Oh oh! Trade war!

[odourboy 1,288]

In retaliation to the 10% tarrif on foreign aluminium products being imposed by the US, I am self imposing 10% VIRTUAL surtax on aircraft add-ons containing software aluminium. Of course, this surtax shall be refunded to the purchaser (me), to offset the additional cost of the virtual aluminium contained in said product. Take that! 🤗

Edited May 31, 2018 by odourboy

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

The USA is only 4.4% of the worlds population, all the rest of the world has to do is cut them off and take a 5% loss 😃😃😃

Just joking  but seriously when other nations start applying tariffs to everything from Levi's, Apple, Intel, Pfizer, Ford's etc etc etc the shareholders of those companies will make a lot of noise, The USA needs to sell to the other 95% of the world to make profits but the rest of the world can also shop somewhere else. Only one loser at the end of all this and that will be the consumers

I guess my kids are getting Matchbox Cars for Christmas instead of Hot Wheels 😄

Edited May 31, 2018 by Matthew Kane

[Christopher Low 5,332]

Since the Americans will be slapping a 10% tariff on foreign imports of some metal they apparently refer to as "aluminum", we can quite happily carry on selling aluminium to them without any tariffs whatsoever

[odourboy 1,288]

14 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

Since the Americans will be slapping a 10% tariff on foreign imports of some metal they apparently refer to as "aluminum", we can quite happily carry on selling aluminium to them without any tariffs whatsoever

A loophole. Excellent!

[SpiritFlyer 987]

Not much funny about it here in Canada since we have an integrated economy, especially since we swap steel products along the border, with the US having had up to this point a significant steel trade surplus. 

As our political and business leaders are saying with one voice, it is the nearest thing we have had as an act of aggression against us since WW2, and a direct affront to the soldiers of both countries who died defending each other's "security".

Nope, not a joke here, of any kind, and one with huge "in-house" retaliatory consequences.

With friends like this, who needs enemies?

Edited May 31, 2018 by SpiritFlyer

[lownslo 592]

1 hour ago, Christopher Low said:

Since the Americans will be slapping a 10% tariff on foreign imports of some metal they apparently refer to as "aluminum", we can quite happily carry on selling aluminium to them without any tariffs whatsoever

Now you've gone and done it!!  Since those of you on the wrong side of the pond (notice I did not write "right" side) insist on adding an extra "i" to "aluminum" you will now be subject to a 15% tariff on any words you add an extra "i" to.  You better be careful what you write!  🤐

And Matthew... we'll tax you just for having an extra "t" in your name!! 😁

5 minutes ago, SpiritFlyer said:

With friends like this, who needs enemies?

Seriously true!!

Greg 😀

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

 

18 minutes ago, SpiritFlyer said:

Not much funny about it here in Canada since we have an integrated economy, especially since we swap steel products along the border, with the US having had up to this point a significant steel trade surplus. 

As our political and business leaders are saying with one voice, it is the nearest thing we have had as an act of aggression against us since WW2, and a direct affront to the soldiers of both countries who died defending each other's "security".

Nope, not a joke here, of any kind, and one with huge "in-house" retaliatory consequences.

With friends like this, who needs enemies?

In a USA vs Canada/Mexico/EU scenario Canada has the most to lose in the short term. Canada needs to learn from Australia/New Zealand on how to diversify its trade portfolio instead of putting all of its eggs in one basket. Asia is the biggest market not the USA, this is how you make up for the losses with the USA.

Here is our top trade partners, USA is not on the top and we can afford losses with them by increasing trade with others:

1 Australia.
2 China.
3 United States.
4 European Union.
5 Republic of Korea (South Korea)
6 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
7 Taiwan.
8 Japan.

Edited May 31, 2018 by Matthew Kane

[G-RFRY 1,708]

Also bear in mind PC hardware manufactures are mostly US owned but the products are imported from the far east. 

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

Yes true, USA actually makes very little, they just contract out. On the other end of the spectrum companies like Samsung have the most to gain if countries slap retaliation tariffs on Apple Phones, which is a likely scenario on many items that US competes for market share with Asian companies. USA has the most to lose.

[dave2013 1,123]

The U.S. actually relies on exports much less than most countries, so other countries have a lot more to lose in any trade war than the U.S. does.  Moreover, most other countries have import tariffs that are higher than U.S import tariffs, and some have outright bans on some U.S. imports. There are also trade *barriers* that countries utilize in order to intentionally make it difficult for goods from other countries to be imported - the Europeans use these to great effect in addition to having higher overall import tariffs than the U.S.

I am for free and *fair* trade and hope that a trade war does not ensue as this would be bad for everyone. It would be best if there were no tariffs at all, but the fact is that the U.S. has been very accommodating in its trade policies for decades which has benefited many countries, especially China which has committed many egregious trade violations,  not to mention its theft of intellectual property.  I should also note that the U.S. has provided military support and security for many countries around the world for over 70 years, saving those countries many billions of dollars since they don't have to maintain large and expensive armed forces as the U.S. has their back.  U.S. taxpayers have never asked to be reimbursed for this.

Dave

[charliearon 3,017]

Sorry guys!  This topic is becoming too political and has now reached an end.😱