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   Sherri W (SyntaxSeed) (syntaxseed@phpc.social)'s status on Wednesday, 23-Apr-2025 14:29:28 JST Sherri W (SyntaxSeed)

   I saw a post where a small business owner was quoted as saying “We’ve effectively been told to cease U.S. operations entirely.” - yes, that’s *exactly* what this is.

   That’s something lots of American folks don’t seem to understand about tariffs and what they are for:

   You’re not expected to pay them.

   You’re expected to be unwilling or unable to buy foreign-made things anymore.

   1/x

   #tariffs #UsPolitics #Politics #trade

   (Credit to my colleague Jeff S. for this post.)

   • Embed this notice
     Sherri W (SyntaxSeed) (syntaxseed@phpc.social)'s status on Wednesday, 23-Apr-2025 14:29:24 JST Sherri W (SyntaxSeed)

     in reply to

     Some Americans may be happy about this - “good, let’s start making stuff in America” - but until some things can be made domestically you will go without. Other things will never be made in America, and you will go without. Some of those won’t come back after the trade war is over, because the companies that own them will be long gone.

     5/x

     #tariffs #politics

   • Embed this notice
     Sherri W (SyntaxSeed) (syntaxseed@phpc.social)'s status on Wednesday, 23-Apr-2025 14:29:25 JST Sherri W (SyntaxSeed)

     in reply to

     It hasn’t gone far enough for consumers to feel it yet. But companies are folding. Some going bankrupt, some shuttering before they go bankrupt and abandoning stock in China, some ceasing U.S. sales and pivoting their marketing strategies to try to sell more elsewhere in the world. The biggest are battening down the hatches and storing stock in warehouses offshore waiting for sanity to return. For consumers, things won’t just get expensive - a lot of things just won’t be available anymore.

     4/x

     Ryan Castellucci :nonbinary_flag: repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Sherri W (SyntaxSeed) (syntaxseed@phpc.social)'s status on Wednesday, 23-Apr-2025 14:29:26 JST Sherri W (SyntaxSeed)

     in reply to

     I’m not going to weigh in on whether a trade war is a good idea or not - but your President didn't explain a big part about a trade war to the people that elected him when he was running on that promise: that you will be effectively forced into austerity measures similar to those in a real war in exchange for putting pressure on other people.

     3/x

     #tariffs #politics

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     Sherri W (SyntaxSeed) (syntaxseed@phpc.social)'s status on Wednesday, 23-Apr-2025 14:29:27 JST Sherri W (SyntaxSeed)

     in reply to

     See, the “punishment” that Trump is inflicting on China is not making them pay for their goods to be exported to America (they don’t pay, American importers do) - it’s reducing their sales to America by making buyers stop buying. (Because even the American importers can’t pay these fees.)

     So you’re not supposed to be able to buy electronics, or board games, or toys for your kids, or kitchen utensils or whatever else normally comes from Chinese companies that make them.

     2/x

     #tariffs #politics