Sony Steps Up PS5 Shipments in an Effort to Avoid Shortages Amid US Tariff Uncertainty

Without getting political - all these trade tariff wars are going to push prices up all over the place for a range of good. The supply chain for premium goods, especially electronics, is so large and global that there will be impacts everywhere. Even if there isn't a tariff into one country, I suspect prices will still rise globally.

Crikey, I hate being an American right now.

Tariff’s are basically a type of ongoing Prisoner’s dilemma. The problem with the Prisoner’s dilemma if that if you’ve managed to make it to a state of equilibrium where everyone is choosing “Co-operate” then there will always be that one guy who thinks “ Ok, I’m going to screw everyone over for my own gain”. However this doesn’t actually work in trade because decisions are not one off decisions made in private, they’re made openly and everyone can respond to it. So now we just spiral down into a worst case equilibrium because that one guy thought he could beat the system when the system is unbeatable.

The two leaders have already met and mostly worked out a deal, so it’s highly unlikely to affect pricing. Here’s the read for those fearing something they might not understand. In many ways tariffs are much better than taxes. Especially since America is looking to cut taxes. Not taxing overtime no more, not taxing cash tips and looking at removing income tax, that put’s much more money in your pocket. However i don’t want to get political on a site that is about video games. Enjoy the read below. 😊

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-meets-japanese-prime-minister-tariff-threat-looms/story?id=118573030

Tarrifs is simply a tax on us

In my personal opinion, PushSquare's previous policy of turning off comments on any article discussing current politics was very wise and should continue.

@HonestHick Video Game hardware is produced in China, not Japan. Any agreement with Japan will have no effect on this.

Knowing Sony, they might rise the PS5 price by 10% even in Europe. They did it in the past without any good excuse.

Take me back to the 90's when the western world seemed full of hope and optimism for the future. The world today is unrecognisable. The outlook for the future is bleak. I feel sorry and sad for those born after the millennium.

@ChrisDeku China will comply. We had tariffs on China before. Again i don’t want to get to political on here tho. However Tim Cook of Apple and trump met and did a deal where Apple will be brining 20K jobs to the USA. Spending 500 Billion on American investment. That is a great thing. Proud to see more American innovation being built in the states.

https://www.macrumors.com/2025/02/24/apple-announces-500b-us-investment-plan/

@ChrisDeku thankfully the majority of people engaging with this buffoon are not stupid, and understand how this works. This happened during his first term as well, and very little changed even if he acted like he somehow saved the world. Stroke his ego and he’ll happily take a bad deal.

@HonestHick China will comply with what? The tariffs on China never ended. What exactly did they comply with? Are they going to suddenly open up their entire economy to US companies and no longer be a state run economy? What exactly are the conditions for consoles not to be taxed?

There is zero percent chance any consoles will ever be produced in the USA, they’ll just move to Vietnam or something.

@HonestHick BTW I think Apple makes those kinds of commitments with every administration.

Here’s there $430b commitment form 2021:

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/04/apple-commits-430-billion-in-us-investments-over-five-years/

I’m sure next administration will get $580b

BTW by Apples own count they support 3m jobs across the USA so this 20k job commitment is actually tiny for them. Don’t get taken in by the spin.

Rest easy, fellow gamers. I watch this stuff closely and I can say with great certainty that this current US administration will do something dumb, but quickly walk it back when they realize it's as dumb and everyone told them it would be. Like, they'll fire 300 government workers, then call them to come back to work when they realize those people are more important than they realized.

IIRC there were exemptions for game consoles and other personal electronics when tariffs happened during the first term. Not sure if that'll be the same this time, but it's a possibility (maybe?).

@HonestHick As a European im happy you are proud to be a the side of Russia and selling of the sovereignty of a country. Nobody trust the US as Nation anymore its a pity

And that you are proud you have a President that takes away healthcare from the people who need it most.

And the 1% federal funding towards foreign aid that will devestate so many people.

Destroyed your local safety by destroying the FBI, CIA and placing yes men to bow to your president. He even destroying justice from the inside by being openly corrupt with a certain Mayor.

Only a American could see the good in this. Less healthcare, democracy and freedom for all im interested how much damage the US can make in 4 years.

PS taxes are bad for the rich and good for the poor and normal people. Less Taxes mean less investments in your country. Worse kept up social services and what about things like roads to one thing. Well you cant get more sold out to 1% i thought oh and the savings will go into the pockets of Musk and friends

But lets not get to political.

Economies in this part of the world (I dont know about others) have just really started to recover from a period of massive inflation - some of which we still haven't truly seen the effect of - eg my guess is that next gen 'full price' games will see another big price hike from £/$/€70 to at least 80.
Now a certain individual (who I wont name for fear of breaking site rules, but lets just call them "Mr Orange") is introducing 'Tariffs' which will imo likely just end up with more inflation, and more financial pain for normal folk, be they in America, the UK, Europe, or elsewhere. All while certain people cheer.....

As to the question from Pushsquare - its a good idea from Sony, but im not sure how well you can mitigate against this sort of uncertain 'behaviour'.

@HonestHick Tariffs are quite literally taxes. Ignoring the fact that removing income taxes entirely could cause what paltry social security the US has to collapse entirely (which is a benefit to no one), this is Donald Trump you're talking about. One of the dumbest PoS to ever draw breath and will lie about anything. You'll get the tariffs for sure, but you'll keep the taxes too.

@MrPeanutbutterz I believe there will be big tax cuts. Corporate tax cuts that is. Businesses need to make more money, trickle down economics eh.

China should just refuse to buy American Soy beans and let the American farmers do their bidding for them, last time China did that the USA was on the phone begging for a second chance real fast, are America really dumb enough to think they could win a trade war with anyone? Never mind don't answer , of course they are

@HonestHick no one claims cash tips, and no tax on ot is more beneficial to the employers. I feel like you're in for a rude awakening, economically. Hopefully you've been pinching your pennies...

@Flaming_Kaiser an embarrassing number of my countrymen are ensnared in the orange cult. People don't realize how intertwined all of our economies are...or were, before our fearless leader made us a pariah

@ChrisDeku

Reminds me of South Park levels of satire this exchange you just had!

@ChrisDeku Best corporation tax cuts you've ever seen. Bigly tax cuts, even. Be best.

@ChrisDeku it’s not spin, it’s people in America get more jobs. I don’t care what politician helps it become a thing. We need more Americans working for American companies. No spin, no angle here, generally happy to see more jobs open.

@HonestHick and the 30,000 jobs Elon Musk has cut from the federal government already? That's 30,000 Americans now unemployed. How do you feel about those ones?

@HonestHick where are said jobs? The jobs report is cratering, foreign countries are cashing out bonds, billionaires are actively cashing out their shares, and these tariffs will not only make products more expensive - but will directly affect a wide range of industries. Agriculture and automotive will be hit especially hard. That's not even including all the federal employees losing their jobs. Actively. As we speak. Open your eyes

@ChrisDeku considering the fraud and insane illegal activity of those workers i am all for it. We need less government not more. Especially not more that are corrupt at their jobs. This is what the American voter asked for. These were all things he ran on and we wanted. It’s nice to get what we wanted. Most say they will do something for our vote and then never do it.

China will need to comply to accepting a 15% tariff on the following items coming from America into china, Coal, Crude oil, farm equipment and vehicles. Funny how when china sends anything to the USA we pay a tariff but China don’t want to do the same. We are not a non profit country and everyone must pay there’s in order for balance and opportunities for those goods.

@8bitOG i disagree with you, but again i have said i don’t want to overly discuss politics on a gaming site. However the tariffs are not a bad thing, way back in the day America used only tarffis and not taxes on its people. In today’s world a healthy blend of both will be good for the economy. Remember under trump the first time the USA had its best economy in 44 years. Gas food and Interest rates were at at all time low. Inflation was gone. This isn’t me saying anything other than the numbers. I am an accountant and money and numbers don’t lie or take sides. They either are or they aren’t.

@HonestHick If there was a single piece of evidence that any of those employees were committing fraud they'd be in jail! Stop watching Fox news buddy.

It's funny that people are so happy with shrinking the size of the federal government but at the same time so obsessed with job creation. Those are literally all jobs, they get paid wages and then they used those wages to buy things in the American economy and pay for property in America. They're active members of the economy the same way as anyone working from a private company. If they get a job somewhere else then they're just taking jobs from other people. The job supply in America is literly being decreased, the active members of the economy is decreasing, the number of people claiming benefits is increasing. It's OK though, I heard they were all committing fraud though, like that sounds like a reasonable adult thing to say in the real world.

@8bitOG not claiming taxes on cash tips is a violation of filing your taxes. No auditor believes you lived off $2-5 bucks an hour as a bartender nor waiter. Again you are doom and glooming and i would prefer to talk more about video games. Cause i am happy with my country. .

@HonestHick Meanwhile, in the real world...

https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-financial-page/the-white-house-is-gaslighting-americans-about-donald-trumps-tariffs

@HonestHick you have much to learn, young padawan

@HonestHick Lol. I love how people keep mentioning this fraud and illegal activity without actually providing examples. Sounds like you're parroting Musk. You truly think all 30k employees (so far) were participating in illegal activities? Anything to rationalizing people losing their income, right? Probationary workers (those who have worked for the gov less than 2 years) are especially being targeted. They all deserve it, right?

@HonestHick wtf are you talking about? I didn't bring up genders at all. We're talking economics and you drop that? Sounds like a good default topic when you're literally out of other ideas or arguments

@HonestHick Speaking of day one, what happened to those cheaper groceries he kept bringing up during his campaign?

@HonestHick

Remember under trump the first time the USA had its best economy in 44 years

Wow, lad, put down the koolaid. The economy is always growing and getting better, that's how it works. Unless there's a recession it's probably going to be the best economy in decades. Under Biden the stock market hit the highest levels in their history. Does that mean Biden is some kind of economic genius? In 2021 the USA GDP grew by 5.8%,more than double any year under trump. Omg it's the best economy ever. I think I recall Biden saying "Bestest economy I ever seen, people would come up to me and congratulate on how good the economy was, no one had ever seen an economy like this before. They said it might be the best economy anyone had ever seen. It was beautiful."

@Lanmanna for the record i do not think all 30K was doing illegal activity nor does this administration.However less government in some areas is needed as we have other methods to provided such services and the ones that were doing wrong will be held accountable. Money always leaves a trail. I have been an accountant for over 15 years.

@HonestHick bro. You're in a cult. And you're totally blind to it. Honestly, even though it hurts my wallet as well, I'm GLAD prices are about to go up. So that fools like you have to deal with the consequences of your stupidity lmao.

@ChrisDeku put down your keyboard, it’s ok you don’t agree with me, i have asked on here more than 4 times to not overly get into polictal rants. You won’t change my mind and i won’t change yours. Let it go. Talk video games.

@HonestHick says the guy that talks like he would be the type that believes in more than one name for the Gulf.

@HonestHick It's not American land though. Lmao

@HonestHick you're a literal parrot. Those are the same bullet points on FOX. I know because I read multiple news sources from around the world

@8bitOG i watch Fox, BBC, and Australian news outlets. Yes.

yeah cause people go to jail in Washington. A presidents son that stole money from foreign countries, caught on tape doing drugs and under age prostitution was pardoned by Biden on his way out. Never knew innocent people needed pardoned. But where i will agree with you is, what they have been doing is a jail sentence offense. Hence we have heard people talk about others gong to jail. Won’t that be nice.

I'm not going to argue anymore but I need to say one last thing(BTW I'm not American, I have no real horse in this race, I'm not a Democrat, I think Biden was a bit of a clown), you really need to broaden your media intake. I'm not sure where you are getting your info from but a lot of these things you are saying sounds like conspiracy theory stuff and that's a bad place to go. I believe you're probably an honest and decent person. Just try to keep an open mind and read a broader range of opinions and ideas.

@ChrisDeku i watch Fox, BBC and Australia news. I appreciate your time and concern. But i am happy with my country and its leaders. So are many others in this world. Now if we could all just go back to arguing video games on here that would be great! 😊

@8bitOG
I think one of the big points is that all countries are reliant on other countries for certain things (be it defense or trade or intelligence or services etc), and this creates a sort of status quo.

If, all of a sudden a country starts to negatively affect its relationship with others, or becomes inconsistent / unpredictable, particularly around defense or trade, even if its just through lots of threatening, the usual reaction of others is to try and reduce or mitigate their reliance on said country.

These 'other' countries may even end up effectively shifting reliance to a different country or countries, and forming closer relationships with them.

4 years of this, and I dread to think of the overall and lasting effect.

@8bitOG i will, i always do.

If the tariff hike is £30 in the USA, then that will be at least on a par with the rest of the world after PlayStation’s despicable price increase everywhere else apart from their homeland.

To offset that other American on here, let me just say that, as an American, I'm very unhappy with basically everything this administration has done and don't see any sense or reason behind its tariff strategy. Or foreign policy. Or public funding. Or that executive order about establishing a taskforce to combat anti-Christian bias — still don't understand how that's supposed to work.

Tariffs aren't abnormal. But that every country and international company is bracing for the worst case scenario should show everyone the writing on the wall. We are teetering very close to an international trade war. And while I don't want to sound politically bias and blame the guy I didn't vote for, iiit's almost entirely America's fault.

On the up side, if the coming trade wars last 10+ years, maybe companies will finally feel forced to suffer the costs of massively redesigning their production infrastructure and bring more of those minimum wage factory jobs homeward. So after a decade of suffering higher costs on everything involving imports (and immigrant labor), just maybe I'll be able to do quality assurance on a microchip production line for conglomerate/political party X. I mean, as long as AI doesn't dominate that industry by then...

Smart move by Sony. As an American I have actually done what I can to mitigate the threat as well by divesting all of my US investments and putting them into more stable economies. (EU/CN/HKG/Japan) I simply can't trust the US right now and thankfully am fortunate enough to have direct access to other major markets.

The sad thing is, we need more nations to stand up to us otherwise hell never learn. Im counting on the EU and China to grow a backbone and enter a full trade war, calling Trumps bluff. I just cant see the Maga Cult listening to anything other than actual pain. When walmart and amazon increase prices by 50-100%, and food becomes unaffordable, only then will they listen.

Back on topic, I expect to see other companies follow suit, but I also expect to see price increases stateside with a potential carryover to other markets.

Gonna leave a comment before the section is closed:

I blame Europe for this current trade wars, they always impose tariffs on every country for literally anything and now they are complaining US is doing the same.

@HonestHick No offense, my guy, but a lot of your comments show an acute misunderstanding of how anything works.

I won't harp on this, since you seem mentally exhausted from all these back-and-forths. But I implore you to really look into the critiques of these policies and consider if they could actually cause harm. You know, watch some left-wing stuff and see what you think. You don't have to agree with them, but at least give it a listen.

For ease of accessibility, you could try watching some YouTube stuff. I would've really suggest the super bias, poorly researched 'reaction' videos. Maybe SomeMoreNews or tl;dr New's recent posts. Just a suggestion.

It will really suck if the PS5 pro becomes a necessity to handle newer games at 60/120fps later this generation and because of tariffs, it get sold for $1000...

Well hopefully sony’s plan will keep the supply chain healthy.

Good, let's build games consoles in the West. I'd rather buy a PS5 made in Europe or the US.

We should be applying carbon tariffs and workers rights tariffs to all nations who undercut our domestic production, by using cheap dirty energy or not giving their workers decent rights and conditions.

That will make it more competitive to produce the items in our countries, where they do less environmental damage and our workers get sick pay, maternity pay and safer workplaces.

Yes you might have to pay more for Consoles built in the UK or US, but what price do you put on those benefits I described?

Also, in the long run it won't cost you more. Granted your console might have a slightly higher price tag, but that can be offset due to the boost to the economy and less spending on welfare for the unemployed, not to mention reducing the impact of climate change.

You can't support longer maternity pay for women, or expensive clean power to save the planet, but sneakily buy your consoles from other countries who stick two fingers up at all that and build them cheaper.

@RoomWithaMoose thanks for the reply, but my comments are America first. Less tax. Accountability and inline with what the American people voted for. Sure it’s fine to have others opinion on such things, I respect that in a tactful respectful way, but the left attacks and doesn’t understand the word democracy. Again thanks for the reply, but yes i am done with this topic for now.

@HonestHick I agree about not getting political and I apologize is I've perhaps missed the joke, but I'm not sure what Trump meeting the prime Minister of Japan has to do with the tariffs on China?

@HonestHick

i don't think the problem here is people complaining about trump, i like many, respect the american voters. What most of us is saying though is just that a trade war is just gonna make prices go up for all, china, eu etc will not "comply" as you say, tarrifs will be put on american goods, and they will go hard for southern and republican states, because that will hurt trump the most.

but this whole trade balance is just very misguided... yea so EU for exemple, we don't buy big cars, they don't suit most european cities because of space issues. And we don't buy much american farm products, because gene manipulated foods and concern about pestecides makes american farm products less populair.

but then look at what europeans buy outsides of merely "products", there's IT service, streaming, microsoft, music, investments in american companies and stock market... i mean you can't just look at the trade balance... all that is telling you is that americans has a lot of money to spend

@Iacon_Knight nothing just that Trump has met with Japan, Mexico and Canada and China is of course holding out which is fine. But overall many countries are on board and not being hit with high tariffs. Tariffs are not a bad thing, and can bring a lot of tax relief. Such as some of the plans going around congress now. But i was going to share other links to meeting with tariffs but the whole thing went sideways as it always does speaking these topics. 😊

@silberbauer15 there will be no trade war is the point. China will have to come to us and others for crude oil and other things. Funny how everyone else agreed to the terms already. There’s no trade war.

Also a honest question for you? So we pay china for the goods coming into the USA, but then China wants our farming equipment and oil sent over for no charge? Why would we take that deal? We aren’t a non profit organization. Everyone else pays it. But leaders before allowed it, and this is now the second time around Trump has said no, we don’t do business like that with anyone else. The buck stops here. Sorry if you disagree but me and millions say good!! We are happy about this. I am fine with others disagreeing with me, but this is simple stuff here. You’re not paying youre not getting it. I know it’s a bit more complex than that but in simple terms thats what this has been about since 2016.

Well with pc components going up by 20% already I'm not surprised by this move

@HonestHick Just be open to the possibility that less taxes, dismantling checks and balances, crippling government agencies, sabotaging established foreign relations, investing in old industries, humoring conspiracies, infringing upon the rights of the vulnerable, giving corporations the benefit of the doubt, and going hard on AI/crypto might not result in America being ahead.

Believe it or not, but all leftist policies also seek to put America first. There's just a lot of disagreement on how to accomplish that. But just because one side actively markets their policies as being America first, that doesn't mean that's what they'll actually accomplish. Which is why I'm simply advising, in as friendly as a way as possible, to be critical of these policies — regardless of political affiliation — and understand where the critics are coming from and whether or not they have a point.

It's like, I fully support the intention of ACA, but it's absolutely worth scrutinizing and has a lot of problems. To apply that to contemporary politics, maybe you believe we need to bring jobs back to the homeland — and that's fine. But you should really consider if these tariffs will actually, successfully accomplish that, and if their possible fall outs would even be worth that goal. Which is why it's good to expose yourself to oppositional media, which will always point out worst cases and possible failures in policy. It's a big reason why I try to read FOX, even though I can't stand them most of the time. And why I gave you left-leaning suggestions that don't really lie or sensationalize — which I wish I could say about FOX.

@RoomWithaMoose thats not what’s happening so i have nothing to fear. Thats why i like to watch BBC and Australia news, it’s from a non biased position normally.. Again i am very happy with the direction of the country and would love to go back to talking video games. But i am ok with agreeing to disagree but i am keeping receipts for when things are not all this whack doom and gloom i have read all day.

@HonestHick I mean, you say that's not what's happening. But China, Canada, and Mexico have already instated retaliatory tariffs. You say 'China will have to comply,' but they kinda have to comply — that's how tariffs work; China doesn't have a say in the matter. All they can do is retaliatory tariffs (which they've done) and look elsewhere for trade partners (which they've done). So, like, what's it suppose to mean that they've complied? For all intents and purposes, we're already in a trade war. This is why I said you seem to have misunderstandings of how things work.

As for whether or not it'll affect prices, that's not China's decision. Nor America's. That decision is on every corporation dependent on Chinese manufacturing (or just general imports) and the US market. Which is why we all keep saying prices will go up. Because that's the path of least resistance for corporations: pass the expenses off to the consumer and see how far you can push it until the price increase affects sales. You think Sony is ramping up production because they plan on pivoting to American manufacturing in the West? No. It's so they have a supply to sit on and don't have to worry about manufacturing if tariffs get worse. They're very cognizant of the trade war; I'd think that'd set off some alarm bells for anyone.

And it's great you listen what you consider non-bias journalism. But understand, I'm saying you should watch bias journalism on both sides. No one — or three — news sources should be telling you what to think. You should be able to look at a story, read several different takes, and formulate your own thoughts based on that. Maybe not for every story, cause that's asking a lot. But for big things like the direction of global markets, it's really not partisan, so what you have are those that support and those that oppose. These days that often correlates to partisan bias, but that's just a distraction. No one's going to give you a better argument for or against than those for and against — the non partial will just dryly regurgitate those opinions without any of the vigor. To get to the heart of the argument, you really want to expose yourself to as many takes as possible.

@HonestHick Also, on this administration's plans for tariffs, I just wanna posit this to you: we're being told they will benefit Americans mainly in two ways (both of which you've even referenced). That they'll decrease — or even eliminate — taxes. And that they'll grow American manufacturing. However, they only affect taxes if they're being paid, right?

If companies transition to American manufacturing, they wouldn't be paying these tariffs. So then they won't affect taxes. Conversely, if companies are getting the same tax breaks from the tariffs (as there's been no indication taxes won't be equitable between the poor, rich, and corporate), it wouldn't much discourage them from importing, right? Since they can just offset the costs with tax breaks (almost like they're paying themselves). So then that wouldn't be doing much at all for American manufacturing. How can we simultaneously accomplish these two things if they are diametrically detrimental to each other?

You can argue that some companies will pay taxes while others bring in manufacturing. Which, you know, sure, I guess. It could play out that way. Though I wouldn't count on a perfect equilibrium wherein one doesn't undermine the other. Nor would I expect to smoothly get to conceptual perfection without a lot of short term hurdles. And that idea ignores that that's basically how it already works, and hence there's a decent chance that these tariff's wouldn't do much at all to alter taxes or manufacturing — just prices. More importantly, though, I would be wary of the politician promising both outcomes without making the intention of that equilibrium clear. At best, it shows a 'make so many promises that I'll stumble upon one regardless' mentality. At worst, it's indicative of actual incompetence.

EDIT: Also-also, I'll just make this easy for you:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCJIaxY46zo
It's basically made for a t-voter and isn't very confrontational or insulting. Like I said, you don't have to agree with everything. But, if you have a chance, just watch this. See if there's any middle ground, see if there's anything they're objectively right about — see if they're wrong. Just add more perspective to your views.

@HonestHick, the word "honest" is in your name. It's long past time to be honest with yourself.

@MrPeanutbutterz collapsing social security and the middle class is the end goal.

@HonestHick why would I buy a Xbox with all the Xbox exclusives are coming to my ps5 lol 😂. I’m responsible with my money especially with this trash Trump economy you guys voted for eggs are $11 now so I need to save every penny.

@Jay767 Beat inflation by eating in the Costco food court three meals a day seven days a week.

@wildcat_kickz ... "crikey" ... about the most un-American thing you could say... I think you may be part way there to solving your problem.

@Jay767 not so sure bird flu is political but ok. Yeah honestly, no kidding here, don’t buy a Xbox, as someone that loved the brand since the OG, they are slowly exiting for cloud and PC. Which could be the better move, we don’t know that future. But in console, they are more dead than a man that couldn’t ride a bike, tried to shake hands with thin air and pardon his “incident “ son all while smelling little kids hair.

@HonestHick Xbox is dead not consoles you Xbox guys crack me up sometimes 😂. You damage control eggs price with bird flu the reason bird flu is as crazy as it is because Trump fired all the people who help kept bird flu under control.

@HonestHick however if you have a PC cause most on here said they did at the start of the launch of this generations. Or wait for the PS5 release, play Avowed. It’s one of Obsidians better games. Really enjoying the graphics and combat.

@HonestHick for someone that doesn't want to engage in politics, you seem to be spending a lot of time responding. My suggestion is don't (if you want to avoid protracted discussions)... but I'm also curious why you keep talking about watching BBC and Australian News (the BBC is obvious - but what Australian news are you watching... out of curiousity). Because most Australian news sources (other than Fox/Fox-adjacent) are providing a very concerned view of what's going on in the US... not exactly the sort of thing that would be comforting.

@HonestHick

No i agree about china, they devalue their curency and use govermenr funds to keep prices down and create unfair competition.

The problem is creating a trade war between usa and eu. That is unnessesary because that only cone down to consumers wanting different things, and thats how trade should work. America imo should focus on. What they do best, hollywood, games, tech etc.

@HonestHick this isn't a crack at you - but more truism... people always think they are unbiased, and they consider the things they watch as unbiased. Generally speaking - everything is biased - and the things that aren't tend not to be watched. Generally speaking (because I'm trying to "general") I wouldn't go to YT for my news (and threw away Twitter/FB nearly a decade ago... thankfully).

@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare "Generally speaking - everything is biased"

I wish more people understood that. Regardless of if we're talking about politics, or game reviews, there really is no unbiased coverage. At best, you can find sources actively trying to to sound unbiased. But that'll either come off as insincere or fail to compensate for actual bias.

@HonestHick There's nothing bias in objective observation, no. But there is bias in subjective evaluation. "Bad deals" is pretty bias, in itself. I think frustrating Canada and Mexico to ostensibly bulk up the border were bad deals. I think Biden's 100% tariffs on Chinese EVs was generally good for American interests, but bad for the free market and fairly blatantly the result of lobbying.

The objective parts were that Trump threatened Canada and Mexico with tariffs — and still threatens them with it, and that Biden enacted tariffs on China while in office. Any attempts to rationalize or estimate them falls into subjective conjecture, and will likely be influenced by biases.

"I respond cause i don’t back down from idiots [etc.]"
Still awaiting any sort of response on all those paragraphs up there.

@RoomWithaMoose there is nothing subjective in a deal where the other country don’t pay. Sure we know why they would take the deal. I would too if in business. But that is just careless business on behalf of American politicians. That end now like it did in 2016. It’s not a threat to them, it more like you do what you are suppose to do, you hold your end of the deal, we hold ours. You don’t have to, we have people here that will do it and you will pay for it. Very simple stuff here. Not bullying, it’s business for a reason, it takes two sides not one.

@RoomWithaMoose yes sadly it’s all laced with some bias. Some is ok cause it can be seen as passion, to much is just ugly and damaging to the information. I don’t like it, but to your point it is a thing.

@HonestHick I honestly don't know what deal you're specifically talking about. Or if you're just generally talking about deals. But, again, there indeed is nothing subjective about any deal per se. The subjectivity, and bias, comes from you or me or anyone else formulating and communicating an opinion on said deal. The tariffs are objective truth. Whether or not they're good is subjective conjecture.

And, to reiterate about bias in...everything, I'm not saying bias is bad. Bias is normal, to be expected, and often inspires passion. Bias can be dangerous, but it's not inherently bad. What is bad is pushing agendas with guile and propaganda. Bias is perspective, and perspectives are how to best understand any subject. Probably the worst thing about bias is, if unchecked, it could lead you down a path of logical fallacies which keep you closedminded and, possibly, stubbornly incorrect.

There is nothing subjective or bias about you do A to get X money and you don’t do A. In the real world you are fired for that. In this cause it was more American leaders saying don’t do anything and we will pay you and you don’t need to pay us. Again that stops now. They can throw there fits and I understand why some are. But the truth is business has rules, and while they didn’t break rules from bad written deals, the new deals are you will pay to do business with America. As it should be and always be. We will pay you and you will pay us. Fairly simple in terms.

@HonestHickI so don't want to be dragged into this discussion, but hell, we're here now... so ok... Australia and the US has a free-trade-agreement (which is fine) however the new US position was that everyone was going to be get tariff on steel/aluminium - ALL countries no exception (regardless of whether there were uneven tariffs or not). I would also note that the US sells about 2x the goods to Australia that we sell back (so more of OUR money is going into the US economy already). So ... why would the US be wanting to put tariffs on us? Just confused... as is much of the world... because it's seemingly random and ill-thought-out.

Edit - maybe you're right... maybe Australia should bring back tariffs on US goods... because you've got it too good. The US has one of the strongest economies per capita in the world - and you still want to punish other countries for not making you richer? And - if it needs to be said again - the way tariffs work, it's actually the US consumer that pays the tariff... not the other country (if the US isn't competitive)... so that means your inflation will just go up. Countries can sell elsewhere. That's how the free-market works.

And for the record... the US also runs a surplus with the UK (so you get more than they receive).

Edit^2... and just for fairness... the US has a nearly 8x trade deficit with Russia - which means Russia is getting richer from the US... hmmmm.... interesting. Why aren't they getting tariffs? Why aren't they being punished for not supporting the US economy?

You need to wake up... all Trump is doing is convincing the rest of the world that they don't need (or should trust) the US anymore. Welcome to the seeds of the newest Hermit Kingdom (to be).

@HonestHick The exchange of imports and exports is already good international business. You don't bring tariffs into the mix unless you want to manipulate those affairs. It's not, 'pay us extra to get the privilege to do business with us.' It's, 'we're making it more costly to do business with us, so you should consider doing business elsewhere OR maybe you value our business so much that you'll suffer the cost anyway.'

Point is, you do a tariff to stifle business or to abuse a position of power. If you're doing the former — like Biden and the EVs — I would generally not advise it unless you can't beat them through old-fashioned healthy competition. If you're doing the latter — which is what I think this administration is doing...maybe — you might get some extra money for a while, but you're really just telling your trade partners that they should trade with other countries. It's a quick path to economic isolationism.

Given that we have a globalist economy, economic isolationism is a good way you devalue your position on the global stage (Putty says hi). NOW, with that said, I'm not an economist, and everything I just said is subjective conjecture. This is my bias applied to evaluation. Your bias is telling you imposing tariffs on other countries won't hurt relations, nor will it discourage trade partnerships and everyone will be happy giving America more money at the end of the day. Which is an opinion, and isn't inherently wrong in a literal sense. But it IS subjective.

This is how subjectivity works. Something isn't 'not subjective' because you think it is infallibly correct. You 'THINKING' it's anything is based in subjectivity.

@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare And this, ladies and gentlemen, is what the Trump administration is doing to our alliances.

I apologize to all of our allies. Believe me, half of us just wanted to tax our rich and build stronger international trade deals with our allies to force China to fall in line with us AND our allies. But now I guess it's every country for itself... Or, hold on, I read that wrong. Our foreign policy is now, "America first — F*** you. Also can we, like, own Canada, Greenland, and Gaza. That wasn't a question."

@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare @RoomWithaMoose It’s not about every country for themselves, it’s about FAIR trade. Hence most of them are all on board alrieady. No resistance to fair trade. They know they got some deals over on us. It’s not their fault it was ours. But it’s also America first when anyone needs help. So they were getting next to if not free trade and aid. No thats not how anyone else does business. Again that was our fault. But this leadership didn’t do that in 2016 nor will they in 2024. Not sure why the twist of words when our leaders have already agreed. But the average video game players knows more than world wide leaders? Come on now guys. Come on now!

@RoomWithaMoose unfortunately - from a US perspective...it's all "talk to the hand" nowadays. So when I think about US products in my home... to be honest... the only thing that's from a US company is Apple iPhones - which were made in India anyway. Other than that - I actually don't think I've bought anything other than a Netflix or Amazon Prime subscription from the US. I can reel off any number of Japanese, Chinese, Inidan hell even Vietnamese products that we've bought. I don't think I've ever once seen a physical US-made products that I could remember, or would want. And that ladies and gentlemen is the reality of a global industry... and why "threatening countries" may not be in the best interest when you don't actually produce things that people need. Oh... sorry... I forgot to mention the other US product - Tesla cars - are starting to tank now. And don't get me started on nVidia (apparently what's a few extra ROPs between "friends").

@HonestHick I'm confused... "It’s not about every country for themselves, it’s about FAIR trade"... you understand that while Australia does get things from the alliance with the US (I'm not down-selling that), at the same time... I think you may not understand what other countries do to support the US having the global reach that it's enjoyed.

Once again - fair trade means not punishing countries that you actually make more money from than give. That... in technical lingo... is a dick move.

@HonestHick Nothing guarantees the average world leader knows more than gamers. That's the sad thing about government. I mean, you were talking about the "inefficiencies" found in public sectors earlier. There you go: inadvertent admission that our government sectors could be ran better by some gamer obsessive with organization.

Never blindly support leadership and always scrutinize their moves. Regardless of political alignment.

As for fair trade: importing and exporting sans tariffs is fair trade. It's literal fair trade, the equivalent of giving your neighbor sugar in exchange for flour. Tariffs are manipulative. I'm not saying they're good or bad, but they aren't fair.

And tying it to foreign aid measures is nonsensical. Providing aid and exchanging goods are not the same thing. Maybe I could see working out a tariff deal where a foreign country essentially pays for aid — but that wasn't even put on the table, so I don't know why we would discuss that. Ukraine gets a deal: 50% of their minerals for some nebulous support. But that's it. Africa probably wasn't even warned USAID was going to be gutted, let alone given a means to pay for it themselves.

And, look, you may very well ardently disagree with this. But given that the USA is the richest country in the world, I do think we have a responsibility to provide when we can. We are a world leader; we should act like a leader, not some mob boss trying to squeeze every last penny (or nickel, rather) out of anyone doing business with us. That's weirdly controversial to say these days, and I don't really want to get into more wishy washy stuff like moral responsibility. But, if you ask me, America's problems weren't even due to a lack of funds. We got money. So this idea that the way to make us 'great' is to supplant more money into our economy just seems like something an out-of-touch business man would think... Hmm...

@RoomWithaMoose so in general - foreign aid serves two purposes: it prevents countries falling into anarchy... consider a universal wage if you will. It stops countries collapsing and causing problems you may need to spend 10x dealing with in the future (that is an entirely altruistically pragmatic concept). The second reason is that it gives you influence.... if however, you say "I'm going to give you this, because you owe me that"... then this transactional construct that teaches people to understand "read the fine print". There's always fine print, but if you focus on that (on the quid pro quo) then country's shouldn't be punsihed for wondering... so what do we get out of this?

The US (in the tech world) has been able to leverage a lot of tech advantage as it's carrot... but now, as that's seemingly less enticing... is moving to the 'stick'. That doesn't make America Great Again... it makes it replaceable... or worse... redundant. Trying to bully people into investing into you country does not instill a lot of confidence that you're country has a lot to give others. If the US has a lot to offer... countries will flow their investment into the country - willingly. Trying to threaten countries to invest is kinda third-world dictator behaviour.

Edit - anyway - can we call a truce.... we're not convincing anyone, and not talking games either.

@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare Yeah, America is very dependent on foreign manufacturing. That's the goal of so many Americans: bring manufacturing back. But...I just don't see it. I'm personally not against at-home manufacturing, but the infrastructure is already global. Expecting companies to come back just because of a few tariffs is, I would say, foolhardy. Also, doesn't make much sense to punish foreign economies when abroad manufacturing is the fault of American companies in the first place.

Maybe we could just, I dunno, impose draconian taxes on any American companies that don't make a quota of at-home manufacturing, if that's really the goal. Or, even better in my eyes, leave manufacturing as is and focus on education and innovation. Leverage trade partners and build a healthy global economy together. And hold mega-rich corporations accountable for the plight of the average citizen. Some real idealistic s***.

And yes, yes, yes on your take on foreign aid. I didn't really get into it, but a big part of it is influence. Like it or not, we're all neighbors, we can't just ignore each other. Not if we want any notable power, anyway. It behooves any country with the resources to assist those with less resources, because it puts the former in an advantageous position.

And yes, I'll give it a rest. I need to hit the sack anyhoo.

As for games, I played that new level in Astro Bot today. That was fun... That's all I got.

@HonestHick I think you should still watch that video I replied with. Hell, maybe I'll even watch that Asmongold video you randomly posted tomorrow. Never give up on contrasting perspectives!

@RoomWithaMoose have a good night... and for the record, I actually often enjoy Asmongold clips... but like everything - you need to be aware of what is being said, and why, and think about it objectively. He often says stuff that's blatant crap... same as a lot of left-leaning commentators too. By listening - and thinking - you understand better where the envelope of cope and crap begins and ends.

I seriously don't have any problem with the US wanting to promote manufacture-on-shore. It's entirely natural - and I think healthy. However, when a country starts annexing (or suggesting annexation) or threatening other countries to invest in your economy... then that's when you start getting into a tin-pot-dictatorship...because countries will start looking more deeply about what you get out of the deal. The US selling out on all it's international friends doesn't sound like a deal of a life time... to anyone outside the US. Except for perhaps a couple of countries, that seem to be getting a very free ride atm.

Eidt - it also misunderstands fundamentally how long it takes to move manufacturing between countries... the US isn't going to see any benefit in years. Also... kinda weird how Tesla gets a pass (given all it's China production)? Do people talk about that in the US? Or do you have enough domestic manufacturing that as long as US-made cars are sold in the US that people don't care? Apparently about half of Tesla cars are now made in China....

Edit - and as for me - I'm finally getting into BG3 - after years of humming-and-hawing and putting it off because I didn't want to play another 100+ hour game. I'm enjoying it - but not 100% over the moon (I think it's not as 'free' as people keep making it out to be). However - coming off of Veilguard (which I found got increasingly less interesting after the opening section), I think it's amazing in comparison. And yes - AstroBot most probably would have been a better choice... but I needed to pull the band-aid off eventually.

Edit^2 - as for the influence part - it's two-fold... promoting your agenda (and market opportunities) - but also to deny those that have competitive views. That's what influence means - it generally isn't win:win (but it's generally win:better-than-not)

@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare Lol. That was part of the joke, but I also was raised on British TV, so I use it unironically. That upbringing also has the unfortunate side-effect of incredibly dry humor, so most of my compatriots think I'm an *****. Thanks, fellas.

Damn, it's like Thanos went on a snapping spree through these comments 😂

@IamJT Absolutely, I agree. This dude doesn't seem to get that and sees the dissolution of taxes as a good thing.

@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare I've seen some Asmongold. Politics aside, I just kinda find him annoying, and generally dislike reaction streamers. I think a lot of his takes are bad, even disingenuous. And much prefer a high quality content creater like Folding Ideas or Tim Rogers — or, at least, an ensemble podcast. However, I hope if I've gotten anything across, it's that you shouldn't avoid bias like a plague. You hit the bullseye: watch everything with a critical lens. Everyone has some valuable insight or perspective, and anyone would be doing themselves a disservice completely tuning out a voice based on anything as frivolous as apparent bias. I don't really like Asmongold, but I try to keep myself open to his opinions. And he at least earned some brownie points with his Elon spat.

And while us Americans don't talk too much about Tesla specifically, at the moment, we have A LOT to say about Elon. Including the conflict of interests in giving him the power to gut agencies that would otherwise be scrutinizing his businesses (don't be surprised if X integrates banking soon, as the agency that could've challenged that has been crippled), and how obvious it is he generally doesn't care about bringing jobs to natives. So, again, I don't hear much about Tesla's manufacturing in my circles. But that's mostly because we have too much Elon s*** happening right now. And the party that platforms on homeland manufacturing is in the midst of a love affair with the man.

And I still haven't gotten to BG3. Hell, I own all of the classics on Steam and haven't started any. I, too, just have a hard time starting and dozen+ hour games, and would generally rather play short games I can finish in 1-2 weeks of casual playtime. Still haven't even finished TotK, which I bought at launch and loved. But after 80 hours with it, I really just wanna play other stuff.

@MrPeanutbutterz Better tax the 1% to make a better Amerika what are they going to do they even spend it if they have 10 lifetimes. I would be quiet if they used they money for things that benefit the world but lets be real you dont make so much money by being a decent human being.

@HonestHick Man you really believe all that nonsense of the Republicans i think the Republicans themselves want Trump to go away.

@Flaming_Kaiser i am not engaging in politics on here no more. Sorry man. My beliefs are staying to myself on that topic going forward. I will only talk games on here.

@HonestHick Then dont talk about it. 😆

@Flaming_Kaiser when i did that clearly that gets you in trouble more than it’s worth. I have my stance and going forward i am keeping it to myself.