The tariffs are sanctions, but you still have to pay for them

Arthur Delaney reports for HuffPost:

“They didn’t actually calculate tariff rates + non-tariff barriers, as they say they did,” Surowiecki wrote. “Instead, for every country, they just took our trade deficit with that country and divided it by the country’s exports to us.”

In other words, the supposedly reciprocal tariffs, which are supposed to combat arbitrary foreign barriers to U.S. goods, are themselves based on an arbitrary formula.

White House Used 'Embarrassing' Formula To Come Up With Tariffs: Economists mocked the Trump administration's methods for calculating taxes on imports from abroad. Arthur Delaney, HuffPost, Apr 3, 2025

These tariffs are meant as sanctions.

They’re Not Tariffs, They’re Sanctions: Stop trying to place coherence on a policy that’s really just a mob boss breaking legs and asking for protection money. David Dayen | The American Prospect | April 3, 2025

Trump’s Tariffs Give Him a New Way to Dole Out Reward and Punishment: The president’s latest power grab will devastate America’s economy—and its democracy. Pama Levy| Mother Jones | April 3, 2025

NEW: There's no reason to act like Trump is pursuing a trade policy or an industrial revitalization strategy. These are just sanctions, imposed to intimidate countries and companies into submission like they're universities or law firms. They're what a mob boss would do. prospect.org/economy/2025...

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— David Dayen (@ddayen.bsky.social) April 3, 2025 at 11:00 AM

But they're still taxes because you still have to pay for them.

We all share the same Earth, so when you sanction others, you sanction yourself.

Nothing makes sense:

I'm sorry, but isn't this just the Cultural Revolution 2.0? Why on earth would fired aid workers and NIH medical researchers go to work on assembly lines for worse salaries in jobs they don't know how to do? Why are they getting their economic policy from Mao?

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— Patrick Meyers (@pmeyers7.bsky.social) April 7, 2025 at 11:23 AM

"A significant number of Trump’s appointees come from finance, not manufacturing or technology. They didn’t make their money providing real services; they made it by buying during the dips and plundering every last crevice of American life. The last major recession, in 2008, was devastating for ordinary Americans and the petty bourgeoisie. For billionaires, it was the greatest wealth accumulation opportunity in thirty years. This time, there won’t be a moderate Democratic president in charge to check their worst impulses. This time, they’ll be fully in control, free to buy up as much of the economy as they want, a feeding frenzy without end.

This is why the billionaire class went all in on Trump. They know his proposed economic policies will lead to another recession. In fact, they’re banking on it."

— Anthony Reimer. Elon Musk's DOGE Is Following A Familiar — And Horrifying — Playbook. Bad Faith Times. April 9, 2025.

Martin Edic, quoting Politico Playbook:

“Part of the problem … is that there’s little sign of movement so far on the dozens of trade deals Trump promised to sign to alleviate the impact of his so-called “reciprocal” tariffs. It’s now been 11 days since White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told us it was perfectly possible to sign 90 different trade deals during the 90-day reciprocal tariff pause — and so far, there has not been a single one.”
~ from Politico Playbook, April, 22, 2025

Today, JD Vance is in India, primarily to make a deal on tariffs, a deal the Trump administration desperately needs to show progress on their Liberation Day plan to extort trade deals from any country that will bite. But so far only India is taking the bait and even that is not a given.

Remember, only a few weeks ago Trump claimed the phones were ringing off the hook with countries and business interests ‘begging’ for deals, yet we have not seen a single one. What we have seen is scary as hell.

— Martin Edic, The Witness Chronicles, 4/22/25: No deals, and the weeping of DefSec Hegseth. Apr 22, 2025

Trump Claims He’s Personally Made 200 Trade Deals Even Though Zero Have Been Announced, Sara Boboltz, HuffPost, Apr 25, 2025

Truly bonkers that it's not a bigger deal that Trump straight up lied about Xi calling him. And it wasn't a misunderstanding. Look at the transcript! He's just straight up lying about top-level diplomatic efforts affecting every corner of our economy and millions of people's jobs.

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— D Lavoie (@djlavoie.bsky.social) April 27, 2025 at 3:07 PM