Trump's tariff threats could bump PC prices by almost half Import tariffs proposed by the incoming Trump administration could cause PC prices in the US to jump 46 percent, stifling market growth in 2025 despite the looming Windows upgrade deadline and vendors eagerness to promote AI-based computers. This prediction comes from market watcher Canalys, which expects total PC shipments …
That individual would be required to pay them. That might be precalculated by the vendor and added to your cost. It might be precalculated by the platform. It might be added by customs and charged to you at entry. Or they all might forget to do it and do nothing. You get to figure out which one is chosen each time you buy something.
"these tariffs are essentially a wealth transfer from the rich to the working class."
Trump does not care about the working class. His mega rich pals will not be bothered by tariffs. They can afford to pay them (And get most of that $$$ back as tax writeoffs)
The working class OTOH can't avoid them. They are the ones getting poorer.
Unless... you are an Ultra MAGA Red Hat (made in China) wearing cultist?
If you are then prepare to worship his excellency Maximus Musk, the real POTUS.
what did the US do to be saddled with the likes of Trump, Musk and co?
It is what they did not do: not listen to the what Trump was saying and think it through; not understand that Trump's low morals, lying, made up facts are not what is needed for a good president; not look at the reprobates that Trump surrounded himself with; ...
Do ? Listening to Fox news is a good start.
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Sure, the failed condo salesman and the FUCHUR sales guy are really planning for the betterment of the little guy through tariffs. I remember when the orthodoxy was that it was outrageous to suggest a sugar tax because it was so horrifically pigovian.
The good news is the long this counterfactual ideology continues (going on for a generation now) the more I'm converted to it so eventually I'll just lie just as easily.
If the tariffs targeted only luxury goods -- Caviar, Champagne, and such, they would indeed be a tax on the wealthy. However Trump was talking about across the board tariffs on everything foreign including essentials. Aside from being a rather dumb idea with a long history of awful results, that would surely hit the working class harder than the wealthy who have a far higher savings rate and thus pay a tax lower percentage of their income than the average citizen. Since the tariff revenue would presumably be used to finance yet another tax cut for the wealthy, the result would be yet another transfer of wealth from lower and middle class Americans to the wealthy.
As I remarked in an earlier reply, these tariffs are expected to offset some of the long term damage from earlier tax cuts, especially if the temporary ones of 2017 are made permanent.
Its actually an amazing feat of propaganda to convince ordinary people that tariffs are a 'wealth transfer from rich to poor' because they're a tax on luxury goods etc. They're not. The way they're threatened they're going to be on the staples of everyday life -- food, transport etc. I've read a fair bit about this, especially Republican proposals for balancing the budget, and while the rhetoric might be the old "Wast, Fraud, Abuse" mantra the reality is they plan to take it out of the hides of ordinary people. The only snag with this being that unlike the 1980s there really isn't a whole lot left to squeeze. It will be interesting watching this play out (I'm an 'underconsumer' so I'll likely get by but others may not be so fortunate).
The logic is simply preaching to the blue collar crowd, who correctly identify that China and others are making the goods that the US used to, and putting up tariff walls does protect an economy (albeit with some downsides).
However, the masses can't see that thirty plus years of offshoring to cheap locations can't be reversed in less than a similar amount of time, so tariffs will simply make their purchases more expensive and their wages go less far. As noted by some other posters, the tariffs go to the federal government, but are only ever going to be used for tax cuts for billionaires.
@ Ashto5
Now that is a brilliant idea.
You could help the cash flow of the country by charging the Social Media providers £1 per person.
Also you could charge £1 on each mail order parcel. This would have the advantage of
A) taxing Amazon
B) razing a pile of money
C)encorage people not to buy £5 worth of stuff per delivery.
"Also you could charge £1 on each mail order parcel. This would have the advantage of"
I live in a small town and I have to purchase plenty of things online as there isn't a relevant store anywhere near. Electronic parts, camera equipment and hardware. Whatever I can buy locally, I do buy locally. Having a wide array of shops nearby means I can get things done in a timely manner. We had a small computer shop in town for a short while that would sell components, but they got broken into so often they just hung it up and the owners moved away.
B) razing a pile of money
Trump already has that down pat - he's razed a whole slew of companies into bankruptcy..
(Razed as in "burned to the ground, slaughtered the inhabitants and salted the fields..")
Remember people - relying on speelchuckers won't fix homophones!
Not living in the USA I am more worried about what happens at home (UK) than in the other side of the pond.
The USA is a large economy and provides a lot of tech and buys a lot of our goods -- but not all of them by a long way.
Trump will try to tie other countries up with individual trade deals, do not do what he says and he will yank the trade deal away.
If the rest of the world unites we can force Trump to behave to everyone's benefit rather than what Trump thinks is best for him personally (and the USA secondly).
Nice in theory but getting countries to act together is very hard. A few will be seduced by Trump offering trinkets - this will seem good in the short term until Trump changes it when escaping his clutches will be hard. Forward thinking is needed - something that our politician are not known for
Exports to the US will go down.
Imports from the US will likely get more expensive due to retaliatory tariffs.
If companies can't sell so much stuff to the USA, they will look to make up for it by selling more to other markets, such as the UK. That might mean slightly lower prices, but this isn't certain.
The UK isn't as exposed as much of the RotW to US tariffs. Mainly stuff like expensive Scottish booze. Rich people don't notice tariffs.
It would be a problem if the UK retaliated as we get a serious amount of LNG from the US. Reciprocal tariffs on LNG would push the UK's already artificially high energy bills even higher. Goodbye Starmer very soon after that.
Essentially tariffs damage the less well off consumers in the country that levies them. The rich don't notice them.
The UK did this nationalist self harm thing with Brexit. Not sure whether Trump will repeat the mistake. President Musk won't want his profits dented. It's probably just a bargaining tool to get benefits from Mexico, Canada, Japan, South Korea and China. Trump does enjoying screwing over his 'allies'. However, the ball is rolling for virtually wiping out trade from China to the US and Trump may have more difficulty stopping it. In that case, expect American shop shelves to start emptying, as most stuff is made there.
It may just be to get all the vassal states to bow down before their new emperor, offer goodies, and buy military shiny that may never actually be sent.
>The UK did this nationalist self harm thing with Brexit. Not sure whether Trump will repeat the mistake
The difference is that the USA has the $
The tariffs will increase inflation, this will increase the value of the $ which will increase US imports and reduce exports
So the rest of the world (at least the bit which sells to the USA) might do slightly better
The only real losers will be poor Americans but they voted for him so they will be happy
Trump will try to tie other countries up with individual trade deals
Trump 2 will be a lame duck from the outset and is showing clear signs of cognitive decline. I expect his second term will be much that that of Reagan, who wandered round the White House in a state of baffled dementia while his backers made all the decisions. So unless Trump sacks him while he still can, we are going to have the fun of watching Elon Musk do to the US what he has done to X and what he is in the process of doing to Tesla.
"So unless Trump sacks him while he still can, we are going to have the fun of watching Elon Musk do to the US what he has done to X and what he is in the process of doing to Tesla."
As Elon is an un-elected interloper, he's not a "member of the club". If I had some spare cash looking for something to do, I'd make some back room wagers against his life expectancy. Elon's already been out running his mouth but it's the bite/bark thing so far. If he tries to puff himself up too much, he'll be stepping on toes. To me, he has a few toes over the line as is. Just wait until he Xits some things that some Vips don't want talked about.
"Trump will try to tie other countries up with individual trade deals, do not do what he says and he will yank the trade deal away."
He just weighed in North Sea oil and gas. He's complaining about the windfall tax on profits and how some poor American oil company is going to pull out over it and we "must" drill more oil and gas and get rid of the "windmills".
I have a couple of responses to that, not least of which is "fuck off Trump". The other being that a windfall tax is not that different from a tariff and tariffs are "good", right? So again, fuck off Trump. Oh, and yeah, most of us in the UK know what a "windmill" is. We have a quite a few still standing, some even in operation as historical attractions. A wind turbine is NOT a windmill. It doesn't mill. That's just a childish attribution that only works on certain uneducated masses who are allowed to vote for Trump. As far as I'm concerned, anyone using the term windmill for a wind turbine has already lost the argument because they can only use emotive language instead facts, "alternative" or otherwise :-)
>Electing Trump for a second term was an historical act of mass stupidity.
True, but its no worse than the 'leadership' that's been elected in, say, the UK.
What we're seeing is the culmination of 40 plus years of a relentless march to what used to be known as "rentier capitalism" (aka "You will own nothing and be happy"). The whole thing was predicated on some compliant 'rest of the world' paying 'rent' -- i.e. doing the work while we cream off the profits. The problem is that this rest of the world is on to us and wants more equitable trading relations. This has seriously unbalanced our western economies, there really aren't any 'services' that they just have to have any more and they can increasingly provide what they need. Weaponizing our financial systems and the US dollar to force them to behave is accelerating the process. This leaves our governments chronically short of cash so they're going to turn on 'we, the people' to paper over the cracks.
The next few years are going to be interesting.
They would have kept Sunak and the Tories in that case.
Although not remotely a Clement Atlee, a Labour Government is a far better prospect for the future or the wanna-be Trump that’s Farage.
Right now it’s an Asda essentials chicken sandwich … as opposed to a Tory Shit sandwich.
Indeed. The constant sane-washing of the Florida Orange Man's words and actions along with the constant drumbeat of "Democrats Bad" from right wing media makes for a large number of low information voters who can be counted on to vote against their own interests.
Another factor is the idiotic treatment of politics as a team sport (vote according to whether an R or a D follows the name on the ballot) by 2/3rds of the electorate.
Add in a number of progressives pissed off at Biden/Harris for not immediately fixing the Gaza crisis plus misogynists who simply could not bring themselves to vote for a woman and you have a recipe for an FOM victory.
I for one am SO glad that we did not have ANY voting fraud this time around. /s
"I for one am SO glad that we did not have ANY voting fraud this time around. /s"
LOL. yeah. I wonder what happened to all those pre-emptive lawsuits filed by Republicans? Do they not matter if the "right" result is called, no matter whether it's genuine or fraudulent"? That alone should be making Republican voters suspicious of their "leaders". If "justice" and the law is what matters to them, why are they not doubling down on voter fraud right now? Or are you correct and there really was an entirely free and fair election with not even a hint of fraud by those "big corporate" fake electronic voting machines?
You're only fucked for four or five years
Due our racist pricks, the UK is fucked for generations
Before the pro-brexit assholes jump in, go find a small craftsperson / artist / business and ask they are coping with the new GPSR.
I know creatives that have just lost 25 to 50% of their business because the costs involved are more than any profit than they used to make. Some are looking at having to close up completely
Nice job guys.
Because of this.
Authorised Representatives
Authorised Representatives are individuals or businesses based in the EU that are appointed by manufacturers to perform certain tasks that are normally the manufacturers’ responsibility. Authorised Representatives must be able to provide the technical documentation that demonstrates compliance with the applicable regulations and directives as well as liaise with market surveillance authorities on issues that may arise such as product recalls or safety issues.
If you live in the EU, you are the contact. If you live outside the EU, you have to pay someone or a company to act on your behalf. They will ask for payment for pretty much every tiny difference in product design.
Unfortunately tariffs and protectionism is popular. If you mention reducing tariffs the screams that jobs will be lost and we cant compete come in quick. Of course that is the point of reducing tariffs so you get the best/cheaper. Then there are those who think if someone increases tariffs on your goods you should retaliate, because watching someone intentionally injure themselves conjures the desire to copy them.
On one hand people like their rich way of life and on the other fear their jobs will be lost to someone better or cheaper. Look at the comment threads about chip fabs in the uneconomical west and people were insisting the UK gov should subsidise the nonsense here and crying for the protectionism of being in the EU. I wonder how many of them moan at Trumps tariffs and moan against reducing our own protectionism.
mr stupid will hopefully bring the desperately needed circular economy and stop all the crappy ewaste
yay
my newest desktop/laptop i have is almost 10 years old, even a 15/20 year old toshiba satellite laptop happily runs mint xfce and remmina to rdp into my main windows vm daily driver (which itself resides on a cheap £75 business desktop host with a ryzen 3 2200G cheaply upgraded to 32gb and a £40 SSD)
ps does it run a bit slow at times, hell yeah, but hey thats good for my mental health, and rebooting fixes it in no time :)
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