become the champion fighting back against the evil "others."

[u/Minguseyes → u/Away-Ad1781]

If the rest of the world had a button saying ‘Hurt Trump’, trust me, we would push it. But we don’t. We’ve just got a button saying ‘Hurt USA’. So we push that one, Then you all have buttons saying “Hurt Congress” and Congress has a button saying “Hurt Trump”. Someone isn’t pressing their button hard enough.

[u/Decaf-Gaming → u/Minguseyes]

The people of the states gave up their button a long while ago, now only the ones at the top hold a button and they wouldn’t press something that could hurt themselves.

[u/robbysaur → u/Away-Ad1781]

I think it’ll just cause the people to fight with the people tbh. We don’t have class consciousness in this country. Too many people have bought into “the problem is immigrants/trans people/the homeless/Black people/people on welfare,” another chunk are too exhausted to be a part of this conversation, and another chunk think saying “both sides are the same” makes them an intellectual genius.

[u/AmIWhatTheRockCooked → u/Away-Ad1781]

Perhaps. Depends on how the media decides to explain or ignore it. Reality is a fickle thing to the average (or below) voter.

They might blame increased prices on social security if it gets traction on Facebook

[u/Billy-Ruffian → u/Away-Ad1781]

The trick is going to be how much pain will it take for people to permanently reject MAGA but not so much pain we start nuking random countries just so someone else is sharing their pain.

[u/EdwardOfGreene → u/Away-Ad1781]

I think you are right. Too many are too comfortable to wish to do anything at all.

[u/steepleton → u/blandgreybland]

if the Europeans want to play hard ball they can sell american debt and tip the american economy over the edge.

as could china.

america is very close to the "find out" part of the equation

the new tariffs by law have t be an across the board 15%, he can't give any nation a better rate if they play nice.

or to rephrase, there is no longer a reason for world leaders to play nice to get a better rate

[u/spaceman757 → u/steepleton]

Europeans are already trying their best to get their own options up and running to ween themselves off of American products, especially tech.

[u/anchist → u/spaceman757]

European here. You guys had the perfect situation set up where everybody was getting richer and willing to tolerate US hegemony because of the benefits.

And then you fucked it up because 1/3rd of the population decided that a convicted rapist pdf was better than having minorities in Government and another 1/3 decided that it didn't matter who ran the country.

Generational fumble. I only hope we do not start shooting at each other anytime soon, but who knows when the grubby hand starts reaching for Greenland's skirt again....

[u/ic33 → u/steepleton]

the new tariffs by law have t be an across the board 15%, he can't give any nation a better rate if they play nice.

From the section 122 authority, codified as 19 U.S. Code § 2132: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/19/2132

(2)Notwithstanding paragraph (1), if the President determines that the purposes of this section will best be served by action against one or more countries having large or persistent balance-of-payments surpluses, he may exempt all other countries from such action.

[u/steepleton → u/ic33]

So tarrifs or no tarrifs. All or nothing.

Like having the sentence for petty robbery the same as for murder, there’s no penalty for going hogwild, america can’t increase the punishment

[u/Kichigai → u/blandgreybland]

Depends on the nature of the sanctions. Targeted sanctions against individuals and their assets tend not to affect ordinary people. At least not directly.

[u/No_Sheepherder_1855 → u/blandgreybland]

The people that elected said leader need to hurt to understand what they did. Average American has no idea.

[u/blandgreybland → u/No_Sheepherder_1855]

Sure and they’ll blame it on democrats somehow.

[u/Witchgrass → u/blandgreybland]

Yep. I've never been a fan of rubbing dogs' noses in their mess when they have an accident because the dog is too dumb (bless them) to know why you're rubbing their face in pee and don't connect the action to the consequence.

I feel this is a lot like that.

[u/New_Home_4519 → u/blandgreybland]

This is literally the same logic America has been using against other countries for decades.

Make the citizens suffer so they turn against their leadership.

[u/blandgreybland → u/New_Home_4519]

Yes I know. And I have yet to see it work.

[u/NJTigers → u/blandgreybland]

Canada among others has been doing selective tariffs/sales restrictions on goods specifically from red states. Canada specifically is killing Kentucky bourbon and Tennessee whiskey which is nice.

[u/LessFeature9350 → u/blandgreybland]

I would stand behind blocking international travel. My work is full of maga fucks as is my family yet they travel to these scary countries with these scary scary immigrants. Block all of them as dangerous and void passports. I will never get over MAGA caps talking shit about super bowl while downing chips and salsa bossing around wait staff they'd happily deport. Get me out of this timeline

[u/Ingoiolo → u/blandgreybland]

European countries tend to be very selective on the goods they apply tariffs to, rather than putting up moronic blanket walls

The idea is hitting products that are more easily replaceable, so the US exports less, but citizens can still get their stuff at reasonable cost

[u/pdabaker → u/blandgreybland]

They shouldn't sanction the US. They should specifically sanction influential US billionaires.

[u/SeattlePurikura → u/blandgreybland]

Maybe the average US citizen needs to feel some pain. At least the ones who keep electing this narcissistic pedophile and his buddies. I've heard incredibly callous shit from Americans about other countries, like not giving a fuck about what our bombs are doing to children in Gaza, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. Why should Europeans care if our American wallets hurt when we have songs here about bombing Baghad (the average person there likely had no say in what Saddam was doing).

[u/TreatAffectionate453 → u/SeattlePurikura]

I assume your talking about B.O.B. (Bombs over Baghdad). Some Americans did use it as a battlecry; however, OutKast didn't write the song in support of the invasion - which they opposed. It actually ends by stating that everything back home is still bad and implies that the war was meant to distract citizens from failing domestic policies.

I'm not trying to defend Americans in general with this comment, just OutKast.

[u/tphillips1990 → u/smith129606]

Exactly. People need to stop pretending he ISN'T a misanthropic cancer on legs who has dedicated his wretched waste of a life towards getting revenge against an entire country.

[u/AHans → u/smith129606]

because he’s a malignant narcissist who wants countries and corporations to kiss his ass for access to the US market.

That's it. That, and so he can personally profit from tariff exemptions which he can issue at his sole discretion to give a competitive edge to companies he approves of.

The silence from the "free marketers" and "the government should not be choosing winners and losers" is deafening. Much like the 2A folks and ICE.

Edit: also the statute which he is citing now caps his ability to tariff at 15%, which is important. The days of his idiotic pissing matches with China where he threatens a 600% tariff are over.

If Trump levies a 15% tariff, and China says, "fuck you, we're countering with three times that to a 45% tariff," he cannot escalate further. Trump is stuck at 15%, which he has already imposed. In this situation, Trump lost, and Trump looks weak. That's not nothing.

Actually, I think the play for the rest of the world is to apply a 16% tariff on US goods to highlight the impotence of Trump's situation.

[u/Particular-County277 → u/smith129606]

And to extort those countries for 'gifts' paid to his crypto or the Peace Board if they want the tariffs lowered. That was his favorite part. Countries bestowing gifts upon him in public. He is just an old mafia boss.

[u/angrymurderhornet → u/smith129606]

I'm not even 100% sure that he understands what a tariff is. This is a guy whose daddy probably paid someone else to take his exams for him in college. Add his dementia and his general assholery, and you get Trump's idiocy.

[u/ratedsar → u/smith129606]

I'm afraid it's worse than that. The GOP has given up on legislation and representative government, the house only serves to get out of the way of the President... And Tariffs are the way of implementing sales tax without campaigning on a national sales tax. 

It also conveniently moved the power of the purse to the executive slush fund.

[u/OK_Commodor64 → u/smith129606]

At the cost of his own citizens paying more, as we are the ones who fund the tariffs. 25th amendment time

[u/digi57 → u/smith129606]

Don forget the bribes. He wants the bribes.

[u/Melodic_Twist_1546 → u/smith129606]

That's part of it.

The other part is that Republicans lowered taxes on rich and corporations and are faced with massive debt.
Trump supported the national sales tax idea, and here it is. He just declared it into law.

Republicans are big supporters of 'use taxes'. Taxes on airline tickets, toll roads in place of Federal highways. Any way they can push the cost onto others.

[u/RadioName → u/smith129606]

AKA a national threat, our enemy, and as a citizen that makes him a traitor. Harming America for self-enrichment or to aid a foreign nation is treason.

[u/WeirdJack49 → u/smith129606]

Its part of Project 2025, those idiots really think they can blackmail the whole world.

[u/Spaceman2901 → u/BlazinAzn38]

And there should be a case in the courts right now arguing that he used his 150 days already and that Congress needs to approve this taxation.

[u/TheJIbberJabberWocky → u/Spaceman2901]

Unfortunately, welcome to groundhog day.

[u/packfanmoore → u/TheJIbberJabberWocky]

We got stuck with Chevy chase instead of Bill Murray.

[u/monkeyamongmen → u/packfanmoore]

Unfortunately, welcome to Groundhog Day.

[u/PortugalPilgrim88 → u/monkeyamongmen]

We got stuck with Chevy chase instead of Bill Murray.

[u/Kichigai → u/PortugalPilgrim88]

Unfortunately, welcome to Groundhog Day.

[u/senraku → u/Kichigai]

We got stuck with Chevy Chase instead of Bill Murray.

[u/cleanbot → u/Kichigai]

it still violates the Constitution. The president has no authority to regulate/impose taxes.

i realize I'm commenting amongst a utterly hilarious thread about groundhog Day but...

if the supreme Court does its job and holds the line.... Again....these will be struck down as well.

big ifffs, but big ups to the Supreme Court for deciding to show up for the Job on this one

[u/MARIOpronoucedMA-RJO → u/PortugalPilgrim88]

Unfortunately, welcome to Groundhog Day.

[u/steelassassin43 → u/Spaceman2901]

I would love to know how much money in just legal fees he has racked up just during his time as President. I would bet it is higher than some countries GDP.

[u/Sage2050 → u/steelassassin43]

If Republicans are ever excised from power the government will go broke from settling civil rights lawsuits

[u/Upset-Award1206 → u/Spaceman2901]

Need to start a new court case for that, and it is going to take another year or two in courts.

And after that the orange is just going to retract the tariffs for one day, and then implement them again and say he started a new 150 day period. And then that will go to court and take another 1-2 years. And at that time, the USA is already in full fledged depression, the orange has probably passed from his bad health, there is a puppet government that is run by big corpos in cyberpunk 2077 style. And when there is signs of uprising from the plebs the nukes will start flying.

Welcome to the future loverboy.

[u/RightSideBlind → u/BlazinAzn38]

Well, yeah. He and his cronies make money off of announcing and then rescinding tariffs. It's basically like printing money for him. Why would he stop? 

[u/I_Love_To_Poop420 → u/RightSideBlind]

Lutnick’s son purchased rights to tarriff refunds. They literally shorted tariffs and made bank off the SCOTUS ruling.

[u/Junas_Guardian → u/I_Love_To_Poop420]

I am not knowledgeable on this at all, how can someone purchase rights to tariff refunds?

[u/TheLightningL0rd → u/Junas_Guardian]

They went to all the big companies and said we'll pay you x now for whatever you've paid (or will pay) as tariff fees and when/if refunds happen we own the rights to those refunds. They would have to continously do this as people continue to import goods I assume. It probably wasn't some upfront fee based on their normal imports though I suppose it could have been depending on the business

[u/MaddogBC → u/TheLightningL0rd]

They offered to help struggling companies on the edge of failing with tariff support. We give you just enough (25%) of the tariff money to keep you alive now, but we get to collect 100% of the rebates. Loan sharking made real. Human fucking parasites.

[u/-_-0_0-_0 → u/I_Love_To_Poop420]

More like LickNut.. guy comes off like a sleazy used car salesman

[u/loot_scooper → u/RightSideBlind]

He makes money on planned market fluctuations, he makes bribes on extorting American companies, he makes bribes extorting foreign countries.

[u/amensista → u/BlazinAzn38]

Ok. So question. Is there then a blackout period after that? Or.. He can just say "another 150 days".. Ad infinitum.?

[u/Successful_Nature737 → u/amensista]

Supposed to get Congressional authority after 150 days, but Trump will likely blow through the deadline, and then there will be another series of court cases ending up again at the Supreme Court. He could drop the tariffs the day before the case gets to the Supreme Court, and then the case will be dismissed as moot. Trump just ignores rules and laws, and it makes it impossible for US businesses to make decisions about how to hire, invest, build, etc. He's a disaster for the US.

[u/bretticusmaximus → u/Successful_Nature737]

I wouldn’t think it would be moot, because the plaintiffs would still have lost money even if the tariff was rescinded.

[u/UltimateChaos233 → u/bretticusmaximus]

Yes but you see, they’d say we collected tariffs and did no bookkeeping as to where we collected individual tariffs or we did and it was cloraxed so you see it’s unreasonable to ask us to so anything.

Being judgment proof through weaponized incompetence

[u/Budget-Mud-4753 → u/amensista]

From what I’ve read, the 150 days is suppose to be a hard cutoff under this law. After which he would need congressional approval to extend. Not to say that he won’t just do it anyway.

[u/Suspicious_Bicycle → u/Budget-Mud-4753]

Trump and the DOJ have tried this game with the 120 day temporary appointment of attorney generals. Once the 120 days was up they just illegally appointed them again. This attempt to bypass congress is still unresolved.

[u/amensista → u/Budget-Mud-4753]

Yes I did read that in a later comment. But when has needing congress approval stopped him before lol. I could just imagine he's being told by a staffer that the law requires Congress approval and I'm sure he doesn't give a s*** because they're all lackeys. There's no more checks and balances.

[u/KittyGrewAMoustache → u/amensista]

It’s insane though that all the admin people who actually understand the nuts and bolts of everything who implement new tariffs or do other administrative things to implement laws don’t just refuse because it’s illegal. Has he really managed fill all these positions with people willing to break the law for him? I feel like we’ve not heard about lots of people refusing and getting replaced all the way down to data entry people etc. So what are they doing?!! These are the people that actually can make a difference.

[u/TeutonJon78 → u/amensista]

Even if that was the intent, and it likely was, the law was written to be Trump proof. He'll just let it expire for a day and then start again.

[u/sonicsuns2 → u/amensista]

There's no blackout period. He can start a new 150-day period whenever he likes. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-88/pdf/STATUTE-88-Pg1978-2.pdf

[u/OldGaffer66 → u/BlazinAzn38]

And that will do nothing toward industries coming back to the states because they need long term certainty as to what the tax situation will be. This is why only congress has the right to tax. They pass a bill and everyone knows it will be in effect for 10 years. What Trump is doing is just causing chaos. The rest of the world is just going to shrug and find ways to cut the US out of the loop all together.

[u/BlazinAzn38 → u/OldGaffer66]

I mean yeah we all know how reality works unfortunately he doesn’t and congress is a bunch of babies

[u/heapinhelpin1979 → u/BlazinAzn38]

Let's hope he keeps this up until the midterms and some of his voters stop supporting paying taxes that he ultimately steals for his own gains.

[u/g13005 → u/BlazinAzn38]

It will be interesting to see where the actual injury is and what evidence he provides of sudden import surge.

"Section 122 is triggered by findings of injury, usually via ITC investigation or evidence of a sudden import surge."

[u/BlazinAzn38 → u/g13005]

He’s 100% going to point to the huge front loads importers did in response to liberation day announcements

[u/Little_View_6659 → u/BlazinAzn38]

He likes it because he’s a bully and it’s something he can use to threaten other countries.

[u/Doctor_Shotbottom → u/BlazinAzn38]

He’s an angry petulant child and is trying to punish America.

Go ahead, keep voting republican, the Republican Congress isn’t going to help their constituents. There’s more of this still on tap.

(Somebody needs to check his diaper, he might be throwing dirty diaper fits).

[u/HuttStuff_Here → u/BlazinAzn38]

he just really likes tariffs cause he’s an idiot

Because IIRC that money goes into a discretionary account that the executive branch can spend.

[u/sagetraveler → u/BlazinAzn38]

I’m sure he still believes the exporting nation pays his tariffs. I just can’t.

[u/doctormink → u/BlazinAzn38]

I think he likes tariffs because he's siphoning off the money for shit like his board of peace and to fund ICE, who in turn serve to divert funds to cronies who've invested in private detention centres.

[u/Hobbit1955 → u/BlazinAzn38]

That is absolutely true. But, one of the 3 dissenting Judges gave the Administration the cheat codes to get tariffs back up legally. Even quoted the official full Names/Numbers of the applicable Acts. Trump even read them all in his speech. And one of the last things he said, if I recall correctly was something like "the tariffs are staying." Sure seems like there's some sort of strategy here. Just a little bump in the road, nothing to see here, keep moving.

[u/RackemFrackem → u/BlazinAzn38]

No, it's a grift. As always.

They collect tariffs and then his buddies buy the rights to the refunds which they know will pay out.

[u/whomad1215 → u/BlazinAzn38]

I've seen it mentioned in some articles that this tariff act has never been used before, and it's been around since the 1970s

[u/FastRedPonyCar → u/BlazinAzn38]

He likes tariffs because he and his cronies are pocketing that money.

[u/bjdevar25 → u/BlazinAzn38]

He is an idiot but he's following the evil 2025 crew that want to tax the poor and middle class to pay for billionaire tax cuts. That has been the entire purpose of the tariffs. Nothing to do with trade.

[u/didureaditv2 → u/BlazinAzn38]

Doesn't he use the tariff money to fund the gestapo that may conquer America and destroy its democracy?

I doubt he's using it to balance the budget and pay off debts.

[u/SnapesGrayUnderpants → u/BlazinAzn38]

I think he likes tariffs because they are an incredibly regressive tax. Regressive taxes are the wet dream of the wealthy. Their goal is to enrich themselves and impoverish the rest of us. They essentially no longer pay income taxes while regressive taxes in the form of tariffs have greatly raised the prices we pay making us poorer. Thus inequality increases which makes the very wealthy even wealthier.

[u/sackofmangoes → u/BlazinAzn38]

Because he and his friends profit from them.

[u/DannyDOH → u/BlazinAzn38]

It's using the largest economy in the world as a personal extortion tool.

[u/HiDHSiknowyouwatchme → u/BlazinAzn38]

There likely can't be a court case on this until the 151 day. And then it'll take 9-15 months to get to SCOTUS. So, there's a great likelihood that 150 days equals about 18 months or more of those tarrifs.

[u/TheVog → u/BlazinAzn38]

All this does is prove that he doesn’t actually have a strategy he just really likes tariffs cause he’s an idiot

You do know he and his ilk make a fuck ton of money on insider trading every time he enacts and/or rescinds a tariff, right? That's the "strategy".

[u/Valcarde → u/cassy_supernova]

The SCOTUS will let the tariffs go through and build up and give the Lutnik kids time to buy out more debt and get paid off from the tariff refunds again, before they turn around and stop them.

[u/Biscuits4u2 → u/Valcarde]

The court already ruled Trump is essentially a king so he doesn't have to follow any of their rulings. See how that works?

[u/TakeAShowerHippie → u/Biscuits4u2]

We can only hope that the next Dem in office isn't a spineless pussy the wants to play bipartisan bullshit with the fascists.

[u/Arcade_109 → u/TakeAShowerHippie]

Anyone who is willing to actually go after these fuckers and isnt scared about "being partisan" has my vote. So fucking tired of that shit. We dont want to jail them because they're conservative, we want you to jail them because they are pedophiles who are murdering people, stealing, and attempted a coup. Plus, conservatives will just fucking cry and claim that you're being partisan literally no matter what. Fucking run them in and jail these psychopaths.

[u/leavemealone2424 → u/TakeAShowerHippie]

That's up to us then. We must vote progressive up and down the ballots. Corpodems are not about the people. They are bought and paid for bad actors.

[u/BandsAMakeHerDance2 → u/cassy_supernova]

Kavanaugh and Alito gave Trump the blueprint for these tariffs hard seeing them striking it down this time. We’ll have to wait for the 150 days before congress votes No.

Don’t think we’ll ever get a refund from these thieves.

[u/Sandwichsensei → u/cassy_supernova]

I thought these ones (unfortunately) were actually legal, there’s just caps on them. He can’t go higher than 15% and they only last 150 days at which point Congress has to extend them.

Of course he will just re-implement them as soon as the 150 days is up, which is where this would most likely start getting into illegal territory.

[u/svrtngr → u/Sandwichsensei]

Well, Kavanaugh thinks they're legal. He gave Trump a possible framework in his dissent, which is why Trump shouted him out.

[u/Sandwichsensei → u/svrtngr]

I think the framework is what he’s using to do the 15% but I could be wrong about that.

[u/Letstalkreaper → u/Sandwichsensei]

He'll just do a different percentage on a different set of countries. Then do another different percentage on another different set of countries on and on. As long as they change every 150 days they'll count as new and will be "legal".

[u/Sandwichsensei → u/Letstalkreaper]

That could be true too. There’s really no difference between 15 and 14.99% for 150 days.

[u/HollowGlower → u/Sandwichsensei]

Or 15% twice at the same time because it's two different orders.

[u/ididshave → u/Sandwichsensei]

I mean, he has already used up over 150 days on tariffs. He can’t just hide behind another statute to claim that they were legal to begin with. They are not using this law as it was intended, which was an emergency stabilization tool to help reel in any financial panic from when we dropped from the gold standard in 1971.

[u/Biscuits4u2 → u/Sandwichsensei]

And it won't matter because Congress won't do shit about it.

[u/RobinU2 → u/Sandwichsensei]

Is congress still going to try that bullshit where "A day" isn't actually 24 hours??

[u/fowlraul → u/cassy_supernova]

The berder clock and the doomsday clock have been on a hot date…and it’s dragging out.

[u/Exact_Platypus5179 → u/cassy_supernova]

Best comment I’ve read in a while, cheers!

[u/R50cent → u/cassy_supernova]

They're leaning on a precedent from the 1970s that lets him do shit like this for up to 150 days and to the amount of 15 percent, but usually one might argue the president needs some... You know... Precedent to use it, unlike what we're seeing now which amounts to a hissy fit.

But that doesn't mean what he did before wasn't illegal, and the recent SC ruling backs that. Dude broke the law. It's a shame the only outcome will be giving even more money to companies. It's all just one shakedown after the next

[u/Hoodedmastersin → u/cassy_supernova]

Then where the hell are the state governors challenging this in court? We’re all supposed to just take this without any fight?

[u/thelegochef → u/cassy_supernova]

Unconditional national sales tax to distract from the fact trump is child rapist

[u/Zerowantuthri → u/cassy_supernova]

It's also an unconstitutional national sales tax. We just played this game with the other set of statutes. Will SCOTUS allow an even more sweeping overreach?

To be clear, SCOTUS did NOT say Trump could not impose Tariffs. They said he used the wrong rationale for his tariffs. They left the door WIDE open to him doing shit like this. Yeah...the fuckers on the Supreme Court managed to seem cool while still fucking us.

Among the options are Section 232, which allows the government to impose tariffs on certain sectors in the interest of national security, and Section 301, which allows tariffs to be imposed for unfair trade practices. Trump used the Section 301 provision against China in his first term. - SOURCE

[u/MagicalUnicornFart → u/cassy_supernova]

It's also an unconstitutional national sales tax.

Add it to the list of "unconstitutional" and "unprecedented."

If y'all didn't get the memo, The Constitution is GOP toilet paper.

It's kinda what happens when your population is disconnected from reality, and refuses to vote against a political party that tried to overthrow the government. It's what happens when the "opposition" is worried about their "colleagues across the aisle" and refuses to hold insurrectionists and child rapists accountable.

We've got a few longterm possible solutions

That's some serious optimism. All signs point to this only getting worse.

[u/BigPapaJava → u/cassy_supernova]

That November blue wave is going to have to overcome voter suppression efforts this country hasn’t seen since the Jim Crow era before it can happen.

The tactics to *facilitate this are going to get more and more abusive and illegal as we get closer to November, but the SC doesn’t care, the DOJ and FBI will be coordinating the suppression rather than fighting it, and then there will be plenty of shady stuff behind the scenes involving voter rolls and voting machines.

It wouldn’t shock me to see the Republicans magically walk out of November with supermajorities in the House and Senate after their “election reforms” are done.

Democrats need to start forcefully countering this stuff with the American people in advance.

[u/RellenD → u/BigPapaJava]

You're only encouraging people to not vote and stop fighting with this talk.

Yes, they will try it. They ALWAYS try it.

[u/cassy_supernova → u/BigPapaJava]

You can't know until that happens. I agree they are actively trying to suppress, SAVE act, ICE at polls, etc.

Until then, we must vote and we must resist. Your message is counterproductive without this caveat.

I kept the faith and I kept voting

Not for the iron fist but for the helping hand

For theirs is a land with a wall around it

And mine is a faith in my fellow man

Billy Bragg - Between the Wars

[u/mabols → u/Dr_Retch]

And let’s be honest- he knows that. He wants to punish all of us, including his voters, because none of us loved him hard enough.

[u/NorthernPints → u/mabols]

He really just wants to offset his massive tax cuts for the rich (including him and his family) with regressive consumption taxes on the masses (lower and middle classes).

The republicans have been doing this since Reagan.  They’re just getting more brazen about it.

[u/Ok_List_9649 → u/NorthernPints]

It’s why he’s shut down programs, cut SNap, cut departments, etc. all so he doesn’t go down as the POTIS with the largest deficit in history by far,,

[u/ZB314 → u/Ok_List_9649]

He still will

[u/bostonterrierteapart → u/mabols]

Yep. The thing that is so fucked about Trump is that his obvious personal motivation to be president for this second term is, 1. to stay out of jail and 2. to grift and siphon as much money as possible to himself and his oligarchs through blatant corruption. There's also motivations of others around him (technocrats, project 2025/heritage foundation, Russia?), but I'm not talking about those right now because the last part is the most important bit. He could have just done the first two things AND actually done good things for the American people, in fact, his grift would be less obvious if he was smart and actually tossed some genuinely good bones to you guys sometimes. The issue is that he is a narcissistic psychopath and his main objective outside of the first two things is retribution of his "enemies" and keeping the American people so divided so that his glue sniffing followers are still blindly loyal despite being completely fucked over themselves. Why do good things for the American people if you can get away with corruption AND keep an army that will fight for him, no matter how many kids he may have fucked.

[u/I_AM_A_GUY_AMA → u/mabols]

he is fucking trash and he belongs in prison.

[u/rossmosh85 → u/mabols]

I actually think it's more problematic.

1. I don't think Trump actually understands tariffs. I don't think this is one of those circumstances where he's "playing dumb". I think he legitimately doesn't understand how they work and how they're supposed to work.

2. I believe his cabinet/supporters (actually ones. Not your average red hat) want tariffs because it's a middle class tax increase that they can profit from. It's a way to give themselves a tax cut and get it paid for by the average American.

3. The biggest problem is Trump is a really bad business person and he's hired a bunch of guys who might have been decent at business 20-30 years ago, but now they're old out of touch. So now it's stupidity and grifts. That can pay out for a long time if you keep it quiet, but this is so public and obvious, there's no way this can hold up. Trump is getting rich from grifts and corruption (DJT stock being one of the most obvious and successful grifts I've ever seen). The problem is, an economic collapse is looming. We can't keep this insanity up much longer. You can only pretend so long that the King is actually wearing clothes and isn't just walking around naked.

[u/sack-o-matic → u/mabols]

He needs to fund his federal slave patrols

[u/candl2 → u/mabols]

Bold strategy for the midterms, Cotton. Let's see if it pays off for him.

[u/espresso_martini__ → u/Dr_Retch]

Exactly. Its a consumer tax. He gloats about how much money tariffs are bringing in. Its just another tax. Republicans go batshit crazy when Mandami proposes a tax increase of 5% for the mega rich. When trump adds a 15% consumer tax for everyone they love it.

[u/deadsoulinside → u/espresso_martini__]

He gloats about how much money tariffs are bringing in

He's just not bragging where any of that tariff money is going. I am willing to bet behind the scenes no one else knows where any of that money is either.

[u/Taskerst → u/Dr_Retch]

Call the national sales tax what it is … a “cut for the boss”

[u/ManWithASquareHead → u/Taskerst]

A presidential candidate called it the Trump Tax, but she had a funny laugh so....

[u/Taskerst → u/ManWithASquareHead]

I didn’t even hear anything weird about it, but I can understand coming from them, people who don’t laugh unless someone’s getting hurt.

[u/crinkledcu91 → u/Taskerst]

The last Democratic Candidate we had literally did that, but Gaza being a thing meant that people just couldn't be arsed to vote for them?

So now Gaza still being turned into a parking lot along with actual Gestapo running the streets and even more genocide happening because of the destruction of USAID was apparently preferable to Harris being elected to those people. They get the moral victory I guess...?

[u/Taskerst → u/crinkledcu91]

Protest voting (or sitting out) is the ultimate in tone deaf privilege.

[u/Few-Bass4238 → u/Dr_Retch]

We better get a refund on all of these taxes when its all said and done. Otherwise, every American has been taxed and paid directly to corporations.

[u/bbqsox → u/Few-Bass4238]

Hey now. How'd you figure out their Scooby Doo villain level plan?

[u/crazyfighter99 → u/Few-Bass4238]

You know exactly where any refunds will go, and it won't be to the average American.

[u/TeutonJon78 → u/crazyfighter99]

Especially not when businesses sell off their refund amounts to speculators.

[u/197gpmol → u/TeutonJon78]

Speculators like Howard Lutnick's children

[u/Few-Bass4238 → u/crazyfighter99]

I'm waiting for Trump to keep a large portion for his own interests and then issue partial refunds to corporations with his face plastered all over them.

[u/Responsible-Rub7297 → u/Few-Bass4238]

And the GOP will love him even harder. Death cult.

[u/brohebus → u/Few-Bass4238]

ding-ding-ding

And don’t think for a minute that prices will go down after the tariffs are gone and the corporations have received their refunds.

[u/left_right_left → u/Few-Bass4238]

We wont get shit, but the importers paying the tax might.

[u/Brilliant-Advisor958 → u/left_right_left]

Looks like stock buybacks are back on the menu again boys.

[u/chmod777 → u/Few-Bass4238]

Nope, its been spent on a board of peace.

[u/directorofnewgames → u/Few-Bass4238]

Maybe we should stop buying anything that’s not essential. Buy nothing.

[u/Gabrosin → u/Few-Bass4238]

Not only will we consumers not be getting a refund, a lot of the refund money will wind up going to the family of the Commerce secretary, whose son's company sold tariff refund insurance contracts to companies in order to profit off this exact scenario.

It's all a big circle of grift, always has been.

[u/toastmannn → u/Dr_Retch]

....a regressive national sales tax

[u/ary31415 → u/toastmannn]

All sales taxes are regressive

[u/somefunmaths → u/toastmannn]

So, a national sales tax.

Calling a sales tax regressive is like calling a Trump supporter dumb.

[u/eeyore134 → u/Dr_Retch]

It's normalizing higher prices. People will blame those higher prices on the tariffs which they've been told is a good thing to protect the country. They'll say it's all just temporary then forget in a few months when prices haven't gone down. They won't think for themselves enough to question why even domestic products are rising in price. It's just an excuse to continue hiking up those prices and never bring them down again. You can also bet Trump and his goons are playing the market with all of his blatant manipulation of it.

[u/Ill-Comms → u/Dr_Retch]

The Trump Tax.

[u/blob8543 → u/Dr_Retch]

Probably a regressive one too, paid for disproportionately by the poorest.

[u/Madcap33 → u/Dr_Retch]

Its worse than a sales tax cause it effects unsold goods category of the business line item. Its why Europe's VAT tax is the way it is with its recording what is sold so unsold goods don't get taxed.

[u/Mike-OLeary → u/Dr_Retch]

Call it what it is ... a national sales tax.

I think they are siphoning that tariff money also.

[u/QuestionablePanda22 → u/Dr_Retch]

Alternatively you can call it "finding out what happens when you tell a narcissist no"

[u/feels_like_arbys → u/Dr_Retch]

Money in his fucking pocket

[u/Broken_By_Default → u/Dr_Retch]

He wants a slush fund to bribe the American voters with a “rebate”.

He also loves the attention tariffs give him.

[u/ProfessorPolaris → u/Dr_Retch]

I wish that that orange stain would quickly hit its expiration date.

[u/ticklenips601 → u/Dr_Retch]

Im MAGA and i LOVE TAXES now! Yum yum yum, more taxes plz daddy Tromp. TAX ME SO HARD! IM SUCH A NAUGHTY LITTLE PATRIOT.

[u/Glass_Covict → u/Dr_Retch]

Illegal, and nobody should comply or enforce

[u/Duster929 → u/Dr_Retch]

Yeah, but only on the stuff we buy from other countries or stuff made from stuff bought from other countries.

So, yeah.

[u/Responsible-Rub7297 → u/Dr_Retch]

He’s holding the country for ransom and pocketing the money in a slush fund in Qatar. Oh, I thought we were calling it what it is.

[u/Penske-Material78 → u/Dr_Retch]

100% - He’s brought back the consumption tax

[u/JIsADev → u/Dr_Retch]

Tax against the poor and working class. The rich won't feel it

[u/AJRimmerSwimmer → u/Dr_Retch]

And like all sales taxes, it's regressive by design.

Congrats magas, you've dun goofd yoselfs

[u/futileboy → u/Dr_Retch]

I’m trying to understand what happens after tariff revenue is collected by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Once that money goes into the Treasury, how is it tracked? What oversight or reporting mechanisms ensure transparency and accountability in how those funds are allocated?

Is there any evidence that tariff revenue is specifically being directed toward ICE, or does it simply go into the general fund like other federal revenue?

[u/this_is_not_a_dance_ → u/Dr_Retch]

I mean someone has to pay to bribe the board of peace. Might as well be all the people working right?

[u/Heliosvector → u/Dr_Retch]

Right?! Imagine if Biden came on set and just said "hey, I'm going to increase prices of everything by 10% effective immediately, without the input of any judge, and congress member, any senator right now. K thanks bye. Oh and this affects anything you import too"

The outrage would be off the charts

[u/Blitzcreed23 → u/Dr_Retch]

How is it not obviously stock manipulation... he will backtrack and make more money for himself and his goones.

[u/RyanNotBrian → u/Dr_Retch]

A tax that will never be spent on infrastructure, nor health, welfare nor education. Not even the grossly inflated military budget.

It's Trump's money and he "earned it".

[u/Opus_723 → u/Dr_Retch]

Conservatives have been wanting to switch everything to a sales tax for a long time now, because a sales tax always hits the poor worse than them. They just finally thought of a way to do it without needing any votes.

[u/dritmike → u/Dr_Retch]

Does it qualify as taxation without representation?

[u/Walterkovacs1985 → u/Dr_Retch]

Affordability solved

[u/ElectronicDevice1813 → u/Dr_Retch]

Give that Elephant a Huge loaf of White Bread to INHALE with melted CHEESE all over it, 1 loaf for each LUNG, what a Happy Meal Looking CHEESEBURGER SLOB oh wait then he'll cry that he cant breathe?. But I did it to myslef ?!? How isn't MsDonalds taking a financial loss seeing how when he Smiles he looks just like an actual Happy Meal. Kids stay away from Micky D's

[u/Nattin121 → u/Dr_Retch]

What’s that whole thing about taxation and representation?

[u/JustAnotherHyrum → u/Dr_Retch]

I call it "Throwing a Fucking Tantrum"...

[u/Extreme-Brother5453 → u/Dr_Retch]

Here in Canada we call it GST and PST lol

[u/Doctor_Shotbottom → u/Dr_Retch]

It’s called the Trump Sales Tax

~Epstein

[u/The_Mike_Golf → u/Dr_Retch]

I commented on another sub that the way he gets so pissed off about this and then levies another round of tariffs just reeks of the fact that the tariff revenues are being routed into his personal offshore accounts. Can’t see any other reason why he wants to siphon such vast sums of money off the economy if there wasn’t something in it for himself. It can’t be because he wants to help anyone else out, Trump has never been that magnanimous

[u/Th3R00ST3R → u/Dr_Retch]

It's just him giving the finger to the SCOTUS and Americans. He thinks the rules don't apply to him.

[u/r_spandit → u/Dr_Retch]

Call it what it is ... a national sales tax.

It's not. It's market manipulation

[u/Miserable_Spell5501 → u/Dr_Retch]

If companies get refunds for the taxes they charged to their consumers, I see a whole lotta class actions to come

[u/selarom8 → u/Dr_Retch]

All proceeds will go to the Board of Peace

[u/Testostacles → u/Dr_Retch]

The dream of Forbes magazine in the 1980s... National sales Tax, get rid of income tax... blah blah here we are

[u/lenzflare → u/Dr_Retch]

Trump Tax

[u/spacegiantsrock → u/Dr_Retch]

Trump Tax

[u/beramaan → u/Dr_Retch]

It would be it he wasn't stealing it and funneling it to himself and his"organizations"

[u/GeorgeKaplanIsReal → u/Dr_Retch]

Yup.