Apparently the tariff rates are now measured in Celsius

Don’t give anyone any ideas….

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But hey, good news, you get to pay more if your imports are on a ship made in China too. YAY!

My wife was like.. “lets move to Argentina and be simple soybean farmers” and I was like “No, I want to train fighter pilots in Qatar to get away from American politics.” :rofl:

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I just spend some time trying to find an unbiased article on the UN Shipping Tax.

This was as close as I got, there has been a shortage of news coverage of this novel tax

It was the subject of a WSJ editorial today,

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/united-nations-shipping-tax-climate-international-maritime-organization-e2f418c0?st=reBNsA&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

Opposed by those who have given importers higher tafiffs, if adopted will lead to an increase in tariffs for supporters and higher prices for all shippers to fund a UN slush fund.

Everyone wants a piece of the action. There are no good guys

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Well, the MSN story says this –
"The IMO’s proposed marine fuel emissions standard would impose a fee on ships bigger than 5,000 tons that breach a threshold of emissions, and reward vessels burning cleaner fuels. "
so there is a solution – thousands more smaller ships!

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At least THIS is not another ‘tariff’ (as such). Fees are different, right??? :smiling_face_with_horns:

" U.S. and China roll out ■■■-for-tat port fees, threatening more turmoil at sea"

So it is now ‘breast-for-tat’ apparently …

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Now we need to stay away from imported pasta apparently… :rofl:

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I’m not 100% sure, but I think the big Italian sounding brands are all American anyway.

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The two brands we like and buy at Costco are imported from Italy.

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I was thinking of Ronzoni and Barrilla; upon research, it seems that some Barrilla is imported from Italy, although much is made here (not sure of the split). Ronzoni is apparently 100% US. As is Mueller (one I’ve not seen in years! I guess it’s more of a Southern brand). De Cecco is the only true Italian brand that appears to have a significant market share.

Looking at the store brand pasta that I have, no indication of country of origin, so I assume that means US. But I don’t think anyone would expect otherwise!

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I make sure to buy imported pasta as I prefer foreign wheat when I can consume it. Just a personal preference.

I thought the Italian PM was too beautiful for tariffs on pasta, but here we are.

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Did you see the way she was looking at him while he was speaking the other day? She was in love and the tariffs came before that. Lol

What a weird world we live in

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No only clips…saw her raise her hand to her mouth when Sharif was performing ani|ingus on stage. That was disbelief if I ever saw it.

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Chef Boyardee is going to be pissed.

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we are not beating the adult forum allegations with discussions like this.

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Definitely not. Just having a little fun.

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And back to the tariff issues and why they hurt US and not China –

" In a recent interview with technology show TBPN, Petersen exposed the mechanics of the problem: “The U.S. is the only country that allows foreign companies to import goods into the country, with no legal entity, no requirement to have an employee locally. You can just import stuff into the country as a foreign company. And then you just lie on your declarations. These companies just cheat and there’s basically no consequence.”"

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Not to mention the half measure bailouts for farmers (most large agrofarmers who have the literacy and or departments to apply for funding)…meaning whatever lies we get about the largest amount of government take-in in the history of the mankind is additionally being spent on food exports aka soybeans.

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This might be oversimplifying it a bit but yeah.

Reality is reality…

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Major U.S. retailers are already counting the cost. Nike projects $1.5 billion in tariff-related expenses, up from $1 billion just three months ago. Apple estimated $1.1 billion in tariff costs for a single quarter back in August. These companies have resources to absorb such shocks through stockpiling and strategic planning. Smaller domestic retailers, already struggling to compete with Chinese sellers who now represent over 50% of all Amazon sellers, lack such buffers.

What did Jeff Bezos famously say? :unamused_face:

Who exactly has “opportunity” right now?

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If prices go up, Amazon wins. They get more referral $ for literally doing nothing.

China’s margins are getting hurt as our anyone who deals with them here. They are eating a chunk of the tariffs. First hand knowledge of that - not just speculation.

Somehow I doubt that phenomenon is isolated to dietary supplement raw materials / components.

India is getting killed because a lot of the equipment used by the industry is made there.

With all that said, I’m still cautiously optimistic that this will all be worked out / calm down by end of year.

Still waiting for the surge in inflation overall which really hasn’t materialized.

With that said, I just had the clutch replaced on my subaru yesterday. Was done in 2020 as well. Parts (from Japan) nearly doubled in price in 5 years. I know why, believe me…

Thought the final price was high ($3700). I compared the invoices….

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