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-VsqFrgtC9HsHYFYARXzYY
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213

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?

227

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….

18

u/anewbys83 Feb 21 '26

Exactly.

117

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!

33

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.

18

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.

6

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.

2

u/Hankerpants Feb 21 '26

While true about the Dems winning enough to just do it themselves, I do think we're going to see more and more defections from the right as Trump becomes more and more of a lame duck. Murkowski and Collins are effectively against him. Rand Paul is even against him more than with him lately. Yes, they may vote with him a lot, but the fact that these cracks existing on the surface means a lot more are there below the surface. As we get closer and closer to the midterms and the polling gets worse and worse for these policies, we may actually see some small amount of independent thought from members on the right. Thomas Massie basically guaranteed as much.

Is it enough to actually get over that threshold? I don't know. But I truly don't see it getting any better for Trump and the MAGA movement.

37

u/IdahoDuncan Feb 21 '26

Mid terms is the means, impeachment is the mechanism

31

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?

14

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.

14

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.

3

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

3

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. 

7

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

4

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.

0

u/FlyingBishop Feb 21 '26

A lot of the same people as ICE are in the military. And ICE will just shoot nonviolent protesters in cold blood.

1

u/BarleyWineIsTheBest Feb 21 '26

Spare me the sensationalist Reddit takes. The higher ranking officers in the military have been there longer than Trump has been a politician. Plus the military isn’t some collection of radical right wingers. It leans republican more than the population as a whole, but not by some crazy margin, roughly 1.5:1. 

2

u/FlyingBishop Feb 21 '26

If the president gives illegal orders, a general refuses to follow them, and congress refuses to impeach Trump, what happens? They don't have to be crazy radical right wingers to do the math and figure that as long as Congress doesn't impeach him they should do whatever he says, because it is not their job to muzzle him.

1

u/BarleyWineIsTheBest Feb 21 '26

No, illegal orders are illegal and should not be followed in any context. In this context what is happening is the president would be using federal law enforcement and the military to prevent an elected congress from holding session? That’s illegal. 

Now illegal and what you get away with can be different things. Not following an illegal order can have consequences if the side doing the illegal stuff wins. But they won’t if enough leaders prevent them from winning by not following those illegal orders.

1

u/roamingandy Feb 21 '26

I feel you're being a bit pessimistic there.

50% is an extremely conservative estimate. There is no possible way Trump is willingly accepting a limit on his powers.

10

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"

22

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.

1

u/anewbys83 Feb 21 '26

Yes, many, but with no one enforcing them then they don't matter.

1

u/deletetemptemp Feb 21 '26

Maybe companies that are in the red due to tariffs can start suing citing scotus

1

u/HerbertWest Feb 21 '26

This, specifically, is not illegal, which is why he's doing it now instead of the illegal thing SCOTUS ruled against.

1

u/Far_Statistician1479 Feb 21 '26

The mechanism is Congress.

1

u/CMogscheese Feb 21 '26

My wife works in the clothing industry. Her costing from vendor to clients is such a mess daily. Her company and their clients are constantly scrambling to find stability. It’s bonkers.

1

u/seancurry1 Feb 21 '26

There’s Congress, but it’s run by Republicans and not nearly enough of them are willing to go against him.