2d ago

Trump admin walks back tariff exemption on electronics

www.huffpost.com

Trump Admin Walks Back Tariff Exemption On Electronics

Donald Trump and White House officials walked back a Friday announcement that there would be tariff exemptions on imported electronics.

In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump directly denied the tariff exemption announcement.

…

“This is really mind-boggling. If this was serious industrial policy, the main thing you want is certainty: ‘Here’s the tariff, it will be in place for the indefinite future, and you should plan accordingly,’” Dean Baker, an economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a left-leaning think tank, said, according to The Washington Post. “Here, it’s basically: ‘Come back next week and see what we’ve got.’ That’s no way to run an economy.”

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The AP source title is: Trump’s commerce secretary says new electronics tariff exemptions are temporary, chip tariffs coming
The part that's been denied is that the exclusion is permanent. Since Friday, electronics from China would be subject to 20% of the fentanyl tariff and nothing more. It will be this way until Trump invents another tariff just for electronics. I believe this is what most commentators expected back in Friday, but there must be talks of capitulation and Trump couldn't stand to lose face.
- Crazy that someone checked the facts and shares about it and 3 hours later only has 5 upvotes including the one I just gave. Thank you. Maybe next time you should begin your comment with # HERE IS THE CONTEXT GUYS!

Walking-back the walk-back? They're doing a whole 1-2 shuffle!

The USA is definitely a joke now. It's just that everyone is laughing nervously. We are afraid that falling so fast from top to bottom will bring the system down.
- Its a concept of a plan.
- Which system? The US political system? That one is damaged beyond repair and needs to be reworked completely. The global economic system? That one is also damaged beyond repair, but the rework will create a lot of instability and most likely war.
  
  Yes I was thinking about the global economic system. And like you pointed out, I'm worried that the rework (on top of being ugly) might end up in a worse situation (in terms of inequality, freedom etc...)
  
  I'm worried that total economic collapse would only consolidate power and not distribute it. I'm not versed in history so I could be wrong

I'm not surprised that this is how the second Trump administration has started. This level of stupidity is exactly what I was expecting. What does surprise me, though, is that many tens of millions of people voted for this. Honestly, it's shaken my commitment to democracy. Maybe the people shouldn't be making important decisions.
- How about education should never be touched when it comes to budgets?
  
  I think that's a good idea, but, unfortunately, if put to a vote, I'm confident the American people would vote against it.
  
  I don't think that what K-to-12 schools are capable of teaching even in the best-case scenario can be sufficient to equip the average person with the knowledge and critical thinking skills necessary to, for example, evaluate complex economic policy on its merits. I have a STEM PhD but it isn't in economics and I don't think I can evaluate economic policy well - I go with the consensus of economists, but that's easy for me because I think their best interests and mine are aligned. (I want to see the stock market go up.) I'm not sure what a person whose interests are not aligned with the economists' is supposed to do... Listen to ignorant demagogues who promise everything, apparently.
  
  No ~~take~~ decrease only ~~throw~~ increase
- ...stupidity? 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️
  They're intentionally crashing the economy so they and all their billionaire buddies can buy everything up for cheap. Everything is going literally exactly as planned.
  
  I was one to agree with you for a time, but at this point I’m not even sure what the plan could actually be, US treasury bonds are taking a big hit because of this shit and the global economic order is shifting to exclude the US and could even endanger the dollar as the world reserve currency. That’s a change so seismic no one could even predict what it would mean for anyone. If that’s his intention then whoever came up with the plan is stupid beyond all imagining
  
  I think that's it, and they victimize LGBTQ+ people and immigrants because their supporters love it and it buys them time to implement their kleptocracy. Some of the Trump people are true-believer Nazis, but some of them are just greedy assholes who will throw anyone under the bus for their own gain.
  
  this "plan" assumes recovery
- Before the election, I saw a house flying a big flag with the words "Elect Trump King of the United States". So, uh, maybe monarchy would turn out to be even worse...
  With that said, I understand how you feel. I don't know how democracy can work in a post-truth era.
  
  Y’know, if America had a constitutional monarchy, it might actually work out just fine. Let Trump be the king, so he can rant, do ceremonial stuff, be in the news all the time, have his fans, cause controversies, &c.… meanwhile the real elected government would be quietly busy attending to the people’s business.
- Well, cutting all the education budget and expecting a good rational voting from a bunch of uneducated people is a lunacy.
  Also, it is well known that democracy is not optimal, but we don't have anything better.
- The US was never a democracy to begin with. It was a government designed to benefit one very particular small but powerful minority.
  It's just that now it's come out of the closet.
  It's strange that it would happen now, at a point when literally every job can be automated(or will be automatable within the next 5-10 years).
- Democracy is the power of the majority. Now think of how stupid the avarage person is and realize half of them is stupider than that.
- What surprises me is that tens of millions still think he's doing the right thing even as he makes the country look like fools.
- 💯 this is a if not THE shining example of why certain people should simply not be allowed to vote. It’s like the poster child for why we SHOULD have the Electoral College, but with electors who put country over party.

Is it just me or is anyone else reminded of Pahpshmir out of the Naked Gun movies by this disgusting man?

MAKE UP YOUR MIND!!!
- I think you're confused. They make up their mind all the time, then check if everyone sold/bought stocks and than they make up their mind again. Then they check if everyone sold/bought stocks and on and on.

You know, this may really piss off some folks who got an early notification that there would be an exemption for electronics. You know, his insider trading buddies. It will be interesting to see who gets the angriest about this last minute change.
On April 11, 2025, traders placed large, targeted call option bets on Apple. That evening, the Trump administration quietly exempted smartphones from tariffs, news not publicized until April 12. These trades weren't speculation - they were placed before the memo was released.
- That's an issue that can come up, when your inside guy for market manipulation with all the power necessary for the scheme is also an impulsive narcissist, who never was that bright to begin with, but is also clearly losing some mental faculties due to age, too.
- Lmao. Bet there are some angry Tech-bros calling.
  May they lose their shirts.
- Grift. It's all scam, all the time.

Assuming we make it out of this, I’d be in favor of Chinese style justice for all of these insider trades.
- Government management positions for them and their family?
  
  I was thinking of how they handle the folks they don’t like. It’s swift, decisive, and irreversible.

Stock market futures be like 📉📈📉📈📉📈📉📈📉
- More like this:
- Every movement of the stocks can be used to make money if you know it's coming. These guys are making hand over fist with insider trading fraud.
  
  IMO he probably knows he’s gonna die soon, so this 2nd term is all about locking up money for his kids.
- An insider trader's delight.
- ⬆️⬇️⤴️⤵️♾️🌀🌀🌀💫😵‍💫💫

This isn't even a subtle attempt to destabilize the world market, and yet so many people are just like
- You imply that this is done with intent?
  The first part, sure: show them the stick, then dangle the carrot. But the walkback of the excemption was intentional?
  I don't think so. It's all just blatant extortion attempts followed by bumbling cluelessness.
  
  I think it's time we stop assuming this is just simply stupidity. He's an entertainer who's made his public career by being a meme while at the same time being a conman. He's been effectively toeing the line between joke and conman for decades and knows that if he plays dumb and schmoozes enough, he can do whatever he wants. We're talking about a guy who successfully turned "You can do anything. Grab 'em by the pussy." into "it's just locker talk between guys." a close relationship with a known human trafficker and pedofile into "he's a terrific guy," and proceeded to walk away from a rape case and 34 felony convictions with no penalty.
  Time and time again he's shown exactly the kind of guy he really is, and it isn't just a bumbling idiot. It's a career criminal who knows exactly what he's doing and how to be smooth enough to get away scot-free. Why would this be any different? Just because it's on a grand scale?

It’s almost like your laws had a very good reason for a very long time to disallow the president the power to unilaterally impose tariffs.
Hell, to unilaterally do MOST things.

What the fuck is actually going on here!? Whether they want Americans to pay more because of tariffs or not, how can they not make up their minds?? Decide yes/no, but this constant flip-flipping is also harming the country...
- Crash the market, buy low.
  These last weeks have been inside trading shitshow.
- I work for a company that imports all sorts of components for pretty much all of our products and the flip flopping has basically completely grinded everything to a halt because no one can figure out what the hell is going on at any given time. It has been a complete shit show lol

Stock market doesn't believe his truth social report it seems. Apple shares are still up mid morning.

And the sell off of our debt will pick up speed. These idiots are going to crash our economy and anyone left holding the bag.
- They have to be doing it deliberately. The aim is to destroy the USA.

Lol holy shit. And a few hours later he's going to deny that he denied the exemption and be like "what are you talking about? I said certain electronics are exempt!"
I'm starting to think that maybe the reason Elon Musk did two blatant nazi salutes in a row was to test what they could do in front of everyone's eyes while denying it, and to see how many people would just go "ok sure, I didn't see what I just saw. Whatever you say, dear leader."
- “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
  ― George Orwell, 1984
- I doubt Musk's salute was that deep. He's not some slick political operative. He's a 4chan dipshit who thought he'd be edgy and cool and tiptoe up to the line. He thought it would be much more ambiguous what he did and he'd "own the libs" by making them look like fools to the normies who genuinely wouldn't see it for what it actually was. He clearly was not expecting basically no one but the cultists on his side to not see what he did.
  
  The evil behind trump is thiel and putin

They walked back again today and said the exemption is for the additional 120% tariff but the 20% imposed earlier still applies
- Sorry, they walked back the walkback of the walkback? Does anyone know what's going on?
  
  No, that's the point. They're literally trying to devalue the dollar so their billionaire buddies can consolidate wealth at fire sale prices.
- So where the fuck are whe now with tarrifs?

Trump, "There was no Tariff ‘exception’ announced on Friday".
Nope, totally nothing to see here: "Reciprocal Tariff Exclusion for Specified Products".
- He really thinks that the public has an even shorter memory than him (and that websites don't exist).

Who else has been riding the VIX train with me from 2 weeks ago?

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