• dannoffs [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      30 days ago

      50% is probably nuts but, from an trade protectionist prospective, a tariff on copper is one of the few that makes sense. The US was the top producer of copper for decades and only dropped off when copper mining in Chile grew exponentially in the 90s. Mining equipment is one of the few things that can actually still be manufactured in the US.

        • dannoffs [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          30 days ago

          I only specifically know about copper mining because I went to school in Arizona and had a required Arizona history class. Copper is a big deal here.

          Also people should read up on the Bisbee Deportation. It’s not talked about a lot outside leftist nerds in Arizona. ~85% of (copper) miners went on a wobbly lead strike in Bisbee, the sheriff deputized 2000 people and they went on a rampage arresting every striking miner and stealing shit from all the stores. They then corralled all the miners at a baseball field and watched over them with a car mounted machine gun until they forced everyone into cattle cars and dropped them off in the middle of nowhere New Mexico.

        • InevitableSwing [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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          30 days ago

          Many, many people tell me they just like seeing big numbers. It’s true. It’s true. I’m going to make bigger and bigger big numbers. Biggest tariff numbers. Nobody bigger than Trump.

          Mr. President, who said they ‘just like seeing big numbers’?

          Many, many people. The internet. TheSpectreOfGay.

      • CarmineCatboy2 [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        30 days ago

        It’s not just the value that is nuts though. It’s the lack of industrial policy combined with the scattershot and sudden nature of this tariff policy. They aren’t raising tariffs over the course of the next 10-20 years in order to get mines and smelters up and running. They want foreign countries to pay into a financialized protection racket, using american credit card limits as the bargaining chip.