Tag: Tariffs

Trump’s ‘100% tariff’ on non-American movies sounds bad for anime

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
ClandesTime 154 – Hollywood Goes To Space Command

Trump’s ‘100% tariff’ on non-American movies sounds bad for anime

Hollywood production has been of particular interest to the president since he took office for his second term. In January, Trump named actors Jon Voight, Sylvester Stallone, and Mel Gibson as “special ambassadors” to Hollywood in order to crack what was apparently wrong with the business. According to Deadline, Voight has taken the title seriously, and recently met with studios and artistic guilds to better understand the issues plaguing production. The potential of a national incentive to bring more production back to the U.S. is a rare bipartisan issue in the industry, at least on the surface; since the wildfires that swept the Los Angeles area in early 2025, many in the film business have rallied the California and national government to incentive studios to shoot local.

Trump’s Hollywood Ambassadors: a dream team of cinematic patriotism, expertly trained in the fine art of Pentagon-approved storytelling. Each has worked closely with the Defense Department’s Entertainment Media Office, ensuring that military narratives get just the right heroic glow. Now, under Trump’s watchful eye, they’re promoted from script advisors to official cultural envoys—because nothing says diplomacy quite like a blockbuster-ready version of history. If reality ever gets messy, don’t worry—they’ve got years of experience cleaning up inconvenient details. /s

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China Has Quietly Won the Trade War—and Now Leads the World

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

China has quietly won the trade war and is now reshaping global leadership—not through force, but through strategy, stability, and vision. It’s time for the West to learn, adapt, and embrace a shared future led by a preponderant China.

“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”
—Vladimir Lenin

China Has Quietly Won the Trade War—and Now Leads the World (archived)

H/T: The Most Revolutionary Act

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Quote Origin: Days Into Which 20 Years Are Compressed

On Tariffs, It’s Good to Be “Tim Apple”

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Tariffs are advertised in the name of helping American workers, but what do you know? They turn out to favor the powerful and politically connected. That’s the main message of President Trump’s decision to exempt smartphones and assorted electronic goods from his most onerous tariffs.

On Tariffs, It’s Good to Be Tim Cook

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Tim Cook gifted Donald Trump a $6,000 Mac Pro after he lowered tariffs on parts Apple needed from China

At the time Apple and Cook were applying a charm offensive to persuade then-President Trump to remove tariffs on certain components that came from China. Cook asked Trump if he could meet him in person to make Apple’s case, a gesture the former president found “impressive,” he told Bloomberg. Trump was particularly pleased at the time that Cook reached out, especially considering his acrimonious relationship with other tech CEOs. 

[2019] Apple dodges iPhone tariff after Trump confirms trade deal agreement with China

Although the trade deal affects billions of dollars worth of goods, it’s a particular victory for Apple CEO Tim Cook, who has personally worked to keep communication open with the Trump administration. Cook’s charm offensive culminated last month when he gave Trump a tour of a Mac Pro assembly plant in Texas. That computer is assembled in the United States, and Apple was granted tariff waivers for several of its components.

Tariffs, Economic War, and the Emerging Post-American Order

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Tariffs, Economic War, and the Emerging Post-American Order

My commentary: The tariffs imposed under the Trump administration are not genuinely aimed at revitalizing American industry. Rather, they function as a tool to destabilize China’s economic growth and position the U.S. to provoke a potential military confrontation. These punitive measures are designed to persist unless nations acquiesce to the administration’s demands, effectively coercing them into aligning with its confrontational economic agenda against China. 

Disclosure: Van Jackson used to work for Center for American Century (CNAS). 

CNAS’ supporters

“Of course people are going to be laid off because of this”: US autoworkers react to the launch of Trump’s global tariff war

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Within hours of the imposition of President Trump’s sweeping tariffs against the world, the impact was felt by autoworkers in North America, with the announcement of thousands of layoffs by Stellantis at plants in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

“Of course people are going to be laid off because of this”: US autoworkers react to the launch of Trump’s global tariff war