Tariffs

[vad]

Today, I learned more about Lesotho and the new 47% tariff levy on the small country. 
Besides diamonds, they also export denim clothing to the US.
A large ratio in the trade balance:  $240 million export to US vs. only $3 million import from US;  their GDP is only $2 billion, with $975 per capita income.
Trump's commercial range of golf clothing includes shirts from Lesotho.
In general, the new tariffs hit Africa hard, while China increases trade with the continent, and US foreign aid is being cut dramatically.

So I asked ChatGPT how many diamonds Lesotho exports to the U.S. annually, and here’s the response:

In 2023, the United States imported approximately 1,249 carats of non-industrial unworked or simply sawn diamonds from Lesotho, valued at around $40.24 million.

Weight of 1,249 carats is 249.8 grams
Volume: ~71.15 cubic centimeters (about the volume of a small egg or large walnut)

This means the entire annual volume of diamond exports could fit into a pocket, making it relatively easy to import into the US on a business jet with a stopover in Minsk, Belarus, to exploit the loophole.

[tggzzz]

Today, I learned more about Lesotho and the new 47% tariff levy on the small country. 
Besides diamonds, they also export denim clothing to the US.
A large ratio in the trade balance:  $240 million export to US vs. only $3 million import from US;  their GDP is only $2 billion, with $975 per capita income.
Trump's commercial range of golf clothing includes shirts from Lesotho.
In general, the new tariffs hit Africa hard, while China increases trade with the continent, and US foreign aid is being cut dramatically.

So I asked ChatGPT how many diamonds Lesotho exports to the U.S. annually, and here’s the response:

Please don't quote entities that are known to hallucinate and change what they emit for trivial and unknown reasons.

[vad]

Today, I learned more about Lesotho and the new 47% tariff levy on the small country. 
Besides diamonds, they also export denim clothing to the US.
A large ratio in the trade balance:  $240 million export to US vs. only $3 million import from US;  their GDP is only $2 billion, with $975 per capita income.
Trump's commercial range of golf clothing includes shirts from Lesotho.
In general, the new tariffs hit Africa hard, while China increases trade with the continent, and US foreign aid is being cut dramatically.

So I asked ChatGPT how many diamonds Lesotho exports to the U.S. annually, and here’s the response:

Please don't quote entities that are known to hallucinate and change what they emit for trivial and unknown reasons.

It did provide reference to a credible source: https://wits.worldbank.org/trade/comtrade/en/country/USA/year/2023/tradeflow/Imports/partner/ALL/product/710231?utm_source=chatgpt.com

While the carats-per-gram ratio and the density of diamond are common knowledge.

[MK14]

US will impose 104% tariffs on some Chinese goods from tonight, White House confirms

Source:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cp8vyy35g3mt?page=3

[Stray Electron]

You may well be right, that this is simply (another) fuck-up by the Trump admin.
But since the net effect of this is probably nil, maybe not anything to get one's knickers in a twist about.
There are bigger fish to fry, as they say ...

Arguing about tariffing Heard Island was never about the financial net effect, it was always about the incompetence of the current administration for making such a dubious decision in the first place.
In other words, if tariffing Heard Island was an obvious stupid idea, what other obvious stupid ideas abound, and more dangerously, what other less obvious stupid ideas have been implemented.
This is not a politics forum so such discussion is beyond the scope of this forum. Nevertheless, such stupidity is surely only the tip of the stupidity iceberg.

Did it ever occur to you that such islands can be used as loopholes to get around tarrifs?
Maybe it's not such a dumb decision, it's just closing a possible loophole. The opposite of dumb, it's very smart, someone was thinking ahead.

Reminds of how the tiny island nation of Tuvalu (population<10k) issues a metric crap ton of official currency numismatic coins (through the Perth Mint mostly). So coins are marked offically in dollars, but they are Tuvalu dollars instead of Australian dollars, and the Tuvalu dollar is pegged to the Australian Dollar.
So it's a neat trick to use Tuvalu as a front for coinage.

    LOL!  The Franklin Mint (not an official U. S. Gov Mint but a commercial company) here in the U.S. also "issues" dollar coins that are (made in?) or issued by Tuvalu.  I guess that I shouldn't be surprised that they're pulling the same scam, er, business opportunity, world wide.

  But back on topic, If Trump is going to take action against large countries that are screwing the U.S. on tariffs then why shouldn't he also take action against the small countries that are also screwing the US?    Just an example, Vietnam charges 90% tariffs on US made items but the U.S. only charges 2.5% on Vietnamese made items!   

  But I'm SURE that the whiners on here and worldwide would also be complaining about Trump if he took action against just some countries and not others.

[tggzzz]

Today, I learned more about Lesotho and the new 47% tariff levy on the small country. 
Besides diamonds, they also export denim clothing to the US.
A large ratio in the trade balance:  $240 million export to US vs. only $3 million import from US;  their GDP is only $2 billion, with $975 per capita income.
Trump's commercial range of golf clothing includes shirts from Lesotho.
In general, the new tariffs hit Africa hard, while China increases trade with the continent, and US foreign aid is being cut dramatically.

So I asked ChatGPT how many diamonds Lesotho exports to the U.S. annually, and here’s the response:

Please don't quote entities that are known to hallucinate and change what they emit for trivial and unknown reasons.

It did provide reference to a credible source: https://wits.worldbank.org/trade/comtrade/en/country/USA/year/2023/tradeflow/Imports/partner/ALL/product/710231?utm_source=chatgpt.com

While the carats-per-gram ratio and the density of diamond are common knowledge.

Then do quote the credible source directly - and don't surround/submerge it with potential/probable hallucinations.

By all means add your interpretation/precis of the credible source; we can then assess your judgement and competence.

[tggzzz]

  But I'm SURE that the whiners on here and worldwide would also be complaining about Trump if he took action against just some countries and not others.

If?

[TimFox]

You may well be right, that this is simply (another) fuck-up by the Trump admin.
But since the net effect of this is probably nil, maybe not anything to get one's knickers in a twist about.
There are bigger fish to fry, as they say ...

Arguing about tariffing Heard Island was never about the financial net effect, it was always about the incompetence of the current administration for making such a dubious decision in the first place.
In other words, if tariffing Heard Island was an obvious stupid idea, what other obvious stupid ideas abound, and more dangerously, what other less obvious stupid ideas have been implemented.
This is not a politics forum so such discussion is beyond the scope of this forum. Nevertheless, such stupidity is surely only the tip of the stupidity iceberg.

Did it ever occur to you that such islands can be used as loopholes to get around tarrifs?
Maybe it's not such a dumb decision, it's just closing a possible loophole. The opposite of dumb, it's very smart, someone was thinking ahead.

Reminds of how the tiny island nation of Tuvalu (population<10k) issues a metric crap ton of official currency numismatic coins (through the Perth Mint mostly). So coins are marked offically in dollars, but they are Tuvalu dollars instead of Australian dollars, and the Tuvalu dollar is pegged to the Australian Dollar.
So it's a neat trick to use Tuvalu as a front for coinage.

    LOL!  The Franklin Mint (not an official U. S. Gov Mint but a commercial company) here in the U.S. also "issues" dollar coins that are (made in?) or issued by Tuvalu.  I guess that I shouldn't be surprised that they're pulling the same scam, er, business opportunity, world wide.

  But back on topic, If Trump is going to take action against large countries that are screwing the U.S. on tariffs then why shouldn't he also take action against the small countries that are also screwing the US?    Just an example, Vietnam charges 90% tariffs on US made items but the U.S. only charges 2.5% on Vietnamese made items!   

  But I'm SURE that the whiners on here and worldwide would also be complaining about Trump if he took action against just some countries and not others.

Vietnam has reacted to the tariff announcement by proposing a reduction of their tariffs on US goods to zero.
Will that stop the trade deficit?
Will the export of Buicks to Vietnam surge?

[tggzzz]

US will impose 104% tariffs on some Chinese goods from tonight, White House confirms

Source:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cp8vyy35g3mt?page=3

To which the only sane responses is... 

I wonder how long it will take to reach Zimbabwean or Weimar Reichmark levels of percentage. (No, that isn't a serious question!)

[MK14]

Elon Musk, seems to have tweeted, rude stuff, about these tariffs (or at least a person).

Elon Musk
@elonmusk
Navarro is truly a moron. What he says here is demonstrably false.
2:47 PM · Apr 8, 2025
·
1.5M
 Views

I'm not sure how to link to it, but will try?
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Navarro is truly a moron. What he says here is demonstrably false.</p>&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 8, 2025 <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Maybe this is a better link?
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1909604085025956133?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1909604085025956133|twgr^1f6fdc8b4a8312b953382f05104adfdc4e89a4f9|twcon^s1_c10&ref_url=https://publish.twitter.com/?url=https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1909604085025956133

Edit:
Article about it, here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdrgx4ky1xxo

Also:

Musk - who is also a member of the Trump administration - also said Navarro was "dumber than a sack of bricks" in posts on his social media platform X.

[watchmaker]

Well at least I just this pm received my new SDG-2xxx-x.  And now my old SDG1062 is worth 2 times what it was this AM.

Make lemons out of lemonade!

[Stray Electron]

Vietnam has reacted to the tariff announcement by proposing a reduction of their tariffs on US goods to zero.
Will that stop the trade deficit?
Will the export of Buicks to Vietnam surge?

   So I've heard. And so have several other countries including Israel. I think that they will just be the first of many.

"Will that stop the trade deficit?"

    It will stop a good part of it! In case you missed the math, the US has been paying an additional 90% for everything that they sold in Vietnam. And the story is much the same in other countries.  How many stores would you continue to do business with it they charged you an additional 90% above the purchase price?  Yes, I realize that in this case the US is selling and not buying but it's still an out of pocket cost in either case.

Will the export of Buicks to Vietnam surge?

   Buicks probably not but Ford trucks, definitely yes! I've lived and worked in some of the Asian countries and you would be surprised at how many American automobiles that you see there.  And BTW, Buicks and Ford trucks aren't the only thing that America makes and sells abroad.  Just to name a couple of categories, MOST of the large industrial equipment and most of the scientific grade TE in countries like VN all comes from the US. US made farm tractors are also used world wide. 

[tggzzz]

Vietnam has reacted to the tariff announcement by proposing a reduction of their tariffs on US goods to zero.
Will that stop the trade deficit?
Will the export of Buicks to Vietnam surge?

Bigly and wonderfully it will.

Then the US can export the machinery necessary to widen their roads and create bigger car parks. Winner winner chicken dinner.

I wonder if the Vietnamese will follow the Chinese and start to refer to President Chamberlain as "the nation builder".

[jnk0le]

US will impose 104% tariffs on some Chinese goods from tonight, White House confirms

Source:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cp8vyy35g3mt?page=3

To which the only sane responses is... 

I wonder how long it will take to reach Zimbabwean or Weimar Reichmark levels of percentage. (No, that isn't a serious question!)

With a president of color, it will be 200% next week.

[sleemanj]

[
Vietnam has reacted to the tariff announcement by proposing a reduction of their tariffs on US goods to zero.

Which was flatly rejected by the US last I saw.  Unless he changed his mind again since.

[PlainName]

In case you missed the math, the US has been paying an additional 90% for everything that they sold in Vietnam.

Are you sure? AFAIK it's the importers that pay the tariff (so actually the consumer). The exporter (in this case the US) pays, or receives, nothing at all due to the tariff.

[langwadt]

In case you missed the math, the US has been paying an additional 90% for everything that they sold in Vietnam.

Are you sure? AFAIK it's the importers that pay the tariff (so actually the consumer). The exporter (in this case the US) pays, or receives, nothing at all due to the tariff.

bingo, the US isn't getting any money from foreign countries by increasing tariffs, they are just increasing tax for Americans that buy stuff from foreign countries, I don't know if Trump understands that

[vad]

In case you missed the math, the US has been paying an additional 90% for everything that they sold in Vietnam.

Are you sure? AFAIK it's the importers that pay the tariff (so actually the consumer). The exporter (in this case the US) pays, or receives, nothing at all due to the tariff.

bingo, the US isn't getting any money from foreign countries by increasing tariffs, they are just increasing tax for Americans that buy stuff from foreign countries, I don't know if Trump understands that

I’m sure he understands, and he doesn’t care.

While he is a populist, he also trusts that the talking heads on Fox News will flood viewers with a thousand reasons why the resulting inflation isn’t caused by the tariffs: blame Biden, blame greedy foreign vendors who exploit American consumers, blame store owners, blame the deep state and local regulations, blame enemies within and without, …

[jnk0le]

In case you missed the math, the US has been paying an additional 90% for everything that they sold in Vietnam.

Are you sure? AFAIK it's the importers that pay the tariff (so actually the consumer). The exporter (in this case the US) pays, or receives, nothing at all due to the tariff.

bingo, the US isn't getting any money from foreign countries by increasing tariffs, they are just increasing tax for Americans that buy stuff from foreign countries, I don't know if Trump understands that

The intended purpose of the tarrifs is not to milk the money, but to protect your own industry. So you don't get to a point of 90% unemployment because taking usury to buy "cheaper" stuff from foreign countries is "very great as you save money that way".

[BrianHG]

Ok, the tariffs are for products.  What about services.  I heard third hand that services are not implemented.

For example, if I provide an online email service for $25/year, who in the USA will pay the 25% if it is the US user, IE the citizen who are paying for the online service...

How will the US government keep track and enforce a fee on this?

Other services from other countries exist like Spotify, Zwift, some AIs...

[vad]

purpose of the tarrifs is not to milk the money, but to protect your own industry. So you don't get to a point of 90% unemployment because taking usury to buy "cheaper" stuff from foreign countries is "very great as you save money that way".

Tariffs can be imposed for various purposes.

Targeted tariffs on specific goods usually are implemented to protect corresponding domestic industries.

Blanket tariffs, like the current ones, may both protect and harm local manufacturers, who rely on foreign components, materials and commodities.

Coffee would not suddenly start growing in Alabama, and diamonds mining would not suddenly flourish in Ohio.

[sleemanj]

Ok, the tariffs are for products.  What about services.  I heard third hand that services are not implemented.

This is only about physical goods going across borders, the service exports that the US makes, from the likes of AWS, GCP, Azure, Netflix, Meta, Apple.... are not factored into the equation in so far as I know, neither in terms of the source trade balance, nor the resultant tariffs.

I don't know how much those digital service exports are worth, but I imagine it's a sizable chunk.

[Wallace Gasiewicz]

Yes, I also believe the Tariffs are for protecting our own industry. Even though tariffs were a big part of the Fed income before Income Tax.   
Now we will see how the average family reacts, bringing manufacturing back into the country will make some things more expensive.   
If it forces other countries to lower or eliminate their tariffs on US goods (in exchange for no tariff on their goods ), that should help some of our industry, at least partially level the playing field.   
I think the rational for these tariffs is to attempt to force other countries to drop tariffs on US goods.   
 It is about time we in the US realize we are not the only economic power in the world and start protecting our own economy.     
We should not be buying much more than we are selling.

[themadhippy]

but to protect your own industry.

would that be the same industrys  that shifted there manufacturing  over seas to exploit cheaper labour to  maximize the profits

[Wallace Gasiewicz]

Yes, I suppose so.  It's the industry we have.   I also always wondered what profit the car companies made by investing in China.  It does not seem that in the long run, it helped their stock price at all.  It only served to transfer knowledge to China.