3d ago

Trump To Tariff Chips Made In Taiwan, Targeting TSMC

www.pcmag.com Trump To Tariff Chips Made In Taiwan, Targeting TSMC

The tariffs would ensnare cutting-edge smartphone and PC-related chips for Apple, AMD and Nvidia if enacted. But Trump is betting his plan will bring more chip production to the US.

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I don't want to live in the economic conditions this dude is gonna create, but God damn if his erratic and impulsive threats and decisions aren't funny as hell.
Imagine being a US company, one day you're massively profitable, the next China unveils that it made a product that all of your clients make for a fraction of the cost and it works way better and it's open source. The day after that your own president says your products are getting a tariff as high as 100% when you ship them back home.
I'd love to hear what they're saying in some of these corporate offices and board rooms today. Surely absolute panic.
- Though credit where credit is due: if the US wants to maintain being a super power, they need to have the ability to manufacture goods at home. Historically, tariffs would keep manufacturing at home.
  Can tariffs bring manufacturing back? Maybe. Over the long term I believe so, but in the short term (unless there are backdoor deals where oligarchs are taking a financial hit to start manufacturing back up) it will not work. It will however bring much suffering.
  I think these tariffs are the beginning of the empire's death throes. It feels like the American leaders are trying desperately to hold on to control, and Trump is willing to try something different, rather than just doing business as usual.
  Regardless of what happens, take care of yourselves, friends, family, and community.
  
  Can tariffs bring manufacturing back? Maybe. Over the long term I believe so, but in the short term (unless there are backdoor deals where oligarchs are taking a financial hit to start manufacturing back up) it will not work. It will however bring much suffering.
  There's no fucking way that financial markets are ever willing to take any kind of a hit on purpose. It's like half the rules and regulations in the US are meant to protect big businesses from ever being at a disadvantage. This is a short-sighted political economy by definition. I can see long-term planning coming from China, but from the US? No way.
  
  That's why they need to be disciplined by the state. Both Germany and Italy created capabilities to take over operations of companies while leaving shareholders in place because the state was willing to guide operations. The equivalent in the USA could happen.
  
  Could it? I don't know if there's political will for that at all in 2025... the only disciplining the US capitalist state seems willing to do is of workers, rather than the bourgeoisie. That applies, in fact, to most western governments nowadays, I reckon, which is a sad state of affairs.
  
  It's really question of the bourgeoisie using the state to discipline the class into protecting itself. I don't know if we're there yet, but it's a phase we need to watch for
  
  I got to wonder now though, if the government keeps going at this pace and if the degradation also starts to hit some of the enforcement, will smuggling see an increase, will black markets become a major thing?
  
  Definitely will
- I'd love to hear what they're saying in some of these corporate offices and board rooms today
  "What's John Hinckley up to these days?"
- "Is there a Luigi for Presidents?"

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