Tariffs shouldn't really Hurt us

[u/Sensitive-Pie-6595]

Those who live in Yard know that for so long we have been creating our own products, and buying from anywhere but the US. This goes back to the 1980s when America would give us 'string loans'... that is... they loan us $X but it can only be used to buy American products.

There was a time when in a supermarket big loooong aisles full of US stuff.

Over the years we started to quietly replace them with local products so that we didn't those loans.

We also started buying from other islands so that we had stuff from T'dad and of course, China.

Just before Trump did his tariff thing I looked at where my stuff came from.

Okay, everything that plugs in comes from China. Almost all my clothes come from China.

Now, my groceries.

I buy local stuff and stuff that comes from T'dad and every where else. Like this yogurt I use on my cereal comes from France, the other from Spain and the cereal is Jamaican. The coffee is Jamaican and I use Lasco instead of coffee mate.

The kind of flat breads/wraps i use are made in Jamaica as are the vegetables, soup, porridge, chocolate... in fact... I read labels before purchase.

if you look on the roads we have Toyota, Sukuzi... I haven't seen a US car since some years ago this Dodge.

I think Jamaica is not going to suffer very much because we wisely moved to standing on our own.

[u/tallawahroots]

Tell that to any company who worked for decades to build distribution for their exports to the Diaspora.

All I see in the media is car parts manufacturers pointing to factory shutdowns in a week. How things are traded via the US ports matters to this. Packaging alone can have a huge shock - the aluminum tarrif matters in different ways.

Plus the financial markets are integrated. How many people invest in USDand US stocks tto hedge….. it's ubiquitous. Pain and deportation spell a drying up of remittance money. It's going to hurt.

[u/Sensitive-Pie-6595 → u/tallawahroots]

we will find a way around... maybe direct from China...why not?

[u/tallawahroots → u/Sensitive-Pie-6595]

Why not well China dominating a trade relationship with Jamaica is intolerable to this US (and all) administration for one thing. Do you remember the cold war?

For another look at the ability to really trade with an unfree system - human rights, quality control, environmental concerns aside (no regulatory enforcement to Bureau of Standards and dumping of substandard product to kill the local and Caricom initiatives you waxed poetic about) - you then can think about your business people getting scooped into their spy accusations. China just executed 4 Canadians like this. It's not just a plug and play with world powers. The North American trade system has been a bulwark against more inequality. This matters.

[u/Sensitive-Pie-6595 → u/tallawahroots]

every electrical item in Yard is made in China. Go look see if you can find a Microwave, fridge, computer here Not made in China

[u/tallawahroots → u/Sensitive-Pie-6595]

Okay? The brands are not Chinese, and the tarrif regime has changed. This type of response isn't striking me as helpful. The status quo is something that I heard a certain US Cabinet member speaking out against publicly while waving a big stick with the word visas at the top end and the word tarrifs at the bottom end.

How the status quo has emerged is the way that we operated in a very different situation that had been stable across N. America for 30 years or so. It's being undercut. Yes, the Asian (not China only; that's just sloppy thinking about a continent + region of the world that isn't all mainland China) manufacturers are sold in Jamaica. That trade is coming out of the currency earning climate.

If you want to speak more fully, I am pointing to real problems with product dumping. It goes to safety such as the rotten drywall issue in the US, and why steel is being traced to country of origin when it wasn't before, corporate espionage, etc. You may never have eaten bad rice but I have. This stuff isn't something that large, developed, militarized nations finds easy to manage for their people. Shrugging about it isn't very responsible or incisive.

[u/Sensitive-Pie-6595 → u/tallawahroots]

Pretend we are China and our big trade is about to crumble because when you do the math it is like a 60% tariff...

if China can leave out the US and go direct... it would be in their interest. So I'll share the pop corn with you and we see what China does.

[u/tallawahroots → u/Sensitive-Pie-6595]

Okay, I'm going to break this down for you. Commerce with Jamaica is not the reason they are moving in the region. It's geo-politics. The US wants none of this power projection in its backyard and is saying it loud & clear.

You might shrug off the effects of adding to trade irritants at a time like this but I hope it improves without putting us in that incredibly dangerous situation. Ask an island that tried to thumb its nose, and you will find a very difficult history after revolution squashed. This isn't us sitting at a Palace Amusement property. It's gotten real fast.