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Six months into tariffs, businesses have no idea how to price anything

(www.wsj.com)
462 points JumpCrisscross | 21 comments | 30 Aug 25 20:56 UTC | HN request time: 1.224s | source | bottom
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haunter ◴[30 Aug 25 22:47 UTC] No.45078660[source]▶
In the end it's the biggest leopard ate my face moment ever:

China has very high growth momentum that surpasses American living standards soon, and not long before it will surpass American security standards too. China's purchasing power is probably more comfortable than most western countries, with extensive housing and high speed rail and electric cars etc. When a country becomes rich, inevitably other countries ask for their help. That's why China's growth must be curbed, fast > tariff them to their death or so. But I really don't think it will work at all. And personally I don't even think it's a good idea at all to begin with.

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platevoltage ◴[30 Aug 25 22:55 UTC] No.45078714[source]▶
See this is what I don't understand. Everything you just said about China is a positive. Everything you said about China is achievable in the USA, and we at least HAD a head start on soft-power influence.

Instead we should just have tariffs instead of actually making the lives of Americans better while FIGHTING affordable housing, high speed rail, and EVs.

We've got an entire team of goons who would rather rack up penalty minutes than score goals. These freaks think we are competing with China in an MMA fight instead of a Hockey game.

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pydry ◴[30 Aug 25 23:08 UTC] No.45078802[source]▶
The ironic thing is that tariffs are the right tool to reindustrialize America (over the period of ~a decade) but theyre being wielded with the skill and grace of a crack addled ferret by somebody who thinks it's a magic wand.
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1. selectodude ◴[31 Aug 25 01:02 UTC] No.45079416[source]▶
Reindustrializing America requires people that are actually willing to work in a factory.
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2. MiscCompFacts ◴[31 Aug 25 01:26 UTC] No.45079509[source]▶
Won’t people be willing when the cost of living goes up so much and all the tech jobs are gone to foreign labor that they have to work factory jobs?
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3. ◴[31 Aug 25 01:33 UTC] No.45079546[source]▶
4. giraffe_lady ◴[31 Aug 25 02:13 UTC] No.45079734[source]▶
Most people don't work in tech. IIRC the most common jobs are retail, food service, healthcare, and education.
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5. immibis ◴[31 Aug 25 02:16 UTC] No.45079753[source]▶
There won't be any factories since all the capital will be overseas.
6. platevoltage ◴[31 Aug 25 04:30 UTC] No.45080386[source]▶
So you think going backwards and becoming a developing nation is a good thing?
replies(1): >>45080493 #
7. vivzkestrel ◴[31 Aug 25 04:51 UTC] No.45080469[source]▶
that is actually true it seems https://www.molsonhart.com/blog/america-underestimates-the-d... most american workers in today s date simply dont have a good diet and work ethics like their ancestors used to have
8. amrocha ◴[31 Aug 25 04:58 UTC] No.45080493{3}[source]▶
What do you think happens when all the “developing” nations develop and refuse to get paid peanuts to make your phones?
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9. AngryData ◴[31 Aug 25 05:49 UTC] No.45080666[source]▶
Pay them a decent wage and they will.
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10. platevoltage ◴[31 Aug 25 06:06 UTC] No.45080751{4}[source]▶
The Vulcans come visit Earth and the Federation gets formed. How the heck should I know?
11. 9dev ◴[31 Aug 25 06:25 UTC] No.45080839[source]▶
But why compete on factories if that isn’t competitive with foreign factories?
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12. AngryData ◴[31 Aug 25 06:38 UTC] No.45080889{3}[source]▶
Because the immediate profits of capitalists shouldn't be the sole dictator of our economic activities and policies.
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13. 9dev ◴[31 Aug 25 06:53 UTC] No.45080961{4}[source]▶
Im with you on that. But strategically retargeting the economy towards manual labor when you're big on services and digital innovation? That makes no sense. Being entirely self-sufficient is just not a good strategy in a highly competitive world connected by trade relations. Instead, tending to alliances and partnerships, assuring mutual interests and interlinked dependencies would be a lot smarter.

It all comes down to a lot of people in other parts of the world being willing to work for far less, for far longer hours, under far worse conditions, than Americans. Anything you can make in the USA will thus be more expensive, and until you’ve re-acquired all the domain knowledge lost to other nations, these quality will also be worse. As most people don’t want to buy something worse for more, you’ll need to force them to by making it unreasonable to import foreign goods (which is already happening), but that also means you limit the market to domestic. I fail to see how that is a viable strategy, unless you aim to wage war on the rest of the world and can’t trust anyone.

14. NooneAtAll3 ◴[31 Aug 25 07:50 UTC] No.45081291[source]▶
that requires giving advantage to such people - and stripping advantages from the rest
15. esseph ◴[31 Aug 25 07:57 UTC] No.45081321[source]▶
Even that's not enough, because the tariffs are hitting raw goods as well as finished products!
16. esseph ◴[31 Aug 25 08:00 UTC] No.45081341{3}[source]▶
And we're decimating retail through tariffs, we're cutting as many people as we can out of food service, and we're ending much federal funding around education. Doesn't seem great.
17. aurareturn ◴[31 Aug 25 08:15 UTC] No.45081414{4}[source]▶
That's how you become a poor country. Every country that closed itself off to the rest of the world becomes poor.
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18. donalhunt ◴[31 Aug 25 09:26 UTC] No.45081790{5}[source]▶
How many of them have MAGA-style slogans though? /s
19. DrewADesign ◴[31 Aug 25 14:03 UTC] No.45083216{3}[source]▶
In my experience, most US tech workers see the non-tech US like most of the US sees the rest of the world: they intellectually understand that they’re a small piece of the pie, but living within an attention and influence bubble subconsciously makes people feel like the center of the universe. This can make average people feel superior and above average people feel exceptional.

Like in Garrison Keillor’s Lake Woebegone, where all of the children are above average.

20. AngryData ◴[31 Aug 25 17:30 UTC] No.45085044{5}[source]▶
You don't have to close yourself off to the world to foster local industry.
21. ponector ◴[31 Aug 25 21:12 UTC] No.45087140[source]▶
Would average American citizen like to pay x3 for made in America goods instead of Chinese?

Why they don't do it now? One could easily replace 90% of consumed good with US made.