California to Negotiate Trade With Other Countries to Bypass Trump Tariffs

[u/sweatycat]

https://www.newsweek.com/california-newsom-trade-trump-tariffs-2055414

[u/Qubeye]

They can do it constitutionally by negotiating with a country so that country makes holes in their tariffs for goods made in California so they aren't included, and in exchange California spends some of their state budget to purchase goods made in that country, sponsoring visas, etc.

Perfectly legal. California gets more business revenue, keeps a good reputation, and will have a functional economy while everyone else crashes and burns under Trump.

Edit: Yikes, folks are severely misunderstanding both the Logan Act and the Treaty Clause.

California is allowed to award State contracts however they like so long as it doesn't violate state or federal laws. They want to build a school? They can hire a business from Namibia if they want, so long as the company and contract complies with state and federal law.

Namibia can, in turn, reduce tariffs against America on products which typically come from California.

There is nothing illegal about either of those things and the federal government cannot do anything about it.

What is MORE likely is President Shit-Btitches will fume (see what I did there???) about it and engage in retaliatory bullshit, wasting taxpayer money and attacking his own citizens because he's a whiny little bitch.

[u/Wild_Harvest → u/Qubeye]

So wait, if I'm understanding correctly, then California is not negotiating to bypass Trump's tariffs but is willing to subsidize the tariffs and keep costs down, and in exchange the country will put in exemptions to products shipped to them from California but not, say, Nevada?

That could be a good way to both bypass the tariff, and prop up California's economy as the dominant force in the US. I could see New York doing something similar, too.

[u/FlyingSagittarius → u/Wild_Harvest]

Tarriffs go to the federal government, though, not the state.  That procedure would basically just be the state paying the tarriff instead of the exporting country importing company.

[u/xsmasher → u/FlyingSagittarius]

The exporting country doesn't pay the tariff, the importer does; so this would be helping importers in California, shipping companies in California, and other businesses in California.

[u/thottieBree → u/xsmasher]

How does this help importers in California?

edit I get it, actually. I doubt the State could afford to pay, though

[u/xTheMaster99x → u/thottieBree]

Importers are the ones that pay the tariffs, not the country of origin. Subsidizing duties for the importers will obviously be very helpful to them.

[u/Mitchwise → u/xsmasher]

I think you’re missing his point though. This plan would just shift the responsibility of paying the tariff from Californian companies and citizens to the California government (which still must be pay the tariff to the national government). Where does the California government get the money to pay for the tariff? Hint: taxes on the citizens…

The citizens of California end up paying for it either way.

[u/Wild_Harvest → u/Mitchwise]

Yeah, but I believe that California usually has a budget surplus and they can probably afford to put some of that surplus towards subsidizing tariffs to ease the burden on taxpayers.

But agreed it's not a good look either way.

[u/themonkeysbuild → u/Wild_Harvest]

That and if you are incentivizing more businesses and people to move to your state through a policy like this you will raise more taxes for the state to pay them as well.

[u/Epshot → u/Wild_Harvest]

The budget surplus is heavily reliant on a market being up, we don't do so well when its down.

[u/Wild_Harvest → u/Epshot]

That's entirely fair. But something like this proposal could help to keep California's market up, and would deny a LOT of revenue given how big California's GDP is compared to the rest of the US.

If Trump doesn't get income from his tariffs, he can't justify his tax cuts, which would make the tariffs a moot point.