The public sentiment surrounding the US trade war and tariff increases is predominantly negative, particularly from Canadian commenters who feel ostracized and frustrated with the Trump administration's policies. Many express concerns about rising prices, job losses, and the potential harm to local economies, alongside calls for Canada to seek trade relationships outside the US. Overall, there's a sense of defiance against perceived American bullying and skepticism about the effectiveness of tariffs as a solution.

United States Government

Canadian Government

Local Manufacturers

Small businesses on both sides will be hurt. Consumers who want their items will be hurt. Any US company that requires rare earth minerals won't get them unless China decides to sell or Japan decides to part with some of their one year stockpile. If US bond rates continue to rise, everyone in the US loses.  
  
Short answer, no one wins in a trade war which is why there hasn't really been one in the past 95 years.

Paperman_82

Tariffs are a regressive tax on consumption, so their primary effect on Americans will be that consumers will see large increases in their cost of living and lower their consumption. However, we also sell things like Airplanes to China, and between that and lower consumption, America is likely to see a recession, lower tax revenues, etc.

China will see a big impact to exports, which will also impact their economy, where manufacturing is a bright spot, so it is also likely to be quite painful for them.

It’s unclear at this point who this will be more painful for. Both countries rely on each other heavily for trade, and it’s unclear how the global economy will reorient around this disruption.

In this game of chicken, with both countries feeling significant pain, the more interesting question might be how domestic politics will impact their leaders’ willingness to blink first. My money would be on the US since a free press and democratic system is going to quickly put pressure on the person who started this to do something to fix it, and Xi will feel strong pressure to not capitulate to imperialist Americans and shame the nation.

probablymagic

U.S. consumers.   We are about to see imported goods being 20-25% more expensive unless there’s a simultaneous drop in demand from an economic collapse.

[deleted]

As someone from the UK who imports goods, I would be interested to hear from any US importers who ordered goods before the whole tariff hike and now have goods in transit and will have to pay a huge unexpected fee when they arrive in the US. 


I had a similar experience during covid when the cost of shipping suddenly skyrocketed, but it was too late to cancel the order. The unexpected fees nearly bankrupted me. 


There must be lots of small US firms in this situation

ABlokeFromChester

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As a proportion of GDP exports from China to the US are not that large. It's about 3% of GDP. As a result, I don't expect the Chinese economy to suffer that much.

The suffering will be different in the two economies. High prices for some goods will be the problem in the US. Unemployment in some industries will be the problem in China.

RobThorpe

See our mega thread: https://old.reddit.com/r/AskEconomics/comments/1jqjt56/trump_tariffs_megathread_please_read_before/

Ponderay

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A 5% tariff on Mexican goods will only raise prices for American consumers. Instead of these showy moves, why not focus on immigration reform? This approach has never worked!

Present-Party4402

He's going for the bold approach to stop immigration, which is to make the country less desirable to live in than mexico 

hoorahforsnakes

This is a post from 2019. As someone who has to deal with this mess at work, let me state the person who posted this while cropping out the dates just raised my blood pressure and is as prick.

jonclem

The recession that is going to hit the US in the next couple of years will be both epic and tragically depressing.

BusyBeeBridgette

This makes no sense.

Even IF tariffs worked the way Trump thinks they do it's not Mexican corporations fueling illegal immigration.

It's just as much the fault of American border towns as it is Mexican border towns.

This is such a dumb strategy, even ignoring the fact that he's already been told that what he's doing is not something he has the power to do.

Dude needs to stroke-out already.

mebutnew

Trump is upset robot Biden apprehended and deported three times as many illegal border crossers as he did in his first term.

GadreelsSword

coming soon: recession, but make it cinematic

Practical_Ad5296

Ah yes Mexico is gonna pay the tariffs, just like they paid for "The Wall".

Alarming_Cellist_751

If congress doesn't find its balls,  the people will cut them off.

coolbaby1978

77 mil Americans voted for this. Trump literally campaigned on it

DeoDatusIV

So he’s punishing *us* because he’s mad at Mexico?  Makes perfect sense.  😐

Kobayashi_Maru186

2019……. the date was cropped out from the original

iaymnu

Basically, Trump will force Americans to pay more for produce we can't grow here until Mexico solves the immigration problem. America is moronic at this point.

Grouchy_Row_7983

Isn't this from his first term? Why are all these bots posting old shit like it's new?

necessaryrooster

Here's why the GOP are disingenuously FoS when it comes to illegal immigration and don't really care about it as much as they try to demonstrate. 

1) Illegally entering the country is a misdemeanor with a small fine. Illegally hiring immigrants knowingly goes from fines of $3000  to 250k with jail time for repeat offenders.

2) The agricultural,  construction, and hospitality industries have had (metaphorically) a Help Wanted sign pointed toward the southern border for decades now, offering thousands of illegal jobs each year.

3) Those industries also happen to be the three biggest industries that contribute to Republicans.

So, the GOP are using the immigrants as a whipping boy, a diversion that allows their contributors to evade consequences for driving and perpetuating the entire issue.

Rare-Forever2135

Yeah, raise prices on all Americans! That’ll show those illegal immigrants….. won’t it???

rfidman60

The power to tax is the power to destroy. John Marshall 1819

Green-Programmer-963

"Pero ¿es kosher, incluso halal?"

*The preceding channelling of Snagglepuss was brought to you in Spanish.*

"If you can't dazzle them with brilliance ... baffle them with bull"

AsparagusCommon4164

Didn’t this asshat say yesterday that the border was closed?

WarthogLow1787

5%


It's like he chickened out before even starting!

ScoobiusMaximus

Aggravating_Ad2174

The trade war never stopped for Canadians. You fucking Americans are more narcissistic than Albertans - we only believe we’re responsible for Canada’s entire economy, not the whole damn world’s.

No-Goose-5672

If all these people are sneaking in, where is border patrol? Sounds like that's a US problem not a Mexican problem

Joelle9879

His hope is that the illegals see the cost of their Mexican produce and think 'damn it's cheaper back home'  and just leave.

AdministrativeRub882

bugo

Independent-Slide-79

I thought he solved the immigration issue and the border is “closed”             /s,just in case

stilldbi

Somebody needs to take his keys away from him before he drives us all into the Grand Canyon.

scub3

I thought they've stopped 99.999% of the border crossings?

Ok-Investigator4622

JM3DlCl

_2cantat2_

Lol

I thought he closed that border.  Isn't that what maga keeps repeating.

sugar_addict002

It seems that the wealthy and investors learned a lesson from the pandemic - prices can be raised, and you dont ever have to lower them again, which is great for profits! Now, the same thinking is being applied to our taxes via these arbitrary tariffs. I garauntee that once prices go up because of the tariffs, they will never come back down, even once the tariffs are lifted. This is just another scam to manipulate the stock market and squeeze more money from the population.

Odd_Reputation_4000

he is a bully and like all bully he needs consequences…

711-Gentleman

He might be shorting different markets in advance of these ridiculously childish threats. Crashing it and then buying while its lower

fpsfiend_ny

Does this dipshit know illegal immigration has been an issue for decades? It can’t be solved overnight with threats….

One-Joke8084

But, but, who's going to work in the American Banana factories?

BlueMonkey-CoCo

I mean if America turns into enough of a shithole there won’t be illegal immigration… why would they go there lol

Pottski

Purple-Replacement46

Trump: "I'm gonna starve and abuse my own people until you give me what I want"

Literally, the entire rest of the world: "lol good luck with that dumbass"

Better_Actuary_4583

Djt doesn’t have the authority to impose or change tariffs

utodd

A tax? Only in the minds of TDSers  is a tariff is a tax

New_Asparagus_792

I find it funny how everything that is supposed to be labeled as bad is now automatically called taxes in the US.
Attempts are currently being made to establish this mechanism in other parts of the world... to the advantage of the rich 5%.

ollod

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Could be.  These tariffs are very aggressive moves against China.  And China is responding tit for tat to US tariffs.  This could easily be the start of much colder relations normally seen in a cold war.

UnusualAir1

The Cold War 2 began pretty much the same time OEF/OIF (9/11) happened. It is a cyber-social war, one in which we are losing. It began with China brazenly stealing classified information and tech from the Pentagon and military contractors (Lockheed Martin has been hit numerous times by Chinese government hackers in the past 25 years) and moved to social engineering by creating divisive social and political memes (from both China and Russia), among other politically-related events.

What we are seeing now is just a flash-in-the-pan prelude to Cold War \*3,\* a financial war, as you suggest, that will definitely go full-blown if Trump keeps acting this way (which, given his history and mentality...).

Candle-Jolly

The Cold War was the Russians vs the West. Now that Trump has allied with Russia the cold war that is brewing is the West vs Russia and the US. The US is putting massive tariffs on countries that used to be American allies, like Canada, Mexico, the EU, and no tariffs on Russia. Trump is also withdrawing support for NATO.

Economically the US and China have had strained economic relations since China went Communist in 1949. China and Russia also have strained relationships. The US' trade war with China is welcome news to Putin and Russia. 

It helps to remember that economically, Russia is much smaller than the US or China. Russia GDP is about the same as Texas, or somewhat over half of California. Russia GDP is about 12% of China's.

The old order in the Pacific was the US allied with Japan and South Korea, and more recently with Vietnam. Now those countries are looking towards China due to Trump's tariff attacks. The EU was also a close US ally but now they too are looking towards China and away from the US. 

Putin may welcome Trump's efforts to weaken and isolate the US, but he might not have counted on China filling in the vacuum and reducing ties with Russia.

billpalto

I don't think you understand what the cold war is/was if you think it involved tanks.  And FYI. The cold war never ended, Russia won when MAGA gained traction.

Busterlimes

Fat Trump is a Russian asset and this destructive idiocy will likely die with him.

How does the government picking and choosing winners and losers with tariffs even allign with free market principles?

lovetoseeyourpssy

&gt;Trump says things will settle once countries sign new trade deals, but until then, it kind of feels like we're in a long-term economic staring contest.

Settle for who?  The rest of the world?  Sure, they'll be just fine.  Meanwhile, we're going to be close to destitute.

ERedfieldh

Possible. Everyone is saying “China can’t touch us with our military” but I think it’s pretty clear that China could bring a whole lot of damage and disruption to our lives with economic consequences versus combat. This just didn’t need to happen. Trump was arrogant and foolish and incompetent and now we have this big beast to wrangle.

ScarTemporary6806

Trump folded already. Any hope of the US bringing manufacturing jobs was surrendered last tuesday in exchange for a 1 day bump to the stock markets and trump personal insider trading. He has two choices end all significant tarrifs or watch the US continue to lose financial hegemony either way the united states and it's citizens are the ones that lost here.

Educational-Dance-61

You've been living in a New Cold War since at least 2008 when the country of Georgia tried to prevent its Russian-backed breakaway territory from, well, breaking away. Russia got involved in the first test of Putin's "Anyone who speaks Russian anywhere in the world is a Russian" Policy. Georgia was getting friendly with the West, there was talk of possibly folding it into NATO like several other Eastern European/Former Soviet state had been in recent years, and Putin wanted to draw a definitive line in the sand. Seven Years later he annexed Crimea and invaded the Eastern-most provinces of Ukraine, claiming the newly Pro-Western Government of Ukraine was oppressing Ethnic and Linguistic Russians. Bush, Obama, Trump (rather the momentum of US Foreign policy as it continued under his first admin), and Biden all tried to contain and control Russia through soft and less-soft diplomatic means-- Sanctions, international pressure, making them a pariah state, and ultimately banning them participating from most international (non-political) organizations. The War in Ukraine has been a proxy war between Russia and the West for 11 years now, one that only openly turned hot in 2022 with opening of the war in earnest. 

The World and its political blocs are realigning right in front of you. The world you grew up with is dead and disappearing into the distance in your rear view mirror. Domestically, even if there are free and fair elections in three years and a Democrat is elected, the United States is never going back to the way it was. The GOP plan is to "fix" everything so that its "the way its supposed to be", and do so so-quickly and so-violently that any attempt to move the pieces back where they should be will take too long and be a fools errand. Internationally the American Dollar's command over the global economy is being rapidly eroded as nations like Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates are all colluding to divorce their economies, and the international trading order, from the Dollar. Europe is forging its own military, diplomatic, and trade policies free from considerations of the USA and its administration. The World Order that has existed, and benefited, the USA since the end of the Second World War is at an end. It is a Brave New World and you need to see that the world around you has already changed irrevocably. You need to find a way forward because there's no going back.

Fofolito

I think it's market manipulation more than anything to do with strengthening our economy.

Klutzy_Bake_323

I wouldn't expect many new trade deals.  Trump has proven the US is an unreliable partner and cannot be trusted.  The world is moving on from the US.

MJcorrieviewer

Things *will* settle down when new treaties are signed. But they won't be between the US and folks. They will be between *China* and the EU. *China and pan-Pacific nations. *China* and African nations. Etc etc etc.

I saw a talking head last week lay out the new normal. The US and China are on a level field now. But they have different trajectories. China is in ascendence, and the US is in decline. *Before* so-called "Liberation Day".

Before folks @me into oblivion, think about two things. One a definite fact, the other admittedly supposition:

Fact- After Trump’s idiocy in trying to force the world into a supine position, Japan has been shedding its massive amount of owned US debt. Quite a bit of it.

Supposition- Dependent on the extent of Japan's overall reaction to a now undependable/unstable US financial environment, are they still the world's largest holder of US debt? Or is that position now held by China?

I saw a thumbnail on YouTube from The Bulwark, "The American Age is Over," or some such. It was what I thought hyperbolic ass hell at the time. Now? Not so much.

onikaizoku11

The United States has been the sole superpower since the Fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, The People's Republic of China isn't an economic threat until a few weeks ago.

However, the United States still maintains the Policy of Containment around the People's Republic of China with major US military installations spread throughout the Indo-Pacific in South Korea, Japan, The Philippines, Australia and New Zealand acting as a layered military, economic and political defense network around China. 

The Chinese is NOT peer-to-peer with the United States except in economics and technology while China is politically, militarily and culturally Isolated for now. The United States is the sole superpower because it dominates in every single continent with powerful regional alliances. China doesn't even dominate East Asia; its own region, how would that make them a superpower? It contends with India, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan Australia and New Zealand with enormous political, economic and military backing from the United States. Vietnam, a socialist state has openly aligned itself with the United States.

North Korea is a hermit in stagnation for decades, the Russian Federation is a declining power with outdated technology, industries, infrastructure and lacking competence and Iran is trapped by the United States in the Strait of Hormuz with all the Gulf States on side with the United States.

The United States unlike China has global military, economic, technological and political influence in major international institutions. The United States Navy with its eleven nuclear-powered aircraft carriers acts as the premier security provider for all commercial sea trade to ensure freedom of trade and movement controlling vital routes for China in the Strait of Malacca that of which 80% of her oil comes through. If the United States wanted it could crush the Chinese through preventive measures in the Strait of Malacca causing China to enter into an energy crisis. 

The Russian Federation and Kazakhstan combined cannot supply China with enough oil and natural gas demands for their industries and military. China's Strategic Energy Reserves only would last them at best 18 months to 2 years. The Belt and Road Initiative is decades away from completion Energy infrastructure between China and Iran requires cooperation of the Central Asian States meaning China cannot make aggressive decisions. 

There isn't going to be a Cold War, if the United States maintains the status quo with its regional and global alliances intact, the United States shall continue to dominate as the sole superpower. 

If there is to be a Cold War, it requires China to get South Korea and Japan to completely pivot towards China allowing them nearly complete reign in East Asia and the End of Containment procedures enacted by the United States. The United States would be humiliated internationally forced to shore up its other alliances in the region to counterbalance China, or face an Asia under the Gold and Red Banner. 

This scenario would be a devastating blow to the United States as its global reach is significantly diminished, US allies start questioning whether the United States can maintain its influence and keep the status quo from breaking into a thousand pieces.

UnityOfEva

China has been a dishonest player in world markets for decades now. They have never internally respected or enforced US or international copyright laws, or intellectual property rights. They have habitually engaged in state sponsored corporate espionage and used protectionist policies (like tariffs), to foster the growth of their domestic industrial and technology sectors. The US has very legitimate gripes about China's behavior in international trade.

Trump's insistence that the trade deficit in goods between the US and China presents harm to the American economy, is empty nonsense (either openly dishonest, or just stupid). The numbers he quotes are entirely predicated on trade of goods and ignores trade in services. Services make up around 76.4% of the US GDP (professional services, real estate, finance, software, healthcare, etc.), and are the largest portion of US exports to China, making the trade deficit a great deal smaller than Trump is claiming. 

A Cold War is a period of ideological tension and political rivalry between nations, usually without direct military conflict. In that sense, it seems that yes, the US is in a cold war with China. Donald Trump may see his tariffs as a tool in that indirect conflict, but none of his rhetoric explicitly says so. If the tariffs are meant to have that purpose, they're failing miserably, while harming American economic stability. They're also driving away our allies and forcing them to reassess their trade relationships. Most notably, South Korea and Japan (American allies), have announced they will be cooperating with China, to counter what they view as exploitive and harmful American trade policy. This is a massive tidal shift in global relations, and one that is deeply harmful to American interests. It's frightening that Trump and his administration do not seem to see that reality. 

Russia's expansionist war in Ukraine has become a proxy war for the global tensions between Western partners (The US, Europe, Uk, Canada), and Eastern partners (Russia, China, North Korea, Iran). Trump's removal of US support for Ukraine, is capitulation in that conflict. If this is indeed a cold war, it has to be asked; Why does Donald Trump seem determined to lose it for the United States?

BluesSuedeClues

Tanks are still there. And trade war is still a war. The only thing people don't like nowadays, is to think that they act the same older generations did. So it is not a cold war. How this new cold war will be called we'll see in future.

bluesmaster85

The Cold War didn't really use tanks.... 

It was almost purely financial/political in nature. 

Space Race, Arms Race....lots of "races" to win or lose rather than battles.

UnbelieverInME-2

ehhh, looking more like a shakedown war between billionaires for who Can bilk the population the best, if you are really looking at it...whole thing is a [grift in the US.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoTV-J7QtLM).

littleredpinto

As a Chinese, I am really confused:Is it the US that is actually being sanctioned now, or is it the US that is taking the initiative.


The United States took the initiative to ask China to embargo goods from the United States.


If the Americans have to cut a big hole in the bottom of their ship, we have no problem with that ......

bjran8888

"Cold War" isn't quite the term that I would use.  That was a protracted conflict that occasionally came close to becoming a hot war.

This Trump disaster will likely fizzle out fairly quickly.  The rest of the world is pushing back while the negative impacts are already becoming apparent to Americans.  Trump will likely create an offramp of sorts for himself by declaring victory even though he will have failed.

The long-term problem is that Trump has established that the US can no longer be trusted with its position of dominance.  Even if the next president is a smart Democrat who works overtime to undo much of this nonsense, other nations will probably be wary of the risks of another populist president flushing everything down the toilet.  

The damage will be more of a slow erosion of power than a grinding conflict. When the dollar loses reserve currency status and skepticism of US treasuries as a risk-free vehicle becomes permanent, then we are truly screwed.  This would probably happen at some point, regardless, but Trump has put US decline into the fast lane.

I405CA

If China decides to sell products manufactured there directly to consumers for lower prices, will companies panic and start lowering prices in stores? If prices come down drastically, will it seem like a result of this administration’s actions and policies instead of citizens being tired of being priced gouged for decades.

LittleLoobyLulu

It should be teaching countries how to be self reliant... It inadvertently spawned a patriotic support local movement in Canada... Maybe by design.

opinionaysha

Recent tariff announcements from the US government are escalating trade tensions with multiple countries, including Canada.

US Trade War and Tariff Increases

Why This Matters

Public Sentiment Summary

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