Stop buying American goods after Trump imposed 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico

The EU has created one of the biggest barriers to trade in the world. If you are outside the EU block, which is similar to saying you are outside the USA, then to access trade into the block is full of excessive regulatory measures, quota requirements, competition against state subsidised business that have artificially reduced cost bases, excessive and costly trading pre requisites and much more which does include tariffs for some Countries.. And brexit has shown how huge they are. The UK is regulatory aligned to EU in all production requirements but still faces huge barriers to trade with EU. Why is that? We produce goods to all the requirements of the EU, so all the difficulty trading with them are barriers they create to trade into the common market. Why? To protect their production. Exactly what Trump is doing.
The EU does not trade freely what so ever. It trades freely within its Union but protects itself from competition from outside trade. The USA trades freely within its union and is looking to do the same thing as the EU does. Though less subtly, as is the way of Mr Trump.

I don't believe that my tiny contribution towards a boycott will make a vast difference to Trump, but it will make a difference to the powerlessness I feel at seeing friends in the States being ruled by a megalomaniac bully, who will degrade their standard of living, civil rights and health care. I can't do much, but I can do my tiny bit.

This is a bad policy for America - regardless of whether or not we try to punish them for it even more. (In fact it's probably better that we don't, because it just gives Trump an excuse to blame the Nasty Foreigners.)

I'm not sure what American products I buy anyway, apart from software and films occasionally.

Cancelling Amazon Prime is the way to go.

It’s one simple step. Also tell people about it your decision to do this.

Excuse me, I am a Brexiteer and I did not vote to go back to the days of empire (when Britain did not steal land from Native Americans; the US did that, which is why there was a rebellion in the 13 colonies in the 1770s - the colonists wanted to move into Native American lands and Britain would not let them). I voted for sovereignty and to have proper democracy - not the pseudo-democracy practised by the EU. You may have noticed that Romania just cancelled it's election results because the 'wrong' candidate won - that's the sort of democracy the EU has.
Do not lump people who do not like the capitalist cartel that is the EU, which uses free movement of labour to keep ordinary people's wages down, in with Mr Trump and his tariffs. And bear in mind the EU uses tariffs and forcing liberalisation of infrastructure (that means forcing the sale of utilities to private companies to run for profit, just like our utilities run here) in trade agreements with countries in Africa, mainly to those countries' disadvantage. The EU is a customs union, using tariffs to keep out foreign goods which compete with their own (I am not actually against this, as it happens, that wasn't why I voted to leave the EU), so it is not just Mr Trump who thinks this is a good idea - mind, his tariff hike is dangerous to the US economy, but he'll learn.

Negotiations with Canada on a new free trade deal have broken down, but what does this mean for businesses trading with the country and what happens next?
BCC Head of Trade Policy, William Bain, examines the implications:
One of the immediate effects of dialogue ending is that there will be no reprieve for cheese or dairy exporters in the UK. They have already been told they must access the non-EU quota for Canada cheese and dairy imports - this took effect on 1 January.
They will face stiff competition to access this quota, from the likes of Mexican and Swiss exporters, with long-standing contracts and supply chains into the Canadian market.
Any exports that UK cheese makers agree outside of the quota will face tariffs of 275%, making them completely uncompetitive

These Brexit benefits just keep on coming, don't they? 😟

There is a lot that you would never consider. Lots of things that go into your cars, your hospital equipment that you'd not know the provenance of.

I am 😂

And none of us are proud that he is from our turf.

Tell your DH I say howzit though 🤙

It's a bit hard to understand alot of things our governments do after we've voted them in, tbh.
But they voted him in to change the situation that millions are facing of struggling to house and bring up a family. The details are up to him. They will witness the consequences in real time, it might not be great. Protectionism has never worked in history, and you get a feeling this isn't going to be any different.
All those that want Trump and his ilk gone. If this goes wrong it will shatter the illusion more effectively than 'Brave Democrats' sniping from the sideline whilst their cities become impossible to live in for the marganalised or vulnerable.

Amazon is a vile tax dodging company.

I mostly just try to stay organized and pick things up in person, or order directly from the website of the company in question. I am not going to delete my Amazon account altogether because there may be an occasional emergency when I am forced to use it, but I haven’t used Amazon for about a year now. It’s been fine.

I call it a “slowcott” rather than a boycott.

Anyone who can’t see it’s just positioning for negotiations and chatting nonsense about ‘standing up to a bully’ just mark themselves out as pointless non playable characters.

Which fuels the addiction crisis, Fentanyl et al.

I virtually stopped using Amazon a few years ago, when I read about how appallingly their staff are treated. I'd be surprised if I'd used it more than 5 times in as many years, and only then when I can't find the thing I want anywhere else.

A mass cancellation of Amazon Prime would be fantastic!

Yeh we need to knock this rhetoric on the head. It’s incredibly unhelpful.

Direct your anger at the rich and powerful.

I’m here for this @Rainingalldayonmyhead

I think it’s about taking a couple of small steps.

I feel very comfortable cancelling Amazon Prime, so that’s a start.

Exactly why should the USA be concerned about a Country that has elected a government that spent years deriding and abusing the person the USA decided to elect as their leader, and the 'well informed' citizens of said Country continue to say everyone who voted for him is stupid and racists. Genuine question. Why should they actually be bothered. Or should they have a moral compass like the UK do with our trade with China, that beacon of human rights and freedom.

Problem is, it was this type of thinking that really cost the Democrats the election.

'Othering' people rarely is a successful strategy. It might make us feel superior but it has very real consequences.

The UKs economically deprived areas are ten times worse in the US. The UK is a relatively small country with easy transport links. You can commute to other areas for work, albeit in a hour or two. In the US, whole towns go under when a factory closes. House prices plummet and stores close. Its too far to commute to another town for work and there's no real welfare system to catch people when they fall. Ghost towns are a real occurrence in modern America.This is the Trump base that was ignored and belittled disastrously by the Democrats who were too busy focusing on rights of individuals rather than economic stability.

I am left wing and I can see how mistakes have been made that led to this point.

The economic structure of the US needs to realign and evolve rapidly in order to survive.

As I said before, whether this is a successful strategy or not remains to be seen but it could be argued it was inevitable and not a major surprise.

It is a bit hard to understand how the large percentage that voted for him on economic grounds are supposed to support these tariffs, which will make goods and services more expensive and potentially crash the markets?

Thanks for validating my point so quickly.
Belittling 75 million Americans in one post.

Keep buying TEMU products is the best answer to all American shit-isms

Oh I reckon the Chinese would give them a run for their money. Ditto the Russians. That's what big powers do.

His base are brainwashed people of little brain and they will slavishly believe whatever he tells them, in other words yes his base will suffer but they will only believe his version of who is to blame for their suffering. He will then whip up and amplify their rage and direct it for his own purposes.

After Trump was elected it was open season on how stupid the American electorate were. Polls were run saying only 2 perc would vote for him in Europe, as if that was relevant to anything. Our Politicians have called him names and been abusive towards him. And now we want him to protect our trade agreements. Now we are saying it's all about the American economy. Let Americans find out for themselves. We critise American foreign policy but rely on them to keep Europe secure. Maybe time for us to face consequences of no American funding for Nato. They don't face any threat so why pay billions to keep us secure. Why pay billions into UN and be belittled by them, same with WHO, etc etc. Decades of thinking we are morally and culturally superior whilst accepting the billions their society puts into funding our so great world Institutions.
Canada saying Trump is a bully. USA have every right to trade how they see fit. The language is pathetic. We are not going to be bullied. OK, what does that mean. Retaliation, fine, retaliate. Canada thinks calling Trump a bully will make them some big dick on the world stage standing up to Trump. He's going to find out if he desperately needs your tariff free trade, isn't he.

We are already over-reliant. You might be interested in the book recommendation I linked above.

The US needs to fix this problem or it won't have a future. It does need to bring manufacturing back to the US and away from China to survive. It cannot be a service based economy, its just too big. Regan pushed the US in the wrong direction

COVID demonstrated how fragile supply chains were, so bringing manufacturing back to America is critical. So much depends on China and they can suddenly shut it down for no reason at all (or to take back Taiwan etc)

Tbh on a personal level I love China and lived there a long time. But ultimately while we can have a productive relationship we cannot become overly reliant (I suppose Canada feels the same way about the US so understand their position here too).