Barring any last minute change, the 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada are going into effect tomorrow What should these countries (and, tomorrow, the European Union) do? 🧵 - ThreadSky

gabrielzucman.bsky.social • 2 days ago

Barring any last minute change, the 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada are going into effect tomorrow

What should these countries (and, tomorrow, the European Union) do? 🧵

Comments

petersjvecrumba.bsky.social•2 days ago

Ideally, cut diplomatic relations. Minimally, don't negotiate any concessions. They reward bad behavior. Impose reciprocal tariffs. Canadians and Mexicans pissed at the US won't be buying American anyway.
Treat the US like Russia, because that's who we are with Trump at the helm.

tomf66.bsky.social•2 days ago

I can't speak for Mexico or all of Canada, but I can tell you that Canadians are already not buying american. I witness it at the grocery store every week! #canpoli #uspoli #tariffs

fagankara.bsky.social•2 days ago

This is our plan as a bare minimum

petersjvecrumba.bsky.social•2 days ago

Glad we're on board. I'll be damned if I support ANY country rewarding Trump's indiscriminate blunderbuss antics.

fagankara.bsky.social•2 days ago

Our larger plan is to strengthen our military defense and build our economy, security, and defense away from the US. And that won’t be temporary.

petersjvecrumba.bsky.social•2 days ago

Found your Facebook group.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Eyes.Canadian.Democracy

fagankara.bsky.social•2 days ago

Not mine

jeffzeboss.bsky.social•2 days ago

How do you formally categorize oligarchs and oligarchic companies without blatantly writing "Musk"?

gabrielzucman.bsky.social•2 days ago

Contrary to a widely held view, Mexico, Canada and individual EU countries have leverage

America’s Achilles’ heel is its highly internationalized oligarchy: a small group of ultra-wealthy individuals whose fortunes depend on access to global markets.

hmt67.bsky.social•2 days ago

All other country’s should boycott Amazon, Meta, Starlink, Tesla and everything they can to hurt these billionaires creeps!

anita72.bsky.social•2 days ago

Yes. There are many countries who are going to boycott IS products and travel.

gabrielzucman.bsky.social•2 days ago

The most effective countermeasure is simple: tariffs for oligarchs

If Tesla wants to sell cars in Canada and Mexico, Tesla – and its main shareholder, Musk – should be required to pay extra taxes in those countries

Concretely, condition market access to Musk paying a wealth tax

dn-ny-mtl.bsky.social•1 day ago

Elizabeth Warren was ridiculed for promoting a Wealth Tax and helping create the CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau).
It turns out it wasn't nearly enough

gabrielzucman.bsky.social•2 days ago

Unlike traditional tariffs, an oligarch tax targets those who benefit the most from globalization: billionaires and the corporations they control

It would impose high costs on the de facto current US administration

gabrielzucman.bsky.social•2 days ago

It shifts the economic conflict from a battle between countries to one between consumers and oligarchs

Consumers of Mexico and Canada: unite to make Musk pay!

/end

mercurygirl.bsky.social•2 days ago

Problem is getting governments lobbied or otherwise captured by oligarchs to go to war with the oligarchy. Which is just about everywhere.

mercurygirl.bsky.social•2 days ago

Folks want to skip the step where we actually have to organize and take back power from capitalism if we want to even have truly representative governments anymore.

jeromegreenfield.bsky.social•2 days ago

Taxes are very hard to target at particular companies or individuals in practice and, in any case, doing this explicitly contravenes basic principles of tax law. So virtually no country is going to respond to Trump's tariffs in this way. Reciprocal tariffs, yes; US oligarch tax, no

fagankara.bsky.social•2 days ago

No. We will impose retaliatory tariffs. Musk is far from the only American problem

justbreathe.bsky.social•2 days ago

I think I speak for most reasonable Americans when I say: Hit us hard, fam

pardoguerra.bsky.social•2 days ago

I would add a tax/regulation on Starlink. What Brazil did some time ago really got Musk to backtrack.

tmoney2007.bsky.social•2 days ago

I really envy the credibility that Brazil bought with that move. I feel the same way about the EU making regulatory decisions.

They're not 100% but they seem much more willing to just temporarily kick tech companies out of their market for non-compliance.

stathiosb.bsky.social•21 hours ago

I agree and will add that the focus must be much more on Starlink because it functions as the information stream for millions of people, it provides the means by which many operations function - or don’t function. Starlink is a greater strategic target & concern than Tesla.

politipet.piaille.fr.ap.brid.gy•1 day ago

@gabrielzucman.bsky.social reply from https://dobbs.town/@RevXenoFact : https://dobbs.town/@RevXenoFact/114100632145308204

«Cory Doctorow also notes other countries could take on markets with things like allowing jailbreaking, creating their own app stores, IP laws, etc.»

ahouseunited.bsky.social•2 days ago

🇺🇸 need Canadians help protesting tesla at sales centers to go after our top oligarch.

We drop sales, we drop stock price. That is the collateral for elons loans. Hes likely overleveraged.

Organize an event at https://teslatakedown.com? Repost to amplify?

100+ events in five countries coming up.

majortom70.bsky.social•2 days ago

This is true! But y?

https://apple.news/AGEEZHTpXQmadgzMH_lqyaA

capitalist.bsky.social•1 day ago

well i could see it as a *political* tool against this admin, but generally taxing income/wealth is absolute idiocy.

rodaimonia.bsky.social•2 days ago

You have clearly met very few Mexican policymakers and technocrats, all of which are desperate for foreign investment and whose knees are too bent to dare impose something like this (sad but true).

dogemag.bsky.social•2 days ago

How many cars does Tesla sell in Canada and Mexico

If you're saying it will be effective, you have to have an idea of the amounts involve. How much $$ are you talking about, in relation to Musk's overall wealth?

errantballs.bsky.social•2 days ago

Why not lifting patent protection from American companies?

sirensyndicate.bsky.social•2 days ago

I hear people are paying to get rid of them because they no longer honor return policíes 😄

quilombo.bsky.social•2 days ago

Good, but that would not be compliant with WTO rules, right? While retaliatory tariffs under dispute settlement procedure are.

hughjorgensen.bsky.social•2 days ago

Ironically, WTO dispute settlement process irrelevant so long as US refuses to approve apellate judges

capitalist.bsky.social•1 day ago

wealth taxes have dead weight loss. we want Pigovian taxes and land value taxes and UBI. #econ101

kumararepublic.bsky.social•2 days ago

A mild form of it has been proposed by Canada, but against Trump-voting states.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/03/canada-tariff-targets-00202005

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-strike-back-trump-tariffs-1.7448552

gmacdonell.bsky.social•2 days ago

I like this

The idea that there are competing national interests is a myth

There are competing international interests

I bet you know that better than I do

neilanderthal.bsky.social•2 days ago

A-GODDAM-men.

capitalist.bsky.social•1 day ago

also, wealth taxes have dead weight loss unlike pigovian and land value taxes and UBI. they also don't discriminate between consumption and investment.

sincerely,
your friends in econ 101 class

cliffbar.bsky.social•1 day ago

Ok, and I guess sanctions also cause deadweight loss? The proposal here is to tax a handful of billionaires (and their corporations) who are using their money and influence in very openly corrupt ways

denewjohn.bsky.social•2 days ago

Stop selling any oil, electricity, potash, aluminium, coal to US. Tomorrow

rmquanstrom.bsky.social•2 days ago

That potash will crush us agriculture and the rest of the world wants it

sundiego2015.bsky.social•1 day ago

I think Canada is planning for 100 percent tax on Tesla. And Europeans are more or less boycotting Tesla. But for Thiel and Sacks we don't know what they own. Or at least I don't...

jasonhindle.bsky.social•2 days ago

Strategic counter tariffs that punish red states fast and heavy, and restrict or stop exports of energy, minerals.

grove.cx•2 days ago

this is an excellent, excellent approach.

fagankara.bsky.social•2 days ago

Nope. We will proceed with tariffs. Why spare Americans when you are actively trying to annex us?

jebnc.bsky.social•2 days ago

But electricity to US; export tariffs on minerals, petroleum and fertilizer. 100% tariffs on Tesla and ban crypto

denewjohn.bsky.social•2 days ago

Cut

jebnc.bsky.social•2 days ago

Yep

mellovibes.bsky.social•2 days ago

Trump has said repeatedly that the U.S. doesn’t need Canada. I think he’s about to find out how wrong he is!! What a dumbass!

happydrill.bsky.social•2 days ago

This an extremely bad and socialists approach…

Oh wait.
No forget what’ve said.
(But wondering how people like Macron or Merz could at least imagine such taxes).

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