How stupid is China for retaliating to Trumps tariffs?

[Mavideol]

2 hours ago, Cameroni said:

 

You are not well informed. The reprieve for laptops, smartphones etc was just fake news. They will be slapped with more tariffs.

get updated 555

 

Lutnick said that the technology exemption was only put in place temporarily until the administration can write a new policy for those goods.

More Chaos: Trump Admin Signals New Tariffs on Electronics From China After Pause

https://au.news.yahoo.com/more-chaos-trump-admin-signals-174952453.html

Trump Signals New Tariffs on Chips, Calling Exclusions Temporary

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/13/us/politics/trump-tariffs-china-chips-technology.html

 

[Captain Flack]

Post and reply using derogatory nicknames, against forum rules have been removed.

[jvs]

2 hours ago, Cameroni said:

China is sure to feel pain from Mr. Trump’s tariffs, which have reached at least 145 percent — a staggering figure that imperils the country’s $400 billion in annual exports to the United States, its biggest market.

 

Already, factories near the manufacturing hub of Guangzhou that supply garments to American consumers have closed until there is more clarity on the tariffs. If such closures spread, they could exacerbate China’s unemployment problem, making it even harder for policymakers to revitalize an economy battered by a property crisis and sagging confidence.

 

“Even if you think you have a strong repressive capacity to hurt doubters and a jingoistic story to rally supporters, economic dislocations are still dangerous because you never know how bad they will get and whether they will turn into something worse,” Mr. Torigian said.

That economic reality suggests that Mr. Xi will probably accept an off-ramp from the tariff showdown if Mr. Trump offers one, analysts said.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/11/world/asia/trump-china-tariffs-xi.html

 

Very obviously there will be a deal made between China and the US. It will allow China to save face to some degree, but it will also reshape China-US trade relations in a more equitable way. Everyone wins.  More winning from Mr Trump. Born to be a winner.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/901644428671086

[BLMFem]

2 hours ago, simple1 said:

 

trump cancelled the tariffs on PRC  electronic goods; what does that tell you?

 

6 minutes ago, Mavideol said:

nope, they are/will be back on

 

Captain Flip-Flop at it again, because uncertainty is so good for business and investments.

So, so good.

[Yagoda]

2 hours ago, Hawaiian said:

And how long will that stockpile last?

Long as it takes to win.

[Fat is a type of crazy]

1 hour ago, hotsun said:

Not sure what about my thoughts seem trollish to you. Seems to me the american consumer is more valuable than the chinese consumer. Wouldnt China want a lower tax on their exports? Seems to me their actions were that of shooting themselves in the foot

I sense that the premise of your argument is that Trump knows what he is doing, that he is trustworthy, and that showing him weakness is an effective way to deal with him. You can see by what has happened that he is floundering on the whole issue of tariffs.

My take is he has had this tariff dream for some decades and got so confident after the second election win that he could pull anything off - but not so. 

[Hawaiian]

12 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

Long as it takes to win.

Win what?  IMO there are no winners in trade wars. 

[Watawattana]

3 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

America needs the rare earth materials, America has invested trillions in manufacturing in China, which controls 95% of the shipping container market and more than 50% of the shipping market worldwide.

Anyone still wondering why China stopped the sale of the Panama Canal ports to Blackrock?

 

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/28/business/panama-canal-ports-deal-blocked/index.html

[FriscoKid]

5 hours ago, hotsun said:

Its pretty clear now that all trump wanted to do was put high tariffs on china. If china just had done nothing in response to trumps initial tariffs, maybe trump would have kept it low. But them retaliating only gave trump the excuse he needed to put tariffs on china that price them out of the US  market, losing them the american consumer

 

oopsie..maybe chinas not that smart

Clearly you've had too much "hot sun" and are now deliriously confused about how the whole battle of percentages unfolded to begin with. In fact, Trump has already blinked and retracted the tariffs on 25% of the goods imported by the US from China. So he's demonstrated his weakness for Chinese-made goods. Meanwhile, China realizes Trump's whole little folly is just a bumbling joke. So try and keep up and in the meantime slather on some sunscreen before you go back out and jump into the hot sun again so as to prevent even more of your inherent delirium. 

[Digitalbanana]

3 hours ago, hotsun said:

I havent seen you post any “facts”.

Look at the value of the USD, US Bonds and Stock Market all pointing south. Need any more facts?

[LosLobo]

37 minutes ago, Mavideol said:

get updated 555

 

Lutnick said that the technology exemption was only put in place temporarily until the administration can write a new policy for those goods.

The source interview with Lutnick.......
 

 

[Hawaiian]

9 minutes ago, LosLobo said:

The source interview with Lutnick.......
 

 

Wave a magic wand and all of these items will soon be made in America.  Never going happen.

[BLMFem]

How China went from courting Trump to ‘never yield’ tariff defiance

[geisha]

5 hours ago, hotsun said:

Its pretty clear now that all trump wanted to do was put high tariffs on china. If china just had done nothing in response to trumps initial tariffs, maybe trump would have kept it low. But them retaliating only gave trump the excuse he needed to put tariffs on china that price them out of the US  market, losing them the american consumer

 

oopsie..maybe chinas not that smart

oopsie,  I  think  that Trumps made some huge mistakes !

[MicroB]

3 hours ago, placeholder said:

In April of 2024, the US passed a bill authorizing the Pentagon to stock up on strategic minerals including rare earths. Unfortunately, in April of 2024, China renewed restriction on exporting 7 rare earths.  Maybe you think that was a coincidence?

The Pentagon has begun to take steps to recycle rare earths and push for the mining of them. But that takes time. And the reserves are for defense use.

 

 

One hopes there isn't an unintended (or maybe intended) consequence, similar to when the US put an oil embargo on Japan, in 1940 (a former ally).

[Lacessit]

1 hour ago, GammaGlobulin said:

 

Let he who is without bias....

Throw the first stone/punch/hissyfit...

 

What's your perspective? Who is stupid, China or Trump?

[GammaGlobulin]

7 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

What's your perspective? Who is stupid, China or Trump?

 

I think that stupidity has nothing to do with the question.

I did not add STUPID to the headline of the Topic.

 

Xi cannot be stupid, and neither is Trump.

 

Xi has his goals, and Trump has his, and the goals of both are not  properly aligned, and are divergent.

 

I would choose Trump over XI, any day of the week.

 

[MicroB]

31 minutes ago, Watawattana said:

Anyone still wondering why China stopped the sale of the Panama Canal ports to Blackrock?

 

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/28/business/panama-canal-ports-deal-blocked/index.html

 

There are elements of provocation.

 

China is daring the US to seize the canal by force. It knows the US can do this easily, but the cost is shipping away at the US's soft power; its ability to influence its Western Allies.

 

This is inline with China recent embargo on the entire world (not just US) for rare earths. Its designed to provoke the US to take a huge gamble and seize Greenland. It is a huge gamble, because it would be a move catastrophic for US relations with anyone. And its a huge gamble because the geologists might be wrong. Greenland isn't a rare earths exporter at all.. What might be less of a gamble, but rather more costly (in blood) would be US intervention in the DRC; that might be less impactful on US-Europe relations, and might even be sput quite positively (the people in the Congo are living miserable short lives). But the US will be intervening in an actual war (between DRC, Rwanda and numerous non-state actors) which makes Iraq look like a proverbial walk in the park, with warfare certainly much more stoneage and savage.

 

With the global embargo, China is banking on US support for Taiwan to whither, because it feels the US is no longer supporting Taiwan on a point of principle (UN Charter, Right of Self Determination etc) but based on transactional value (what can China do for us, supply us with chips).

 

Forget about Ukraine ever being an exporter of rare earths in either President's lifetime. The entire southern area of Ukraine is likely to go down in history as the most heavily mined region on Earth. We just need a heavily battle damaged Zaporizhzhya NPP to be fired up (Europe;s biggest, and probably least safe nuclear power plant) to add generational irradiation into the mix.

 

Now obviously, the Chinese are hoping their actions will cause the Americans to come and talk. But history tells us politicians, through hubris, can horrbily miscalculate. The current US President, who is barely a politican, and who possesses zero political instinct (his instincts are based on New York property  transactions. Prior to 2016, he had zero experience of public service) made the first huge miscalculation, causing an enormous mess. The Chinese might compound that, ironically for similar reasons.

[Cameroni]

2 hours ago, Gweiloman said:

I beg to differ. Trump has no lever. All the expert commentary is that America will be on the losing end. The only commentators that I know of who thinks differently are Bessent, Lutnick, Ron Vara and that idiot Watters.

 

Trump walking away from trade with China will spell his immediate doom and most likely another impeachment. I hope it doesn’t happen as Trump beiand staying on as President is the biggest gift China can ever have.

 

No, Trump has a giant lever. China's 400 billion share of the US market. The Chinese want to be in the US market. Desperately. It's worth 400 billion to them.

 

To say this doesn't exist is just closing your eyes to reality. You can ignore reality, but you can't ignore the consequences of reality.

 

If you read the New York Times article above, it is clearly of the view that China is hurting now, and will be happy to take a deal from Trump, if he offers one.

[Cameroni]

1 hour ago, Gweiloman said:

 

 

 I agree also that China cannot easily substitute a 400 billion USD market but to think that they will submit to US’s demands is naive. US has opened the door for quicker de-dollarisation and multipolarity and loss of hegemony and China will most assuredly be thinking very hard on how to exploit this wonderful opportunity. The loss of one eye might be worth it if it causes your opponent to lose both eyes.

 

Well, one of the clear aims of Trump is to devalue the dollar to make US exports more competitive. His tariff policy is very coherent with all his aims.

 

If you have 400 billion USD and then someone takes it away, would you want it back? Would you acceed to some demands to get the 400 billion USD back. You probably would.

 

Let's see.

[sammieuk1]

The art of the deal🤔

 

 

[candide]

1 hour ago, Cameroni said:

 

Well, one of the clear aims of Trump is to devalue the dollar to make US exports more competitive. His tariff policy is very coherent with all his aims.

 

If you have 400 billion USD and then someone takes it away, would you want it back? Would you acceed to some demands to get the 400 billion USD back. You probably would.

 

Let's see.

Well  he also claimed he wanted to reduce inflation, which can only increase in case of  a devaluation... 

[simple1]

3 hours ago, Mavideol said:

nope, they are/will be back on

 

Tariffs are an excellent pathway for corporate / government corruption. Let's wait and see what leaks in the coming four years

[3NUMBAS]

China can sell their us assets and bonds leaving us up creek sans a paddle

 

 

[Digitalbanana]

More facts...

 

 

[spidermike007]

3 hours ago, Watawattana said:

Anyone still wondering why China stopped the sale of the Panama Canal ports to Blackrock?

 

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/28/business/panama-canal-ports-deal-blocked/index.html

China wields massive power with some major ports, the fact that they manufacture 95% of the world shipping containers, and the fact that they control nearly half of the world's shipping. I'll bet Trump's tiny brain has not even considered that for a nanosecond. 

[spidermike007]

6 hours ago, simple1 said:

 

trump cancelled the tariffs on PRC  electronic goods; what does that tell you?

Tells me that some of his biggest supporters sat him down, slapped him silly, and lectured him on how the world truly works, rather than his silly vision of the golden Industrial age, which is a bygone era, and will never return to America. 

[spidermike007]

33 minutes ago, simple1 said:

 

Tariffs are an excellent pathway for corporate / government corruption. Let's wait and see what leaks in the coming four years

Which is very appropriate for the man who is likely the most corrupt president in the history of America. Never forget the vast majority of his fortune was grifted, scammed, or stolen from small contractors and amassed through bankruptcies. 

[phetphet]

China has played the long game, and quietly diversified its trading partners, import sources, and logistics channels through Belt & Road. One only has to look at the Chancay Deep Water Port on the Pacific Coast of Peru. With that, and the Mexican Intracoastal Railway, the Panama Canal is not so important.

 

Let's see what happens if they start dumping US Treasuries again... it affects all of us, not just Americans.

 

 

 

 

[jas007]

3 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Tells me that some of his biggest supporters sat him down, slapped him silly, and lectured him on how the world truly works, rather than his silly vision of the golden Industrial age, which is a bygone era, and will never return to America. 

It's not Trump's supporters, it's the bond market and the banking system that is ultimately calling the shots.   And the bond market is already on life support .  

 

The final outome is still uncertain.