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Comment by gtech1 | Hacker News Reader

I'm willing to believe this administration is acting in good faith, but two things seem to contradict that, although maybe I'm wrong:

1. Why didn't they include services exported by the US in their 'tariff chart' ? The EU for example, imports a lot more US (tech amongst others) services than they export to the US. It seems disingenous

2. Why couldn't this tariff strategy be implemented in a more calculated, predictable, slow way to give everyone time to adjust, at home and abroad. What's to gain from doing it this way over the one I mentioned ?

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With what I’ve seen I don’t believe the administration is acting in good faith. Everything about their behavior suggests otherwise.

What makes you think a twice impeached president who incited an insurrection would act in good faith?

Perhaps we should entertain the simplest explanation: the administration is utterly out of its depth.

Incompetent leader and a coterie of overconfident personalities with no depth or expertise. The fallout is predictable.

The answer to both your questions is that they are not acting in good faith.

1) They didn't include services exported by the US un their "tariff chart" because that chart is just some post-hoc rationalization to their arbitrary, capricious actions.

2) They could implement a more calculated, predictable, slow way of doing this, but these people are not the kind to do that. They are shoot first, don't even ask questions later, just claim victory and keep shooting types.

> What's to gain from doing it this way over the one I mentioned ?

You're asking the wrong question. The right question is: "What do they have to lose by acting the way they are"?

They have nothing to lose. They aren't accountable to anyone. They aren't eligible to be reelected so they're not worried about another term. They have control over all branches of government. They have control of the DOJ and the FBI so they won't be investigated or prosecuted.

There's no downside or disincentive to act the way they are, and so that's why they're dong it.

3. Why was Russia uniquely exempt from tariffs?

Yeah... I would have thought that fear of Russia was way more ingrained into the American psyche. It's amazing how much they're basically bowing down to Putin

It’s beyond amazing; it’s the tell that gives the whole grift away. Conservative media bought and paid for by foreign influence money. They have sane-washed, explained away, normalized so much egregious behavior that would have ended any 10 other politicians.

> I'm willing to believe this administration is acting in good faith,

There's a difference between nonpartisanship and ignorance.

They are not acting in good faith. We have a “burn it all” mentality at the highest level of government.

> Why couldn't this tariff strategy be implemented in a more calculated, predictable, slow way to give everyone time to adjust, at home and abroad. What's to gain from doing it this way over the one I mentioned ?

To me, the more concerning detail is that they don’t have any messaging about what their strategy is, except what appears to be guessing from various members of the administration — often which is mutually exclusive with other messaging.

The real risk of all that is people are going to sit on the cash they have, unwilling to make purchases when they can’t see the risk in their future.

My wife and I want to install new flooring, but that’s off the table for us right now, until we have a better idea where this is going.

^ those decisions are disastrous for the economy en masse

yep. I liquidated my TFSA ( tax free savings account in Canada ) 2 weeks ago. 90k. Invested in risk-free 90 days GICs instead. No way I would have watched it lose 10-20% of its value in 2 weeks

They just copied these tarrifs from a ChatGPT answer (https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-tariffs-chatgpt-205520...) because Trump has a demented focus on trade deficits above all else. The only 'good faith' allowance here is to assume complete incompetence.

Maybe he said it,

“THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO GET RICH, RICHER THAN EVER BEFORE!!!” Trump said on Truth Social (2025-04-04)

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5231994-trump-tr...

I voted for Trump, I think they have very large aspirational ideas. I think they have a very shallow bench to implement the low level details.

They are also just terrible at communication, needlessly aggressive and bombastic

alright, can you try and answer #1 for me ? Why weren't services included in that chart ?

I have a guess but not a solid one. The way they determined the rates on these tariffs makes no sense at all. I wish they would have just explained it instead of pushing back and insisting it was based on real existing tariff rates. They really dropped the ball on this implementation.

If I was to hazard that guess, they don't care about services, services are already a dominant US product, no one can beat us. Manufacturing is where we are weak so they went after that. They want manufacturing to come back to the US in case of a war with China over Taiwan. They also don't want counter tariffs on services as again that's our major export. What's really interesting and I could be wrong here is I dont think anyone else has actually hit the US with tariffs on those same services. Its a very calm trade war so far. But its early

See, even the way you explained it is miles above what they said. Claiming the trade balance is unjust but leaving out a major component reeks of dishonesty. How can anyone trust them ?

I don't trust them at all, I just needed them to beat the alternative. I expect to like 60% of his policies. He has been delivering in spades for me on those. The rest is a dice game.

I admire your ability to ignore harm to people for your own profit. What are some policies that I too could profit from?

Maybe investing in currently-sanctioned Russian companies? Odds of Russian sanctions being removed are better than even, IMO.

"your ability to ignore harm to people for your own profit" Hey friend, not really sure why you are being passive aggressive with me? I'm not ignoring harm to people, my wife's 401k is red. I very much dislike the panic that people are experiencing right now watching their retirement plunge.

"I don't trust them at all, I just needed them to beat the alternative" Did you think this meant regarding his economic policies as in make money from them? I did not vote for him on the economy at all. If I see a way to hedge against what's coming, of course I will do that. Would be foolish not to.

By alternative I meant the other option for president. If you are angry at me for that, then so be it but you don't know me, we can be civil. You are free to just not comment.

You seem like a level headed dood and we seem to agree that their current strategy is incomprehensible apparently to both supporters and non-supporters alike.

You mentioned he delivered/will deliver on roughly 60% of the things you were looking for.

Do you draw the line somewhere and say, even if I get 60% of things I want, the other 40% could be/are a real dealbreaker ?

It's a very common thing for politicians to deliver on some things that are inconsequential while pursuing their own private agenda for other things.

In my home country there's a saying about politicians: He stole, but he also delivered. The social contract is that as long as the politician does 10% common good, (usually highly visible, populist, short term stuff) he can pursue his own interests be they short term, or long term, even if they are detrimental to the society as a whole - as long as he delivered some short term results.

I voted against Trump twice before I voted for him this time and switched full republican. First time ever voting republican, always been a democrat.

"Do you draw the line somewhere and say, even if I get 60% of things I want, the other 40% could be/are a real dealbreaker"

Absolutely as soon as we fall into secret police and citizens being taken in the night and put in camps or falling out of windows, that's the line for me. He has already come close to it. Censorship is another issue for me but that is not really his thing.

I am quite angry at the insanity with the El Salvador prisons and the man "mistakenly" taken. That's something I am watching. I did vote for him on the border though and removing people that are here illegally. So I have to temper that with the knowledge that the process is not a nice one and there is going to be violence and mistakes will be made. That is the stark reality of calling for enforcement of laws though, law is only law when backed by state sanctioned violence.

"He stole, but he also delivered" I like this and I think this aligns with my outlook. I know Trump is going to make moves to enrich himself, and I am ok with it as long as its not blatant and as long as it causes little collateral damage. I don't think this is one of those things. I think he genuinely believes that doing this with the tariffs is a good thing.

I mentioned it in another of my comments if you want to find it, on how the crashing stock market allows the government to refinance $10 trillion for lower rates. I think that's the goal here. That and rebuilding manufacturing and punishing China. I have no idea how this plays out though. Its possible he doesn't either.

Trump is a lot of things but he is not an idiot. He could not still be here if he was, he gets away with things that would sink anyone else. On top of that he has Musk and that man is also a lot of things but he is one of if not the smartest most driven man on the planet.

Trump is not a nice man, I know that but it will take a brutal man to carry out the social policies I voted for and not collapse under the constant criticism. I knew from the beginning it was a deal with the devil.

So I will watch how it plays out.

The other side was just so much more dangerous long term in my opinion. I wont go into my reasoning, this is not the place for that and it's not relevant to the conversation. Just know I am very comfortable with my vote on those grounds.

So I will remain cautiously optimistic that there is a plan and rational. Trump is Trump but there are some very capable people on the economics and finance side of the house.

At this point in the game I would vote the same way again without hesitation. It's only been 100 days though.

With all due respect, and I understand that you probably mean well, but did 2 different people write this?

You're drawing the line at things that are already happening. Legal citizens are being put into literal camps (the fact it's a modern warehouse or a Salvadorian prison doesn't make it less of a camp) solely based on their appearance.

He's blatantly making moves to enrich himself (see meme coins, tariff back and forward, etc), and unless you live under a rock, the collateral damage should be clear to you now. He's constantly lying when he speaks and I'm sure an educated person as yourself can see that.

You say the other side was more dangerous long in the long term, and although I don't like either side either, it was clear which side was still progress.

You somehow got into a mental state where you're able to trust someone to do things in good will and at the same time say that he's "not a nice man".

You support what is being done, and at the same time you say you don't understand it and you admit it's possible he doesn't either.

Please, take a second to think why billionaires of all people, would be interested in doing anything that doesn't benefit them. They're billionaires because they spent their life doing just that, they don't care about you and I.

You're clinging to the hope that maybe what they're doing somehow benefits you, but you're not even sure how that would happen.

It reminds me a lot of how some of the victims of "faith healer" type people react when the frauds are exposed.

I have heard this billionaire argument before and honestly it makes no sense to me. If we are to trust billionaires, because money, why not trust Soros for example ?

> as we fall into secret police and citizens being taken in the night and put in camps or falling out of windows, that's the line for me.

When this happens, it's already too late. Because it means they've already disappeared all the easy people, and they're comfortable enough to start disappearing citizens. So you should move your line waaaaaaay up to when they start disappearing the undesirables.

A really good line would have been calling for free and fair elections to be overturned. They made their intentions very clear that day.

Now secret police are disappearing people off the street but that's still not crossing the line, because the status of their citizenship is under question.

But you see there's only one more step for them to cross your line. So let me ask you: what are you going to do when (not if) it's crossed?

>Absolutely as soon as we fall into secret police and citizens being taken in the night and put in camps or falling out of windows, that's the line for me

We've been there since the Floyd protests, at least.

> mentioned it in another of my comments if you want to find it, on how the crashing stock market allows the government to refinance $10 trillion for lower rates. I think that's the goal here

You know that was a joke right? The people who said it were kidding around, you know, making stuff up?

Well, I was attempting to give you the benefit of the doubt by assuming you weren't voting for his frankly sadistic and idiotic attempts to foster hatred of minorities as a scapegoat for his and others like him, decades of mismanagement.

Friend perhaps we can save the accusations of racism for Reddit

I accused you of voting for a racist. I made no conjectures beyond that.

Just because his well-documented racism doesn't affect you doesn't mean it's non-existant.

The rates were likely a bad GPT prompt. I wish I was joking.

https://www.theverge.com/news/642620/trump-tariffs-formula-a...

Maybe Ai really is going to be the end of us

This is not the fault of AI, it's just a tool. The fault lies with the specific people in government, MAGA republicans, using this very powerful tool in a reckless, negligent, and improper way. POTUS has endless access to real human expert knowledge, the top minds in the world, and they are using AI instead?

This is a scandal in its own right, but we have to deal with an economic crisis, and a national security disaster, on top of an apparent complete collapse of competence in the west wing; it's literally being run by C-students who graduate without doing their own homework.

I know that friend, it was a joke

Yeah, turns out running the largest economy on the planet is even more complicated than setting the clock on a VCR. Who would have thought. At least they tried.

oh I think they very much know what they are doing from a directional sense. All of this is intentional. I just think they are VERY bad at the details.

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