Video transcript:
Do you know which country will suffer the highest tariffs from Trump?
Take a wild guess.
This is such a strange target. The United States actually has a trade surplus with Brazil. It’s the fifth-largest trade surplus the United States currently has.
So, if the taco king refuses to chicken out this time, Brazil will probably retaliate because, you know, they’re the one who’s buying. It’s not gonna bring jobs back from Brazil, guys. If anything, it will encourage American firms to produce in Brazil.
Trump’s trade philosophy is that having a trade deficit means being robbed. Based on that logic, Brazil has been robbed by the US for decades and never complained. And that’s the country you want to punish? Doesn’t it exactly show other countries that they should rob Uncle Sam even harder?
So now it’s pretty clear that Donald’s Tariffs are not about trade balance, or jobs, or manufacturing. What are they about? Beats me. I don’t think anybody knows at this point, not even his staff. There’s no official statement about why Brazil is getting fucked over. The only clue is Trump’s social media post saying that Brazil shouldn’t prosecute their ex-president, Jair Bolsonaro.
But the problem is, Brazil is not the only country that’s doing it. South Korea just rearrested its ex-president last week. In fact, half of South Korea's ex-presidents went to jail at some point.
France, Taiwan, Italy, and Peru all had some episodes like that. Even Netanyahu is on trial in Tel Aviv for corruption. If he’s convicted, is Donald gonna put a tariff on Israel? I don’t even know.
Is he sending a signal that, from now on, no country can prosecute their former presidents and prime ministers? But why? Why is that any of your fucking business?
Of course, the MAGA world loves it when Donald does something no one expected. That’s how you surprise your enemies in a 4-D chess, right? I got surprised more than once, I admit.
But the problem of this tactic is that no one will have any incentive to negotiate. The point of reaching a compromise is to make the future predictable. If America refuses to offer any predictability, then what’s the point? It’s like if I pay you a protection fee, I expect some fucking protection. If you just keep robbing me, maybe next time I’ll find a rival gangster, or maybe even whack your ass myself. Everyone has a limit.
One explanation for Trump’s unpredictability is that he doesn’t really want trade deals. He wants other nations to obey his social media posts and satisfy any random thoughts he comes up with during breakfast. That sounds enticing for a King Joffery type, but it’s also very unrealistic because other countries aren’t stupid.
Or maybe he’s marching toward, you know, dementia.
On a separate note, Dow Jones just fell back to the inauguration day level. So maybe the rule of TACO is gonna work its magic and force the tariff down again. The stock market seems to be the only thing that constrains that guy’s behavior. Let’s see.
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