Mastodawn

"there is a better way to respond to #tariffs. Tit-for-tat tariffs are a 19th-century tactic, & we live in a 21st-century world—a world where the most profitable lines of #business of the most profitable #US companies are all vulnerable to a simple #legal change that will make things cheaper for billions of people, all over the #world, including in the US, at the expense of the companies whose CEOs posed w/ #Trump on the inaugural dais."
- @pluralistic

https://www.wired.com/story/us-trade-dominance-will-begin-to-crack/

#News #Press

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Zhi Zhu 🕸️Dec 29

"In 2026, countries that want to win the #TradeWar have a unique historical possibility: They could repeal their “anticircumvention” laws, which make it illegal ...to modify devices & services without permission from their manufacturers...

The world’s govts agreed to protect this racket in exchange for tariff-free access to #American markets.👉 Now that the #US has reneged on its side of the bargain, these laws serve no useful purpose"👈
https://www.wired.com/story/us-trade-dominance-will-begin-to-crack/

#Politics #Law #Tech #News #Press

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Zhi Zhu 🕸️Dec 29

"In 2026, many countries will respond to #tariffs like they were still in the 19th century. But a few countries will have the vision, the boldness, & the political smarts to kick #DonaldTrump right in the dongle...

Retaliatory tariffs ...punish Americans ... indiscriminately, ...inflicting far more pain on soybean farmers than they do on the CEOs of the #tech companies that back #Trump.

Repealing anticircumvention #law is a targeted strike on America’s most profitable companies"

this is part of the so-called "nuclear option" that from time to time comes out of EU meetings talking about trade with the USA.

the idea is to do not directly harm trade with the USA with tariff (which is very XIX century stuff), but remove some of the legal protection on intellectual property that US tech companies enjoy (and results in decade-lasting rents).