islander wrote:
Even Howard Lutnick - who must certainly know how tariffs actually work - is skirting the issue with half-truths and unclear terms (i.e. "eat the tariffs").

Lutnick also claimed that the 10-percent tariff rate would be the baseline for future agreements, though Americans wouldn’t have to pay the bulk of the tariffs.
"Don’t buy the silly arguments that the U.S. consumer pays," he said. "Businesses, their job is to try to sell to the American consumer. And domestically produced products are not going to have that tariff. So, the foreigners are going to finally have to compete."
He added, "What happens is, the businesses and the countries primarily eat the tariff."
Economic analysts have said companies have already begun passing the cost of tariffs on to consumers, and they expect inflation to rise over the next few months as the impact of the levies becomes clearer.

 islander wrote:

The Trump foreign policy — such as it is — seems to be predicated upon his belief that all issues should be viewed and solved through the prism of business deals.

 ScottFromWyoming wrote:

interesting perspective. I'm not opposed to the general line of thinking (we want people to come around when appropriate), but I don't love the idea that the method for action is "bribe government officials with graft opportunities". That seems like it could have unintended consequences. 

 Proclivities wrote:

Had someone ask why we are still charging increased tariff prices when a deal had been reached. I had to explain that a)there is no deal, just a stand down (temporary) from lunacy, and b) even with the 'stand down', there are 30% tariffs in place that are taxes on consumers that need to be paid.  I got to explain again that tariffs are not paid by the producer, but by the importer. People are willfully ignorant. 

 kurtster wrote:
kurtster thought: How dare you expose my hypocrisy! And to my face even!

 ScottFromWyoming wrote:
I think it makes sense to give this guy some leeway at this point. Syria has been on a bumpy ride — understatement — for decades and the malignant legacy of Assad lingers. 

 Red_Dragon wrote:
That was inevitable, but he's gonna make some deals; you'll see, deals the like of which have never been seen before.

Attention, Walmart shoppers!

 islander wrote:
Don't blame her...she's only repeating what Stephen Miller tells her to say.

 kurtster wrote:

weird, because most of the time when you open your mouth Karoline Leavitt's words come out.

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 
So the tribe has spoken !

It is now ok to start putting words in others mouths as if those people said it and meant it.

We'll see how this plays out ...

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote:

But what if we opened the border, for a select few criminals?



MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s security chief confirmed Tuesday that 17 family members of cartel leaders crossed into the U.S. last week as part of a deal between a son of the former head of the Sinaloa Cartel and the Trump administration.

 Red_Dragon wrote:

I need someone to tell me what to think about this because I can't stop thinking that as corrupt as this is on its face, there's still an upside: This guy is grown up, maybe, and trying to make Syria dictator-proof, maybe? As long as they continue to move toward a better Syria for all, that should be rewarded. And if TrumpCo gets someone to invest and it all goes to shit later, well who cares about that?

After rising through the ranks of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Ahmed al-Sharaa was arrested in 2006 by American forces while planting explosives intended for American troops. He was imprisoned for more than five years. Trump just praised the terrorist leader as a “young, attractive guy. Tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past.” During recent talks between Syria and the U.S., Al-Sharaa, the Syrian leader, proposed building a Trump Tower in Damascus if U.S. sanctions were lifted. Trump lifted the sanctions.

 VV wrote:

17 family members of notorious cartel leader enter U.S. in deal with Trump administration, Mexico says

So Trump... who has railed against Mexico shipping the worst people into the United States... is openly rolling out the red carpet to accept the worst of the worst? 

 
I got an idea... maybe they can crash at Kurt's place and macrodose some psychedelics?

 VV wrote:

I give it two weeks.

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote:


To be fair... let's sit on our collective asses and wait to see how this plays out.