Albanese is stating However, the exports of those two metals to the US make up a miniscule fraction of Australia's total trade output – "less than 0.2 per cent of the total value of our exports," Albanese noted – so it's unlikely to have a significant impact on the overall economy. Who believes we should play dead ? I for one will avoid ANYTHING that is brought in from America. Trumps tariff is a spit in the face given we buy more from America. Anyone know what's Dutton's view on the subs ? I would cancel the order.
When you buy a car from the USA you pay "luxury car tax". What is it's purpose? Yet, when Australian Holdens were sold in the USA, no such tax was charged. LCT is a tariff, with a tricky name, so that we can pretend we're adhering to the free trade agreement we signed with the US. There are thousands of examples like this, used by hundreds of countries in order to make their imports from the US more expensive for local consumers whilst avoiding tariffs in the other direction. Trump is on a mission to clean it up.
LCT is only applicable when over the threshold. LCT is not a tariff , If a FN BS tax. Luxury being the key word. No luxury tax on a 10 million dollar ring , house , boat or what ever only cars. So its here for ever until some politician commits to remove it as a election promise. American make cars so cars imported to them SHOULD have a tariff to protect their manufacturing , i.e the real reason for a Tariff. Free trade is trading with no tariffs. Trump is FU . clean up what ? We buy more from the States than what they buy of us. Do we sell them cars ? Do we buy cars of them , yes . Treating us like **** WTF should be continue especially with a spiraling price ? Tell me if all the Ferrari orders here or in the states would still go ahead with a 25% tariff increase ? We are buying their cars. See how that pans out if we get 25% tariff on that then add the LCT and stamp duty. You would be a moron to pay what the figure would be. Our car prices are about parr based on anything under the LCT and with AUD conversion.
You're missing my point and swearing doesn't make your arguments stronger. Free trade agreements are signed in a fanfare of media, then Treasury bureaucrats immediately go to work to circumvent them. Our weasel politicians won't admit the truth, they're happy to play the victim and have punters blame Trump. Let me give you another example. Australia (and the UK, France, Germany, etc) pay their technology companies an "R&D incentive" to make software locally. There is no such incentive in the US. This is a reverse tariff. We get 40% of salary costs returned by the govt, then sell our software in the USA, comfortably undercutting US competitors (salaries are very similar when currency adjusted). Australian taxpayers pay $14.4Billion per year for this subsidy, which is widely abused and, in my direct experience, has done nothing to increase tech exports - our productivity is nowhere compared to the US tech industry. The international trading system is a gordian knot of conflicting rules and nightmare bureaucracy. The only winners are the public servants who administer the morass. Meanwhile the west is slowly sinking in a pit of declining living standards. Trump is the only politician prepared to tell the truth about bogus free trade.
You forget 'tariffs' are directed are directed at a country; LCT is not - it is payable on value, not origin. LCT applies whether there is a tariff applied to Australia or not (and the LCT would apply to the higher price due to the tariff - blame Trump!). Trump is not 'on a mission to clean it up'; he is simply lining the US government coffers with money PAID BY HIS OWN CITIZENS! Anyway, who wants an F150, current Corvette, Mustang or Jeep anyway! (and most of the Mustang and Jeep fall below current LCT levels anyway)
Steve - dismissing anyone who disagrees with you as a 'Lefty' is not helpful., At that rate you'll start screaming 'Fake News' shortly... I don't consider myself a 'lefty' - I've never voted for a left wing party in my life. I just dislike greed, corruption, nepotism and incompetence and that is not an exclusively left wing or ring wing issue. We all have different knowledge, perspectives and opinions and that's part of life. If you instinctively dismiss anyone else's opinions or views, then you are no better than Trump and his cohorts. I agree with some of your points and disagree with others, but hey ho - that's life and we are all (hopefully) grown up enough to talk about it rationally. Trump and his cohorts are basically running a 'pump and dump' scheme on the US economy and he and a select group of billionaires will by up stocks cheap as the market tumbles and come out of it smiling when things recover - on the backs of lots of poor and sooner to be poorer Americans and to the lesser extent the rest of us. Just look at history and how the Republican party has presided over 10 of the last 11 US recessions and who benefited. See 2020 for recent times (under Trump) and how the net worth of a select few increased dramatically. Now with Ukraine, if he can get Russia to the table, good on him. I seriously doubt if he can make anything happen that Putin will stick to - that's not Putin's nature unfortunately, but if there is a positive move, then that is good for most of us. You never know, he could go for the ultimate land deal and take over Russia and really have a lot of money and resources to play with then - much more than he could ever get out of Ukraine...
I think Putin knows that if there is a ceasefire then NATO plus some other countries will send in ground forces to sure up the perimeters and expose Russia to the full might of NATO if they start killing those ground forces, so Putin will not agree to that So it will be time for Trump to put his big boy pants on and sabre rattle Putin
Agree to disagree. I buy from Taiwan 5% duty. I buy from China ZERO % LCT is an Australian tax to get revenue. Tariffs are to protect local manufacture. Its being used by Trump to bully. No the only winner to Trumps tariffs is Trump himself. Americans will pay.
Imagine in Trump would put a Tariff of 25% on American cars ! Wow. Frankly don't care if he put any Tariff on Australia as I wouldn't buy it. I wouldn't respond with Tariffs either as no one wins in a tariff war. We should just look for new buyers of our goods.
