President Trump is swinging the BIG UGLY hammer against the panda and the Beijing dragon behind it.
President Trump (Via Truth Social) – “Yesterday, China issued Retaliatory Tariffs of 34%, on top of their already record setting Tariffs, Non-Monetary Tariffs, Illegal Subsidization of companies, and massive long term Currency Manipulation, despite my warning that any country that Retaliates against the U.S. by issuing additional Tariffs, above and beyond their already existing long term Tariff abuse of our Nation, will be immediately met with new and substantially higher Tariffs, over and above those initially set.
Therefore, if China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th. Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated! Negotiations with other countries, which have also requested meetings, will begin taking place immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” [LINK]
It must also be noted, this global reset and tariff system is visibly the fracture point between the Tech Bros and MAGA economic nationalists. Elon Musk and Bill Ackman are now directly in opposition to President Trump and the global trade reset.
You know that ‘cleaving’ I was talking about? The issue of the Tech Bros -vs- MAGA? Well, tariffs are the trigger.
Tech Bros do not know borders. Their industry and business sector are borderless. Tariffs are bold economic lines around a border.
- Musk vs Navarro
- Ackman vs Lutnick
- Sacks vs Hassett
Tariffs are where the interests of the Tech Bros financially diverge from MAGA. The globalists and multinational corps who know this, specifically the EU team, will exploit this fracture point. They will target U.S. Tech industry in their tariff avoidance strategy to create division. This is what EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is talking about when she says “countermeasures”. Watch for it.
Trump Admin claims China’s economy is growing at Zero or Negative number now.
Gee, Xi having to feed 1.3 billion Chinese to fend off food riots in Tiananmen Square and the rest of China will be a neat trick now, huh?
Stand Pat, President Trump, you hold a Royal Flush.
Bet your bottom dollar POTUS!
But, I swear by The Science ™ Fauxchi, there’s another microbe itching to escape Wuhan and slow the global economy to a halt.
They asked PTrump about measles during a presser.
We’ve got the labs stateside. It isn’t just China that would welcome another bioweapon release. Plenty of American born sellouts to fill the bill.
The only thing China fears, is its people.
KEEP — JUST ENOUGH PRESSURE –> NOT TOO MUCH Because Xi WILL ” PLAY ” the WAR CARD to Stymie the DISSENT
Xi’s foreign war, if started, may well become his own Civil War,…. starving domestic people are to be feared the most.
Xi is a bully, and all bullies don’t actually want kinetic conflict, they want to use the threat of kinetic conflict, to compel others to do as they want; intimidation.
Whens the last time CCP China fought a war,…and whens the last time they won?
Word is that his own CCP leaders now want their Bully gone, plus he suffered a stroke last year, so he’s got his plate full now,… probably too full to try to take Taiwan by military force or blockade. Is Xi now a Paper Tiger Bully?
China doesn’t have anywhere near 1.3B people. They are lucky to have 1/2 of that. Lots of studies out there on the numbers and they don’t add up.
The EU has ALREADY been targeting big tech with censorship no free speech, etc. What did the auts think was going to happen? Autism as a trait allows the individual to dive face down in the dirt and eat mud in frustration of their sense of right and wrong being thwarted.
Say goodbye to Starlink in the EU.
Musk knows this
Imo, I think Trump understands Musk very well. He has leveraged his talents for finding the graft needle in the haystack. And Trump has worked at break neck speed to get a good foundation layed to expose the corruption that is killing our country. And decimating our small towns with uncontrolled illegal immigrants and drugs. Musk will have to make a decision soon and in my heart I don’t think he will choose wisely.
First off, I think its possible Musk will “choose wisely” and stick with PDJT.
And, if he doesn’t, I can live with that, too.
But, Musk has been heavily involved with the MEGA parties of the EU,…and I think he knows they are poised to upset elections across the EU that will be a 180 change for Europe.
Ukraine is already crying, cause there is nothing to replace starkink with.
A thought…
…perhaps this is Trump’s way of covering Musk, when Musk decides he wants to terminate Starlink for the Ukraine.
Cut from the entire EU = Sorry, Z, but your Starlink got cut by your own fine folks at the EU!”
“Autism as a trait allows the individual to dive face down in the dirt and eat mud in frustration of their sense of right and wrong being thwarted.”
Haha. It would such irony if autism causing vaccines created the individuals who stand firm against Big Pharma funded tyranny.
sundance has us looking at all the angles.
I don’t think you understand what’s been happening at all. The “tech bros” and bankers are joined at the hip. They’ll take down PDJT’s presidency in a heart-beat if necessary. Got nothing to do with the Democrat party. You must be a Boomer.
No personal attacks. Ever.
Being a “Boomer” is something to be proud of.
While the Boomer generation has its faults (mostly from the spoiled bunch of godless old commie hippies), you will find the Boomers here to be quite conservative and thoughtful.
I think your intent was to insult people older, wiser, and more experienced than yourself. Or perhaps it was just to sow division here.
hey wasn’t the hippes the Jesus loves generation?
Lol what version of “Jesus” were they worshipping? You think you’re so clever it’s hilarious.
Not trying to be clever but I do recall a lot of love and Jesus. The song Spirit in the Sky comes to mind.
90% of posters here on the TreeHouse are boomers.
Those making money off of the current global system are vehemently against tariffs. Hence, Representative Bacon of Nebraska is trying to stop the tariffs. He is trying to save his bacon. His financials should be investigated.
Agreed.
So many things to investigate and flush out. The miscreants have had decades to burrow in and establish a system.
I really am impressed. I just read where Elon Musk doesn’t want the tariffs and doesn’t want borders. hmmm
Link?
Don’t need no stink’in link, it’s jim from the interweb.
Check CFP (Citizens Free Press) or Liberty Daily. It’s on one or both of them.
👎
i just noticed that you’re a liar.
B.S
He has spoken out about illegal migrants and what they do to a country. He has said often a country deserves to be the country it is w/out a flood of others invading it.
So, don’t believe some publications putting their spin on something.
Elon hates the censorship he is seeing in Europe.
After buying twitter and saving our own election on that platform from censorship, and going through what he has, you think he wants the EU to just keep playing games with the US?
I
I’m actually glad all this is happening. It’s giving us all an opportunity to see why PDJT was selected for us. It was never about us. It’s not our system.
Cue the hate for speaking the uncomfortable truth.
The “Swamp” is turning out to be much bigger than I originally thought.
I thought President Trump was going to expose America’s swamp. Instead, he’s exposing it all.
Kudos to the best President ever.
Didja hear the child porn indictments handed down in Florida?
The AG talks openly about the missing and exoloited children workdwide,.. it is ALL being exposed, including pissagate, and child sacrifices, etc.
In a class by himself, is our President Trump!
Those child porn busts in Florida are linked to the European child born bust Interpol has been conducting.
Notice also – it’s the little fish and scapegoats getting caught in the net…not the big fish.
Food chain: No more little fish, big fish go hungry and die off. Even better, little fish turn on big fish, exposing the crime ring.
Idiot.
I was going to say pfffft. 😉
selected
Fake Hate Late Again
A country that manufactures nothing is never a secure nation.
Yep. All “we’ve ” been
manufacturing the last 30 years or so is the importation of debt. We’re now at least at $36T. There is no coming back. Repudiate the debt. Why do we even talk about paying it off? I don’t. It’s not my debt. Is it yours?
Unfortunately that isn’t all we have managed to manufacture. Racism, hatred, violence, a dependence on government class, an education system at the bottom of all other industrialized nations, women handing over their identity to men, abortion on demand, screaching women who demand the right to execute their unborn children while their little ones whom they allowed to see the sun stand by and support them, unhinged leftist who stole the hearts of the nations children to hate their country and themselves. Yes we have manufactured many things unfortunately all of it is worthless.
Sun Tzu, The Art Of War.
PDJT, in his blunt NYC talk, might describe that as “being a patsy”
They gonna put you back in debt chains. – Shamala Harvest
You ain’t Indian. – Injun Joe
“Trump is inheriting a ticking time bomb – the new admin really has their work cut out for them…”
https://x.com/RealEJAntoni/status/1866847755823435861
(AP) Trump threatens more tariffs on China as global markets plunge
April 7, 2025
Global markets plunged, ours didn’t. Take a look:
https://www.marketwatch.com/
Watch the Asian markets plunge even more overnight,…as President Trump issues his “Pay your Bills” notice to ‘free’ traders worldwide cuz it’s time to turn out the nights the Party on the USA is now over.
The fun thing to watch is these people are going to have to pick a side.
Gordon Chang: What Most Experts Miss About Trump’s High-Stakes Tariff Strategy (15:45)
American Thought Leaders – The Epoch Times
7 Apr 2025
Tell the Europeans we will pull our military out of Europe if they attack our tech industry.
I say pull out our military anyway……. if the Euros attack our tech industry tell them …..We’ll Be Baach!!
Better yet, tell them they’re on their own.
Agreed ^^^. Pull our military out.
If they can’t leverage our military to get their precious war with Russia, then they will use our troops as sitting ducks for “accidental” protests, conducted by erstwhile unknowns that, for some inexplicable reason, can’t be tracked down.
“[The European nations] are nations of eternal war. All their energies are expended in the destruction of the labor, property and lives of their people.”
–Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 1823
Eurostan is building up their migrant army for a woke peasant’s war.
My German great-grandfather moved his family out of Germany and to America because he was tired of his sons being “cannon fodder for the princes of Europe”.
I loath that our sociopathic overlords have adopted this mentality for America’s sons and daughters. It needs to stop and I’m all for every effort President Trump is doing to stop it. Economic security is national security.
DOJ and a passel of State’s attorney generals joining forces to smithereen the private sector big tech\data monoply while simultaneously giving the same smithereen treatment to NSA CIA FBI, etc. Wouldn’t that be just right?
Imagine a US where people have to be frugal and resourceful, because we are not flooded with cheap Chinese stuff.
Maybe this heralds the start of a return to the earlier paradigm, where women stayed home to run the house out of necessity.
High schools had Home Economics classes.
The Proverbs 31 wife was held in high esteem.
No eating out. One car per family. Making do with less. I remember this middle class from the ’60’s through mid-’70’s.
On the other hand, the US had much more industry then.
An era when one bread-winner could support the family.
Kept marriages and families intact.
Not saying “perfect” – but surely FAR less family dysfunction compared to now .
Not just one breadwinner, but at least in Portland Orygone in the 60’s it could be a simple Fred Meyer grocery checker or butcher or a low paid government bus driver, or a machinist, or a printer operator and being able to live in a very nice middle class suburb house.
With the wife and kids!
Imagine a US where we make our own products instead of coming up with excuses why we can’t. Boggles my mind that people are content supporting and importing from a hostile dictatorship.
The Proverbs 31 wife:
Considers a field.
She buys it.
With the fruit of her hands,
She plants a vineyard.
(Verse 16).
And not everyone had to go to college to get a decent job and raise a family. Decent paying jobs were plentiful in the manufacturing industry.
So who is curiously fallen off the news cycle?
Ukraine & Russia
Imho, watch for the black flag event.
I own a personal little geiger counter. If the powers-to-be say we have a radiation event, I will know, at least in my neighborhood.
Just FWIW.
Certain entities are sowing chaos with this sky-is-falling ‘shock market’ news reporting. Project Mockingbird is still alive and well.
Those of us are old enough to have witnessed market correction(s).
Just look at the cliff the market climbed?
It had to fall off the other side.
Be patient.
Yes, Russia/Ukraine have fallen off the mockingbird medias radar, but even as the shooting continues, with Russia gaining more ground, negitiations “normalising” relations, between Russia and the U.S. proceed apace.
The “tariff war” as it effects the EU, and the Ukraine/Russia conflict are inextricably linked, NOT two seperate, unrelated issues, they are multiple fronts in WW4, the Globullusts vs Nationalists war.
Conquering the Globullust leaders of the EU, economically and so driving regime change to MEGA parties, is the only way to give Russia the security guarantees it needs, in order to be willing to agree to peace in Ukraine.
👍
President Trump wants ‘fair and reciprocal’ trade, not radical transformation
President Trump is a dealmaker and a pragmatist, not an ideologue.
Jordan Schachtel
President Trump wants ‘fair and reciprocal’ trade, not radical transformation
In the aftermath of “Liberation Day,” the entire world has been scrambling to figure out what exactly President Trump is pursuing as his end game with global trade. On Monday afternoon, the president provided significant and necessary clarity on his intentions for America’s position in the global economy.
Financial markets have noticeably slumped over previous trading days (though on Monday, the Nasdaq closed even), given the announced sweeping imposition of American tariffs on any and all foreign countries. The president’s top administration officials and surrogates — Peter Navarro, Howard Lutnick, Elon Musk, and Scott Bessent — have all been singing different tunes, adding to the confusion and speculation. Many permanently online sycophantic voices have even taken to suggesting that the president is determined to radically reorient global trade itself. Well, it turns out that the president doesn’t share the sentiments of the ideologues.
On Monday, we received lots of much-needed clarity about the president’s plan of action. The President held a press gaggle with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during which he detailed his intentions for rebalancing global trade.
https://www.dossier.today/p/president-trump-wants-fair-and-reciprocal
I have no clue who this author is, but I hope he’s wrong. I want President Trump to dramatically transform trade. I want to be decoupled from China as much as possible. I have no interest in a “trade deal” with them. They’ll violate it, lie, cheat, and steal, like they usually do. For most products, we should be making them here at home. Enough with the excuses that it’s not possible, too expensive, can’t be done.
The author is putting his spin on it, a version of “this is all Trump negotiating” and IMHO Presudent Trump and his surrogates have been consistent and clear, it is the media that have tried to make it seem disjointed and confusing.
No, it is NOT just a negotiation restricted to tariffs; its all the various combinations of ways each country cheats, from VATS, to intel prop. theft, to excess regulations, to slave labor to pollution havens, etc.
And its about how WE do not NEED ti buy from them, but they REALLY NEED to sell to us
Move your production here, its really thar simple.
Bibi SAID it right. He didn’t say tariffs, he said “Israel will very quickly ELIMINATE THE TRADE DEFICIT between Israel and the U.S.
THATS what President Trump is focused on, and thats why the trade deficit was used to calculate how much each country is ripping us off.
Because whether its thru tariffs, or the various other methods, the trade deficit is the net result, the measure of how much we are being ripped off.
Hence, he doesn’t want to hear about “Zero tariffs” he wants “Zero trade deficit”, it really is that simple.
There is much more than just tariffs on China. They’ve been using the huge trade in- balance to purchase hard assets and influence. Much of it stems from the ChinaGate treason.
The Commie Colonization of America
https://thenewamerican.com/opinion/the-commie-colonization-of-america/
China Grab Hag Corn Thieves
“… von der Leyen proclaims that global citizens will be impacted with higher grocery bills …”
Perhaps the psychopathic overlords in Amsterdam and Brussels might re-think that destruction of Netherlands farmland and jailing of Netherlands farmers.
Those bros are (have been) among the most productive in the world.
And shunnig the S African Farmers being chased out that President Putin welcomed…
The overlords will not be missing any of THEIR meals.
I don’t eat produce from China. I don’t trust it.
So this is where the rubber meets the road I believe is the phrase.
More than Musk and Ackman…Cruz, Grassley, Rand Paul and others are grousing about the tariffs.
But it doesn’t matter because We The People have what we need…a President who doesn’t give a f–k!
I want to see these losers when we’ve boxed ourselves into a corner, because we have no domestic production at all. Oh but don’t worry, we’ll have “free trade.”
I don’t understand which lobby is pressuring Grassley. Paul is pissed because the whiskey makers of his state can’t put their product on Canada’s shelves. Cruz? Who knows.
Kentucky is bourbon.
Might bring life to normal when we use to grow our own food, etc.
All thanks to the Federal Reserve banking system. Wake up, people! The Fed is what has been destroying us. It still exists and operates. Address it. Stop ignoring its purpose or perish.
Some times the enemy of your enemy is your friend
No fed fan but the fed, and US banks are on magas side right now and you likely don’t even know it. Powell made sure LIBOR was removed , before that Europe set mortgage rates in the US. Europe wants commercial US banks gone and the US bankers are fighting back against the European facists/commies. BASIL III incoming
My father, a man of few words, would mumble “Get rid of the damn Fed” at all bad financial news.
The average person cannot tell you what the Fed is, how it came to be, and who benefits from it.
I have a feeling China will not back down. Their culture demands they cannot lose face no matter what. It’s a very immature culture in that regard.
Japan had a similar idea on not losing face but managed to do ok while on the deck of the USS Missouri, in the company of General MacArthur on September 2, 1945…
China is a bit more arrogant at this point, though, IMHO.
It took two atom bombs and the promise of millions dead in an invasion of Honshu to get Japan into the position of surrender.
The Chinese are a fundamentally different culture. They aren’t as concerned with the concepts of death and honor; they value personal wealth above things like that.
The CCP has a stranglehold on 1.3 billion people, it’s true, but the entire government is corrupt from top to bottom and there’s actually very little control that Beijing can exercise internally. It’s not necessarily just a matter of face for the CCP, it’s their survival as a party and as individuals. I’m not sure what Xi is going to do but it’ll be motivated by self-interest first.
That stranglehold the CCP has over the population is tenuous at best.
If they lose the mandate of heaven, little will save the party from the rest of the population.
Gordon Chang seems to think Xi is in big trouble with the party.
Perfect! The sooner we decouple the better.
A good negotiator always strives to let the other guy save face and in fact, give the other guy something he wants, assuming you can find something to give up that doesn’t hurt you.
“Otherwise China will destroy the republic by obliterating our economy and seeing our debt crush us without ever having to use kinetic weapons.”
They cannot simply sit back and allow our debt to crush us. They own and finance over half of our debt.
Allowing our debt to crush us will crush their economy as well.
That’s why President Trump could leverage China so well in his previous term. In their arrogance, China has been too clever by a half, as they say.
Not only has our economy been globalized…so also has our debt.
their way of backing down is a effing pandemic.
face
Their collectivist culture is faceless.
“The big mistake in the U.S. and Europe, in my opinion, is that people aren’t wearing masks.”
–George Fu Gao, CCP-CDC, WHO Advisor
Musk never planned to stay in the government long term. Don’t you remember that DOGE will be shut down July 4th?
Good times people!
Its not like the EU hasn’t already fined American Big Tech companies billions already.
And, isn’t this play of the EU targeting Tech, to sew division so obvious, that President Trump and Musk would have anticipated it?
Stay with PDJT, and endure whatevr hits the Eurowienies send your way, and the Eurowienies time in office will be short, as the Nationalist/Populist parties are surging and will soon be regime changing Macron, Starmcer, etc. and the new leaders will undo any damage done.
IMHO, Dutchman…our President is a businessman with a business plan. Businesses plan for any and all eventualities within their identified time frames. I feel confident that ‘much has been anticipated’.
Serious question:
I get that Tech is global. But so is Ag.
Why can’t Trump work with Musk and others to make it beneficial to be national?
For example, Musk does space better than NASA. Why not have the gov pay Tech for their services so that they don’t necessarily need to market to the globe.
Facebook and others are funded because they collect info.
What am I missing here? Why can’t Trump make it beneficial to Musk and others to employ Americans and to treat tech like Gulf shrimp?
I broke the Tech Bros into subcategories, refined over 90 minutes with Grok, ranked by military/national security priority.
Some observations:
A) Elon’s in quite the pickle with Tesla and these tariffs. He’s backing American labor across his empire—proven MAGA Nationalist with X’s free speech fight (as far as the IC allows) and SpaceX’s NASA/military muscle. All his ventures aim to lift humanity, but he’s hit a fork in the road: dump Tesla—a tough but necessary call—if he’s truly All In MAGA. We need him to help bankrupt the Chicoms—he doesn’t need more money, he needs projects with meaning. What more meaning could a Patriot have than helping his Country avoid war?
B) A renaissance is brewing in the Intel/Mil cloud software space—new Nationalist Tech Bros stepping up, even Elon’s nemesis Altman lurking in the mix, daring Musk to dominate here too.
C) The Mil. Tech Industrial Nationalist scene is in full flight—real disruptors at work.
D) Legacy cloud and military industrial giants are old, slow, and finally facing legit competition.
E) Bill Ackman’s nowhere in these tech tiers—just a loud globalist, not a Tech Bro.
Technology only – Multi-National software/programming/disposable tech-hardware design.
Companies focused on broad, borderless tech solutions with minimal military focus.
Tech. Industrialists – Use tech to design/build mechanical systems. Software and mechanical engineering.
Companies blending software and hardware for industrial applications, often with global reach and limited military emphasis.
Intelligence/Military Cloud Computing Storage/Software – Deliver cloud-based storage, computing, and software solutions tailored for U.S. intelligence and military operations.
Emerging players with specialized military software, often cloud-supported, but not hardware-focused.
Legacy Mil Hardware & Legacy Mil Cloud Software – Traditional defense contractors and established tech giants supporting military needs with hardware and cloud solutions, adapting to whichever party is in power.
Mil. Tech. Industrial Nationalists – Use high tech software to design, control, build, and run high tech machines, to mass produce Military Hardware and its controlling software. These fellows are the tip of the spear advancing Military tech as we speak.
Bill Ackman: No Tech Bro, just a globalist hedge fund titan (Pershing Square) with no stake in these categories—think Chipotle, not crypto.
Thanks!
You’re incorrect on Tesla. They don’t import from China. Tesla is the most fully American-made vehicle on the market. No one else even comes close. They control almost the entirety of their supply chain in America, too, and don’t have to worry about part imports and foreign vendors much. They’re a completely different animal than all other auto manufacturers in the U.S.
Tesla ALSO manufactures in China. They are the number one call seller in China. But the cars made in China are sold in China, other Pacific nations, and Europe. Those cars are not imported to the U.S.
Chinese-made Tesla vehicles often will use other Chinese-manufactured battery systems. That is because the ChiComs’ battery tech is at least a decade beyond anything in the U.S., and Tesla’s battery tech in the U.S. is a decade beyond any other U.S. manufacturer.
Musk doesn’t have to give up anything for Tesla. The longer the trade wars go, it is likely that Tesla becomes the strongest, most prolific automaker in the U.S. Look for an acceleration of Tesla adoption by consumers, and a likely doubling of market share by next year.
Ask Grok and report back Phil. https://x.com/i/grok?conversation=1909470373554290890 Read some of the source links abt. CCP acquired battery tech.
U.S Tesla’s are 100 percent Assembled in the U.S. Tesla currently has the largest percentage of U.S/North American content. When I suggest he give it up (I’m referring to Tesla China) the reason is that the CCP benefits from any tech he creates with Tesla in China. I know the CCP allowed Tesla in China 100 percent ownership, by not forcing him to have a Chinese JV partner, and also know that exception does not come without IP transfer. If Elon were left to his own devices he would open source the whole of Tesla to benefit mankind, but the CCP does nothing to benefit anyone, but themselves, and their will to stay in power, and if left to their own devices would subjugate all of Earths people just as they have the people of China. They must be bankrupted. If China is ahead in some battery tech, it was likely accomplished by theft of U.S. taxpayer funded research in U.S. Universities & national labs. If their battery tech was so far ahead, CATL ( a company designated by U.S. Military as being tied to CCP military- specifically developing batteries for CCP electric submarines) would not need the greedy heads of Bank Of America -Brian Moynihan & JPMorgan Chase- Jamie Dimon to push American investors into buying CATL’s secondary IPO offering on the Hong Kong exchange. They would not need more cash if their tech was so good already. What’s more important for U.S. national security …electric cars, whose tech has mostly already been stolen (see BYD… with help of Warren Buffets money- early on), or Rockets and autonomous driving software that is dual purpose and could be used for autonomous drones of all types? Elon has a big heart obviously… he has a heart for American and Chinese citizens ….but his weakness is trusting the CCP. He’s literally looking at his fork in the road …. He declared he would fight and die in America not too long ago.
FYI, your Grok link doesn’t work.
It sounds like you’re agreeing with me everywhere, except for that China has superior battery technology. You’ll come around on that idea too, once you’ve done more research. They didn’t steal the research. They’re the ones doing the research, while for the past generation our institutions and labs have focused on DEI and ESG and pushing diversity while also relying heavily on Chinese researchers. We’ve put ourselves in a hell of a bind.
China isn’t stealing battery tech from the West, because they’re way out in front. We should be stealing it from them. They already have batteries guaranteed for a million miles (and even unlimited range) that are guaranteed to retain 80% of life after 15 years, or the entire pack is replaced for free. They also charge faster than batteries we have here.
Does the CCP benefit from Tesla China? Of course. Are they stealing Tesla’s tech? No. The parts that matter, that give Tesla an advantage, isn’t actually hardware technology. It is a manufacturing process, or it is their full self-driving software. China already has their own self-driving software that is better than any U.S. automaker (excluding Tesla), and Tesla’s software isn’t really at risk for theft/piracy due to its nature.
Also, Tesla isn’t a car company. It happens to make cars right now as its primary source of revenue, but that is changing rapidly too. Tesla is a robotics and energy company who happens to make cars.
As for Musk, he’s fixated on one goal and one goal only: getting to Mars to prevent the extinction of humanity. Everything, and I do mean literally everything he does is focused on and subservient to that goal, including helping restore free speech on X and getting DOGE cooking to help clean up the federal gov’t and save the country and the dollar. Every company Musk runs is also fixated on that goal, though it may not seem that way to an outside observer.
If Elon decides to split from Trump, it will be over that: impeding his Mars goal. Since the U.S. surviving is currently essential to that goal, I don’t see a big breakup anytime soon.
https://x.com/i/grok?conversation=1909470373554290890
Still nothing. Are you using Grok on the private mode? That link doesn’t return anything for me. It just loads the Grok interface.
Andreessen Horowitz and Joe Lonsdale: Investor via 8VC seem to be deeply embedded into the military financing.
Everyone is a bit different but Trump is a rare breed. I suspect while many leaders hate having these negotiations, Trump thrives on them. Yes it helps he has at 3 Aces if not 4, but he’s in his Element.
He loves negotiation and he fully accepts the inherent uncertainty seeking to incorporate that to his Country’s advantage.
Tech Bros have no place else to go.
The USA is their only viable option, which is why they all come here in the first place.
Keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle until it comes to a complete stop. Enjoy the ride! Next stop, Free Trade!
We need to break our addiction on cheap junk from other countries. We used to be a manufacturing powerhouse. Then the unions ruined it. We need to get back there again. Our service economy has made us soft are stupid.
Musk is a dreamer and engineer, and Lutnick is the master of the deal and arbitrage. My money is on Howie on this one!
Thinking beyond the immediate issue at hand, with the Dragon and the Eagle at bitter odds, it may give the Dragon pause with respect to taking on Taiwan. You don’t want to take on the Eagle when it’s sharpening its talons!
Poor Xi.
He is a one-factory town.
All good.
Please also now place tariffs on direct labor so that Americans do not have to directly compete for intellectual work with $3/hour “professionals.”
Cannot delete posting, I wanted to post an image of Trump dragging a panda bear and a Chinese dragon.
Regards
Climate Heretic
They will target U.S. Tech industry in their tariff avoidance strategy to create division. This is what EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is talking about when she says “countermeasures”.
If they try to exploit that potential point, they will also be shooting themselves in the foot due to the key technologies sourced in America.
No. This is completely wrong. You need to get an updated set of talking points. Your usual sources are letting you down.
Tech Bros need to have faith. An economically healthy US is good for the whole world’s economic health. And when the US prospers, so too will they. If the trade barriers are removed, our companies will be able to do more, and not less, business overseas. Massive stock market upside right now for any cash sitting out.
But could the Trump tariffs be part of a plan to continue separating the rest of the world from US dependencies?
“E.U.’s VON DER LEYEN: WILL WILL FOCUS LIKE LASER BEAM ON THE 84% OF TRADE BEYOND THE U.S.”
(CNBC screenshot from https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2025/04/07/peter-navarro-vs-cnbc/ )
US sanctions on Russia starting in 2022 apparently had a similar effect.
The short term responses to tariffs may be a forced capitulation, but longer term the others may build to render the US irrelevant.
Many seem to overlook the extent of America’s dependency on China and other Asian nations now. Will China pull the short hairs of rare earths supply more? Pharmaceuticals? The many other strategic supply chains they control? This is not just a matter of giving up cheap junk at the box store.
The question will be: Can the US restore manufacturing fast enough? Or have competencies been degraded too much by decades of DIE and the loss of industrial experience?
Three years to set things in motion? DIE driven incompetence is endemic, throughout education and government/corporate spheres. Literacy is decimated, overall science and math skills lagging other developed nations. Ebonics subculture influences reverberate, signaling profound societal regression.
Surely Trump’s team understands all this. Are they aiming for a fast impact, hoping to set things in motion to bootstrap the US with momentum continuing after 2028? Or, could it be that Controllers behind the team are pulling strings to continue separating and diminishing the US?
The signs of the last few decades imply the latter. Especially the mileposts including 9/11*, the plandemic/shots, Ukraine, and other major tectonics driving the US toward a post-Pax Americana, totalitarian vassal state.
(* ae911truth.org suggests the profound significance of 9/11 in the longer timeline.)
‘ It must also be noted, this global reset and tariff system is visibly the fracture point between the Tech Bros and MAGA economic nationalists. ‘
Expand your view.
Some observe that it is actually continuing the fracture between the US and the rest of the “multi-polar” world.
On that note, has it occurred to anyone that part of the goals of the Ukraine conflict was a pretext for sanctions to drive this fracture?
So the rift between the Tech Bros and MAGA is a convenient distraction from the larger seismics in motion.
The US is beholden to China for rare earths, pharmaceuticals, electronics, and other critical supply chain.
China can force their population to take the pain of shutting down supply to the US. Look what they did with Tiananmen Square and the plandemic.
Many in this thread seem unaware of this.
An additional 50% tariff on China by tomorrow? It’s exciting, no? What do you think is going to happen if he goes through with it?
Can the US replace China sourcing fast enough? Or can China shut off supply and outlast the US? My bet is on China here.
Great Theater. Must keep the populace distracted from the things sinking the US (like the govt overspending which DOGE won’t dent), and the things coming (like the Replicons about which RFK Jr. is mute).
‘ An additional 50% tariff on China by tomorrow? It’s exciting, no? What do you think is going to happen if he goes through with it? ‘
https://www.theepochtimes.com/china/china-refuses-to-budge-after-us-threatens-extra-50-percent-tariff-5838371
If the total tariff on China was already raised April 2 to 54%, and Trump adds another 50%, does that mean the total is 104%?
So China will have to pay the US more than the value of the goods to ship them to the US?
Oh. Yeah. Can’t make this stuff up.
Neither side is backing down. The Chinese place great importance on saving face, backing down would be a major loss of face. Trump doesn’t ever want to back down.
We should start thinking about what the loss of electronics, pharmaceuticals, rare earths, and other key supply will do to the US. And how fast the impacts will hit. Keep in mind that these things work synergistically.
The idea that this was all planned to accelerate the fall of the US is not without basis.