But if we stop buying more from the USA than they buy from us, and they re-run the trade deficit calculations that were passed off as tariff figures, the tariff on our goods could exceed that 10% fallback.
Better still, grow your own veg - you'll even know which additives there are. And keep garden chickens for free eggs, with a cockerel to get your own back on the neighbour's three sets of 24/7 windchimes 🙄
But there's nothing wrong with buying from Europe, just don't encourage the Orange Blob.
Erm ... China is willing to trade, Australia and New Zealand are willing to trade, Canada willing, Europe and Turkey willing, Mexico all willing to trade. It's only America under president bone spurs that doesn't want to trade.
Get out your "don't buy American" stickers out instead.
Should have done that two months ago, in support of Canada. Australians have been boycotting - and others in the Commonwealth have - even when Starmer was humping Trumps leg and King Charles was inviting him for a super special 2nd visit.
Or for some "Make England Great Again" hats (Made in Bangladesh) & using MEGAphones, (made in China) to promote this MEGA-Deal for the manufacturing sector (mostly foreign owned) within the Country ... 📣📣.
I still have some Charles and Di royal wedding mugs, and the left hand side headlight surround for a 1973 Triumph GT6 if that would help kick start the home economy?
Even Gerard Lyons- one of only 2 economists that backed Brexshit - said that the best way to retaliate to the imposition of tariffs is not to retaliate.
Best buy British now, it's a long road to get back to where we were for manufacturing, but having everything made in China was all about capitalism and greed, it never benefitted the country at large.
Starmer wants to take a measured, pragmatic approach on Trump's 10% tariff against the UK. However, the great British public may want to take a more direct, unambiguous approach. Buy British/European products only and stick the middle finger to the moron squatting in the White House.
The British don’t buy British, that’s the problem, we seemed hard wired to buy anything but British. In the same way as senior job roles go to non British candidates, as a country we have no confidence in ourselves or what we make.
Lots of decisions we make ‘as a country’ provide reasonable reason why we don’t have confidence in each other. We voted for Brexit. Lots of people want Nigel Farage as the next PM. We’re a nation of idiots.
There isn't any British stuff to buy. Thatchers destruction of collective bargaining followed by 40 years of deindustrialisation means manufacturing barely exists here
Trump is treating trade partners, even supposed allies like he treated suppliers to his businesses. America like his companies will suffer both financially and reputationally
Our biggest market is still the EU, even after Brexit. Canada has not gone bat shit crazy, nor the rest of the world. This will undoubtedly end up bad for America.
Within about a week of tariffs being threatened in Canada, we had at least two phone apps that allow you to scan goods and get a break down of where it was made, where the ingredients were sourced and who owns the company. While some supermarkets have been tagging, where they haven’t, customers are
I buy British as far as possible. I've cancelled Netflix, Disney, Apple Music and Sky Sports. All that's left in the house is some mustard, Idahoan mash, a packet of Oreos and half a bottle of Makers Mark. I asked the wife to chuck her Springsteen stuff. A firm No.
Err - and what would that cover exactly? Digital services? Nope. Industrial appliances? Nope. Local culture & entertainment? Diminishing. Chain restaurants? Nope. Cars? Nope. Airlines? One. Utilities? Nope. Legal services? Yes, if you’re a corporation. Frontier technology? Design only.
As a bit of a Starmer 'watcher' I'm going to put my neck on the line and say they already have an agreement that the tariff will be lifted as long as they let Trump have his dramatic moment. A bit like the Oval Office fallout when people were screaming for him to post on Twitter - he had a plan.
If Trump reduces tarrifs,but we have to open our markets to American beef,reduce the tax on the tech companies, and relax legislation on social media content,what have we gained.
Surely still trade with the rest of the world - we’re not imposing tariffs on each other. Can’t we all cut the US off? I know it’s a huge market, but it’s not the only market, and UK protectionism not going to help us.
Boycott US. Already cancelled Amazon.
You know they all took positions on this before the announcement. Likely it will be reversed in part over the next days and weeks when stock will bounce back.
Guess what... to do that, you need to know the Country Of Origin of the products. You very rarely see that listed on Amazon. Even on UK platforms like Argos - v difficult to find. Last year, I got the attached response to a question I put to the Dept for Trade, via my MP. Not a great help.
I'm following the example of our fine Canadian cousins and boycotting US goods as much as possible, and turning American products upside down to let others know.
At the moment I'm a mad woman flipping cokes, but one day I hope everyone else joins in 😁
On the whole I agree, terribly dull & uniform. There are, however, some eye watering exceptions. I saw something in an unspeakable shade of metallic orange the other day. It was memorable though, I’ll give it that.
Any proper coverage of Brexit would prove the British media betrayed us as much as the Tories did - in fact more. If they'd done real journalism with Brexit as they are with Trump's tariffs now, rather than spreading Tory/Russian lies, we would have never left the EU.
Remain should have been more united & organised, but we would always be on the back foot. Brexit was plotted for years by Tories, Tufton Street, Russia, Cambridge Analytica, RW media, rounded off by a pitiful campaign by cosplay remainer David Cameron - Remain couldn't catch up.
Remain's error was assuming they would win easily. Led by useless Rose - who remembers him? - who had to be replaced. Cameron made a speech on how he would change Europe and EU said we are not going to change. That wound made fatal because they could not counter the excellent Take Back Control line.
In 2018 we knew that tory policy put more than four million kids and two million pensioners into poverty.
Public outrage?
Absolutely, the public delivered an 80 seat majority to the people putting others into poverty.
Tens of thousands isn`t much when its a national vote.
Ignoring the damage brexit is doing in favour of this weird lie of endless growth is wild...
I see people say they voted brexit to "stop the boats"...
Maybe smaller groups talking to people might have been more effective or no amount of explanation was going to matter after decades of lies.
"Brexit means brexit" is easy.
Here is the disaster that no deals will cause is hard and doesn`t fit into a slogan.
Are the public better educated now?
Look the easiest way to deal with the US is all countries effected by tariffs is to become united and threaten to stop having the dollar as the reserve currency
It's an artificial construct developed in the breton woods agreements in the 1940s
It gives the US huge economic advantages
I definitely think there is. The real problem is that the method is focussed on self interest. No idea whether that's for trump, America, Russia, the far right, the extreme wealthy, or some combination, but it's sure not for the rest of the world
And Cameron knifed Gordon Brown politically over his high profile and principled opposition to Scottish independence.
So it’s not surprising that Brown wasn’t willing to put tribal loyalties aside a second time for a referendum that was only called to help Cameron manage his own party
He actually opened the show with the putting of the idiot into idiots corner, justified it with your post. It was funny because I’d just read and liked it moments beforehand.
At least with tarrifs we have a choice but we had no choice with the effects of Brexit
We got told by the Right Wing Press we held all the cards
All we had to do was this & that
Countries across the world would be queuing up to give us free trade deals
They knew the cost
They refused the blame
I hold no candle for the press, but voters had agency. They were not just victims. Many, many people—the heads of all allied countries, all major economists, the head of the IMF etc—-DID warn, very clearly that Brexit would be very damaging, but (a small majority of) voters chose not to believe them
Because they were allowed to be told ‘not’ to, - in the name of ‘democracy’ ?
One glaring example that I will never forget, the 8 o’clock news headlines on R4 today programme : “ The Bank of England has released a report saying that Brexit will cost us x Billions”. A leave campaign
I'm not sure voters took any notice of those saying different to the British press
They saw the heads of EU countries as the enemy
The economists as mute and self motivated
The IMF they have never listened to
The biggest problem
Facts tell us people over 65 looking for a past that never was.
As a matter of fact, I can. After the UK govt/some UK voters unilaterally *chose* for the UK to leave the EU & to forego the market access & other benefits which EU membership entailed there was (usually uncritical) coverage of Brexiteers whining that losing those benefits was a "punishment beating"
So some of the Brexit damage was covered, but re-framed as the EU doing a vindictive thing to the UK, rather than the inevitable, forseeable result of leaving the club & no longer being entitled to the benefits of membership.
If someone was to characterise the Trump tariffs as a "punishment
beating", that would be much fairer, as these tariffs are something that's being done to the UK by an aggressive third party which expicitly characterises its actions as vengeance for (imagined) grievances.
Sadly, I predict that the UK media/polictial complex will instead try to present the Trump
tariffs as a vindication of Brexit - because US tariffs on the EU are higher than those on the UK, they'll say "Here's a Brexit benefit - Daddy Trump isn't beating us quite so hard because we're out of the EU". Utterly disingenuous, but you just know they'll try this sort of BS on.
This is all being done so he can use them as a weapon to get his own way on the things that really matter to him... that would be minerals in the Ukraine and Greenland along with shorting stocks so his buddies can get some real bargains.
Comments
They are like vampires. The more they take from us the stronger they get. Without enough people to feast on they will collapse.
And buy European, Canadian and Mexican. Tonight I'll have a nice Chinese rice dish!
Not touching any US product.
There is very little that I actually need that is made in America.
But there's nothing wrong with buying from Europe, just don't encourage the Orange Blob.
Get out your "don't buy American" stickers out instead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=5k6GCRf8U9Q
And the egg one as well!
You already bought those things mate, you need to go buy some more if you want to be a proper patriot.
Stop buying big macs.
Either go without, or steal it.
I cover all the stacks of right-wing newspapers with decent ones whenever I see them. I've got it down to a fine art.
Boycott US. Already cancelled Amazon.
At the moment I'm a mad woman flipping cokes, but one day I hope everyone else joins in 😁
When the going gets tough....we Brits know what we have to do.
This is growing in importance day by day now.
.
Sigh.
In the name of ‘balance’, one economy professor was given equal time as swivel-eyed ERG loon.
same junktanks / wingnuts too (obviously)
(see profile banner)
Public outrage?
Absolutely, the public delivered an 80 seat majority to the people putting others into poverty.
Ignoring the damage brexit is doing in favour of this weird lie of endless growth is wild...
I see people say they voted brexit to "stop the boats"...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/eu_referendum/results
"Brexit means brexit" is easy.
Here is the disaster that no deals will cause is hard and doesn`t fit into a slogan.
Are the public better educated now?
It's an artificial construct developed in the breton woods agreements in the 1940s
It gives the US huge economic advantages
So it’s not surprising that Brown wasn’t willing to put tribal loyalties aside a second time for a referendum that was only called to help Cameron manage his own party
We got told by the Right Wing Press we held all the cards
All we had to do was this & that
Countries across the world would be queuing up to give us free trade deals
They knew the cost
They refused the blame
One glaring example that I will never forget, the 8 o’clock news headlines on R4 today programme : “ The Bank of England has released a report saying that Brexit will cost us x Billions”. A leave campaign
That was it.
“Utter Tosh” was considered to be an acceptable response to a professionally produced economic report, published by the Bank of England …
The leave campaign were never required to explain ‘how’ Brexit would
They saw the heads of EU countries as the enemy
The economists as mute and self motivated
The IMF they have never listened to
The biggest problem
Facts tell us people over 65 looking for a past that never was.
It would be hugely beneficial if she did read it.
We need new ideas.
If someone was to characterise the Trump tariffs as a "punishment
Sadly, I predict that the UK media/polictial complex will instead try to present the Trump
It's depressing how easily the predators were able to separate us from the herd so they could pick us off & feast on us at their leisure.
Anything
But
American.
#BABA
#BABA
Phase out the US.
Let them build their walls. And keep their upcoming civil war isolated.