Now, let’s say you asked him….

I think China is starting to realise that being the world’s manufacturing centre isnt necessarily a good thing

Plus the US, unlike the UK, can still produce most things and is self-sufficent in many areas

I’m really going to enjoy watching Trump playing the Left’s game back at them. Which is to lead you to believe they will promise something. And then you neither get the promise nor the result.

The USA is of a scale where it can re-shore industry, pull up the drawbridge and still be wealthy.

It’s a collection of countries (states) where some might specialise in tech (California) and others in manufacturing (California/Texas), O&G (Texas/New Mexico), mining (Arizona/Nevada) etc. Many of these have a GDP greater than 1st world countries.

Compare and contrast to the UK where England has the square mile, estate agents & hairdressers with the Scots, Welsh and Norn Iron engaged in subsidy and benefit farming.

DT has elevated geopolitical trolling to an art form. He’s making all of these pronouncements and threats now, before he has any power to implement them, in order to provoke expected reactions. The gormless Progressives are giving him what he wants.

If he didn’t want this he’d be keeping his mouth shut and unleashing his blitz unannounced on day one.

The only cliff-edge is the Chagos. I think we’re probably fucked there. That’s what Powell was brought back to ram through.

Norman, today’s Torygraph – Starmer attempting to rush through Chagos handover before Trump enters White House

Does Sir Kweer think President Donald J Trump has a short memory or something?

Present DJT with a fait accompli, and he’ll present his foot to Keir Starmer’s tiny soft balls.

In many cases President Trump uses tariffs or the threat of tariffs to get other countries to acquiesce. The Mexican gov’t wants very badly to continue to sell cars in the US. If they need to help the US regain control of the border to sell those cars, they’ll get with the program. Ditto re: China & fentanyl.

Exactly. He isn’t using tariffs because he has some mercantilist dream, it’s because he sees them as an effective weapon to get foreign countries to do his bidding without all the (deep state infected) diplomacy bullshit.

By threatening tariffs at a moderate level, he has a believable threat, enough at least that countries will at least start the negotiation, which is all Trump wants because that’s where he is best at.

Bit of carrot and stick gets things done before he even gets into office whereas diplomacy would still be pissing around when Trump leaves office.

I’ll certainly be entertained to see how the Chagos nonsense ends up.

Must admit the logic of Starmers’ policy has quite escaped me.

the Chagossians (all 12 of them)
That’s the way I’d play it. Find myself a few tame Chagossians. Then say the islands were seized by the Brits under force majeure (current incarnation Starmer T) & I’m protecting their interests. Fucks the Mauritians, the Chinese & puts a thumb in the eye of Starmer T.
I suspect Trump would very much like to fuck over Starmer & his government without fucking over the Brit public. Because he won’t see the two as being the same thing. So watch this space.

“The UK Government has confirmed the implementation of a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) starting January 1, 2027.”

Sounds like so much fun.

The UK leased Diego Garcia to the US in 1966 for 50 years. In return, the US provided a $14m discount on sales of its Polaris missile systems to the UK. The Polaris system consisted of nuclear-armed submarine-launched ballistic missiles

Trump should cancel the “special relationship” and let the Britgov spin. Slap an additional 20% tariff on their exports to the US too, just as a fuck you. None of these people are friendly towards President Trump or useful to his administration.

If you remember, last time he was in office Donald Trump was the most Anglophilic US president since Reagan, and the British government responded by sniggering at him for wanting to sign a trade deal. He won’t make the same mistake this time.

Now is time to crush your enemies and hear the lamentations of their transwomen, Donald.

Anudder thing I’d do is cancel the UK from the Visa Waiver Program (which Labour abused to interfere in the US elections).

There need to be consequences for fake allies who behave in unfriendly ways towards President Trump’s government. All the smart boys who thought they could “Trump proof” (i.e. overrule the results of US elections) the future should pay a price.

Throw a bit of stick about, make em jump. If they want to be America’s ally, install a cat flap for Starmer to crawl through and let him kiss the ring.

Following on from earlier comments, looks like Powell has screwed up the Chagos deal according to Guido.

Guido has well placed sources who are in a position to have knowledge of the detail of some of those meetings. They confirm that the change of government has severely damaged the prospects of Powell’s deal holding firm as new Mauritian ministers have described the arrangement as a “sell out”. It is understood that the Mauritius government has appointed legal advisers to reevaluate Powell’s deal, requesting more time. Damningly, the word in Port Louis is that Powell’s sudden trip has caused deep frustration in the Mauritius government – the new Prime Minister had not even had a chance to convene his full Cabinet for its first meeting before Powell turned up on the doorstep of Government House. Blundering Powell is now heading to Washington DC to try to firm up the deal from the US side – which seems hopeless given opposition inside the Trump team. This deal is only going one way…

Inside Jonathan Powell’s Desperate Mauritius Trip to Save Chagos Sellout as Labour Deal Collapses

BiS – Thank you, I sometimes have good ideas, but I think we should say this was Mr Ecks’ idea if anybody asks.

If the UK gov were smart, they would have leaned into the Trumpening as an excuse to gently back out of the deal. Because smart people don’t want to needlessly antagonise the Double President just before his ascention to Imperator of the American Republic. There’s no votes in it, so why allow some meme islets to become a political problem?

So, back to the original question; has Spud ever been in favour of free trade. When someone he doesn’t like threatens a tariff, yes, he is. Otherwise, the Courageous State always wishes to impose an exit charge or a tax on forms that base their head office in the wrong place or….