Elon Musk hopes for 'zero-tariff situation' between US and EU | Hacker News Reader

Elon Musk hopes for 'zero-tariff situation' between US and EU

cnn.com

12 pointsMilnerRoute11 comments

A.K.A. "please don't put tariffs on my cars just yet".

I wonder if Elon is willing to... lubricate... that kind of request. Maybe a shell company in Malta could buy some $TRUMP.

In that case, he backed the wrong candidate for president

Yeah.

Today I learned about how, early in his first term, Trump told his son-in-law Jared Kushner to select a trade advisor, giving him a few vague ideas. Kushner searched Amazon for these terms and one of the first results was Death by China, by Peter Navarro. This is reportedly how this guy was hired. Navarro often cites an supposed expert, "Ron Vara" to back up his claims. It turns our "Ron Vara" does not exist and is just the anagram of "Navarro". The trouble is Navarro believes every import decreases the GDP of the US, an idea every economist except him seems to know is incorrect since at least the 19th century if not earlier.

Wild story.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/doesn-t-exist-maddow...

One would think a "genius" like Elon Musk would be better at choosing who he supports when so much is at stake... One would be wrong.

Any other President would have left the EU's 26%* tariffs on America in place, while Trump is trying to get them all removed (or equal)

It's not like there was a zero-tariff situation before Trump's second term

* 5% avg tariff + then 20% avg VAT

Who calls the US sales tax a "tariff"? Calling the EU VAT a "tariff" is just as wrong.

I have a trade deficit with my local grocery store, I buy goods from them every week with a high sales tax tariff. But they don't import anything from me! I'm now implementing a blanket 100% base tariff on all grocery stores in the world.

> 5% avg tariff + then 20% avg VAT

So, 5% tariffs.

Argh, this isn’t how anything works. Do you think that EU products are VAT-exempt or something?

Also, I mean, realistically most stuff that Europe buys from the US isn’t _final consumer products_; the VAT gets applied further down the chain. I’m struggling to think of a major US import that _is_ a final consumer product. Some alcohol, I suppose?

(Also, per the World Bank, the EU’s weighted effective tariffs (ie based on what is actually traded) are 1.39% (a little lower than the US’s pre-Trump II positioning); not sure where you got 5%.)

> Trump is trying to get them all removed

No he's not

A man who unconditionally supports a man who killed any chance of cooperative free trade situation would like to be celebrated as a champion of a free trade at rhe same time.

Hypocrisy has no bounds with these.

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