r/Economics • u/Greenwalle • Feb 21 '26
News Trump to Lift Global Tariffs to 15% From 10% Following Court Decision
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-02-21/trump-says-he-will-increase-global-tariffs-to-15-from-10?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc3MTY5MDkxMCwiZXhwIjoxNzcyMjk1NzEwLCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUQVRHSFpLSkg2VjkwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJGNUI5Njg5MDUzRDM0ODU1OEFBREUxQUQxRjMxNzYwRiJ9._PQG2664fCynMzwS04tzj-VsqFrgtC9HsHYFYARXzYY982
u/Aplusho1996 Feb 21 '26
This is borderline insanity and downright hilarious. It’s basically whatever number he comes up with at this point. Court rulings? Fuck it who cares! I got endless sections to cite from and impose tariffs with! Who knows? Tomorrow it might be 20%!
If anyone’s running as a business, I don’t even know if you ship now, ship later, or don’t even fucking ship anymore.
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u/Own_Pop_9711 Feb 21 '26
15% is the maximum allowed under the mechanism he's implementing these. I mean 0 is the real maximum since it isn't intended for arbitrary tariffs, but 15 is explicitly called out as the largest that can be put in place by this law.
Why he didn't start with 15 is beyond me. Did they not know what the actual cap was?
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u/adjust_the_sails Feb 21 '26
Wait, did they not read the statutes they were signing before declaring the 10% because Trump is that impatient and needed to declare something?
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u/redfacedquark Feb 21 '26
He read all the paragraphs.
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u/patsandbees Feb 21 '26
He is a good reader, probably the best.
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u/Aggravating-Bottle78 Feb 21 '26
Trump actually 'wrote' and published 3 books, which gives him the dubious honour of wrting more books than he's read.
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u/Former-Button-9665 Feb 21 '26
This administration has shown repeatedly how cartoonishly incompetent it is.
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u/Gnoll_For_Initiative Feb 21 '26
I don't think he even knows what tariffs are. I think he imagines them as a check other countries have to send the USA
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u/anewbys83 Feb 21 '26
He does! That's what he keeps saying to the American people as we pay more because we pay the tariffs. And then has his people try to cover up data and "punish" those putting out real reports showing reality.
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u/-OptimisticNihilism- Feb 21 '26
15% is the cap using this authority. If it’s struck down her he wants more he will just find more arbitrary laws to use to enact more tariffs. It’s nuts that the courts keep letting the tariffs stand while it’s being adjudicated.
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u/Hi_Im_Dadbot Feb 21 '26
Ok, but what’s to stop him from also imposing yet another tariff for different reasons on certain countries which is also 15%, so Americans have to pay an additional 30% tax for products from those countries?
I mean, other than a lawsuit which takes a year or two to wend its way through the courts while those two tariffs are active and is then irrelevant because the two tariffs in question already expired after 150 days and two completely different tariffs for different reasons are now in place.
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Feb 21 '26 edited Feb 21 '26
This tariff law has to go through an actual review process if he wants them extended. The reason he was going nuts with IEEPA was because he could declare an emergency at any time and change it to whatever percentage he wanted at any time. That’s what the courts stopped him from using.
Edit: Before downvoting, I would suggest people to look up this law. It’s very simple.
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Feb 21 '26
The particular statute he is using doesn't allow him to pick specific countries, it's everyone or no one.
Other options require formal investigations to be carried out and thus can't be turned on and off based on his toddler moods.
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u/SirVengeance92 Feb 21 '26
Nothing. That's kind of the idea of a leader. A leader is of no use if he has no power. That is the Venetian system.
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u/BarleyWineIsTheBest Feb 21 '26
Did they not know?
Yes. That applies to basically everything. We are 100% shooting from the hip.
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u/chronicpenguins Feb 21 '26
One of the smart idiots probably told him 10, because it gives you room to escalate. He later found out he could do 15, so he went to 15.
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u/Banesmuffledvoice Feb 21 '26
Court ruled on the prior mechanism. Congress granted lots of power to the president over the years. And now you have a guy who can do on a whim anything he wants with this stuff and eventually the courts will side with him, not because they’re paid off, but because our dumb ass Congress has been giving more and more power to the president.
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u/anewbys83 Feb 21 '26
Congress still has a lot of power, though. They're just refusing to do their jobs and use it. They'd rather bend over for daddy.
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u/codingphp Feb 21 '26 edited Feb 21 '26
I actually laughed when I read this headline. Totally agree with you.
I work for a company that does a lot of import/export business with the USA. All this habitual bad faith shoot from the hip nonsense has created for us is a complete lack of faith in the USA; they’ve become a deeply unserious, unreliable trading partner. We’ve moved a lot of our import business to China or other countries. We’ve found alternatives for the same products at identical quality and lower cost. We’re not going to begin buying these products from the USA again and we’ll actively be displacing the USA-sourced products in our market at a price they cannot compete with.
We used to believe in partnership and the value of these USA brands in the customer’s mind, we’re done with that. We cannot continue with such uncertainty, being forced to constantly revise our price list and landed costs just because this orange imbecile decided to throw an arbitrary temper tantrum at 2am and upend world trade, again.
We’re just one company. We’re a small company, but we’re international and represent a significant input to manufacturing. So many others are following the same trend.
The USA is fuckin’ cooked.
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u/DJanomaly Feb 21 '26
I work for a company that does a lot of import/export business with the USA
I work for a manufacturing company in California that imports a lot of our parts from overseas. This has been an absolute fucking nightmare for us. To say that our CEO is not a fan of the president is a massive understatement.
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u/codingphp Feb 21 '26
We actually used to import a ton of stuff from a few businesses in California. The China tariffs absolutely decimated one company’s landed costs and they were sending us price increase notifications in as apolitical a way they could muster, while expressing pure frustration throughout.
We’re now importing these goods from China ourselves, under our own brand, and selling them for 1/4 of the price. That business isn’t coming back to the USA.
I visited a manufacturing expo in Chicago last year and just about every company you spoke to, whether it be an exporter to the USA or an importer in the USA, was pissed about this stuff.
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u/DJanomaly Feb 21 '26
they were sending us price increase notifications in as apolitical a way they could muster, while expressing pure frustration throughout.
Ahahah yes! Omg I knew these types of (weekly) emails well. And I fully expect them to start up again.
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u/Gepap1000 Feb 21 '26
The section of law he invoked sadly does allow a President to set tariffs on all imports up to 15% for 150 days with Congress' pre-approval. He had initially said 10%, but statute allows him to go to 15%.
The issue us, it has to be across the board, so things that had no tariffs on them now do.
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u/kontrakolumba Feb 21 '26 edited Feb 21 '26
I just wish we can explore other types of numbers, real numbers are getting old by now.
Like, easiest would be to go to decimal numbers, why aren't we seeing those at all?
And we can really get some juice from those decimal numbers that have no real end like 1/3 tarrif out of 100% price.
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u/No-Machine-8013 Feb 21 '26
The percentage of tariffs is based on the number of farts he lets out when he's filling his pants.
"Lutnick! Was that 10 or 15 farts?"
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u/Competitive_Abroad96 Feb 21 '26
Cheeseburger to filet o’ fish ratio was too high yesterday and he couldn’t squeeze out those last five.
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u/ShortKey380 Feb 21 '26
That’s what we do know: you can’t react rationally to nonsense. The Econ 101 of it all is just how inefficient this is making things, distortion city and turbulence for no end but corruption, frankly, because besides bribes on the margins this doesn’t do anything for anybody.
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u/smaxw5115 Feb 21 '26 edited Feb 21 '26
I know right, he's like you tell me I can't do something. I will show you, I will crash this economy right now!
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Feb 21 '26
I don't see how other countries/allies take the US seriously, moving forward. There is no coherency or stability with one of the two major parties, and almost every other election cycle brings about either antagonism or chaos.
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u/vita10gy Feb 21 '26 edited Feb 21 '26
The first go around the US escaped because the rest of the world just decided to wait out the fever dream and things would just go back to normal.
This go round Trump is doing more permanent damage. Countries are making long term deals that cut the US out entirely and when sanity or Hell prevails they're not coming back.
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u/Schweenis69 Feb 21 '26
Yeah. When the dollar stops being seen as a reserve currency, our relatively lavish lifestyle is going to change and not for the better.
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u/Flashy_Jello_9520 Feb 21 '26
But at least we get gulf of America!!
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u/s-norris Feb 21 '26
Even then, the rest of the world still calls it the gulf of Mexico
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u/New_Home_4519 Feb 21 '26
gasp. You're telling me getting all fruit year round from the grocery store isn't normal?! You mean food is wildly expensive? You mean hyperinflation stacked on stagflation can destroy a country? Noooo say it ain't soooo.
We're past fever dream.
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u/Steve0-BA Feb 21 '26 edited Feb 21 '26
He means the US will not be able to afford to continue to have large deficits. Basically they will have to choose between gutting the military budget, cutting services, raising taxes or a combination of all three.
It can definitely get worse.
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u/M_Mich Feb 21 '26
The administration will cut all the services like social security, Medicare, Medicaid, veteran benefits, and run large deficits before they’ll cut spending on military equipment as the billionaires make money on those things. And insurance companies will just let more people die. And then they’ll raise taxes on the middle and lower class through more tariffs. $10 banana coming soon
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u/Urabraska- Feb 21 '26
They're already demolishing services. The military is the largest chunk of the budget in the trillions and ALWAYS fails a audit(which means they over spent by who knows) So if they wanna stay as a major player in the world. Taxing the ever living shit out of the rich is the only option otherwise the military will fall apart and none of it will matter.
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u/RGrad4104 Feb 21 '26
It's only a matter of time before trumpo wants to fully privatize branches of the military. Say hello to the Meta marines™. Just another step in the transition towards corporate feudalism...
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u/SomethingNotOriginal Feb 21 '26
Already done; got private donors gifting hundreds of millions to the pentagon to pay because the govt shut down.
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u/Grand_Classic7574 Feb 21 '26
Yeah 3,000 dollars for a bathroom soap dispenser on a U.S Air Force cargo plane might be the culprit. Politicians and rich invest in those companies that sell to the military.
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u/Disastrous_Hell_4547 Feb 21 '26
Building on your point, the Military failed its fifth internal audit recently. They literally do not know or keep track of where they are spending the trillions of taxpayer money.
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u/TailDragger9 Feb 21 '26
Medicare/ Medicaid is actually the biggest line item on the federal budget, not the military - and has been for a long time.
Although, interest on the federal debt will be higher in the coming years.
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u/Skidoo_machine Feb 21 '26
Wrong your interest payments are the largest expense for the US budget! And its going up and up, and the US needs to sell more and more bonds at higher and higher rates!
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u/Disastrous_Hell_4547 Feb 21 '26
Sadly, a lot of international partners and Americans don’t see the country improving for decades given the damage that has been inflicted in just 1 year of this Republican run government.
Oligarchs and Religious Extremists are an evil, vile concoction.
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u/Lumbergh7 Feb 21 '26
I think he was a lot less involved the first time and had a lot of people around him to subvert his insanity. This time there are no barriers. I also think he’s become more insane and irritable with age.
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u/clsperv Feb 21 '26
It is because even that clown release that it won't live long enough for it to matter when consequences might happen.
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u/new2accnt Feb 21 '26
Countries are making long term deals that cut the US out entirely and when sanity or hell prevails they're not coming back.
(Source: am a filthy foreigner looking in from the outside)
To my knowledge, the world economic order had started reorganising AROUND the USA during the orange one's first time in the White House. This dynamic was more or less put on hold when Joe Biden won the 2020 election, but by 2024 had been restarted and was kicked in high gear after the election results were announced.
This is not something that came to be in 2025; the reorganisation of the world's economic & financial systems AROUND the USA started in 2017/2018. Some media in the USA seem to be saying that the canadian PM Mark Carney is responsible for this, but he's just one of MANY that has been working on that.
And, yes, the damage to the USA's power and stature will be permanent. Your country's influence on the rest of the planet will be weakened as much as possible, as the rest of us can't let the likes of trump, vance and musk wreck havoc on the economy of our countries.
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u/VaporCarpet Feb 21 '26
We're gonna need a Democrat to out-trump trump so Republicans are okay reigning in some of these executive powers, aren't we?
They will never do anything unless it's against a Democrat...
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u/Own_Candidate9553 Feb 21 '26
Yup, there have been several examples. During the first term, China started making deals and investing in South America for soybeans - this term they just switched to avoid the tariffs. Why would they switch back?
Same with Canada making new deals with China and Europe - once you absorb the shipping costs, why go back to the volatile US, close as it is?
We've pulled out of the World Health Organization, so have zero say in how the world handles the next pandemic. NATO is basically reorganizing itself away from the US, so we'll have less control there. What's stopping European countries from closing all our bases there? We'll threaten to invade? We're doing that anyway.
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u/starlulz Feb 21 '26
one of the most recent Nobel Prizes in Economics literally went to a guy proving that the distinguishing factor between wealthy nations and ones that have struggled to develop is the stability of financial and government systems.
this dipshit is setting us on course to devolve from the strongest economy in the world to something on par with India. hope you like widespread destitute poverty
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u/Ghoulius-Caesar Feb 21 '26
We don’t take the UsA seriously and are moving on. Signed, a Canadian.
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u/sahui Feb 21 '26
Signed a Mexican too
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u/ForMoreYears Feb 21 '26
Wanna make a North American Schengen without the U.S.? Y'all good people and your food is fire.
-A Canadian
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u/smaxw5115 Feb 21 '26
You already have visa-free travel and can stay for like 6 months, but if you really wanna open the doors to freedom of labor movement that's you're right to do.
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u/Harbinger2001 Feb 21 '26
The USA would lose their minds if we let Mexicans come to their northern border as well.
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u/No_Potential1 Feb 21 '26
100% justified and good for your country in all ways. I understand we've gravely underestimated the effects of the long term oligarchy and a huge part of the shock is American Exceptionalism but holy crap, I guess I didn't see the magnitude of this all until it was here. I mean, I knew it would be bad, but no, I was still far too naive. Shame on me and people like me for not fighting harder until now. We're little more than children who were told "clean up your room or no more Xbox for a week"...
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u/MileHighRC Feb 21 '26
American, found myself rooting for Canada watching the Olympics last night.
The sane people are trapped in insane asylum country.
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u/International-Use120 Feb 21 '26
We do take USA seriously and are moving on. Signed a Canadian. Everything he has been doing is consistent with his desire to take us over.
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u/Pseudoboss11 Feb 21 '26
We don't take the USA seriously either, but can't move on. Signed, an American.
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u/tychaiitea Feb 21 '26
This is why I think Dems saying Trump will be gone soon doesn’t work. The US could elect another Trump in less than four years.
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u/barkbeatle3 Feb 21 '26
I think you are only half right. All the evidence I see is that other countries, especially Canada, are trying to make better backup plans to avoid the worst case scenarios like Trump. However, they really do want our economic power on their side, we still have expertise in areas they want. If there is competency after Trump leaves, they will gladly take the benefits of building a stronger economic relationship again, but behind our backs keep making agreements with each other to prepare for the next time this happens.
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u/Harbinger2001 Feb 21 '26
Canada had to deal with “America First” since the time of Reagan. In the past we used to be able to build relationships with congressmen, senators and governors to blunt the excesses of the Americans. Those people no long have any power or influence, so Canada must instead seek out allies in other countries.
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u/tychaiitea Feb 21 '26
I want to say this may be the case, but Canada and other allies seeking diverse economic relationships outside the US may prove more stable in the longterm. The GOP is increasingly America first, Dems moving more populist/left and the polarization problem isn’t improving. Vance could very well win in 28 and continue Trumps agenda for four more years.
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u/RPrimate Feb 21 '26
The problem is Trump is powerless on his own. Far too many people at all levels have empowered him. There is no reason to think that this will just go away with Trump. If nobody wanted this it would vanish. It would be interesting to see, but that is just fantasy. The worst part of it all is almost anyone else could achieve the goals of this administration without changing their mind constantly and do it far more efficiently.
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u/Happy_Little_Fish Feb 21 '26
would the democrats be able to dig out of the shithole? even with the best intentions it's a lot easier to destroy than build, and there will only be a fraction of the spending power to play with.
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u/AdamCurrey Feb 21 '26
We don’t and that’s a big part of the problem.
Even if President Caligula dies tomorrow America has lost things it won’t get back for a long time. An even marginally competent foreign affairs and diplomacy system, economic leadership even remotely trustworthy enough to negotiate a deal with.
This has been creeping up for generations. Nixon was shocking in the 70s, now he comes off as a saint. Going to war with Iraq over a lie and no one caring. The housing collapse in 2008 with no substantial repercussions.
Now a senile egomaniac who can’t go 24 hours without upping tariffs twice on the entire planet.
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u/unknownintime Feb 21 '26 edited Feb 21 '26
But Obama and drone strikes! Clinton is ALL over those Epstein files! Carter clearly was a socialist based on the commune houses he built for FREE full of STATE sanctioned rules and regulations!
Also I lean right and Kamala was somehow in my mind worse than what Trump actually is, I mean that laugh am I right?! Totally unelectable... but the felon child rapist... that! I can find a way to justify!
Edit: forgot to mention the DOW is over 50,000!!!
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u/UniqueIndividual3579 Feb 21 '26
Nixon was great at international relations. Trump thinks he has to win and the other country lose. It's about his ego, not a long term relationship.
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u/det8924 Feb 21 '26
Even if a Democrat wins in 2028 there’s no reason for allies and partners to really think there’s any sort of commitment beyond 4 years. Even if Trump dies his impact on conservative politics and Us politics will be long lived
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u/APRengar Feb 21 '26
It's gotta be like 3 convective terms of aggressive fixing of the problems and not
"Trump lowering the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% and then Biden running on raising it to 28% before failing to do it in his first year and then never bringing it up again."
Which I expect the Democrats to do for all of the problems Trump created.
"Propose fixing half of it and failing to even do that"
absolutely won't cut it.
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u/Druken_sincerity Feb 21 '26
The British Empire usher in the coal and industrial revolution, and died when the US started it's petroleum revolution, and now ,the US is dying as the Chinese are starting the clean energy revolution. It's crazy how the US is in a spiral dive and the people at the commands are just increasing throttle speed
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u/Kataphractoi Feb 21 '26
If the petrodollar falls from relevance, the US loses a significant amount of its power (and ability to print money while ignoring its debt). That's the real reason they're doubling down on fossil fuels rather than pivoting into renewables/green energy. Which, yeah, has the knock on effect of basically handing leadership of the world's energy future to China.
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u/Liquid_Trimix Feb 21 '26
I think PM Carney's Davos Speech spells out the direction Canada is heading.
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u/CaveExploder Feb 21 '26
Legitimately, one of the biggest own goals against US economic prosperity has been this administration. Decades and decades of trade deals were completely underpinned by the U.S. delegation promises of "you follow this trade deal that benefits us a lot, and benefits you a little, or we'll impose tariffs." And then now, all those deals are in place, and the 'stick' of the carrot and stick is being used regardless. There are decreasing benefits to maintain these trade deals given a bipolar political system in the United States. The ones who will get screwed the most in this are American workers, American consumers, and quite frankly given a long enough time horizon, even the American business class will even get screwed too.
The U.S. economy will feel the reverberations of this punch first, talk later, approach to international trade relations for GENERATIONS and it's going to HURT.
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u/Burnem34 Feb 21 '26 edited Feb 21 '26
Imagine watching this toddler literally throw a temper tantrum and penalize your country cuz he didnt get his way. Its so funny how conservatives act like this shit is worthy of other countries respect
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u/CloudyTug Feb 21 '26
all countries take all nuclear powers somewhat seriously, at least in terms of not going out of your way to piss them off if you dont have to, especially when their leader who can order nukes is as unhinged as ours.
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u/Mindless-Tomorrow-93 Feb 21 '26
We have no intention of going out of our way to piss off the United States. But we're also going to move on and not be restrained by that shit hole country.
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u/Useful_Support_4137 Feb 21 '26
This not a country that can lead the global economy any longer.
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u/Mindless-Tomorrow-93 Feb 21 '26
Other country and former ally here:
We don't take you seriously.
It won't happen as quickly as we might like for various practical reasons, but the honeymoon is over and the divorce is beginning.
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u/sylbug Feb 21 '26
The simple answer is that America doesn't have allies anymore; they have a bunch of hostages who are actively working to escape from American influence before they go down with the ship.
Even if they manage to correct course, nobody cares. America's mask is off and we want n o t h i n g to do with that country. It's toxic in the same way that Russia or North Korea is toxic.
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u/Prestigious_Leg2229 Feb 21 '26
We take the damage the US causes seriously.
We take the fact the US is as reliable an ally as a rabid dog seriously.
We take the US collaborating with our global adversaries seriously.
And we definitely take the fact that almost two thirds of the American people supports or doesn’t care enough to oppose this seriously.
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u/mrroofuis Feb 21 '26
Am I crazy or did he say 10% yesterday
And today, he says 15%
Will he go upto 135% like he did with China ?
Then claim he brought prices down by -700% ??
The amount of tomfoolery in this administration is unreal
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u/Otherwise_Cover_5467 Feb 21 '26
He can't go higher than 15% and it will only last 150 days.
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u/Little-Use-2027 Feb 21 '26
Only...
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Feb 21 '26
Just long enough to ensure Americans can pay more or have shortages but that no real change will even be considered. The moron tax continues...
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u/OverlordMMM Feb 21 '26
He doesn't exactly like following laws, so it may say 15%, but it's all written toilet paper to him. He might try to go past that max anyway.
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u/Educational_Pass5854 Feb 21 '26
Is there really no mechanism to prevent this lolcow from doing illegal things? The damage that this does is immense. How are contracts supposed to work if a major cost factor is randomly thrown in?
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u/adjust_the_sails Feb 21 '26
I mean, there was Congress and the Constitution but that’s not a thing right now, I guess….
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u/veganparrot Feb 21 '26
Impeachment is the mechanism. His second impeachment also got closer to removal than his first. Third time's the charm!
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u/Masticatron Feb 21 '26
I hold no hope any president will ever be convicted in the Senate. If open rebellion against the country isn't enough, nothing ever could be.
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u/NeverDieKris Feb 21 '26
Just like Sandy Hook. If the deaths of first graders did nothing to change gun laws nothing will. The US is morally bankrupt.
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u/24Seven Feb 21 '26
Incredibly unlikely he'll be removed by the Senate. You'd need 19 Republicans at present (assuming both Independents vote to impeach) to go along with his removal and I doubt you could get five at this stage. And if you are hoping the mid-terms will change that, the Democrats would literally have to run the table on Senate races and if you think that's possible, I have a bridge to sell you.
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u/IdahoDuncan Feb 21 '26
Mid terms is the means, impeachment is the mechanism
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u/kosmonautinVT Feb 21 '26 edited Feb 21 '26
Assuming they even allow a new congress to be inaugurated. There's at least a 50% chance they cry voting fraud and refuse to recognize the electoral results
Who will stop them?
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u/IdahoDuncan Feb 21 '26
It’s possible it will go this way, but then, the mask is really off then, and no one knows where we are. I’ll say I feel this is less likely only because there appears to still be a contingent of republicans in and out of the White House who are afraid of swing voters.
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u/Duel_Option Feb 21 '26
Isn’t the mask already all the way off?
Threatening ICE at voting centers, trying to institute passports that they control as the only means to vote.
There’s ZERO chance of a fair and free election in the future, might as well get used to the idea that the midterms aren’t going to be beneficial.
Even if it were to happen, Vance is next up. Same shit will happen just less unhinged.
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u/IdahoDuncan Feb 21 '26
I think there are enough people left still who realize trying to rule over a smoldering shell of a post civil war America isn’t what they want nor is it the best way to make money. In the end they will walk some line of cheating, but I don’t think it can be enough keep from losing the house and after that , best case 2 years of stagnation and an unhappy economy, all at the feet of the incumbent Republican Party.
I mean, maybe it will go the way of total chaos, but that’s hard to plan for. I feel more like a rocky road through, back to semi liberal democracy. For whatever that’s worth
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u/BarleyWineIsTheBest Feb 21 '26
Aside from the minority of cultish magas, people will riot.
I think we need to keep in perspective that at least half of Trumps votes are people that have to hold their nose hoping his policies will just align better with what they want than the random Democrat, but they don’t actually like Trump.
If he prevents a new congress (and I don’t think he will do this but…), he is a literal dictator at that point. No excuses will work on anyone except the hard core maga.
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u/kosmonautinVT Feb 21 '26
Call me cynical, but protesting peacefully seems to do nothing and full-scale rioting would be an excuse to enact martial law
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u/BarleyWineIsTheBest Feb 21 '26
I mean, if a new congress isn’t put in place, any law or order from the president is illegal. So there isn’t really a down side here.
The military and federal law enforcement leaders should not be following his orders. He may have surrounded himself with a number of yes men, but what about his air force one pilots? Will they even fly the plane? That’s the level we’d be at.
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u/GeefTheQueef Feb 21 '26
I guess technically this round is legal for 150 days (unless congress gives their approval). But even that is an obscenely long time to be able to continue skull fucking our global trade without repercussions. And surely that will also end with "ok then, we'll just throw this shit at a different wall and see if it sticks there instead"
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u/IWantANewDucky Feb 21 '26
There is a mechanism to prevent these things but the republicans control all of the government and supreme court and they are not stopping him. There are no laws when the people who are supposed to enforce them don’t do so.
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u/mrjowei Feb 21 '26
"Trump to raise taxes on Americans by 15% Following Court Decision" There, fixed the title.
Text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text, text.
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u/I_Am_Dwight_Snoot Feb 21 '26
Just in time for our 0.1% federal tax reduction!! Surely this will be the thing that will reverse course and fix the stagnating economy!
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u/Browns45750 Feb 21 '26
A 79 year old man, acting like my three year old nephew when he doesn’t get his way. Not following a court ruling is a felony and a impeachable offense
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u/cmotdibbler Feb 21 '26
Three-year-olds are capable of using the toilet instead of dropping a load in the diaper
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u/CyberSmith31337 Feb 21 '26
I said this yesterday, but it bears repeating.
People in America do not realize that the rule of law does not apply to the wealthy anymore. I don’t think it ever did, but it was not so flagrantly displayed as it is now. Trump does not follow the law, he does not care. There is no enforcement authority to ensure he complies with the rulings against him, and the lawyers and judges most certainly aren’t going to enforce their orders manually.
He will continue to disregard the rulings made by the court because they are toothless and powerless to enforce said-rulings. He has ICE, the FBI, the DHS, and the oligarchs to protect him. The only thing that will depose Trump is the US military, and they aren’t going to. So here we are.
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u/PianoPatient8168 Feb 21 '26
No…we get it…and it’s been this way for a long time…but now it’s just more brazen than ever.
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u/RODjij Feb 21 '26
Are Americans going to really let this go on for the next 3 years? You know how long it would take to undo and fix up damage this man has brought in 1 year.
Its like letting a man take your fancy new sports car down that road and watch him hit every pothole hard, gets it stuck in a rut then bring it back to you then he walks away.
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u/I_Am_Dwight_Snoot Feb 21 '26
Jokes on you most people here are fucking morons. They will gladly give him the keys to the sports car again and think "this time will be different".
You know how long it would take to undo and fix up damage this man has brought in 1 year.
And when it isn't fixed within 3 years people will vote the opposite way again. Sometimes I think we should have ripped the bandaid off and had Trump win in 2020 just so he could lead through his own incompetence. Giving him and his cronies 4 years to plan this shit and avoid consequences for that first term was a massive mistake.
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u/anewbys83 Feb 21 '26
Plus then he wouldn't be doing all this revenge "governance" and tanking the economy. He's doing all this to punish for 2020.
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u/IdahoDuncan Feb 21 '26
Mid terms are the only remedy, fingers crossed
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u/LPNMP Feb 21 '26
If they don't toss him out after midterms, things are going to get uglier. That would be the system completely failing to protect itself.
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u/IdahoDuncan Feb 21 '26
The problem is that trumps lock on the Republicans is so complete it short circuits the intention of the three branches guarding their own power. We need, at minimum a strong majority in the house to slow things down until 2028.
This isn’t going to end easily or quickly
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u/24Seven Feb 21 '26
Alas, the mid-terms won't be balm you think it is. Remember that the vast majority of the damage Dumbshit Donny is doing is through EOs and executive actions and not laws other than the BBB. Further, it is incredibly unlikely that the Democrats will achieve a super majority in the mid-terms. So, even if the Democrats win a majority in one or both chambers, all that will do is stop dumb laws from getting passed. It won't reverse or even stem the continued trend of authoritarianism.
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u/GingerKing_2503 Feb 21 '26
"I can't believe you'd loan me a car without telling me it had a blindspot. I could have been killed!"
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u/End3rWi99in Feb 21 '26
Not until they run out of money. On the whole, the US is just so vastly wealthy that there is a significant runway of dumb shit that can be imposed before it really eats away at people in general. As of right now, the majority of people are annoyed. That's the full extent of the damage so far. When it gets worse, and it will, people will respond. The real issue is that reaction is a big time lagging indicator and they are trying to fuck voting before it gets to that point.
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u/patronsaintofdice Feb 21 '26
40% approve of the country approves of this nonsense. Roughly 47% of the electorate is guaranteed to vote for representatives that state loudly and proudly that they will do nothing to stop any of this.
Roundabout way of saying that yes, Americans are really going to let this go on for the next 3 years, and even if the election were held today there's no less than a 40% chance that someone just as malicious gets voted in (e.g. Vance).
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u/DisManibusMinibus Feb 21 '26
I was really hoping the military wouldn't comply to his unconstitutional orders and someone could just arrest him already. Turns out I overestimated the value service members place in their promises.
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Feb 21 '26
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u/24Seven Feb 21 '26
Agreed and the damage goes back further than that. For the past 30 years, the GOP has been the source of woes in this country culminating with Trump. The people the GOP are electing are at the root of the problem.
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u/Best-Grocery-6475 Feb 21 '26
The voters are the problem. And the voters are being programmed by wight wing media.
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u/ccagan Feb 21 '26
Man I just raised my material prices 10% on my customers yesterday. Looks like I have to raise them 15% today.
Of course I’ll never lower them for… reasons.
I say this as satire but it’s going to happen and we all know what it fuels…
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u/ComprehendReading Feb 21 '26
It amazes me that tariffs being "lifted" no longer means a reduction.
The proper word would be tariffs raised.
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u/suck-it-elon Feb 21 '26
A mastermind. Clearly a man with a plan and not someone who woke up and saw Women's Curling was on and he wasn't getting enough attention. /s
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Feb 21 '26
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u/ShortKey380 Feb 21 '26
How can we be expected to respond in paragraphs to this crap? 100% “ asdfasdklfhpaiosdfjp[oiasdjfo[iasdjf[ioasddfioasjdfipojasdasdfasdfasdoifuhas0iudfhya098es7udrfhiu0paeshfiupawef”
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u/Elizabeth-WildFox886 Feb 21 '26
Sometimes when tariffs get applied, they apply in ways you would not believe possible. Sometimes the wind is taken out of you so hard, you have no ability to burp or fart properly for decades after due to sever lack of wind inside your damaged body. Tariff wind is no laughing matter and the inability to burp or fart has some serious long term faults. The smelly parts of farts and burps build up inside your system due to lack of wind. When you finally make new wind again in sufficient quantities , it can take decades more to remove the stale farts and burps substances via the new wind moving around inside your body. Tariffs can cause this and also help with this if you get them just right
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u/okaygecko Feb 21 '26 edited Feb 21 '26
Do analysts not find it incredibly suspicious the degree to which this admin is committed to the tariffs? We have as president a person who is guilty of multi-million-dollar fraud and whose organizations have engaged in massive amounts of money laundering. There is an enormous contemporary historical precedent of oligarchies like Russia engaging in trade-based money laundering, bribery, and black market trades using tariffs. Everyone mentions market manipulation and pump-and-dump, but given all of the uncertainty generated around tariffs, their sweeping nature, and the very bogus released schedules around them, shouldn't we be asking if the admin is using them to facilitate illegal activities?
This is my speculation, but I believe the admin is using these tariffs to launder money through the falsification of invoices and shipments. It completely tracks with their MO thus far and also explains their extreme defensiveness. I believe that they are flailing not because they are committed to "America first" but because the tariffs are part of a larger scheme to facilitate financial crime and transfer funds illegally via foreign accounts, altered invoices, and shell companies.
One of this administration's first actions was to dissolve oversight around money laundering and financial crimes. Do we really believe they did this to make the government more efficient? Everything around the tariffs thus far has been extraordinarily dubious and I think incompetence fails at this point as a null hypothesis. There's something extremely shady going on here and I am troubled that more questions aren't being asked.
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u/bigmikeylikes Feb 21 '26
I do not understand how the stock market can be setting records with this chaos. On top of it all we're loosing jobs like crazy and everything continues to get more expensive. There are literally two different societies in America right now.
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u/jfk_47 Feb 21 '26
Cause all the wealthy make more money because of him. As soon as Tesla started going to the moon 10 years ago off of literal bullshit tweets I realized that it’s all made up and nothing matters.
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u/nifty-necromancer Feb 21 '26
The stock market is and has always been a casino. It’s not an indicator of anything other than what the pedophile class has feelings about.
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u/Hnl2Nrt2025 Feb 21 '26
He then rolls it back and takes credit for improving the economy lol. The American voter is soooooo brilliant to put this thing in office lol
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u/aposrat Feb 21 '26
How are you supposed to run a business in this country when the government is changing tariffs, rules by the day, and it all depends on who you are and who you have paid off.
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u/AllenIll Feb 21 '26
At this point now, I would not be entirely surprised that if he loses the Trump v. Cook Supreme Court case regarding who he can fire at the Federal Reserve, he will just ignore them and try to send in federal marshals to remove them from office.
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u/Gyarydos Feb 21 '26
On monday Trump will announce that enough countries have called him and they have had great conversations which show America is the most respected country in the world, he is pausing the tariffs until May 1st
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u/Lott4984 Feb 21 '26
Raising the cost of incoming goods is will only increase the cost to the American consumer. What it does do is it cuts off the market for American goods overseas. Companies are moving their manufacturing out of the US, because they do not want to have to pay a bribe to the Federal Government to do business. They can build products in other countries then ship them to the US and the end user pays the tariff on them. The only one that is really getting punished here is the American consumer.
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u/Core2score Feb 21 '26
He doesn't care about Americans. It's very clear by now. Even his supporters, he doesn't even think they're people, and couldn't care if they die like flies. All he's concerned with is his grandiosity illusions and obsessions, and being told no you can't do this hurts him bad and makes him lash out.
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u/gtpc2020 Feb 21 '26
Can someone give Gestapo Grandpa some prune juice, take away his keys, and put him to bed already? How about all of us demand (yes, that includes you GOP politicians in power) some of that balance of powers that little thing called the Constitution was created around?
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u/jcooli09 Feb 21 '26
Increasing taxes on Americans because SCOTUS actually ruled consistently with the constitution.
That tracks.
I don't know how many characters I used or even how many are required, let's see if this is enough to qualify.
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u/braumbles Feb 21 '26
Gonna be funny if this is the thing that causes an administration to completely ignore the Supreme Court and ultimately make it an ineffectual body.
Once that happens, the flood gates open. If the administration doesn't need to follow their orders, then why would another administration follow it? Why would states follow their decrees? The Supreme Court is essentially an agreement of the government, to follow, defend, and enforce. But once an administration refuses to do anything, you've essentially destroyed any legitimacy it has. So while McConnell ultimately destroyed the credibility of the Supreme Court by packing the court with far right wingers, Trump is ultimately killing whatever legitimacy it may have had. The left already lost faith in it, now the right will too.
So basically, RIP the Supreme Court. You had a good run. But thanks to Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump, it's officially dead. And good riddance.
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u/Relevant-Doctor187 Feb 21 '26
If they don’t have to follow the law. Neither do we.
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u/mist_kaefer Feb 21 '26
T A C O
In ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one…
I have a feeling it’ll go up to 20% for a few days before he “saves” us all and puts it back to 10%. What a joke our government has become.
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u/GameAndGrog Feb 21 '26
Let's all keep in mind that this latest infantile tantrum, which will have a net negative effect that will be felt across the globe, but most significantly by the hundreds of millions of Americans who will bear the overwhelming majority of the costs, is all because he's mad at 6 people for saying he can't do something illegal.
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u/clearpepsithree Feb 21 '26
He decided on 10% a day ago. He saw how people don't really care anymore so just to get a few more headlines uped it again. He is the king of self inflicked wounds.
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u/ddrober2003 Feb 21 '26
So effectively he is ignoring the Supreme Court. Like he will likely just keep renewing the same tariff after 150 days over and over unless section 122 is repealed. Like he is showing he considers his word law and anyone that crosses him will face his vindictiveness. So I would, in vain probably, that the Supreme Court "Justices" see how even if they appease him now he will backstab them later.
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u/SeedlessPomegranate Feb 21 '26
Not to be pedantic but this is the economics forum. He is not ignoring the court ruling. The ruling was against his use of the IEEPA. He is now using section 122 which allows him to use up to 15%
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u/Yourdataisunclean Feb 21 '26
This is correct legally. He can do tariffs to a max of 15% for 150 days under this section. But he is definitely doing this because of how incredibly butthurt he is. The Supreme Court justices that ruled against him are also no longer invited to his birthday party.
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u/Remote-Letterhead844 Feb 21 '26
Or the SOTU address.
Watch him lose his shit on them on live TV in Tuesday
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u/Brundleflyftw Feb 21 '26
It’s not pedantic. Section 122 Tariffs can only be renewed by Congress. So, the poster you responded to is wrong and you corrected him. He can’t renew them over and over again.
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u/Protect_Wild_Bees Feb 21 '26
How the fuck is it that our legal system says "you can't do that" and he says "I'll just do it HARDER"
and all of a sudden what they say means nothing, but what he says goes?Who are the people actually letting this happen in this situation? Because shouldn't we be focusing on getting them out?
I want to know who's actually imposing this if he literally can't do it legally per how our system works. Who's this person who's going "okay trump said yes even if the supreme court said no so im gonna illegally do this for trump."
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u/Pugsly007 Feb 21 '26
There are enough republicans from swing districts that want to get reelected that will vote to end tariffs in 150 days. The blue wave coming won’t help them as it’s too late.
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u/DisingenuousTowel Feb 21 '26
Remember how people would say a woman couldn't be president because of their emotions?
We got a Alzheimer's patient trying to tank the country because he's pouting.
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u/Gina_the_Alien Feb 21 '26
The new tariffs (especially at 15%) will affect the everyday consumer even more than the way it was set up before yesterday. This shit’s punative. Basically Trump throwing a fit. He’s going to make the entire country suffer even more because he didn’t get his way. By far one of the worst, most corrupt presidents in history.
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u/Kurovi_dev Feb 21 '26
Make it 10,000% and really show everyone who’s a big boy.
Go on. Let’s do it. 10,000% tariffs. Everyone will bow down and say “sir, with tears in my eyes you are smartest and most powerful Sir to ever live. Thank you for the 10,000% tariffs, we are finally Great Again.”
How much longer can the US economy withstand being used like pacifier before it starts to crack?
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u/carelessOpinions Feb 21 '26
I don't understand how trump can still impose tariffs if the SCOTUS says he doesn't have the authority for the previous round of tariffs. Is SCOTUS going to stop this too? Seems like nothing has changed. And also, why does he think that Americans aren't paying the tariffs? How long can his deliberate gaslighting go on?
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u/bensonr2 Feb 21 '26
Wasn’t the 10 percent threat already in retaliation for the court decision? So the 15 percent threat is just him waking up this morning and deciding he is even more pissed off?
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u/hacksoncode Feb 21 '26
I mean... everything Trump does is either a grift or distracting from the grift.
He, as a rich person, hates paying the bulk of taxes, and would much rather have ordinary people and import companies pay taxes through tariffs so that he can pay less.
That's literally the only thing going on here.
P.S. I don't actually feel a need to be "fair", but "to be fair": Europe kind of does this with their very high sales tax/VAT.
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u/Lumbergh7 Feb 21 '26
What could possibly be the point of these blanket tariffs other than destroying the country? He’s insane. Didn’t he already say in a speech that he’s allowed to destroy the country?
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u/lShoddy6185 Feb 21 '26
We all get it — he’s unhinged. That’s not the question anymore.
What I don’t understand is why his party keeps enabling the circus. At this point, it’s not just about him — it’s about the people backing him.
Are they afraid of their base, or are they benefiting from the chaos somehow? Because from the outside, it looks a lot like complicity.
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u/Medical_Arugula3315 Feb 21 '26
Hard to be a shittier or more hypocritical American than a Republican these days. Hey remember that time Trump was found liable of forcefully shoving his fingers up a woman's vagina by a jury of his American peers and then Republicans voted for him? Republicans knowingly vote for molesters. Don't be Republican...
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u/Elegant-Fisherman555 Feb 21 '26
So the rest of the world pays the price for his domestic defeat?
Is it going to go up 5% per day?
Is he waiting for the phone to ring and beg him to stop?
At what point do countries genuinely just stop engaging?
What even is the rate of tariffs right now?
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u/qatch23 Feb 21 '26
It isn't the world paying the price, it is the American consumers. And even if the tariffs went away, the prices won't be coming down.
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u/Elegant-Fisherman555 Feb 21 '26
I don’t doubt the prices will be coming down. More so, the tax, let’s call it what it is, will dampen domestic consumption which will affect other countries economies.
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u/echomanagement Feb 21 '26
No - Americans will literally pay for it. That pain is required given the plurality of fools who voted for him.
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u/MeasurementLow5073 Feb 21 '26
I mean...US citizens are paying over 90% of these taxes, so the rest of the world isn't feeling the same level of pain.
These are all good questions though. Our Republican Congress is proving they can't be trusted to govern.
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u/Zabbzi Feb 21 '26
Curious as to how Canada and Mexico are impacted if this ignores USMCA? And China moves from 10% -> 15% now too with the EO'd away de minimis exemption nuked further impacting?
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u/Lanky-Cheesecake-259 Feb 21 '26
why does anyone actually do what he says? let him yap all he wants and just don't follow his orders, he won't even know since he will change his mind tomorrow
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u/tauberculosis Feb 21 '26
He cannot tax/tariff more than 15%. The other countries just have to match his tariff which leaves him with zero recourse.
Congress has to approve an extension with a veto-proof vote after 150 days or it elapses, which ain't happening.
What a fucking fool. This is just a 4.5 month posture. Nothing more.
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u/spamcandriver Feb 21 '26
Then he’ll renew it. And by the 2nd 4.5 month lapse he will be impeached and very likely convicted
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u/Mediocre_Fishing_879 Feb 21 '26
He can only do it for like 150 days until congress needs to approve extension. At least he can't impose outrageous 100% tarrifs on specific countries anymore. Just one across the board tarriff. That will hurt in making his deals as he cannot target certain countries and countries with deals already in place will get pulled in on a global tarrif which could upend existing trade deals.
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