The goalposts are moving as that gets debunked. Now they're claiming that the tariffs are to level out trade deficits.

Take the automotive industry. Ford and Chevy pretty much only survive on gigantic gas- and diesel-guzzling trucks like the F-series and the Silverado. These vehicles are not suited to European roads, and the build quality isn't all that good, either. Why would Europeans pick these vehicles over their own vehicles? And it's even more ludicrous to think that the Japanese would rather buy a Ford F-150 than a Toyota, Honda, or even a Suzuki or Isuzu. Japanese cars are awesome. Even Americans know this, which is why Toyota and Honda dominate the lists of best-selling cars other than the aforementioned F-series and the Silverado. 

Apple is pretty popular in Asia. American chain restaurants and snack foods do well over there, so it's not just "Asian snobbery" or tariffs or what have you. They make products that people in other countries actually want to buy.

Vietnam runs a $123 billion deficit with the U.S., which is the fourth largest trade deficit (after China, the EU, and Mexico).  But Vietnam manufactures stuff for the U.S. market. The U.S. has a voracious appetite for goods that it cannot meet internally. Meanwhile, a lot of American products are too expensive for the average Vietnamese salary, and Vietnam has a population less than one third of the U.S. What, exactly, are they supposed to be buying? Ditto with China and Mexico. China and Europe also have local manufacturers that make things for domestic consumption, and Chinese manufacturers can actually price stuff at a level that a Chinese salary can afford. 

As someone else put it, you probably run a 100% trade deficit with your local grocery store, unless you're a farmer with a contract. They have things you want/need to buy, but you likely have nothing to sell to them, so you trade in cash you get from your sources of income. 

Microsoft fires two employees who protested company’s ties with Israel

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/07/microsoft-fires-engineers-who-protested-during-anniversary-celebration.html

The Associated Press news agency is reporting that Microsoft sacked Ibtihal Aboussad and Vaniya Agrawal after they disrupted the company’s 50th-anniversary event in protest against its ties with the Israeli military.

In a letter to Aboussad, the company accused her of misconduct “designed to gain notoriety and cause maximum disruption to this highly anticipated event”.

It also told Agrawal, who had already given two weeks’ notice to leave the company, to make her resignation effective immediately.

Videos from the event on Friday showed Aboussad interrupting a speech by Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman as he announced new product features.

“You claim that you care about using AI for good, but Microsoft sells AI weapons to the Israeli military,” Aboussad shouts. “Fifty-thousand people have died and Microsoft powers this genocide in our region.”




A silver lining to Trump's idiocy, oh go on request all that money back!

Trump says ‘maybe not’ to lifting tariffs on Israel

The Israeli leader pledged to eliminate the trade deficit with the US and do so quickly, but Trump said that may not be enough for him to lift the 17 percent tariffs he imposed on the country last week.

“Maybe not, don’t forget – we help keep Israel a lot,” he said. “We give Israel $4bn a year, that’s a lot.”

Actually it's a lot more, pls somebody tell Trump how much Israel has been free loading on the US.

Since the start of Israel's war with Hamas on October 7, 2023, the United States has enacted legislation providing at least $12.5 billion in direct military aid to Israel, which includes $3.8 billion from a bill in March 2024 (in line with the current MOU) and $8.7 billion from a supplemental appropriations act in April 2024. Other analysts—Linda J. Bilmes, William D. Hartung, and Stephen Semler, from Brown University—have reported [PDF] that Israel received $17.9 billion in U.S. military aid during this period, a figure that additionally accounts for the cost to the U.S. Defense Department of replenishing the stock of weapons provided to Israel.

O M G...... Trump said he is considering putting a additional 50% tariff rate on China.... Wow.

Switch 2 might be over 600$ afterall.

Glad I got my Pre-order locked in for a comparative $427 USD...

This won't make a difference if it happens, because Switch consoles are manufactured in other southeast Asian countries as well. Nintendo had relocated a portion of their manufacturing from China to other countries when Trump engaged in a trade war with China during his first term.

Nintendo is producing the Switch in Vietnam, not in China. A 20% tariff they could have absorbed, but 46% is too much, hence why they stopped preorders.

Of course, if they produced in China and would have been slapped with another 50%, the price would have gone up considerably. In fact, I'd expect more like $700 then with those cumulative 70% extra tariffs applied to the console.

By the way, anyone knows where Sony and Microsoft are building their consoles? As those may also get more expensive due to the tariffs if they are being made in an affected country.

"Trump says China deal 'will happen'
The US president said that the Asian country wants to make a deal, but that China does not know yet how to start. Trump also said that he is waiting for a call from Chinese authorities."

https://g1.globo.com/economia/noticia/2025/04/08/trump-diz-que-acordo-com-china-vai-acontecer.ghtml

Idk, his arrogant attitude implying that he is in the right and that China need to call them to make a deal, just a day after they threatned to impose even more tariffs as retaliation...

I just cant trust Donald Dumb

The stock market is recovering worldwide, traders are once again betting on Trump folding in the final hour. Yesterday showed just how desperate they are for any shred of hopium when the stock market recovered by trillions on the back off a fake news Twitter post, Lmao. On the flip side, Trump has done this multiple times before and there's not an impossible chance that Trump claims he spoke to all 195 countries and negotiated brilliant trade deals with them all and now the tariffs are all paused.

He's posting about negotiations on Truth Social right now despite claiming yesterday no negotiations until countries give him everything he wants. Can't really blame the market that much since Trump has backed down every time before but if they're wrong on this then a lot of people are going to be seriously hurt tomorrow, Lol. Guess we'll wait and see but I would not be surprised to see him claiming he got a brilliant deal with every country without actually explaining what that deal was and his fanbase clapping like seals.

He got nothing new out of the Mexico/Canada trade war, but still claimed a win and paused tariffs, so hopefully EU can get the zero-tariff agreement that they've been asking for decades now which didn't need a trade war to achieve, Lmao. USA's useless media won't question it any deeper than Trump claiming he got a win but it's not on the rest of the world to educate stupid Americans and hurt ourselves just to prevent Trump stroking his ego. But of course, Trump could still be insane and go through with it and traders are about to lose big.

The Trump administration is considering launching drone strikes on drug cartels in Mexico as part of an ambitious effort to combat criminal gangs trafficking narcotics across the southern border, according to six current and former U.S. military, law enforcement and intelligence officials with knowledge of the matter.

Discussions among White House, Defense Department and intelligence officials, which are still at an early stage, have included possible drone strikes against cartel figures and their logistical networks in Mexico with the cooperation of Mexico's government, the sources said.

Still, the administration has made no final decision and reached no definitive agreement about countering the cartels. And unilateral covert action, without Mexico's consent, has not been ruled out and could be an option of last resort, the sources said. It is unclear whether American officials have floated the possibility of drone strikes to the Mexican government.

If Mexico and the United States proceed together with drone strikes or other action, it would not be the first time they have launched a joint effort to take on the cartels, nor would it be the first time that American military and intelligence worked in concert with Mexico's law enforcement and army.

But what the Trump administration is contemplating could be unprecedented both in the number of U.S. personnel involved and in the use of American unmanned aircraft to bomb cartel personnel and assets.

Trump administration weighs drone strikes on Mexican cartels

Time for the "anti-war" and "peace" President to drone strike the shit out of yet another country, including innocent children. Only this time, the person they'd be attacking is literally right on their border and a powerful organisation at that. The fact that they're seriously considering doing it without Mexico's consent is wild, that would straight up be an act of war.

Also this is the administration arresting innocent people simply for having tattoos so I doubt their capability to know who is Cartel and who is an innocent Mexican or even give a shit. The Cartel is obviously a horrific organisation but Mexico absolutely shouldn't accept help from a country this unhinged, once the innocent Mexicans start dying it will only push even more Mexicans to the Cartels. It needs to be more surgical than just bombing the shit out of a country.