From Newsgroup: aus.politics

On 2025-07-08 15:31:37 +0000, Chris Ahlstrom said:

Tangerine Toddler wrote this post while blinking in Morse code:

The Tariff Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves
News flash: Trump is still Trump
Paul Krugman
Jul 8

<https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-tariff-beatings-will-continue>

<snip>

Side note: If I were a government employee, this post would
probably be flagged for DEI because I just used the word trans.

:-D

There were never going to be genuine trade deals

These tariffs are going to hurt South Korea and Japan, although
theyll hurt U. S. consumers even more. So why didnt Korean and
Japanese negotiators make big enough concessions to satisfy
Trump?

Because there was nothing for them to concede. South Korea has
had a free trade agreement with the United States since 2012, so
most U. S. exports to Korea face zero tariffs. Japan, like other
wealthy nations, has very low tariffs on most goods. Neither
country, then, was in a position to offer big tariff reductions,
because their tariffs were already minimal.

Trump does not know what he is doing. He's clueless.

Here's part of Trumps letter to South Korea, alleging that the
countrys Tariff, and Non Tariff, Policies and Trade Barriers are
responsible for the bilateral trade imbalance:

Trump does not know what the trade deal was with Korea. He
probably doesn't even know there was a trade deal. He's clueless.

Notice that Trump offered no specifics because there arent any.
How were the South Koreans supposed to end unfair trade
practices that exist only in Trumps imagination?

<snip>

Why make a deal with a man who will surely break it?

<snip>

The point is that Trump doesnt feel bound by trade deals America
has made in the past. Why should anyone expect him to honor any
new deals he makes, or claims to make, now?

Obviously this behavior isnt unique to tariffs. Many domestic
institutions, from law firms to universities, have discovered
that attempting to appease Trump buys you at best a few weeks
respite before he comes back for more.

Its possible that the governments receiving Trumps tariff
letters havent figured that out yet. But they will. And my bet
is that the TACO people Trump always chickens out are wrong in
this case. Ill be happy to be proved wrong, but right now it
looks as if deeply destructive tariffs are really coming.

Trump will drop the tariffs if they agree to sponsor a new
Trump hotel and golf course :-D

Japan, South Korea and those other countries shouldn't back down but
send Trump a complimentary order of TACOs.

If the economy gets bad enough with the inflation these tariffs are
surely to cause Trump will chicken out, but claim victory anyway of
course.

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