RE: Will Trump Win the Tarriffs War?
(Edited)
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@roleerob, don't let yourself be fooled by whatever President Trump says.
The VAT in Europe is very different from Tariffs. VAT is a value-added tax that applies equally to all competitors - although the value might be different for clusters of products (e.g., bread vs cars). VAT is paid at each commercial step as a tax on the value that is added to the product by that specific company. In the end, similar products have similar taxes added to the price, independent of the manufacturer, tax that is paid by private consumers. This is how EU is sponsoring the social welfare policy. I can't believe POTUS is not informed on this. Still, he calls Tariffs a reciprocal thing to EU's VAT.
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Okay, @steemmillionaire, yes I have heard of the VAT. Are you saying there are no tariffs imposed on the U.S. from any European country whatsoever?
In my bringing this up, I had in mind more of what we read about countries like India and southeastern Asia. Whether they would make similar arguments to yours, I do not know.
I am open to discussing it, at least.
@roleerob, I'm not an expert on the topic, but it seems that the EU Commission wrote an article explaining the trades between US & EU, deficits, tariffs, sales tax & VAT: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_25_541
The average tariffs, excluding VAT and sales tax, were around 1% before the Trump Administration, well balanced (in 2023, the US collected approximately €7 billion of tariffs on EU exports, and the EU collected approximately €3 billion on US exports).
Yes, on some products, there's an asymmetry, but that is because both parties agreed so (the US protected the truck industry with 25% tariffs; the EU protected the small vehicles industry with 10% tariffs).
And I believe the analyses provided by the EU Commission do not include expenses on military stuff, as that is anyway gov2gov discussed in most cases. EU is a net importer of the US defence industry.
President Trump never said all of this - at least I could not find it in his communication.
Thank you for your additional input on this, @steemmillionaire. I appreciate this:
I am not either. My original response contained a request for clarification, not declarative statements, on that basis. Further, I would say the vast majority of people could say the same thing, if they were being open and honest.
Whatever happens, I know I was not consulted. You probably could confirm the same on your side. Together we'll find out what the ultimate outcome of this particular aspect of Trump's agenda is.
Along the way, we can rest assured the effort to continuously manipulate, confuse, and delude people will not stop, resulting in as much division as possible.
Perhaps some day, the people being subjected to it will finally speak with an overwhelming, unified voice and say they have had enough.
That day will come sooner as more people take responsibility by using platforms such as Optimism Fractal DAO's, helping improve and create new models of "People Powered" Anonymous Decentralised Fractal Democracy for Community Governance.
That is an interesting perspective, @atma.love. While I do not specifically know to what you are referring here, I assume they are crypto related references. We'll find out soon enough whether blockchain technology truly plays a role in liberating us, from what I am touching on.