r/politics • u/sweatycat New York • 1d 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/Automatic-Wonder-299 California 1d ago

On One hand, that’s pretty unconstitutional

On the other hand, the constitution has already been shredded at this point, so who care

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u/Qubeye Oregon 1d ago edited 1d ago

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.

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u/enigmaticpeon 1d ago

In this scenario, Californians would still be paying tariffs on goods from other countries. Any amount spent by the CA govt in exchange for exceptions to goods made in CA would therefore also be paid for by Californians. This would be great for exporters in California but seems like a double sucky for everyone else.

I’m sure they will come up with something that at least superficially undermines trump, and that’s good enough lol.

I can also see a scenario where CA goods become excepted from tariffs simply as a way for other countries to undermine Trump. That shit would be awesome.

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u/Qubeye Oregon 1d ago

So, it's more complicated than that.

If California props things to, it becomes a preferable place to run your business. With some carefully applied economics, if you make it juuuust preferable enough, business taxes will create more revenue than the expenditures.

Basically, businesses in other states will either need to pay the tariffs, move out of the country, or move to California which might be providing incentives to lower the overhead from the tariffs.

The last option is cheaper than leaving the US entirely.