it’s like you believe you can tariff them expecting they won’t do the same. Why do you believe the rest of the world is not going to retaliate and why do you believe America can prosper without the rest of the world?
What’s the point of having a military alliance with countries you puts tariffs on? That’s unfriendly to say the least.
I’m not a republican, but from my perspective the US empire has been a force for evil in the world for almost all of its existence. International free trade elevates the power of corporations above countries (ex. international IP law enforcement). The neoliberal status quo sucks, and even if tariffs and pressuring US allies to build up their own militaries and not rely on us are being done for the wrong reasons and not in the right way, they still act to dismantle it. I can see it being better than the alternative in the long run, at least for the world if not for those of us living in the US.
Accelerationist trash take
Not accelerationist, I think tariffs are genuinely a good direction to go, and so is reducing US military influence.
How do you know they are going to reduce military influence? How are tariffs going to help people who are struggling to afford anything as it is? If the goal is to get people to buy American, what is stopping everything from only being controlled or made by corrupted people or corporations who set up on American soil?
I don’t, but it seems like other countries are getting the message that they can’t count on the US to defend them and their alliance is shaky, which seems like it could lead to working towards replacing our role and becoming less dependent, which would be great, because again, we’re the bad guys.
They are not going to help with that, unfortunately. A worse economy is the price of cutting back on free trade, and the current administration will put as much of that price as they can on the people least able to afford it. Done right, it would be in combination with redistribution to the people who are worst off. I’ll admit, this part is bad.
To me, the desired outcome of inevitably mutual tariffs isn’t getting people to buy American, it’s reducing the leverage and influence of international corporations, which are malevolent and can use that influence in harmful ways. If local companies have a built in advantage, divide and conquer tactics shouldn’t work as well (ie. cut safety regulations or face retaliatory job loss). The typical corporate pattern of building up a monopoly and then using that leverage to extract money by fucking everyone over shouldn’t work as well on an international scale. Free trade agreements that give companies rights at the expense of people will hopefully have less appeal and make less sense.