Trump hits Switzerland hit with 31% tariffs

And they all shop at Landi? :rofl:

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They had a special session. And they plan to be informed on yesterday’s news today. Apparently.
And quick reaction is not a thing here. (With Trump this has an additional advantage as he changes things so fast, we can skip half of them)

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Cheap gas? haha

It’s probably a big empty parking on any given Sunday for a car meeting.

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Donnie gets the Biden wandering aimlessly away syndrome

https://x.com/ArtCandee/status/1907539116260012471

This is a nice explains from Tages Anzeiger.

Ahhhh, I’m so slow. Finally understood that Trump’s admin is only looking at the
trading of goods, objects, physical things. Services are not included into this.

Switzerland buys a lot of services from USA. The trade imbalance is not that large after all.

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For the average Ami’ the tariffs will add 5000 in extra costs /year.

This could be the straw that breaks the camels back. Many Americans have had to contend with poor quality or expensive healthcare, housing, education, childcare, public infrastructure etc… comforted at least by the relatively low prices in shops.

Now, with rising costs across the board, the harsh reality is setting in, wages haven’t kept pace with inflation and they’ve been royally screwed by the wealthy oligarchs who are only getting richer thanks to trump.

Yeah. But Harris would have been at least as bad.

The Castro Clown Show continues to be on full display.

I flagged your pist as inappropriate. It’s obvious you two guys don’t like each other but it is tedious watching you two spat. Can’t you get a room or something?

I didn’t say no exports. But if your exports dwarf your own economy, that might not be a good long term sustainable strategy.

We completely disagree on Israel-Palestine and everything that’s come from that, but we seem to get along otherwise

Trump’s team has not applied a lot of thought to the tariffs.

They hit Madagascar with one of the highest 47%.
Madagascar exports more vanilla than the rest of the world together.
I expect Trump plans to build a vanilla factory :roll_eyes:

Vanilla-taste has been artificially produced for decades. I would bet the average American never consumed real vanilla.
So the factories already exist.

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I go back to my point that trump may bawl at the trade deficit on physical goods, but once you factor in services and digital products the playing field is a lot more even, which means this could backfire if countries decided to properly retaliate.

from ChatGPT

Tariffs only apply to goods under current international trade rules.

Here’s why services aren’t typically tariffed:

1. Tariffs Are for Physical Goods

Tariffs are taxes on imported physical products (like steel, electronics, clothing). Services — like software subscriptions, cloud computing, or video streaming — don’t cross borders in containers or planes, so they don’t go through customs where tariffs are collected.

2. Services Are Governed Differently

International trade in services is regulated under different agreements — mainly the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) under the WTO. Instead of tariffs, countries use market access commitments, licensing rules, and other regulatory frameworks.

3. Taxing Services Is Tricky

Online services (like Xbox Game Pass, Netflix, or Google Ads) are delivered digitally, often from servers that could be located anywhere in the world. It’s tough to figure out where to tax or restrict them, and enforcement is complicated.

That said, countries are starting to push back on digital services:

  • Digital Services Taxes (DSTs): Some countries (like France, UK, India) have started taxing revenues from digital companies like Microsoft, Google, and Facebook.
  • U.S. Retaliation: The U.S. has threatened trade action against countries imposing DSTs, arguing they unfairly target American companies.
  • Global Tax Deal: There’s also a big OECD-led effort to agree on a global system for taxing digital services more fairly (the “Pillar One and Two” talks).

So while you won’t see tariffs on Xbox or Microsoft Office subscriptions, taxes and regulations on digital services are very much a live issue, and could become part of trade conflicts in a more modern form.

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According to the BBC a total of $1,500,000,000 has been whiped of the value of US stock markets. And it’s still morning there.

What an idiot.

That is what Swiss analysts and media pointed out last week already. So this came as a surprise now.
I wonder what’s next.

The consequence is obvious: other countries will use Russia as a fake origin.

Take the Interntional North-South Corridor with a projected 15 million tons capacity annually in a few years, it’s reaching completion soon. So far this appears to be predominantly used for trade from Russia to India, but Trump may well provide additional the grounds for trade in the other direction - to fake Russian origin.

The same may well apply to China.

I don’t recall where I saw that, but apparently goods that are difficult to produce domestically are exempt, that’ll include vanilla pods.

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What makes you so sure?

Serves my fellow country folk right who voted for the guy.
Weren’t satisfied with how it all was going and wanted change.

Well now they got their wish.

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Two other countries on the no-tariff list. Cuba and Belarus.