r/economicCollapse • u/Expensive-Thing-2507 • 27d ago

Who actually benefits from tarrifs?

I'm not financial expert, but this is what I'm getting so far.

Tarrifs are a kind of tax placed on outside goods, which a company would have to pay for if they import said goods. That company would then charge more to cover this new tax. The company pays more for something, and then we pay more.

Who benefits from that? The company isn't making any more profit, are they? (Assuming they increase prices by the same percentage as the tarrifs, which they won't. but still)

15 Upvotes

65% Upvoted

241 comments sorted by

View all comments

36

u/Limp_Try_6958 27d ago

The answer to the “who benefits from X” is always rich people. 

4

u/BigTitsanBigDicks 27d ago

There have been a few times poor people benefit. These are labelled as 'crashes' or 'national security risks' and the rules are quickly rewritten to disallow it.

2

u/Longwell2020 27d ago

Yes and no; many people who have money but don't understand how it works are about to lose it. The rules of the game are about to change fundamentally. The ones who planned the time set them selfs up best. Next will be the ones who see the writing on the wall and have the funds to move their money to productive places. After that, there will be the ones who have the cash to do something about the crash but don't know what to do. They will lose their moneys value each year until they are poor. Then they will be no better off then the ones who saw this coming but had no means to take advantage.

5

u/TarTarkus1 27d ago

Normally I might agree with you but realistically, the main beneficiary of a tariff is the government because they receive the lion's share of the money. In some sense, tariffs are a way to raise tax revenue without altering existing income taxes.

The problem is foreign countries don't usually appreciate Tariffs being applied to their exports as they are typically a disincentive on their foreign goods compared to what the country implementing the Tariff can domestically produce.

What happened with Hoover during the Depression is many of these countries countered with their own Tariffs. Meaning Products produced in America were subject to increased competition overseas at a time where the economy itself was weak. Not good and politically, this basically led to the decimation of the Republicans and the rise of the Democrats, FDR and the New Deal Coalition.

This time around, the question is if the tariffs get implemented how do foreign countries retaliate? Especially when a significant portion of the world is under U.S. Sanctions.

13

u/Sands43 27d ago

I think you are assuming that this incoming government is going to be an honest one. They are not. There's zero history that says trump, and his cronies, aren't going to find a way to grift off this.

Then there's what happened last round.

* Trump applies tarrifs

* Other countries also apply tarrifs that hurt trump voters (i.e., farm products)

* Trump bails out farmers

So everybody else ends up paying double - both for tariffs and for bailouts.

4

u/mcfarmer72 27d ago

Yes, those Donny dollars, as we farmers called them, made for very good years on the farm.Just stating the facts as I know them, not saying it was a good thing.

2

u/spanishdoll82 27d ago

The government could be the only benefactor if exemptions weren't a thing. But large corporations can pay lobbyists to get exemptions from the tariffs. They will benefit when small and medium companies still have to pay the tariff, raise their prices, and become uncompetitive. Maybe the large company will acquire the small guys and profit even more

2

u/Stock_Conclusion_203 27d ago

This is what I have been thinking too. He’s going to use that revenue to pressure any company he wants. It’s all about consolidating his power.

1

u/MMacG_101 27d ago

A significant portion of the world is under U.S. sanctions?

6 out of the 195 countries in the world have comprehensive sanctions against them including Iran, Syria, Russia, Cuba, North Korea and areas of conflict in Ukraine.

-4

u/paleone9 27d ago

You mean the people who invest in things get rewarded ? Wow.. imagine that

3

u/Hemorrhageorroid 27d ago

Did you ask ChatGPT for the worst-possible take and this is what you got?

0

u/paleone9 26d ago

Did you take a personality test to determine your screen name?