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Trade in War

(news.mit.edu)
94 points LorenDB | 5 comments | 28 Aug 25 14:58 UTC | HN request time: 0.003s | source
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MangoToupe ◴[01 Sep 25 08:07 UTC] No.45090620[source]▶
Meanwhile others sanction (or tariff) countries they're at peace with for no discernible benefit to anyone.
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victorbjorklund ◴[01 Sep 25 08:22 UTC] No.45090698[source]▶
Tariffs are a tax on your own population (no matter what Trump says). Which countries sanction friendly ally nations?
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XorNot ◴[01 Sep 25 08:26 UTC] No.45090726[source]▶
I mean friendly nations can coexist with tarriffs structures perfectly amicably.

What's not normal is trying to use tarrifs the way the US is, and the frequency of their adjustment, as well as stated motivation (punitive rather then achieving any sort of strategic goal).

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herbst ◴[01 Sep 25 08:34 UTC] No.45090763[source]▶
Switzerland has plenty of tariffs around farmed goods to keep our farmer market healthy. But it does indeed make products more expensive (and higher quality) and everybody here knows and most accept that.
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1. ExoticPearTree ◴[01 Sep 25 08:49 UTC] No.45090845[source]▶
Funny you're mentioning Switzerland where whole families travel to France for cheaper products just to meet the quota per person when you come back from your weekend shopping.

Can't really comment on "more expensive = higher quality" since I'm biased towards France where I believe they're better at cultivating tomatoes than the Swiss.

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2. lan321 ◴[01 Sep 25 09:29 UTC] No.45091055[source]▶
It's more of an excuse for a drive for me tbh. When I compare prices between DE and CH now, the difference isn't that big anymore.
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3. myrmidon ◴[01 Sep 25 10:33 UTC] No.45091456[source]▶
To be fair, the costs are just less hidden in the swiss model.

If you do internal subsidies (the EU/US approach) instead of tariffs on imports, then a fraction of your taxes gets diverted to farmers instead.

Sadly this whole issue is difficult to side-step completely because if you do neither subsidies nor tariffs, your local food industry just dies and that is a really undesirable outcome if you want to avoid famines.

4. gregorygoc ◴[01 Sep 25 11:40 UTC] No.45091886[source]▶
DE is still cheaper for some products but not by much. I have no idea how do they manage there since salaries are like 2x less.
5. herbst ◴[01 Sep 25 12:53 UTC] No.45092343[source]▶
I love going to France, and really like their quality approach. But try going to Germany or Austria. Basically the same price or more expensive at the same or worse quality.