Tariffs …. Good or Bad?

[mtalbot_ca]

Computers have now a 25% tax (at midninght). Overall canadian additionnal counter tariff are on 29.8 Billions worth of products, bringing the total to close to 50 Billions. Glad I purchased my IPAD in november....

[68Camaro]

Don't most computers get assembled in China? Why would there be a 25% tariff on them for you?

[Doctor Steuss]

Don't most computers get assembled in China? Why would there be a 25% tariff on them for you?

There's actually a sizable industry in the US that supplies the market for high-end semi-custom computers (for gaming, graphic design, engineering software, etc.). Origin PC, iBuyPower, Digital Storm, Xiotic, and Maingear to name a handful of the gaming-centric brands that are in the US.

There are also some pretty big computer parts companies that are based in the US. Corsair's corporate office is in California, and their manufacturing plant is in Atlanta (they do cases, water blocks, all-in-one cooling, fans, lights, etc.). I don't know how they compare to other companies (they're just one I've bought from before), but they did $1.32 billion in revenue last year.

[mtalbot_ca]

Exactly, I was told that in fact, the 25% tarif for my IPAD is around 20% price impact, on that I get taxes 15% for sales tax and it amount to 23%….

[mtalbot_ca]

Quick fact. This is the top 10 from Canada to the USA (in US $), for 2024:

Mineral fuels, oils, distillation products — $131B
Vehicles other than railway, tramway — $50.76B
Machinery, nuclear reactors, boilers — $30.31B
Commodities not specified according to kind — $19.30B
Plastics — $14.18B
Wood and articles of wood, wood charcoal — $11.59B
Aluminum — $11.49B
Electrical, electronic equipment — $11.24B
Aircraft, spacecraft — $9.25B
Pearls, precious stones, metals, coins — $9.11B

For dairy products, CNN reports that Canada has tariffs above 200% on dairy products imported from the US but that it only applies if the yearly quota is surpassed. Since those high tariffs kick in only after the US has hit a certain negotiated quantity of tariff-free dairy sales to Canada each year – and as the US dairy industry acknowledges, the US is not hitting its allowed zero-tariff maximum in any category of dairy product.

In many categories, notably including milk, the US is not even at half of the zero-tariff maximum.

Do you think it is true?

[Doctor Steuss]

Wood and articles of wood, wood charcoal — $11.59B

A quick note on this particular one (from a construction standpoint). Generally, Canadian wood is stronger, taller, and thicker than American wood due to its slower and denser growth rate. Canada also has an absolute crap load compared to America, which makes it a lot less expensive. America does have some areas that can provide fairly decent inexpensive construction-grade wood, but most of it is within national forests, and would be depleted incredibly quick if we were to rely solely on our own lumber. This is why Trump's last haphazard tariff tantrum ended up pricing tens of thousands of Americans out of the dream of home ownership. Incidentally, it ended up accomplishing nothing economically positive for America.

He constantly complains about these "terrible" trade deals, and how we're being treated unfairly. He's literally the person that negotiated and signed USMCA. He called it the "best" trade deal ever made, and that it was "good for everybody." What boggles my mind in all of this is we don't even have to guess what the outcome of Trump style tariffs is. We already have an example from his last administration.

His last little piss-on-our-allies limbic trade war raised the cost of U.S. intermediate goods 10-30%, reduced real income in the U.S. by $1.4 billion every month in deadweight losses, cost consumers an additional $3.2 billion in added taxes, caused a net loss of American jobs in the manufacturing sector, resulted in foregone American stock market capitalization of at least $5 trillion dollars (i.e. people's 401k accounts), reduced our exports, decreased the average real household income of Americans, created a trade vacuum that was filled by other countries which the US has never fully regained, soured relations with long-time allies, and necessitated billions of socialist bailouts of our agricultural industry.

The only positive, as far as the US as a whole goes, is his taxing American consumers without legislation or representation put a modest dent in his mind-blowing inflation inducing money printing record deficit. Biden and the Dems were all too happy to continue most of the China tariffs because the economic damage was already done, so might as well keep on taxing Americans to line the coffers. If there's one things Dems will fall all over themselves for (other than appeasing the corporate overlords of neoliberalism) is clinging to newly gained taxes.

This time, the US is likely to lose even more trade market share as our allies search out for trade sources that aren't so fickle and emotionally unhinged. When all of this is over, do people really think Canada is going abandon their newly created supply-chains to go back to the ever-lingering threat of mindless chaos?