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submitted 4 months ago by SLVRDRGN@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

Donald Trump just imposed a 25 percent tariff on virtually all goods produced by America’s two largest trading partners — Canada and Mexico. He simultaneously established a 20 percent across-the-board tariff on Chinese goods.

As a result, America’s average tariff level is now higher than at any time since the 1940s.

Meanwhile, China and Canada immediately retaliated against Trump’s duties, with the former imposing a 15 percent tariff on American agricultural products and the latter putting a 25 percent tariff on $30 billion of US goods. Mexico has vowed to mount retaliatory tariffs of its own.

This trade war could have far-reaching consequences. Trump’s tariffs have already triggered a stock market sell-off and cooling of manufacturing activity. And economists have estimated that the trade policy will cost the typical US household more than $1,200 a year, as the prices of myriad goods rise.

All this raises the question: Why has the US president chosen to upend trade relations on the North American continent? The stakes of this question are high, since it could determine how long Trump’s massive tariffs remain in effect. Unfortunately, the president himself does not seem to know the answer.

In recent weeks, Trump has provided five different — and contradictory — justifications for his tariffs on Mexico and Canada...

...more in the article.

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[-] cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 10 points 4 months ago

Am I the only one surprised at how low the cost per household could be? I keep thinking it should be quite a bit higher.

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[-] blazeknave@lemmy.world 8 points 4 months ago

I don't get the $1200 #... If every component of my purchase goods is 25% higher to the manuf passed to me, shouldn't it be 25% of my annual spend?

[-] itslilith 8 points 4 months ago

25% on top of the old price, for goods not produced domestically. Assuming that's all of them, that'd be 25% of your spend going towards products (Services are part of your spend, but don't get tariffed), indeed. But some things get produced in the US, so I imagine they factored that in there. For the average household, this seems to amount to about $1200/a

[-] DarkDarkHouse@lemmy.sdf.org 9 points 4 months ago

Not arguing with you, just want to point out 25% is the new tax but that doesn’t mean the price is only going up 25%.

[-] PersnickityPenguin@lemm.ee 4 points 4 months ago

Well until you buy a car. So that $40,000 suv is now $50,000

[-] iCreativity@feddit.org 7 points 4 months ago
[-] leraje 7 points 4 months ago

Techbro led gvmt - move fast, break stuff. Chaos leads to opportunity to profit, by which I mean him and his class to profit.

[-] jared@mander.xyz 4 points 4 months ago

Playing stupid games.

[-] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

Because republicans want to fund the country entirely from tariffs instead of taxes.

Which worked out great for every country that has ever tried it.

[-] Phoneyponey@lemm.ee 4 points 4 months ago
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this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2025
935 points (100.0% liked)

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