US blacklists Switzerland for "unfair trade"
www.swissinfo.ch
The United States has placed Switzerland on a list of countries with "unfair trade practices".

The United States has placed Switzerland on a list of countries with “unfair trade practices”.

  • Maple Engineer@lemmy.worldEnglish
    321·
    11 hours ago

    Can we get a digital badge that the citizens of any advanced liberal democracy that Magastan panels as “bad” can proudly display on their socials?

    • ahal@lemmy.caEnglish
      151·
      10 hours ago

      Don’t sully the “-stan” countries like that, they don’t deserve that association.

        • ahal@lemmy.caEnglish
          4·
          5 hours ago

          Yeah, it does. But I think the intent of “Magastan” is to draw a comparison to “those countries”. But this is stooping down to Trump’s level imo

          • T00l_shed@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            5 hours ago

            Hmm yeah it could certainly be interpreted that way. I get your point. I’ve said Canukistan before, but not to denigrate others, however it could certainly be interpreted in a negative manner.

  • Dzso@lemmy.worldEnglish
    22·
    10 hours ago

    How many months is it going to take for the Magats to realize they fucked America over?

    • Wanpieserino@lemm.eeEnglish
      2·
      3 hours ago

      As Belgian I do think Switzerland is one of the best countries on the entire planet. There’s a reason why they have 30% immigrants, and it’s not because German is a fun language to learn 😁

  • Hemingways_Shotgun@lemmy.caEnglish
    19·
    6 hours ago

    Trump is all about pretenses.

    There are the “reasons” he’s making those decisions, and then there are the “pretenses” he uses when the opportunity comes around to make them.

    Swiss banks hold a lot of money from oligarchs and billionaires. Putin wants pressure put on them. But Trump has to find the “pretense” to do it so as to at least nominally not be seen as a russian asset. But what a coincidence, Lindt announces that they’re going to supply Canada directly from Europe to avoid his tariffs. And BOOM. Pretense established.

  • Jhex@lemmy.worldEnglish
    8·
    5 hours ago

    LOL… well the clowns were elected to the presidency… why are we surprised at the never ending circus?!

  • DaddleDew@lemmy.worldEnglish
    44·
    18 hours ago

    He’s either completely senile or doing Putin’s bidding by destroying whatever is left of the US’s international credibility.

  • Atherel@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    65·
    16 hours ago

    Switzerland has a positive balance of trade in goods and therefore appears on this list.

    Ah that’s why…

    We have good arguments. And we have been doing exactly what President Trump wants for a long time.

    Maybe it’s time to fucking stop pleasing the orange cunt, he doesn’t care!

    • Eatspancakes84@lemmy.worldEnglish
      17·
      10 hours ago

      This focus on the balance of trade is sooo stupid. The US spends more than it produces so it has an aggregate deficit on the trade balance. To stop this, you need to force Americans to spend less (I.e. ignite a recession), or produce more.

      Tariffs against selected countries that have a strong bilateral trade surplus with the US will not affect the US’ aggregate trade balance, since it doesn’t affect consumption by/ or production of the US economy. This is common knowledge from econ 101, and shouldn’t need to be explained to a president that supposedly has a degree in business.

      • mmddmm@lemm.eeEnglish
        2·
        6 hours ago

        To stop this, you need to force Americans to spend less (I.e. ignite a recession), or produce more.

        Well, you need them to import less (i.e. stop making foreign government loans) or export less (i.e. start buying foreign government loans from other countries).

        Neither of them is exactly a recession, but it’s a large change that would trigger one if done badly. (AKA, the current administration will absolutely trigger one if they try - they aren’t trying by the way.)

        • Eatspancakes84@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          6 hours ago

          Ehm you have that reversed (or your phrasing is terrible). Production>consumption implies export>imports implies lending to abroad exceeds borrowing from abroad. Said differently, if the current account is in surplus, the capital account is (by definition) in deficit.

          To make this all a bit more intuitive: suppose instead of spending money on consumption goods, we invest in foreign assets. In that case we spend less meaning that we either import less foreign goods or have more domestic produced goods available for export. The consequence is an increase in the current account surplus.

          • mmddmm@lemm.eeEnglish
            1·
            5 hours ago

            or your phrasing is terrible

            It’s the standard phrasing.

            The loan is a piece of paper (well not anymore, but it used to be) that you make and sell around.

  • ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.worldEnglish
    211·
    17 hours ago

    Switzerland might really be one of the few countries no one can ever take over. Even if no one else cared — they will — sending troops running up a mountain where everyone has rifle skills and hidden bunkers is definitely not a military strategy I ever heard of.

    • Random_Character_A@lemmy.worldEnglish
      15·
      16 hours ago

      …no one can fully ever take over.

      ftfy

      Reason why the country is what it is, is because quite a few have tried an kinda stuck around.

    • barsoap@lemm.eeEnglish
      2·
      11 hours ago

      The Nazis had every secret fortification, every hidden bunker, everything mapped out, they were just leaving them for later. Probably wouldn’t have come to that Switzerland would’ve done a San Marino, which almost holds the record as the only country to ever elect and de-elect fascists, and elect and de-elect Bolsheviks. “Almost” because the fascists went AWOL upon Mussolini’s death, before they could be voted out.