Lacessit

The USA has a positive trade balance with Australia. Pure greed is Big Pharma in America lobbying Trump to sell medications in Australia at inflated US prices. Example: A year's supply of an inhibitor medication cost me AUD 100. In America, it would have cost me USD 70,000. Tough luck if I could not afford it. My comment about Trump and his supporters obviously applies to you as well.

I see, you are so much better qualified to comment on economics than a publication which was founded in 1843. Media does not last that long without a solid basis. Do you have any facts to bring to the thread, smart guy?

America is now less than 15% of China's export volumes. OTOH, China is in the top 3 markets for US exports. Xi understood during Trump's first presidency he had to forge new trading links with other countries. China has been sucking in gold like a whale sucks in krill. Xi is much better prepared for a trade war than Trump is. The Chinese think long term, Trump is a classic short-termer.

Been there once already. Vientiane. I was thinking of Luang Prabang. The scammers probably don't realise they are crapping in their own nest.

True. That does not mean the stance can't change. Public opinion guides politicians. Who would you prefer to trade with, someone who has zero tariffs on what you sell, or someone who taxes you 10%, with the threat of more if you respond in kind? Someone who wants to make your medications more expensive by forcing you to dismantle the PBS? I don't know about you; as far as I am concerned Trump and his supporters can go <deleted> themselves.

A better idea to avoid Laos as a destination. It's off my list now.

Wrong. They are praying for the demise of Trump and his lickspittles, who are dragging America into depression with their incompetence.

You are in denial of reality. China has 48,000 km of high speed rail. The USA has 80 km. That should tell anyone all they need to know about the current infrastructure of both countries. Australia has been approached by China to join hands. https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/politics/australian-politics/2025/04/10/pm-china-join-hands-tariffs?ahe Straws in the wind. Why should we stick with America, when we are treated like a trading enemy? The USA is good at making weapons. Not much else to see by way of useful stuff, is there?

"You keep your beliefs to yourself" That is what you said. Don't lie. Please explain why I should do that, when you are plastering your beliefs across ASEAN threads.

Bond markets decided the tariff issue for Trump. Either back off, or US treasuries will be sold off in a complete loss of confidence in the greenback as a reserve currency. Trump backed off.

Trump lost the last tariff war with China in his first presidency. The Smoot-Hawley tariffs of 1930 were a prime cause of the Great Depression. Why anyone thinks he can get a different result this time is beyond my comprehension.

No, you meant I do not have the same privilege of posting my views on religion on ASEAN as you do. I would have thought a God that wants more people to love him and worship him would have exhibited himself millennia ago, not relying on texts generated by humans. So your God is the only one? There's about 1.4 billion Muslims that disagree with you.

Trump thought he could do anything. The bond market showed him otherwise. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-10/donald-trump-met-match-on-tariffs-in-bond-market-rout/105160436

I don't know where your figure of 125 comes from. According to Gemini AI, the figure is 750. Harbours and airfields constructed by the Chinese in other nations only count if they are sovereign Chinese territory. Most US bases are sovereign American territory. Ask the Cubans what they think of Guantanamo Bay.

Grass-fed Gippsland eye fillet is a completely different taste sensation to the fat-laden feedlot rubbish America produces. You are confusing quantity with quality. Don't go to Australia. With your attitude to our biosecurity laws, we'd probably sling you in jail.

From my perspective, it is America that is doing all the threatening. The US has 750 military bases across the world. China has none.

We trained the penguins to crap guano in one spot, which was then exported as nitrogen fertilizer, so the US could grow soybeans.

Last time I looked, Cuba couldn't even keep the lights on. Neither can you, if Canada plays nasty.

Betting the house is stupid when you don't hold all the cards.

Without fertilizer, yields of food are very much less. Where are you getting the tractors from to plough the soil for cropping and seeding? Last time I looked, John Deere had closed down, and Kubota is your biggest supplier. Now you've got rid of the immigrants, are Americans lining up to pick crops at minimum wage? Reality is such a bitch, eh?

The US is heavily dependent on Canada for potassium fertilizer. It imports $10 billion worth of mixed fertilizers from Canada, and 50% of its oil. The US has no developed rare earth capacity, to build advanced equipment. Mexico is the main US supplier of silver, which is found in every phone, laptop, desktop and TV on the planet. Anything electronic, it has silver. The proposition the US is self-sufficient does not stand up in the light of said facts.

Kerry Packer famously said you only get one Alan Bond in your lifetime, meaning a dumbass who bought a media business for $1 billion from Packer, who bought it back for $300 million a few years later. Alan Bond went broke owning a brewery, in a nation of beer drinkers. Trump went broke on three casinos, in a nation where gamblers lose more money than any other country. Xi is probably thinking he will only get one Trump in his lifetime.

I agree. Restaurants and large catering events are a different story. Get back to me after you have educated yourself on how blood and bone fertilizer is manufactured,

Where the hell do you think organic garbage goes? You are doubling down on ignorance.

You are talking heresy, the right-wingers will be frothing at the mouth. IMO taxing the rich, with assets they can take loans against, simply won't work. A revenue tax of 1-2% would pay off the national debt quite rapidly.