re: How confident are you that Trump and his team know what they are doing with tariffs?

100%. Trump wants there to be no tariffs on both sides. He usually gets what he wants.

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Vietnam and EU have already offered 0 for 0 tariffs and the admin has said that's not good enough.

So what the hell are we doing? Nobody knows and they won't tell us.

It all smells like a bunch of BS so far. BS that leads to higher prices and more inflation for us.

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Because currency manipulation, cheating and trade deficits are part of the discussion.

Vietnam for example, likes to be a proxy for Chinese products. They bring it in and slap a "made in vietnam" sticker on chinese made products to avoid regulations/tariffs in other countries. Regardless of tariff status with vietnam, that isn't acceptable.

If another country has zero tariffs but they manipulate their currency regularly to put the USA at a disadvantage, that isn't acceptable.

The situation with every country is different. If you expect there to be a black-and-white cookie cutter solution that works for every country, that isn't going to happen.

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They want to hoard and eat the cake. Pick one, revitalise manufacturing or maintain GRC status. Can't do both.

They also want $50/oil and we're nearly there. Unless they are planning on subsidising horizontal drilling to the tune of $20+/barrel capex in the Permian and Bakken vanish and we get $150/oil in <1 yr. US shale has been >90% of global production growth for a decade. If that's not profitable, GL keeping a lid on oil prices.

100%. Will it work as well as he hopes? 97%.

I think Trump knows this, 100%. My guess is that Trump already knows what the deal will be.

Maybe something to do with Taiwan, I don't know. Whatever it is, both countries will benefit.

Trump understands that a deal where one side wins and one side loses is not sustainable.

What happens the first time a Democrat gets elected and all these countries reinstate their tariffs? Do we go back to corruption, as usual?

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This is where I am. Some people have not been around long enough. It has been worse.

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While things may have been worse, we've never been in a situation where this was orchestrated, purposefully, by the President of the United States.

I think most of us can agree that something needed to be done with regard to the debt and rising deficit. In addition, many countries had disproportionate tariffs that put American goods at a disadvantage.

But the chaos with which this has been rolled out - the seemingly deceiving manner in which the administration is conflating 'trade imbalance' with 'tariff rates', the lack of a clearly communicated strategy, the conflicting intended results (are these reciprocal tariffs with the goal of getting other countries to reduce theirs or is this meant to increase revenues? I don't think both can't be true), etc., - all at the cost of everyday Americans' retirement accounts, which will also crush any small business that relies on imported goods, erodes the trust with which many of us had in this administration as a pro-business boon to the country.

Many assumed we would see a lot of action in the M&A world, new IPOs, etc., but with the inconsistency of the messaging and the chaotic decision-making, businesses have little to no ability to plan long-term because nobody knows what will happen next week.

There may be a clearly-orchestrated plan that makes sense. But we haven't heard it. We just hear sound bites that seem to contradict themselves.

ETA - the manner in which they're trying to achieve their goals is insane - not the goals themselves. I hope the debate can center on this moving forward... not whether 'something' needed to be done, but how it should be done.

Not much at all. I think they may be spinning bull shite about the countries that are wanting to negotiate. They are putting out conflicting info. Navarro says there are no deals in the works. Too many believe that you can flip a switch and manufacturing will return to the US. It will take years for that to happen and will not happen if a Dem wins the WH. I’m hopeful but becoming very skeptical

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Trade deficits are a natural part of trade. The expectation that every country in the world should buy as much goods from us as we buy from them is ridiculous, especially the dirt poor countries.

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Exactly. where do people think they get the money to buy up all our debt?

and the American consumer pays less for "stuff" (cheaply made, yes) but still vastly cheaper than domestically manuf.

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100%. Trump wants there to be no tariffs on both sides. He usually gets what he wants.

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So why would any corporation shift manufacturing to the US if the tariffs have a short lifespan?

How will we fund our government via the External Revenue Service if the tariffs go to 0?