I'm all for demanding reciprocal tariff rates. Anything beyond that seems unwise.
Even at that, I'm nervous about the wisdom of tariffs, in general. If Trump actually delivers tariffs IN EXCHANGE FOR the abolition of the Income Tax, I think it's a net win.
However, I've always thought that was gonna bit a BIG STRETCH GOAL. It's possible (but certainly not easy) to repeal constitutional amendments. My fear is that we're going to get the tariffs AND the income tax.
You forgot to mention that the chief export of the USA is dollars, which is a big reason asymmetric tariffs have been tolerated for so long. But I think Trump has a different strategy than what he's saying. I sure hope it works! At least he's not as bad as FDR yet: "People are starving, but let's slaughter all these hogs and set all these oranges on fire, so farmers don't go broke from commodity price collapses!" Of course, it's still early; plenty of time for more dumb decisions. And it's funny to watch conservative pundits try to explain Liberation Day, like it was funny to watch liberal economists to explain what the hell Bidenomics is. (Near as I could tell, it was take credit for number-go-up, blame Trump and Putin for number-go-down.)
It is kind of a big question of do you want to keep trade open with a country known and proven to have lax security on their bio-research labs. Doesn't seem like the best idea.
I'm all for demanding reciprocal tariff rates. Anything beyond that seems unwise.
Even at that, I'm nervous about the wisdom of tariffs, in general. If Trump actually delivers tariffs IN EXCHANGE FOR the abolition of the Income Tax, I think it's a net win.
However, I've always thought that was gonna bit a BIG STRETCH GOAL. It's possible (but certainly not easy) to repeal constitutional amendments. My fear is that we're going to get the tariffs AND the income tax.
You forgot to mention that the chief export of the USA is dollars, which is a big reason asymmetric tariffs have been tolerated for so long. But I think Trump has a different strategy than what he's saying. I sure hope it works! At least he's not as bad as FDR yet: "People are starving, but let's slaughter all these hogs and set all these oranges on fire, so farmers don't go broke from commodity price collapses!" Of course, it's still early; plenty of time for more dumb decisions. And it's funny to watch conservative pundits try to explain Liberation Day, like it was funny to watch liberal economists to explain what the hell Bidenomics is. (Near as I could tell, it was take credit for number-go-up, blame Trump and Putin for number-go-down.)
It is kind of a big question of do you want to keep trade open with a country known and proven to have lax security on their bio-research labs. Doesn't seem like the best idea.