Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says U.S. tariffs on Australian steel and aluminum are unjustified, but his government will not retaliate with its own tariffs.
Because if Trump gets his way with tariffs he will move emboldened onto whatever his next stupid strategy is probably something like trying to dismantle Nato or whatever. However if all the world retaliates together to this bully then he will know what will happen next time he starts doing stupid shit. classic school yard bully situation in some sense. If the bullied is left alone and others don’t react in unison then the bully will continue to bully.
I’m Australia’s regard, what the bully is doing is hurting himself more that his victim.
If the bully punches himself in the face I’m not gonna punch myself in the face to prevent him being emboldened.
As an aside, I don’t know why people think that a market capitalism solution is what will stop Trump. The whole world won’t just stop buying US-made products in unison and the NASDAQ drops precipitously and Trump announces “oh dear, i will stop doing a fascism and be a good boy from now on”. This is a fantasy that does not map to the real world.
Look at how tarrifs have affected Putin or Kim Jong Il: barely at all. Yes, their people suffer, but the leaders make new trade deals with different counties so their personal wealth in largely unaffected. Meanwhile they have big propaganda wins as it feeds right into their party narrative that the ‘rest of the world is against us’, ‘the elites are conspiring at the WTO’. And those countries have been heavily targeted by tariff schemes for decades, how long you guys want Trump?
Historically the only way authoritarian regimes are brought down is via internal conflict or war.
Because if Trump gets his way with tariffs he will move emboldened onto whatever his next stupid strategy is probably something like trying to dismantle Nato or whatever. However if all the world retaliates together to this bully then he will know what will happen next time he starts doing stupid shit. classic school yard bully situation in some sense. If the bullied is left alone and others don’t react in unison then the bully will continue to bully.
I’m Australia’s regard, what the bully is doing is hurting himself more that his victim.
If the bully punches himself in the face I’m not gonna punch myself in the face to prevent him being emboldened.
As an aside, I don’t know why people think that a market capitalism solution is what will stop Trump. The whole world won’t just stop buying US-made products in unison and the NASDAQ drops precipitously and Trump announces “oh dear, i will stop doing a fascism and be a good boy from now on”. This is a fantasy that does not map to the real world.
Look at how tarrifs have affected Putin or Kim Jong Il: barely at all. Yes, their people suffer, but the leaders make new trade deals with different counties so their personal wealth in largely unaffected. Meanwhile they have big propaganda wins as it feeds right into their party narrative that the ‘rest of the world is against us’, ‘the elites are conspiring at the WTO’. And those countries have been heavily targeted by tariff schemes for decades, how long you guys want Trump? Historically the only way authoritarian regimes are brought down is via internal conflict or war.