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Randahl Fink
Randahl Fink
@randahl@mastodon.social  ·  activity timestamp 13 hours ago

Trump hammers the world with tariffs thinking it would improve the US trade deficit, but now the deficit has risen 4 percent since Biden.

Welcome to the Trump economy, where the world stops buying American, because no one likes The Mad King.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/29/trade-balance-soared-94percent-in-november-and-was-higher-than-a-year-ago-despite-tariff-efforts.html

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SamuelJohnson
SamuelJohnson
@samueljohnson@mstdn.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 5 hours ago

@randahl

MANY Europeans are boycotting the US to some extent. Millions in total. (I have been cancelling, moving or not renewing US-hosted digital services for a year; still a few to go.)

See eg the comments below @ryanwuzer 's YouTube video "American reacts to EUROPE CUTTING TIES with AMERICAN BUSINESSES". He understands the damage and the impact of the loss of trust.

The average MAGAstani, like Wile E. Coyote, will be over the cliff edge before he knows it. The anvil is growing. 🤦

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Olivier Burnier
Olivier Burnier
@OlivierBurnier@mastodon.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 7 hours ago

@randahl And this will go even further. Europeans now realise that they can depend on the US for defence, IT...
They are planning to produce what allows sovereignty. When before Trump it was good to buy Anerican.

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xs4me2
xs4me2
@xs4me2@mastodon.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 8 hours ago

@randahl

Seems he is getting what he deserves…

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Martin Seeger
Martin Seeger
@masek@infosec.exchange replied  ·  activity timestamp 9 hours ago

@randahl One has to say that some U.S. companies have been very eager to argue that you should not buy from them too. They fully support their president.

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haaflife
haaflife
@haaflife@ohai.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 9 hours ago

@randahl I think it's unfair to only blame trump. We also despise the US Americans who elected him and now either still support his fascist regime or don't offer meaningful resistance

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CaliCarol
CaliCarol
@jawarajabbi@mastodon.online replied  ·  activity timestamp 12 hours ago

@randahl

These Trump fools thought other countries and their people were NPCs.

Oops.

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Ben Royce 🇺🇦 🇸🇩
Ben Royce 🇺🇦 🇸🇩
@benroyce@mastodon.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 12 hours ago

@randahl

it's kind of interesting to grow up in the cold war era where everything was dominated by usa and ussr/ russia

and now to watch them both go the way of the dodo into various self-destructive idiocies

europe, china, india, indonesia, brazil, nigeria:

do better

you're left standing while we decay

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Randahl Fink
Randahl Fink
@randahl@mastodon.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 11 hours ago

@benroyce I am still high over the Texas District 9 election this weekend. That kind of result is exactly what everyone needs — across the US.

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Ben Royce 🇺🇦 🇸🇩
Ben Royce 🇺🇦 🇸🇩
@benroyce@mastodon.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 10 hours ago

@randahl

Yeah we're going to see dems retaking congress and then some impeachments

I think. I hope

Just need to get through the current madness and Americans fucking showing up to vote and more importantly sustaining through 2028 and beyond and not forgetting their easy responsibility

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Timo
Timo
@timo21@mastodon.sdf.org replied  ·  activity timestamp 12 hours ago

@randahl I was under the impression the intention of all this was to ruin the dollar as an international currency? It is working so far.

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Dave Rahardja 🎄
Dave Rahardja 🎄
@drahardja@sfba.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 12 hours ago

@randahl I must challenge this assessment. Deficits are still trending down from the huge spike back in early 2025, and they are comparable to Biden’s time (see second graph, upside down).

The difference is that volatility has increased tremendously. But our deficit has not budged all that much.

2 media
Line chart of Goods and Services trade deficit, showing monthly figures and a three-month average, from November 2023 to November 2025.

From Nov 2023 to Nov 2024, the lines hover around $70B with a slight upward trend. From Nov 2024 through Mar 2025, monthly figures spike to over $130B, followed by a sharp decline back to around $60B in April, and a period of volatility until the end of the graph. A sharp dip occurs on Oct 2025, down to $30B, followed by a sharp rise to $60B in Nov 2025.
Line chart of Goods and Services trade deficit, showing monthly figures and a three-month average, from November 2023 to November 2025. From Nov 2023 to Nov 2024, the lines hover around $70B with a slight upward trend. From Nov 2024 through Mar 2025, monthly figures spike to over $130B, followed by a sharp decline back to around $60B in April, and a period of volatility until the end of the graph. A sharp dip occurs on Oct 2025, down to $30B, followed by a sharp rise to $60B in Nov 2025.
Line chart of Goods and Services trade deficit, showing monthly figures and a three-month average, from November 2023 to November 2025. From Nov 2023 to Nov 2024, the lines hover around $70B with a slight upward trend. From Nov 2024 through Mar 2025, monthly figures spike to over $130B, followed by a sharp decline back to around $60B in April, and a period of volatility until the end of the graph. A sharp dip occurs on Oct 2025, down to $30B, followed by a sharp rise to $60B in Nov 2025.
A bar graph of the US balance of trade, showing a relatively stable deficit hovering about $70B until the beginning of 2025.
A bar graph of the US balance of trade, showing a relatively stable deficit hovering about $70B until the beginning of 2025.
A bar graph of the US balance of trade, showing a relatively stable deficit hovering about $70B until the beginning of 2025.
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Randahl Fink
Randahl Fink
@randahl@mastodon.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 12 hours ago

@drahardja I agree, it looks like the graph contradicts the article. But look at the accompanying text:

Sorry, no caption provided by author
Sorry, no caption provided by author
Sorry, no caption provided by author
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Dave Rahardja 🎄
Dave Rahardja 🎄
@drahardja@sfba.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 12 hours ago

@randahl Yes that much is true, the total deficit over Jan–Nov 2025 is greater than the total deficit over Jan–Nov 2024, probably thanks to people overbuying goods from other countries in fear of the Trump tariffs between Jan–Mar 2025.

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Randahl Fink
Randahl Fink
@randahl@mastodon.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 11 hours ago

@drahardja yes, that is it. It is because it is year-to-date.

Of course one could argue, that the purchases in Q1 of 2025 were exceptional and should not be factored in. But I would argue that given how just-in-time most sales are nowadays, the Q1 purchases would now be sold, so it is fair to do the comparison with 2024, would you not agree?

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Dave Rahardja 🎄
Dave Rahardja 🎄
@drahardja@sfba.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 11 hours ago

@randahl Yes, I think anything past say June 2025 is a fair comparison, because the oversupply would have been sold.

In fact, the dip in deficit in Aug–Oct 2025 may be because people are trying to dump the remaining oversupply in their warehouses.

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tlariv@mastodon.cloud
tlariv@mastodon.cloud
@tlariv@mastodon.cloud replied  ·  activity timestamp 13 hours ago

@randahl
I don't think he ever imagined that tariffs would improve the US trade deficit; only that it would enable to pick winners and losers (and thereby maximize his own prifits).

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Randahl Fink
Randahl Fink
@randahl@mastodon.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 11 hours ago

@tlariv the trade deficit was literally is argument for introducing tariffs at that first outdoor event where he held up the long poster with tariffs.

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tlariv@mastodon.cloud
tlariv@mastodon.cloud
@tlariv@mastodon.cloud replied  ·  activity timestamp 11 hours ago

@randahl
Well yes, but only because "tariffs will allow me to manipulate the entire global economy to my personal benefit" doesn't win over a lot of voters in the swing states.

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NoBorg
NoBorg
@hadon@mastodon.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 3 hours ago

@randahl
Oh! yes, I'm sorry.. I'll take it off!

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Randahl Fink
Randahl Fink
@randahl@mastodon.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 4 hours ago

@hadon you are linking to an old episode republished on a channel that appears to steal videos from other channels.

I think this was from October.

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