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Comment by MilnerRoute | Hacker News Reader

This is clearly just posturing. Trade negotiations have stalled (according to the article). And then immediately Trump says he's "recommending" 50% tariffs. [And this supposed "recommendation" comes via... Truth Social?] Further down CNBC even reports that the White House "did not interpret the president's post as a formal statement of policy."

Trump pretty much admits as much -- that it's his usual standard take-an-aggressive-stance posturing -- in the article. "I just said, it's time that we play the game the way I know how to play the game."

Asked if the EU will be able to negotiate in the nine days before the 50% tariffs kick in, [Treasury Secretary] Bessent said, "I would hope that this would light a fire under the EU."

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> And then immediately Trump says he's "recommending" 50% tariffs. [And this supposed "recommendation" comes via... Truth Social?] Further down CNBC even reports that the White House "did not interpret the president's post as a formal statement of policy."

Don't believe what POTUS writes on his own media platform, is the correct interpretation? Is it posturing, or dementia?

Additionally, The 250M trade imbalance mentioned in the tweet/truth/whatever about this, is around the cost of 4 years of security costs of POTUS's golf outings.

Please someone make this make sense. I really need to believe that there is sanity, somewhere in all of this.

> Don't believe what POTUS writes on his own media platform, is the correct interpretation? Is it posturing, or dementia?

Come on, it's 2025: it's been clear for more that 8 years that Trump is not a person who can be trusted to be truthful or consistent in what he says, he's extremely transactional, and he thinks his being "unpredictable" is a huge advantage (which is often is).

It's a mistake to put too much stock in the exact words that he says.

> (which is often is).

Care to give some examples? As someone living abroad who gets paid in USD, I have less money now.

With the proposed tariffs on foreign shot (mostly in EU) films, POTUS has opened the door to hitherto unknown tariffs on services. The US is a service economy. The EU could start adding tariffs on US SaaS products, in return, as one example.

What exactly are the wins? Genuine question, would love to be talked down.

> What exactly are the wins

The poster may just mean that, in basic game theory, people plan according to foreseen moves from the counterparts. For those who see everyone else as an adversary, surprising them lowers their ability to respond according to plan.

Raising collective utility is a very different (an opposite) matter.

> Please someone make this make sense. I really need to believe that there is sanity, somewhere in all of this.

He's a grifter who wants to be a dictator. He doesn't understand economics and he's really old.

Change your viewpoint and you'll see.

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