Public sentiment regarding Trump's tariffs on Chinese goods is overwhelmingly negative, with widespread criticism for their detrimental effects on the U.S. economy and American consumers. Commenters consistently express that these tariffs not only fail to pressure China effectively but also impose significant financial burdens on U.S. farmers, businesses, and consumers, leading to fears of escalating trade tensions.

Donald Trump

U.S. consumers

American farmers

Chinese government


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Answer: China retaliated against U.S. tariffs by limiting rare-earth metal exports, which are critical to many sectors, such as semiconductors and defense. Trump doesn't like this, so he decided to go for a tit-for-tat strategy by increasing tariffs again. Conservatives support this because conservatives in the U.S. are MAGA, regardless of what they may claim otherwise.

eatingpotatochips

Answer: Trump really likes tariffs, and wants to use them extensively. What he aims to do changes from moment to moment (and are also mutually exclusive), but since companies and countries have to "negotiate" with him (or just outright bribe him) that's the most likely reason. Although he also seems to use them arbitrarily or as some kind of retribution against a perceived sleight.

As to why the Republican Party supports it, Trump is basically deified in right-wing circles (and I'm barely exaggerating, it's only a matter of time before MAGA churches start attributing divine power to Trump; these 'Christians' already think that Jesus is too woke for them and that *the core message of Christianity doesn't apply to the modern day*). Moderate Republicans are afraid of his ultra-loyal supporters either voting them out come re-election (in safe Republican districts, the only challenge for Republicans is a Republican further to the right and more pro-Trump) or literally killing them, and further right Republicans have nearly unconditional support of Trump and his policies solely because Trump wants them and the Republican Party has been completely hijacked by MAGA.

Kellosian

Answer: MAGA has been told that import tariff money comes from the exporter. If they could read, they'd have a chance at figuring out they're being blatantly lied to. But alas...

The_Schwartz_

Answer: No one really knows why Trump does anything. It’s a classic “mad king” scenario. Conservatives support anything Trump does because that’s what conservatism means in America now.

nsnyder

Answer: they prefer feefees over facts so as long as their hate is satisfied it doesn't matter if Trump is failing by literally every metric

CrazeRage

Answer: US politics has changed to be a fundamentally team sport instead of thinking about issues. 

Conservatives are in power, so their guy is obviously right and biggly smart.

Liberals hate everything they say or do reflexively.

This was heading this way the last election when things were flipped.

You're trying to make it make sense. I don't think it makes sense any more. It's about how they're wielding power to make themselves and their buddies rich.

farfromelite

Answer: Conservatives do not support it, but republicans do. Republicans are not conservative, they are ethno-nationalist fascists. It’s important to recognize that the major parties are somewhat mislabeled in the US, and have changed their fundamental governing approach multiple times.

The GOP is in the process now of transforming from a neoliberal conservative traditionalist/nationalist party to a reactionary fascist autocracy.

Tariffs are not really a core part of the philosophy, but absolute subservience to the will of their figurehead is non-negotiable in the GOP, and republicans take this very seriously. The figurehead, unfortunately, is suffering from severe dementia, and so that puts us all in a rather awkward spot.

I suspect the spell will break in a couple of years when the US experiences a famine resulting from a collapsed agricultural sector resulting from incompetent governance.

SlippySausageSlapper

Answer: The current administration does not like the fact that other countries charge expensive tariffs on goods coming from it, which causes fewer people to import from the US and choose other countries. The administration has decided that it is willing to raise tariffs in order to convince other countries to lower tariffs in return. In the case of an increase in tariffs, both countries lose, one side buys goods more expensively and the other side sells fewer goods to that country compared to the amount it sold (the fact that tariffs increase does not mean that it earns more from sales)

Trump is playing a game of "who blinks first", if he wins - the US succeeds. If he does not, the US loses, but this is not necessarily irreversible since he still has the option to blink first in order to soften the losses.

Why do people support it? Well, some see it as a good idea, both economically and in terms of "stop taking advantage of the US". And some support everything Trump does. Much of politics today is not about substance and content but about "which side are you on".

YoRt3m

Answer: It's explained in the article you linked.

r10d10

Answer: the US didn't just put tariffs on China and Europe, it did to almost every country on Earth including close allies like Canada, Japan, Mexico, Taiwan etc. Some tariffs I don't know if they were lifted up, it's kinda hard to follow for each country since it's always changing.

Now for why, for each country, the US government gave different explanations, for example, for Mexico it was fentanyl traffic, for Brazil it was Bolsonaro, for Canada it was also fentanyl?, I'm not sure, again, it's hard to follow for every country. But one broad explanation they use is to tilt the trade balance in favor of the US, countries that have a big trade surplus were hit with big tariffs, countries with small surplus or deficit were hit with small tariffs. The way the American government actually frames it is that the countries were "taking advantage of us", because  in their logic by selling more than buying to the US, the countries would be profiting over the US, and that's a big no no.

Besides their explanation, for what could be happening, we have different explanations, some more sane, some more insane. Like one is that they want to move industries and the production chains back to the US, so tariffs would make imports expansive, making companies want to move their production there. Another explanation is that the government wants to use tariffs to finance the American state instead of the normal taxes they use, like income taxes. And also, I do believe the trade balance explanation is true, they don't like to not have trade surplus with other countries.

Now, should Europe move away from the US? I can't answer that since I'm not European, but I do believe the US is an unreliable partner, that don't have friends, just strategic allies, and even they are seen as potential treats. And I do think Europeans have a weird prejudice against China. For the US this prejudice makes sense since China is their main competitor, since they see everything as a competition. But Europe, China has been a good reliable trading partner, I can't think of a bad thing China did to Europe.

EqualMight

Answer: Conservatives have the collective IQ of a grape

Groson

Answer: Knowing when you introduce market volatility allows for some great insider trading opportunities.

modeless0

Answer: because conservatives love regressive taxes.

droogarth

Whether you believe it or not, Beijing is tired of Trump's flip-flopping and is seriously preparing for the worst outcome: "economic decoupling."

AdLiving9971

The TACO theory just has played out so many times at this point that he's got 0 leverage.  I know the Chinese shat themselves the first time but he's just chickened out too many times.  For a guy talking in terms of strength constantly, he's quite weak as a negotiator.

BigChicken8666

China just need to sit back for a week or two and wait for US stock market to drop 20%.

Trump will extend the start date for a month without China lifting a finger. 

All China have to do is nothing.

Trump will fold

Comprehensive-Belt40

My understanding is rare earths aren't that rare. Its just that China has the refinement process set up before everyone else and the time needed to get refinement up and running takes awhile.

Bolshoyballs

Trump is a joke. Thank God the world has another super power to stand up against that Moron

sirsi-man

THIS TRADE WAR MAY BE WON ALREADY.

  
The [new curbs announced by the Ministry of Commerce](https://www.scmp.com/economy/policy/article/3328294/china-places-new-export-controls-rare-earth-production-techniques?module=top_story&amp;pgtype=section?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article) will ban the provision of technology and services for mining and processing the minerals without permission.

China is the world’s leading producer of rare earth elements, which are crucial to the production of a wide range of products, from electric vehicles to spacecraft, especially in the military sector.

“Some overseas organisations and individuals are directly processing rare earth items originating in China and then transferring or providing them to relevant organisations and individuals,” the ministry said.

“The items were directly or indirectly used in sensitive areas such as military operations, causing significant damage or potential threats to China’s national security and interests.”

PatBenatari

nakklavaar

Trump playing tic tac toe against an opponent playing go.

VegetableWishbone

Substantial_Lake5957

This is the kind of confidence science and maths gives you. TACO is threatening a bluff at the black jack table while xi is counting cards.

Commune-Designer

Well. China has all the cards and orange has none.

haloweenek

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Hmmm a 5000 old civilization vs a 250 year old country.

puffyshirt99

China isn't stupid. If anyone out there is in doubt that China is now prepared in some way for this they're very mistaken. This is an economy that will survive without a shred of US involvement

mickki4

5354_DXBIST

"US lacks the ability". Famous last words by Hirohito

ParsleyNatural3601

Water can flow, or it can crash. Be water my friend.

uniyk

Another fringe “news” outlet. I say let the tariffs happen, decouple and get it over with.

ScreechingPizzaCat

Redditistuncool

He made Brazil win massive soy bean contracts

GaslightGPT

“We have done so much. It has never done before. So bigly. So beautiful. Some might say I am the only president who has done anything with China.”

Intelligent_Teach247

Well if the plan was to create havoc ... then 1 billion percent accomplished.

Q-ArtsMedia

Is your stance that china is good and that we should have a strong trade with China?

My stance is that China is our enemy in a cold war.

China has weponized its economy to create massive deficits with other countries. It is interesting to me that this sub, being a very liberal sub, ignores the fact that China's external system is a pure preditory capitalism system.

Their system is designed to bankrupt other economies.


Our options are to

1. fight back - some tempoarry economic pain until the economy can regulate.

2. help them - generally, polotitions that only care about themselves. They placate to their constituents for political power and get wealthy through Chinese funds. (Deals, lobbying, campaign contributions)

3. ignorantly stand by and let it happen - the people that can't see or choose not to see what is going on and just keep consuming and praising the low price of their products, being angry or belittling anyone that would dare to fight back.


You're all just hypocrites.... just keep fighting for the capitalism that is crushing us.

SuchDogeHodler

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CHINA PLAYED THAT MORON

President Trump stunned many in the tech world after announcing a controversial deal with chipmakers Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices, allowing them to sell advanced artificial intelligence chips to China in exchange for giving the U.S. government a 15 percent cut of their revenue.

Now there are questions about the legality of this deal and its implications for national security and beyond.

China wants to encourage its firms to trade less with the US and to a lesser extent the EU, the reasons are both geopolitical and economic

  
in the geopolitical realm, by concentrating its trade in the non-superpowers of the world, they gain a lot more leverage and makes china more powerful, this is something to be celebrated and also why these tariffs, now that china has had time to prepare are great since they will harm the US, but much less china and will force chinese companies to work harder in the ROW relations

  
in the economic sense it forces china to be more innovative as to not rely on US patents and products and chipa

  
tariffs are very bad to both sides, but when one side has had time to prepare they can seize the opportunity

ale_93113

We all understand this is for show right? trump would sell Ivanka into slavery if it helped him in the midterms.

trump will give China anything and everything privately if they give him public victories in the summer and fall of 2026. 

And they absolutely will. trump is the best thing to happen to China.

BigDaddyCoolDeisel

Trump makes social media post claiming “all things”, courts say “no”, or “yes, but with limits”, China says, this guy is crazy and builds proverbial walls around his claims by making laws and imposing rules around dumbasses truth social b.s. making our hill to climb longer, steeper and rougher.  Let the MAGA circle jerk continue… thank you for your attention to this matter.

Cash_FlowPro

Bulky-Apricot-1670

WAIT.... did we even finish the last one ? I'm so confused ? A global trade war within a global trade war ? Are these the wars that he keeps saying he ended ? What the hell is going on ? The art of the deal ? I cant believe people fell and bought this bullshit !

themodefanatic


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On one hand Chinese export controls on rare earth materials is suffocating both industrial and defense industries. On the other hand, tariffs in and of themselves aren't going to hurt Xi as much as consumers who depend on imports. 

Taxing the people to teach a lesson to Xi, is bad education and worse politics.

ApocalypseYay

Every few months, it’s the same crisis again

Thandoscovia

flashburnt

It’s time for our regularly scheduled market manipulation and insider trading.

Done327

Half the time, I can't tell if this is profit-influenced stupidity or racism-influenced stupidity.


Either way, the fact he doesn't get that his tariffs hurt Americans more than his targets astounds to no end.

BigBangAssBanger_3D

America needs its allies to contain China, but Trump is currently bullying them.

iu112

What happened to a their 200 agreements in 200 days?

Clearly they don't have any agreements - at least not any that Trump will stand behind as soon as he gets in a mood.

Truthisnotallowed

Probable_Bison

&gt; President Donald Trump said the United States will add an additional 100% tariff on all Chinese imports in retaliation to new export controls Beijing is planning for valuable rare earth minerals.

&gt;The move reignites a trade war between the world's two largest economies after the United States and China had for months maintained a truce that has kept tariffs on each other flat

VaguelyArtistic

Quirky_Discipline346

Basicyeti837

Peacefulgamer2023

bigjimbay

sonomamondo

US President Donald Trump's recent announcement of a 100% tariff on Chinese goods has prompted significant concern in the tech sector, leading to major financial losses.

Trump's Tariffs and US-China Trade Relations

Why This Matters

Public Sentiment Summary

Highlighted Comments

Parties Involved

What the people want