We Are In The Hands Of Complete Morons

 Pete Navarro as the Voice of Sauron:

"Zero tariffs, that means nothing to us because it's the non-tariff cheating that matters!" he insisted. "They sell us $15 for every $1 we sell them. About $5 of that $15 is China trans shipping to Vietnam to evade their tariffs."

In reality, a country running a trade surplus with another country is not "cheating" that country. Rather, it is a reflection of the fact that the country with the trade deficit buys more overall goods from the country with the surplus than vice-versa.

Regardless, Navarro told CNBC that "any country that wants to come to talk to us, talk to us about lowering your non-tariff barriers."

Navarro then went on to cite examples of other nations' value-added taxes on goods as an example of stealth tariffs placed on American goods despite the fact that VATs apply to both foreign and domestically produced goods and thus do not penalize American products..

Meanwhile, Trump whistles past the graveyard.

This asshole is now pretending like he didn’t spend 4 years in office already. pic.twitter.com/CdsL2vU02L

— Art Candee 🍿🥤 (@ArtCandee) April 7, 2025