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/Grimcharnn]

All of a sudden people care about tariffs because Trump is doing them. People need to go do some research on what the tariffs are for goods shipped from Jamaica to Canada or Jamaica to the UK.

Obviously it has negative implications on our economy, so I wouldn’t say I’m a fan of it. However why shouldn’t America match what other countries do?

[u/KriosDaNarwal → u/Grimcharnn]

Tariffs arent as simple as u charge 10 I charge 10. Theres way more nuance to a trade agreement between countries with such a huge difference in GDP

[u/Grimcharnn → u/KriosDaNarwal]

I guess you think I meant match Jamaica. Not what I meant, Canada has tariffs on Jamaican goods, UK has tariffs on Jamaican goods, most countries do (huge difference in GDP from the countries I listed). So again why shouldn’t America do the same?

[u/KriosDaNarwal → u/Grimcharnn]

UK/Eu has specific excise duties due to eu free trade deal. We have a trade deal with canada and we have a trade deal with the USA. trump's tariffs are outside the realm of that, damaging to the existing agreements and will hurt the country. This stuff is google-able if you didnt know, stop barking up the wrong tree. The US is both our biggest import and export market and you dont see where breaking existing trade deals and implementing widescale tariffs is bad? Economics isnt as simple as "you charge 10, we charge 10".