r/economy • u/joe_shmoe11111 • 3d ago
The Blindingly Obvious Goal of Trump’s Tariffs That Everyone Seems to be Missing…
I keep seeing confusion about what Trump’s trying to accomplish with his new “tariffs on the world (except Russia, of course)” strategy.
Some have come up with partial truths, like him crashing the economy so that his billionaire friends can sell in advance, short the market then buy the dip, and further consolidating industries by knocking out small and medium sized businesses (eg. https://www.reddit.com/r/Political_Revolution/s/pjgB8tIqpW) and while those may be side benefits, it misses his BY FAR most important motive:
His goal with these tariffs is to force any corporations that want to survive to submit to his direct control & “buy” his favor (a, by definition, fascist takeover FWIW).
This is classic mob boss “carrot & stick persuasion” tactics & they are terrifyingly effective.
By imposing mixed levels of industry and country-specific tariffs & making it clear that these are all being imposed (& removed) at his will, Trump is able to dramatically (& immediately) influence nearly every company’s relative costs & competitiveness.
Within an astonishingly short period (likely just a matter of weeks or months) this financial control will force even the largest companies to submit to his demands in order to get the specific tariffs driving up the cost of *their* products & supply chains reduced or removed. Those who don't play by his rules will end up having to charge more & profit less, & will eventually be driven out of business by the competition that does play along.
With this latest move, he’s given the CEOs & board rooms of America a very clear, stark choice:
Do whatever he says (likely including in the long term purging your company of anyone who publicly opposes him & no longer advertising on platforms that allow opposition messaging), publicly praise him and “donate” millions to his “campaign" (for a 3rd term?), and the tariffs that most directly affect your bottom line will be magically reduced or removed overnight.
Do anything he doesn’t like, in contrast, and he’ll reimpose or increase them instead.
His calculus is simple:
He’s got another 3 1/2 years of executive power, minimum (you’re dreaming if you think BOTH the Republican-controlled house & 2/3rds of the Senate would ever vote to remove him, and even if they did, Vance would likely just continue with these tactics).
Most CEOs can only survive a year at most of continually losing market share to the competitors that are willing to pay to play before they’ll be replaced by someone more compliant.
This means that by the 2026 midterms, any remaining corporate opposition will be substantially weakened and on its way out the door. By 2028, they will be utterly marginalized or gone.
For anyone who thinks this is alarmist, you only have to look at the brazen effectiveness of his most recent targeted attacks via executive order on the nation’s largest law firms.
Law firms that had previously participated in cases against him (or his cronies) have been individually named and prohibited from entering federal buildings (obviously a necessity to participate in federal court cases), had their security clearances threatened and been banned from working with federal agencies (often a multimillion dollar portion of their business).
The result?
One by one, and within just a few weeks, they’ve ALL bent the knee and not only dropped the cases they were working on, but also “donated” tens of millions in free legal work for organizations that Trump likes in order to get his executive orders reversed (successfully, btw). Understanding the clear intended message of these targeted attacks, many of the other big law firms have already announced plans to preemptively bribe (er, provide) him with over $100 million in pro bono services(!):
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trumps-big-law-firms-retribution/
FWIW, this has been Trump’s MO forever, so no one should be surprised. He has always used his outsized wealth and power to bully others into doing his bidding. Whether it’s stiffing small contractors out of millions after they’ve done all the work, then burying them in legal debt when they try to complain until they've commit suicide (https://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trumps-business-plan-left-a-trail-of-unpaid-bills-1465504454) or publicly humiliating fellow Republicans into complete submission (eg. Lil Marco Rubio, Lyin' Ted Cruz, etc), this is simply how he operates.
This is all out of the Dictator’s handbook, of course, and it’s why our founding fathers designated the power of the purse to congress instead of the president alone. Unfortunately, congresspeople are far too cowardly to assert their rightful power and will passively watch our democracy die long before they do anything about it. It seems highly unlikely that any company can resist this type of targeted coercion long term.
How we the people respond will determine whether the country we grew up in still exists in recognizable form just a few months from now.
TL,DR: The “emergency” powers Trump currently has allow him to start, stop and dramatically alter international tariffs at will.
Given his extensive record of abusing power for personal gain (as demonstrated recently by him sabotaging individual law firms’ ability to conduct business with individually targeted executive orders, forcing them to not only stop all work on cases against him and his cronies, but also give him hundreds of millions of dollars in free labor in order for him to rescind them. These orders caused other law firms to preemptively offer him hundred million dollar bribes as well).
I’m suggesting that he is likely to abuse his power again, effectively controlling many companies’ ability to compete depending on their compliance with his demands. By suddenly raising and lowering tariffs by large amounts (currently 50% in some cases, and there’s no reason he can’t go higher to make a point), he can attack individual companies’ respective weak points and sabotage their operations, making them consistently less competitive. He can also pair this with reduced tariffs on their rivals, making them MORE competitive. He can thus pit them against one another, consistently punishing the least complaint and rewarding the most compliant to strengthen their hand.
Because most companies legally exist to maximize shareholder profits, this will eventually force them to either acquiesce to his demands (no matter how extreme, eg. Demanding they replace employees he dislikes with people he does and participate in crimes) or be forced out of business, leading to what’s commonly known as a fascist state.
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u/baby_budda 3d ago
There are three law firms that are fighting him and did not bend the knee.
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u/Emergency-Bid2766 3d ago
Do you happen to know which ones?
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u/Yonnidarko 3d ago
Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, and WilmerHale
More firms are planning to announce the signing of an amicus brief later today as well
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u/SableyeFan 2d ago
What's an amicus brief? I've never heard of that before
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u/nhaines 2d ago
An amicus curiae brief is when someone not involved in a lawsuit sends a letter to the court to offer technical expertise or guidance. (The court decides whether or not to accept the letter.)
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u/Jiveturtle 2d ago
Amicus curiae literally translates to "friend of the court," which is a pretty easy way to remember what it's for.
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u/biyonborg 3h ago
Those three firms shouldn't be allowed to go against President Musk and Donny. The firms' partners need to be detained or Israelled.
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u/SpaceWranglerCA 3d ago
History repeating itself - dating back to the Roman empire, Kings & emperors have used taxes / tax exemptions as a means for corruption. It was a driver behind the French revolution and one of many reasons why King Louis XVI was executed
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u/Mo-shen 3d ago
The US has done this every ~100 years.
Also to OPs post....his goal is to bring back the Gilded Age economy. They have literally said this openly.
So no regulations, no environmentalism, no banking restrictions, no unions, no social security, no min wage......and massive inequality. Oh yeah that leads to another Depression.
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u/Tliish 3d ago
That leads to a civil war.
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u/BeardedMan32 3d ago
Or perhaps a French Revolution
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u/pseudonominom 3d ago
The french were united, and did not have an emboldened group of gun-obsessed zealots in the mix.
”Full pardons.”
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u/fizzlefist 2d ago
Yeah, we’ll see what happens when grandma’s social security check bounces.
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u/JamesTrickington303 2d ago
I know so many more left wing gun people than right wing gun people.
I’m not saying my anecdote means we outnumber them, but we do in fact exist, and we practice just as much if not more.
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u/angrybaltimorean 2d ago
america's inequality nowadays is worse than what happened in france before the revolution.
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u/Suchamoneypit 2d ago
Kingcome Come Deliverance 2 has several quests that go in depth over plots like this for taxes and corruption. Working to gain favor with the local council/kings.
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u/Particular_Savings60 3d ago
Congress needs to IMMEDIATELY rescind their delegation of the power of applying tariffs from the Executive Branch.
https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/how-congress-delegates-its-tariff-powers-to-the-president
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u/DCRevolutionary 2d ago
Lol, you don't actually think there's an above zero chance of that happening, do you?
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u/Particular_Savings60 2d ago
I do. There is a bipartisan bill that’s been introduced already to require that Congress approve tariffs lasting longer than 30 days.
Capitulating in advance, much?
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u/happy0444 3d ago
Putin said to crash the dollar. Yes Master.
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u/Codicus1212 3d ago
We let a rabid dog in our house. Can’t blame the one loose in the neighbor’s house next door for what the one we let in does to us.
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u/SinkHoleDeMayo 2d ago
Trump wants to follow Putin's lead: make CEOs bow and give half of the company.
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u/Tliish 3d ago
I think you give him too much credit, and are forgetting the fates of most emperors and would-be emperors.
If he starts crossing the billionaires by tanking and threatening their companies, it's best to bear in mind that wealth on that scale tends to make the owners of it sociopathic. We live in a oligarchy already, it's just in drag pretending to be a democracy. Those guys aren't the forgive and forget types, they tend to bear grudges, just like Trump. They'll allow him to create chaos for a while so they can take advantage of it. But should he or his actions threaten to really harm them....well, all bets and alliances are off. Accidents happen all the time.
We've entered and era now where the rule of law has been deliberately shredded, and in a short time we will discover whether it will hold up under the assault or dissolve into the daily whims of the Boss, no longer cumbered with the name and idea for president. All businessmen are dictators within their own companies to the greatest extent they can manage. That's why business people who get elected generally make a hash of things: they don't understand how government works or should work, so they always try "running it like a business" because that's all they know how to do.
Funny, I can't think of any other professional class who says that if elected they would run government like .oh, say a classroom or school, or like a movie set, or like a farm....only businesspeople have the hubris to think that their skillsets automatically make them more qualified to run a government.
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u/thinkscout 3d ago
You‘re missing the point of OPs analysis. Trump, or the shadowy sting pullers behind him, won’t be tanking the companies revenues. Only the businesses of CEOs that resist him and don’t ‚make a deal‘ will suffer. Profit is king and OPs point is that boards will remove CEOs unwilling to deal with Trump. Project 2025 are seeking to gain control of corporate America by pressuring out their opponents and installing allies. In most cases the billionaires are the board, not the CEOs.
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u/UnlikelyAssassin 2d ago
Trump’s already got Zuckerberg, one of the richest men alive, to bend to his will by threatening him with life in prison. All that wealth doesn’t mean that much with the prospect of life in prison threatened against you.
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u/okhi2u 2d ago
See how well the rich people of Russia stopped Putin, they will be just as good as it here probably.
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u/befreesmokeweed 3d ago
I think it’s more to do with being a tool to generate revenue in an effort to partially offset corporate tax cuts. It’s easier for his followers to digest tariffs than being told that their income tax will be raised. Make it appear that the world is treating us unfairly and divide us from our allies. After that, expand the spheres of influence to maintain permanent control without any backlash from the global community.
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u/updateSeason 3d ago
Trump literally said he wants to replace income taxes with tariffs.
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u/nunyab1z 3d ago
And the majority of people who voted for him do not understand the difference between a progressive vs regressive tax.
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u/secretaliasname 3d ago
I used to be one of the dummies who bought into the flat tax/fair tax craze back in the day. Then I realized all that matters In the end is how much total tax different groups of people pay. Tariffs and sales taxes are regressive as ordinary people spend a larger fraction of their money on stuff..
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u/blackdoginthefog 3d ago
EXACTLY! The importers pay the tax the the fed gov’t then pass it on to consumers by raising prices Part of the funding for the tax break to the rich!!
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u/guywithQs 2d ago
I think it is a mix of the 2.
Trump has talked about tariffs for decades. I don't doubt he truly believes what he's saying. BUT.... Vance, Yarvin, Thiel, Musk, and most of the Project 2025 writers believe in and have publicly talked about the CEO of America idea, and forcing news orgs, universities, companies, and any other source of power outside of the government to bend the knee like OP is saying.
So Trump likely thinks this is a way to lower corporate tax rates and income tax on the wealthy, and others in his circle are using it to gain more control over the country.
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u/smoothVroom21 2d ago
Well said. This is why it's dangerous to treat him like he's incompetent. While he may not be smart, that doesn't make him dumb.
He's outmaneuvering just about everyone because of a single, simple reason: He doesn't care. You call him a cheat? So what. You call him an ass? Who cares. You try to shame him? He has no shame.
He is sociopathic to the extent that he isn't beholden to typical levers that can be used to get him to stop political malpractice. He doesn't care about the voters, he doesn't feel the need to work with his enemies, and he is all the way down the rabbit hole of power that he will not willingly give up.
All that's left is removal and prison to which he fears. The problem with that is those who can hold him to those things won't, because before they could, he will use the power of his office to get them removed. They have more to lose than he does, which makes them weaker and more vulnerable.
It's check mate for America, and even if he leaves, he has painted a roadmap for the next guy who will do the same.
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u/Foolgazi 2d ago
Well, all that plus slightly more than half of Congress refuses to do anything about it.
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u/Telsak 2d ago
I mean there is another way, but its something you'll get banned for talking about. But don't act like prison or deposing him is "all you can do".
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u/Knife_of_Pi 3d ago
It could be. But iI can’t think of which corporations he is targeting by manipulating tariffs on the penguin island.😂
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u/SmurfStig 3d ago
We figured it out last night at dinner. He must have watched Happy Feet recently, or been in the room when little Elon was watching. Saw that the penguins were trying to teach us about climate change and rising temps. They are getting a “woke” tax.
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u/anotherguiltymom 3d ago
I’m feeling brave just upvoting and commenting on this post. In the USA. How crazy is that? Unthinkable just a few months ago.
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u/Important_markets 3d ago
And in the process the stock market continues to tank and we get squeezed. Yes?
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u/Rivercitybruin 3d ago
Saw a good explanation. He controls tariff revenue not tax revenue
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u/mnradiofan 3d ago
Actually Tariffs are supposed to be set by congress too, and they have the power to declare an end to his “emergency” powers he’s using to usurp those powers too. They won’t, but let’s not forget congress could end this madness TOMORROW if they so choose.
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u/AnathemaD3v1c3 3d ago
A bill to do just that passed the Senate yesterday. If it clears the House, we’ll be in business.
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u/sudo_su_88 3d ago
It won't bc speaker Johnson has no backbone and is a tool. The GOP will not let that bill go up for a vote.
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u/joe_shmoe11111 3d ago edited 2d ago
Assuming Trump doesn’t just veto it, of course…
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u/f1fandf 3d ago
Should we then assume that the billionaire CEOs (and companies) that attended his inauguration front row, will be benefiting from this the most?
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u/Foolgazi 2d ago
Well, they certainly didn’t campaign for him because they think he’s a cool guy to hang out with.
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u/tanks137 3d ago
Good lord. So did all his insiders sell their equities beforehand.
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u/NedryWasFramed 3d ago
I think OP’s point is that as long as everything is tariffed, he alone can decide whose imports can be exempted. I don’t know there’s a practical way of making, let’s say, oh I don’t know, Tesla’s lithium exempt from tariffs or not, but it’s a terrifying thought.
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u/gomommago 3d ago
I can absolutely believe this. It’s exactly what he did in the last two weeks to some of the largest law firms in the country. Just a different “industry”.
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u/ThePugz 3d ago
You give the clown far too much credit
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u/joe_shmoe11111 3d ago edited 3d ago
It’s not Trump I’m worried about. He’s just a figurehead.
But the people around him aren’t all idiots, and they’re the ones coming up with and executing these plans…
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u/TheFashionColdWars 3d ago
Agreed. A lot of important pieces on the board have been strategically placed for the near future.
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u/ExistingBathroom9742 3d ago
No, it seems right. He sure as shit isn’t doing it for the good of America. So cui bono? why bother with Tariffs except to bully and exploit and he clearly wants to be a dictator. His tiny little dick jiggles a bit when he thinks about it.
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u/Ex-CultMember 3d ago
Idk, this is how Trump really operates and you can see this in numerous examples in his life. He bullies until he gets what he wants or his opponents submit.
He has the most power than anyone in the world at this point and he’s systematically forced his will on others, whether his own party, the courts, businesses, governments, etc. With every little success, he obtains more power, money, and control.
I think the post is extremely accurate.
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u/Hungry_Process_4116 2d ago
Literally impeached twice and convicted of rape. There is nothing that will stop him at this point.
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u/jh937hfiu3hrhv9 3d ago
Chump has been a manipulator since birth. That is how he leveraged his inheritance. These are the masterminds behind the puppet.
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u/Aoyanagi 3d ago
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u/jh937hfiu3hrhv9 3d ago
When major banks started courting crypto I got nervous about replacing the dollar. The evil schemers got closer to their dreams today. I hope somebody cuts the cord on crypto farms.
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u/Aoyanagi 3d ago
I've had idle daydreams of someone hitting tons of backdoors on Github and corrupting DOGE's Python libraries. Lol.
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u/seanmonaghan1968 3d ago
Agree. I think some idiots said tariffs could make a great sales tax to reduce rates on the wealthy. They also said other countries are weak and will just accept this. They are wrong on all counts
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u/Equivalent-Excuse-80 3d ago
This is the most plausible explanation. A pro tariff person explained tariffs to Trump with sock puppets.
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u/ptcounterpt 2d ago
CNN reported Trump lost about $1.8 billion in this last tank. Don’t give the orange clown any kudos for being a master manipulator. A fool is a fool, even if you don’t understand his methods.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/30/business/trump-stock-truth-social/index.html
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u/800oz_gorilla 3d ago
I am wondering if this is a play to force goods to go through Russia where there aren't any tariffs levied so they can be resold here. Russia gets their cut
We saw this with Chinese steel dumping.
It's the perfect time to do this is you're about to force Ukraine to surrender and lift Russian sanctions
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u/whydoidothis696969 3d ago
I hope you are wrong but my guess right now is he just sees it as projecting strength, the way he is a huge loser with handshakes and makes sure he’s in the front of every picture and what not.
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u/sic_firth 3h ago
Id say be cautious especially about those you’d least expect (or should I say most). It’s always the usual suspects so good ole Donny cant possibly be that mastermind y’all are afraid of, must be a joke, right?… Just cause Trump shows ineptitude, doesn’t mean we should underestimate his motives or we will truly get our asses handed to us.
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u/TheDebateMatters 3d ago
Yes. Trump is either evil or stupid. He is either an undemocratic fascist using executive orders because he’s too weak to get Congress to pass a law. Or he’s just a dumbass narcissist who refuses to admit he came up with a dumb plan and will rather destroy global trade than admit he was wrong.
Flip a coin.
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u/thinkscout 3d ago
Excuse the expletive but fuck that is dark. He‘s exploiting every weakness of American democracy and society at large. I‘m European, can someone explain to me how this can be stopped? From my view America‘s fetishisation of business, wealth, and power is finally going to bring it down. Honestly, at this point I’m just hoping the negative effects of America‘s final corporate transformation (i.e. a return to territorial imperialism, militarism towards former allies) can be limited.
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u/Foolgazi 2d ago
It can’t be stopped through traditional legislative processes, since slightly more than half of Congress and the voting public are on board with the authoritarianism. History tells us there’s really only one way authoritarian regimes come to an end.
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u/hellokittyhanoi 3d ago
So a country that has always been so proud of its "democracy" has elected a dictator?
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u/Foolgazi 2d ago
You’re just figuring that out now?
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u/hellokittyhanoi 2d ago
I’m not American and have no interest in judging other countries’ political choice. It’s just so ironic that in the past the same country just went everywhere to “liberate” us from dictators.
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u/TinyTC1992 2d ago
Just imagine 2 inches to the left and this would of been avoided.
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u/shimshamflimflam 2d ago
I know this isn't the point, but it's very strange to me that you're measuring this from his perspective, rather than from the direction the shot came from.
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u/SparseSpartan 2d ago
How is this story, from OP's post FYI, not all over the news everywhere? Even with the tariffs and trade war, this story is absolutely crucial.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trumps-big-law-firms-retribution/
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u/TheJasonaut 2d ago
This is absolutely frightening and so pure evil. It should be explained to everyone like this and on all platforms. I don’t know how it doesn’t make you sick and angry.
Thanks for clearly laying out the obvious 🤟
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u/ratsareniceanimals 2d ago
I think it's even simpler and stupider. He wants to help Russia, period, but he can't directly help Russia, so instead he's hurting literally everyone else in the world except Russia so Russia is helped in relative terms.
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u/imZ-11370 2d ago
Or it’s just a huge reverse pump and dump scheme, literally wreck the market, let the super rich reinvest and ride out the profits into the next administration.
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u/pristine_planet 2d ago
Shouldn’t the government legally exist to maximize our profits? Like in aren’t we all government’s shareholders? Aren’t we supposed to be?
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u/Accurate_Increase_53 2d ago
Trumpian economics isn’t a rejection of neoliberalism it’s a symptom of its failure.
Since the 1980s, neoliberal policies under both parties promised that free trade, deregulation, privatization, and globalization would deliver widespread prosperity.
But for millions of Americans, especially in the working and middle classes, those promises fell flat. Jobs were offshored, wages stagnated, unions were weakened, inequality soared, and once-thriving local economies hollowed out—even as GDP kept rising.
Trump’s economic nationalism emerged as a reaction to that discontent. By pushing tariffs, “America First” rhetoric, and anti-globalist sentiment, Trump tapped into real grievances caused by decades of market fundamentalism. But his approach didn’t challenge the core structure of neoliberal capitalism. It still relied on tax cuts, deregulation, and corporate-friendly policies, just wrapped in nationalist packaging.
In the end, Trumpism offered emotional and cultural appeal, but no real plan to rebuild a just, inclusive economy. It diagnosed the pain neoliberalism caused, but redirected the blame—toward immigrants, foreign competition, and elites—without addressing the root causes.
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u/MikeFichera 2d ago
Sure, that works on companies. Will it work on every sovereign nation on the planet? Who see obviously what you see- but our representatives do not. I expect that they are all coordinating to crush trump- via trade. We'll see. Trump needs to get squashed it needs to be done domestically. Americans are going to have to suffer. It's his fault.
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u/Q-ArtsMedia 1d ago
Hate to be the one to say it but it only takes 3 days for a civilization to revert to chaos and anarchy once the supply/s are shut off or restricted to a point that they are not readily available.
Trump and Project 2025 are well on their way to making it happen and we need to kick trump out of office by any means necessary(preffered legally).
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u/High_Contact_ 3d ago
You guys are giving these people too much credit. He’s just an idiot.
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u/joe_shmoe11111 3d ago
It’s not Trump I’m worried about (though he does tend to excel in the abuse of power arena), it’s the people behind him…
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u/High_Contact_ 3d ago
They are also idiots. If you listen to any of these people talk you see quick they don’t have some deep plan they just are fucking dumb.
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u/Tsurfer4 3d ago
I think we're not referring to the people talking. It's the people who are silent that are a greater concern. And no, I don't know who these silent people are.
I also don't generally ascribe to conspiracy theories.
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u/Crazy_old_maurice_17 3d ago
It's the people who are silent that are a greater concern.
I just had the same realization last weekend. I think the people who are in the spotlight are puppets whose strings are being controlled by others behind the scenes.
Like you, I don't ascribe to conspiracy theories.
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u/mnradiofan 3d ago
No, they absolutely are not. But, seems they have done a good job convincing you they are, which is the plan.
The people behind Trump have been working towards this outcome for over 40 years. They had to set up a LOT of chess pieces to make this a reality, and they’ve done it each time, starting with Regan, ending the fairness doctrine, citizens united, and the list goes on.
If you think there isn’t a well thought out plan, I encourage you to research the Heritage Foundation.
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u/joe_shmoe11111 3d ago
If they’re all dumb, how have they’ve managed to get him into the most powerful position on earth TWICE now?
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u/High_Contact_ 3d ago
Because the electorate is just as dumb and unengaged. Most can’t even explain what a tariff is let alone imagine the impact. This isn’t 3d chess it’s checkers with people who think they are playing peek a boo.
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u/mnradiofan 3d ago
The electorate isn’t dumb, they are brainwashed. That started in the 80s when they got the fairness doctrine repealed and brought the citizens united case to the Supreme Court.
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u/High_Contact_ 3d ago
What’s the functional difference you can’t tell a dummy from someone who is brainwashed. End of the day it’s idiots leading idiots.
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u/kilmister80 2d ago
Idiots with too much power in their hands who have messed up humanity throughout history.
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u/chubs66 3d ago
It's a strong assessment. I was thinking the same things this morning, but I think he may have slightly different motivations. At his inauguration, we saw he had the most powerful tech titans present, and each paid fealty in terms of millions of dollars.
Now he's demanding that all other nations (save Russia) bow to his will and pay tribute to him.
I think this is Trump's real driver. He demands to be worshipped. I also think that when this economic stunt fails, he's going to start dropping bombs.
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u/yunoeconbro 3d ago
I'm sure he wants to privatize the Fed or at least have it be part of the executive branch. Destroying the economy and creating The Yuge Depression is how he gets all the idiots to hand it over to him.
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u/Thisam 3d ago
Agree with you. I also see parts of this repaying his biggest supporters: trash the economy so the billionaires can buy more stuff cheap which will regain value quickly with tariff removal; make government services fail to justify their privatization, creating an oligarchy; repay Putin by trashing NATO and our allies.
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u/sudo_su_88 3d ago
I'm very frightened bc he already has planted supporters in the govt and now he wants CEOs that are friendly towards Project 2025. Those CEO will have quotas for hiring white men, less women or any other group who are qualified. They want a patriarchal society. It will be gradual bc at the next layoffs, they will just let go of many folks. Many places are not hiring. I'm just saving hard for a green card in another country and to make sure I can leave if things get dire. I'm lucky I'm in the software field but it's just not a good environment overall.
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u/ramonchow 3d ago
If this continues to get worse he might not be president for long... Unless they cancel the midterm elections of course.
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u/Foolgazi 2d ago
Problem is, Trump’s supporters will never blame their increasing hardships on him. They’ll always perform whatever mental gymnastics are necessary to keep the blame on Democrats.
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u/Divtos 2d ago
Not all the law firms have caved.
“Three firms – Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, and WilmerHale – have all sued and successfully gotten court orders to at least partially block the executive orders. Covington and Burling, another major firm targeted by Trump because of its legal assistance to Jack Smith, has not taken any public action.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/02/trump-law-firm-executive-order
Yes it’s disgusting that some have caved but it is not all.
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u/ubelblatt 2d ago
The man is an idiot. Everyone (including myself) is desperate to see or discern some goal behind these tariffs even if it's a profoundly evil one.
Because the alternative is almost worse. That our leader got these tariffs from chatgpt. He is so profoundly demented and dumb that it's random.
There is no plan, no goal, the man does not have the basic understanding of economics to craft an evil plan.
The adults have left the room. This needs to kill the Republican party. It can't all be for nothing...
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u/haversack77 2d ago
That's the way I see it. No one individual is truly in control of this administration. The power structure seems to be:
o Foreign Policy - Putin, via whatever blackmail stranglehold he has on Trump
o Government Expenditure - Musk, via whatever donation stranglehold he has on Trump
o Random executive order midnight whims and bizarre tariffs - Trump himself
o All other policy - Vance and team, who are hardly Mensa candidates
The result is a complete mish-mash of nonsensical policies that people are trying to read sense into, where there is none. It's a mad house government.
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u/canihavemyjohnnyback 2d ago
Hey and if there aren't enough jobs for the lower classes, start a war
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u/handsupheaddown 2d ago
Well, at least he may bring about the collapse of the current economic order, which is seeing an astronomical rise in wealth inequality and homelessness. Unfortunately, he’ll probably just exacerbate those trends.
I think you’re giving him too much credit. He’s doing this to benefit a handful of industries—steel, aluminum, lumber, mining, etc. Trump has showed he doesn’t care if others fail as a byproduct of his desires. He has also showed he is not very good at controlling things.
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u/jazzyzaz 2d ago
Not just the corporations but other countries. That tariff chart is political blackmail. Imagine you’re a business owner employee or citizen of another country and you see your leadership is tarriffing at some obscene % (according to Trump’s chart). Those people will never believe their own leaders and will believe Trump is telling the truth. This is intended to destabilize politics in every other country.
This is a worldwide event intended to create fealty to America.
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u/claito_nord 2d ago
Wouldn't a company's competitors all be affected by the same tariff? If company A plays ball and company B doesn't, whatever he does with the tariffs would still affect both company's.
I think the REAL play is he is going to eliminate federal income tax and replace that income with the tariffs - SPECIFICALLY to route all these tax dollars away from the IRS (income tax) to an entity he controls like the border patrol (import tariffs) so everyone is happy he reduced taxes but really he just routed all of our money to himself. To do this though he would need to decrease the powers of the IRS and beef up powers of Border Patrol...
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u/chipoatley 2d ago
He is asserting this power over the states (from Maine to California) and the premier universities (Columbia, Harvard) and will continue to do so until they all line up and bow before him.
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u/favtastic 2d ago
Seems like an indirect way to control domestic corporations. Why not just make executive orders attacking domestic industries directly?
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u/bacondavis 2d ago
California to Negotiate Trade With Other Countries to Bypass Trump Tariffs
https://www.newsweek.com/california-newsom-trade-trump-tariffs-2055414
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u/waffle299 2d ago
Yeah, this is why the President DOES NOT HAVE THE LEGAL AUTHORITY TO DO THIS.
He's exploiting a Trumped up 'emergency' to evade congress and balance of power. America is not supposed to work this way.
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u/dancingpianofairy 2d ago
This is fascinating (in a horrifying way, ofc) and all, but WHAT CAN WE DO? 😞
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u/One_Marionberry_5574 2d ago
Protest? Draw signs with pictures of bread and chant? Br creative and targeted.
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u/aNinjaAtNight 2d ago
How would him lowering & increasing tariffs pit corporations against one another? I can understand if some companies export many of their goods from say, Singapore, but if they hold a key monopoly over a sector of materials or goods, it would seem that all US companies would rely on that country for exports to make their goods.
I agree that this fits his history and MO, but increasing and lowering tariffs to benefit a particular business seems pretty hard to pull off as there is so many moving parts.
If you can help me understand this part, would greatly be appreciated.
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u/loug1955 2d ago
The public has sparked initial protests in the town hall format. This is novel, but unless it exponentially expands into resistance, it will just be a temporary nuisance. This administration is coming for all of us. The tech billionaires attending his inauguration are already dumbfounded, thinking they're exempt. Leveraging or should I say holding the baby boomers hostage with social security interruptions will be next. The purge and leveraging in plain sight is being ignored just like they hoped it would be and supported by right wing news organizations. Wake the hell up America! This is a full blown coup.
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u/ArmFallOffBoy 2d ago
So what's the point of controlling corporations? I understand law firms and media, but what else and to what purpose?
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u/burnerthrown 2d ago
This is stupid. This falls apart when you apply the exact same logic as to why you can't force companies to pay more taxes - they can just leave. The minute it becomes less profitable to stay than to go they close the doors and stop renewing the lease.
Many, many companies already have a presence in multiple foreign markets, many are already using foreign distribution, fabrication, shipping, etc. Anyone who doesn't is going to start asking around about how expensive it really is to move things, and it probably isn't as expensive as this.
America is primarily a service economy, we consume more than we create, hence those 'trade deficits' Trump talks about so much. But you can find consumers anywhere there are people, as well as labor. And when they leave, it's gonna be hard for Trump to get dissidents fired from the jobs that no longer exist.
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u/derpjelly 2d ago
Maybe thats his end goal but these tariffs are targeting other countries who can retaliate and call his BS. They can and will target industries which his supporters rely on the most like farming. Nothing stopping China from slapping another 30%, it’s not like Americans have an alternative to Chinese goods.
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u/manly_ 2d ago
https://reclaimdemocracy.org/trumps-tariffs-weapons-oppression/
Yeah, that’s exactly the playbook
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u/BenLurken420 2d ago
I only got here because of a r/bestof post that hit the front page. This one should be a lot higher.
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u/ChodaRagu 2d ago
Man, invest in the BRICS now! Countries are going to flock to them for fare trade now!
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u/ptcounterpt 2d ago
Go out and cause some good trouble, some necessary trouble to redeem the soul of our nation.
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u/BananTarrPhotography 2d ago
Nah, Hanlon's Razor.
Times a hundred million.
Idiocy in large quantities is extremely powerful.
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u/PrudentLingoberry 2d ago
Its dumb though since the way he did it was an outright act of war, its going to end up with the world economy shutting the US out and subsequently letting it boil into chaos so they can plunder it instead. Their options are either - capitulate, but then end up extra fucked anyway or establish a new trade order in retaliation like china-south korea-japan are considering and the EU - canada is becoming. The US is a big market and has alot of resources, but simply put it can be slapped by the resource curse playbook instead. Install dictator, have them control the assets in the victim country, cozy up to them, extract its wealth on the cheap. The US becomes a domestically captive consumer market, the dollar weakens, and it functionally becomes like China without any of the benefits.
Your theory at least holds the US to be the most powerful shop in the world, where as mine states that its just another place as vulnerable as any other to the same shit its been doing to other places.
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u/TinyPomelo5 2d ago
The techbros who helped create this mess along with Project 2025, have discussed having a CEO like leader that they say is a dictator to ensure less chaos, more order and predictability. They're not hiding what they all want, the underpinnings of which are to make those rich boys richer. It's evil greed. Destabilizing the U.S. is step one, do it in a way that creates worldwide economic chaos is the chosen byproduct. Obvious given no tariffs on Russia, NKorea etc. They're no longer hiding. March on April 5th and every opportunity thereafter. It's the only possible way to fight back. Do we even trust voting machines after Musk's unsolicited comment last June saying everything is hackable so he wouldn't trust voting machines. He was telling you what was coming in Nov. 2024, IMO.
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u/Icy-Original-5759 1d ago
Mostly true - but maybe he is just putting America First.
China breaks every rule, currency, tariffs, property rights etc.
Yet still we trade and they grow.
USA and western debt grows and grows.
Allow companies to come to USA and the economy will grow and it will help reduce the unsustainable debt.
The founding fathers creating 40% tariffs on Europe and there was NO INCOME tax and it helped create the USA industrial base. Something the liberal media does not want to talk about.
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u/Skinney04 21h ago
Bro, the economics of 1776 were vastly different than the Global Economy of today. You can’t just say oh they did this in 1776 and it created this so let’s do it again and it should work out the same.
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u/redlightsaber 1d ago
I'm late to this thread, but here's a question for you who've clearly thought long and hard about this issue:
Do you see it likely (or where do you see the hurdles) that American companies that don't really rely on localised products, manufacturing, or even labour (mainly Big Tech), to simply decide to up and change their incorporation and fiscal addresses to somewhere fully outside of the US? Like, what's preventing Google or Amazon from simply up and leaving to Ireland or wherever?
I understand they obviously haven't ever considered it due to the fact that the EU has higher taxes and more restrictions in a myriad of different ways; but surely now that this situation is so damned unstable, they'd be seriously considering it? Or do you think it far more likely that Pichai or Bezos or Nadella would rather grovel at his feet and impose changes that, aside from possibly being contrary to their own beliefs and ethos, would sour them completely to clients outside of the US (a larger market, I think it's fair to say)?
Surely you've read about various EU countries, institutions, companies, and even the EU itself, announce plans to wean themselves off American tech services and products... do you not see this play arole at all?
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u/Traditional_Vast3798 1d ago
"blindingly obvious"...thanks for sharing your crystal ball with us and not a condescending over-sensationalized piece of guess work at best. Not a bad guess though.
Prob just another bot honestly... moving on
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u/Cuchullain99 1d ago
Who is advising Trump on these Tariffs. Since all the economists say it's a bad idea, who is telling him it will work?
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u/Theobviouschild11 1d ago
Yeah this is it, and no one is talking about it - which is crazy. Anyone happen to have a good article or podcast that talks about this in more detail?
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u/Ok-Tart-5290 14h ago
Anne Applebaum has a podcast series that is really good called Autocracy in America:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/autocracy-in-america/id1763234285
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u/mdcbldr 1d ago
This is an interesting take. Trump can threaten industries easily. The threat to individual companies may rely on other levers. As long as the SC permits Trump to be a king, Trump will be a king. Trump loves leverage more than he loves Ivanka. Look at what he is trying to do to Ukraine. He believes he has leverage. Remember the you don't have the cards remark? That was Trump telling Zelenski that he has leverage over him.
The tariffs are leverage. Tariffs give Trump the 0 was acquiring and using leverage. Trump is using the same approach in his second term.
Trump may be in for a rude awakening. Countries are not companies. Countries can walk away. Countries can switch sides. Leaders of countries have to answer to the people. Zelenski's reaction to Trump is similar to what other leaders may do.
The OP is right. Leverage gives Donny a woody that lasts for days.
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u/biyonborg 3h ago
This is good news! So glad President Musk and his dad are making America grate again!
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u/GT45 3d ago
That’s literally the goal of Project 2025. Replace POTUS with a CEO of America.