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We regret but have to temporary suspend the shipments to USA

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639 points CTOSian | 3 comments | 26 Aug 25 17:22 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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jrochkind1 ◴[26 Aug 25 20:30 UTC] No.45031946[source]▶
Even aside from the advisability of the tariffs -- it turns out there might be a reason that tarrifs haven't usually been imposed with like weeks notice, after months of back and forth, with no real advance implementation planning on the government's part and not enough time or reliable info for anyone else to do so either?

It is very strange to me that the government seems to be going for maximum shock and uncertainty on the US economy. Again, apart from the advisability of the actual tarrifs, they could have been implemented in the usual way to allow people to plan for them (and possibly give feedback on them), but they were not.

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duxup ◴[26 Aug 25 21:04 UTC] No.45032316[source]▶
The government is really just one guy right now, Trump.

According to his own people he doesn't take no for an answer and isn't interested in input from anyone else. He has surrounded himself with opportunists and yes men. His own department heads often will do press conferences and inadvertently contradict Trump, seemingly without realizing it. At one point Trump and his staff couldn't get on the same page about IF they were or were not talking to China about tariffs, they waffled for several days on it.

A few Trump staffers whenever asked about strategy with tariffs or other things just ignore the question an start praising Trump out of the blue. It's a creepy scene.

I've yet to see anyone with an education or domain knowledge explain the existing tariffs strategy / where this should lead with these whipsaw type decisions. There simply is nobody with a clue willing to do that.

At least in Idocracy President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Camacho chose to listen to someone smarter than him. This is very much not the choice of the current President.

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vesinisa ◴[26 Aug 25 21:51 UTC] No.45032780[source]▶
Maybe Trump is just doing what's good for America and he's strategy is exactly being unpredictable and chaotic. This is stressful for others and they make political concessions to please him in exchange for a period of stability.

EU for example bulged for exactly this reason and accepted 15% one-way tariff for access to US market. Before the deal the uncertainty about the level of coming tariffs was deemed worse for European companies trading to US than the negotiated tariff itself.

European political leaders including the head of NATO have also practically turned to giving rimjobs to Trump's ass wishing he would not throw tantrums at them in important meetings: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c17wejpw79qo

Ultimately this all just strengthens US hegemony and makes other countries weaker, which is the explicitly stated goal he keeps repeating..

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pschastain ◴[26 Aug 25 22:31 UTC] No.45033161[source]▶
Or maybe Trump is a sociopath felon with a penchant for young girls who is acting solely in his own self-interest

Given his history of failed businesses and association with a known pedophile, what seems more likely?

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ethbr1 ◴[26 Aug 25 23:57 UTC] No.45033810[source]▶
How are the tariffs even in his own self-interest? Insider trading?
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SpicyLemonZest ◴[27 Aug 25 00:11 UTC] No.45033911[source]▶
They're in his self-interest because he can, and did, turn around and convince people to bribe him for exemptions and reductions. I recognize this sounds crazy when I say it, but you can literally look up the video - Tim Cook gave him a big block of gold on public TV to get iPhones exempted from tariffs on India.
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ethbr1 ◴[27 Aug 25 02:03 UTC] No.45034660[source]▶
On the magnitude being insinuated, that doesn't even blip. 50 lbs of solid gold is what, $2.5M?
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ModernMech ◴[27 Aug 25 14:05 UTC] No.45039914{3}[source]▶
$2.5M is not a blip, it's a bribe by any measure. We need to call things what they are. Trump has done worse for less.

Anyway, the $2.5M isn't the point, it's bending someone like Tim Cook to your will so that they would just give it to you and thank you while bending over. To some degree, he's now directing Apple Inc, since he can get Tim Cook to act according to his will.

How much is that worth to Trump?

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1. ethbr1 ◴[27 Aug 25 23:44 UTC] No.45046663{4}[source]▶
The opposite is also true.

Does $2.5M matter to Apple?

No. They probably lose that much between rows in their spreadsheets.

So, if it's not material to Apple's finances, what does giving it to Trump mean? Symbolic gestures are symbolic, but you haven't bent someone to your will until you've made them give you something that hurts.

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2. acdha ◴[28 Aug 25 01:43 UTC] No.45047375[source]▶
They gave him what he most desires: respect. Every news watcher saw one of the most powerful CEOs, a genuinely accomplished person, treating him as the more powerful party. His whole career was spent playing at being a successful business man but being known as a lightweight – his dad gave him a billion dollars give or take and he managed not to quite lose it all several times until finding some breathing room in the 2000s when Russian oligarchs started using NYC real estate for money laundering and then the video editors at The Apprentice made him a star cosplaying as a brilliant businessman. He was never in Tim Cook’s league before, or even within a couple levels, but now he’s able to demand favors from almost anyone. For someone with the raging insecurity complex he’s demonstrated for so many years, that recognition of sheer power is the best high of all.
3. ModernMech ◴[28 Aug 25 04:54 UTC] No.45048522[source]▶
Tim Cook gave $2.5M, control of his company, and his dignity. He stood there and handed a gold award to a convicted felon, rapist, insurrectionist, and likely pedophile. That's now Cook's legacy. It was grotesque, and an embarrassment of epic proportions. If that didn't hurt him, he must have lost his soul long ago.