Well, well, well...learned a lot about a lot of the members here. I feel like the majority of you are not in favor of reciprocal tariffs and you feel like the old status quo has been working out just fine for us (us being the US). $36T in debt and counting, all fiat currency not backed by anything, largely based on the public's faith in the countries issuer (normally the central bank or government). I for one don't have much "faith" anymore in our government in this matter. Where our tax dollars have been going is mind blowing the amount of waste, fraud and lined politicians pockets (both sides). Sometimes it is good to put all this in perspective and visit the good ol' U.S. National Debt Clock and all the other bits of info on there, it is mind boggling where all our hard earned tax dollars has gone and are going at an exponential rate. Most people have no idea how much a Billion dollars is, let alone a $1T. Obviously all unsustainable.
So, do we keep going down this reckless path? Or somehow get back to what this countries founders wanted, a free trade economy? Has this rollout been spectacular in it's execution for change in trade policies, absolutely not. But this is a monumental task with many moving pieces as many of you have described through personal experiences. It is interesting the degree and nuances of all of your personal experiences thus far. We are obviously in the early stages and it is anyone's guess right now where this all takes us.
I for one would love to get to more of a free trade economy. A simple definition of a free trade economy involves minimal involvement in international trade, allowing countries to exchange goods and services without tariffs, quotas or other barriers. That is music to my ears. Minimal Government intervention in anything is typically a great thing (to me). I rarely site the Britannica but for a fairly non-bias definition about free trade, here it is.
Free trade is a policy by which a government does not discriminate against imports or interfere with exports by applying tariffs (to imports) or subsidies (to exports). A free-trade policy does not imply, however, that a country abandons all control and taxation of imports and exports.
www.britannica.com
I realize this is probably a pipe dream at this point, but it makes total sense to me. I would love to hear from all the Wharton, MIT, Oxford chums on that. Which BTW, interjecting all that seemed extremely arrogant, at the very least annoying. It's one thing to recommend a good mechanic based off of proper BMW Tech training and certs, it's another on a vintage coupe board to have to explain yourself like that. Just my opinion. Obviously most people on here are extremely intelligent, and of course have impeccable taste in cars, but...common, we (e9coupe.com members in particular) have all gotten to our positions in life not because we are dummies, how we get here are varied paths, one not better than the other.
On a very relevant note, I reached out to Ivo from the Netherlands that sold his latest Malaga coupe on BaT so see exactly what happened with the tariff situation on whether he had to eat the costs or not and how much the tariffs (if anything out of the norm) actually were. I will report back the finding on this thread and the BaT Malaga thread where that topic started. That situation was a little unique since it was originally a US coupe with a CA title. So, there may have been a loophole he found but any information I think will be golden for all of us.
BS/PHD (Bull $h!t Piled Higher and Deeper) - Nachty
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