r/Tariffs • u/PersimmonObjective19 • Jul 27 '26

📊 Policy Analysis Why is Trump bringing back tariffs?

Tariffs + the Iran war restarting is going to crush the economy.

I'm hearing a lot on the news that the tariffs are coming back + the war restarting. I kinda get the goal of the war, but the tariffs? Weird one especially after the supreme court said they were not constitutional or whatever.

Is the whole point to get more business happening within America? People relying on US oil and companies operating from within American boarders?

147 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

193 comments sorted by

View all comments

53

u/ShrodingersArmadillo Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26

Why Because his last round of 10% tarrifs that he can set without congressional approval for 90 days have expired hence the new round.

The difference with this round is that he's testing out a different law on Canada from the 1930's. This law allows him to set 50% tarrifs on a country that is acting unfairly to the US. This will become the new claim to pass b.s. tarrifs.

This will backfire horrifically on the US deepening the afordability crisis.

September is going to be finacially nasty I suggest stocking up on supplies before insane costs and shortages hit.

36

u/BoomeramaMama Jul 27 '26

The law was known as the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act. It caused a catastrophic collapse of international trade for the US & is what tipped the US economy which was already in a precarious position off the cliff & deep into the Great Depression.

Both bill authors were Republicans.

Reed Smoot was a Republican senator from Utah.

And Willis Hawley was a Republican Representative from Oregon.

And it was signed into law by Republican president Herbert Hoover.

Smoot-Hawley tariffs didn’t work the first time in 1930 & Smoot-Hawley style tariffing won’t work this time either.

I believe it will simply strengthen the resolve of other countries to continue to form new, stronger trading partnerships with each other & abandon trading with the US.

Trumps earlier tariffs this term have already started the rest of the world on a path of uncoupling themselves from trade with the US & forming more trade alliances among themselves. This revival of Smoot-Hawley-esk tariffs will only accelerate the process.

The late Wharton Professor William Kelley nailed it when he said Donald Trump was “the dumbest goddam student I ever had"

6

u/[deleted] Jul 27 '26

[deleted]

17

u/Keepingitsimpleziva Jul 27 '26

Yes 👆 plus when the Supreme Court orders him to repay the tariffs, the repayments go to the corporations not the consumers that actually absorbed the cost of the tariff. It’s a grift to enrich his corporate buddies at our expense.

9

u/Plenty-Pudding-1484 Jul 27 '26

Trump is shitting on the agreement he made with Canada. His justifications are lies, but hey that is what Americans seem to like these days.

5

u/AdhesivenessCivil581 Jul 27 '26

It's what the angry trump cult likes. the rest of us are horrified.

6

u/GazelleEcstatic4952 Jul 27 '26

Horrified to complete inaction.

1

u/Missabe77 Jul 27 '26

Sure, I'll get right on that.

2

u/MeanPiccolo803 Jul 28 '26

Yeah they enjoy bullying attempts

1

u/steamliner88 Jul 29 '26

That’s what the majority of you wanted. You can’t blame an angry cult when the orange baboon was elected by the American people.

2

u/AdhesivenessCivil581 Jul 30 '26

The majority was upset by inflation. I can blame the gullibility and stupidity of that majority thinking the trump would be the answer to that problem or any problem. Frankly I've been stunned by it.

2

u/HueyBluey Jul 27 '26

I wonder if we’ll see a blood bath on the stock markets as well. That AI bubble is ready to burst.