- cross-posted to:
- politics@beehaw.org
- cross-posted to:
- politics@beehaw.org
Summary
Trump announced that 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico will take effect on February 1, though a decision on including oil remains pending.
He justified the move by citing undocumented migration, fentanyl trafficking, and trade deficits.
Trump also hinted at new tariffs on China.
Canada and Mexico plan retaliatory measures while seeking to address U.S. concerns.
If oil imports are taxed, it could raise costs for businesses and consumers, potentially contradicting Trump’s pledge to reduce living expenses.
I live in Texas, and it’s hard to overstate how much of our produce is imported from Mexico. This would be an almost immediate 25% price hike on food that basically can’t be grown at scale here because we don’t have Mexico’s climate. Surely he’d exempt food from whatever he’s about to do. Right…?
I expect food would be exempt as you don’t want an angry, hungry, volatile population. Bread and Circuses
I could see that they try to get away with just Circus, tho.
“surely he’d exempt X from…”
Exact same reflection as all the people who depend on migrant workers that voted for him only for the bubble to burst in their face.
Will it benefit the average person? If the answer is yes, you can take it off the list.
Even if it benefits the rich, it would have to exponentially hurt the average American more for it to be considered. They’ve already turned their nose up at studies that have proven better working conditions, pay, and benefits would make them richer in the long run because it takes a little bit of control away from them. These people are sick, and the only thing that is going to correct it at this point is a violent uprising.
What does Mexico export to the US that isn’t a consumer good?
https://jwmason.org/slackwire/what-exactly-does-the-us-buy-from-mexico/
This is a good list from a quick search, other search results states a lot of vehicles (in this case we’d be talking about vehicles for industry) agricultural (I didn’t look far enough but it could be both produce which would be consumer, but it could also have some ag production products, and machinery, machinery probably being the largest non consumer good product depending on how much that agricultural divide is between consumer/industry.
Included in that list is oil, that would be non consumer, computers would be roughly the same split if not more than agricultural considering companies go through computers more than the average consumer. Computers is also a pretty broad tag so take that with a grain of salt.
Services and other seems kind of substantial, this is not my area at all, just relaying a search essentially, so that could go either way if included in the tariffs at all.
Those things will still have impact on consumer prices though. Agricultural vehicles costing more will increase domestically produced food prices (didn’t John Dear just move production there). Oil costing more increases transport costs on everything, but at least could be sourced from elsewhere.
I don’t really see how exceptions could be made to protect consumers without undercutting the whole thing. I expect to be on everything or nothing.
100% agreed.
Capitalism is designed to pass the buck to us. That’s just how it works. It might take a little longer if it is through the production pipeline like the examples above, but it’s still gonna fuck us.
it’s a 25% import tax paid by the importer. when their margins are added, and then the distributors’ on top of their higher costs, at each step of the distribution chain… it’ll be a fair bit more than ‘just’ +25% once product reaches the store shelves.