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Jim Beam shutting down bourbon production at Kentucky distillery for a year as Trump’s trade wars hit sales
(www.independent.co.uk)
this post was submitted on 21 Dec 2025
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You are extremely naive if you think tariffs will move production back to the US. Affordable the health care coverage for employers would have a much more profound effect.
Anecdotally, I know some folks who work under the UAW. Before/after a recent round of significant layoffs because of these big, beautiful tariffs, even the union leadership was spouting off how manufacturing would return to the US within years and it would be "worth it." Some of the workers who already didn't want to jump in bed with Trump ate it up. You would think at least leadership in a massive union overseeing any manufacturing/production would at least understand how this was a bad move for their whole organization, but here we are.
The whole reason why the auto sector exists in Canada is the lower health care costs.
GM alone spends $17M/year just on viagra for it's employees.
Always glad to have an opportunity to understand another country's healthcare system and it's inner-workings. Appreciate it 🤙🏻 I remember right-wing people in USA Air Traffic Control would bring up Canada's ATC system and workers, and I would just always bring up retirement/benefits for the differences in pay and how we paid for them anyway - and less efficiently. Plus I'm quite certain their guaranteed workers' protections were better than what we got from the union directly (not USA union bashing at all - just strictly the bennies in comparison).
Why should tariffs not work? What else could bring back manufacturing?
Surely if you want to force manufacturing back to a country via tarrifs you need to be smart and have a graduated tarrif over say 15 years increasing annually. That puts the market on notice but more importantly gives time for infrastructure and skills to be developed without immediately fucking over the population
There is no time for that. The military supposedly is preparing for a war with China as early as 2027, but more likely is 2030 when Europe wants to be ready for Russia.
Even if you build the infrastructure, there will still be Tariffs on the raw materials. The production stateside wouldn't be significant enough to offset that in any way with how things have been built the past 30+ years. If that hypothesis would even be the end goal, they likely would've saved more by pumping out extra acquisitions in the handful of years tariffs have rammed the economy and USA society at its most basic levels *ETA realized I might've more/less double-talked on @YeahToast@aussie.zone
How do acquisitions help build production capacity?
Bauxite costs $70 per tonne, aluminium $2500. The raw material is neglectable.
It takes 17,000 kWh of power to manufacture 1 tonne of aluminium.
In other words, the government is increasing demand for electricity production.
The healthcare would be clever. But why do tariffs not work?
The idea behind tarrifs, is that they'll make non-American goods more expensive than American goods, and people will choose the less expensive option.
The problem is, that's not happening. There often isn't a 100% American made option, most "made in the USA" still relies on material imports, which are tarrifed, so their prices went up too.
There isn't enough US materials, so even if you source local aluminum, the demand has outpaced the supply, so the cost has gone up.
Then there's labor, where manufacturing typically imports labor too, but they're being deported, and domestic labor costs more, so prices have gone up.
Tarrifs only work if theres a ton of legislation impacting the companies themselves, because they will never take a voluntary decrease in profit.
So it's also an additional tax that reduces American resource consumption which is a burden. But overall the idea should work. Step by step local producers can create products until everything can be sourced in the US.
Not really. Just tarrifs don't work, because it would require companies to voluntarily reduce profits for a period of time, and publicly traded companies get sued by shareholders if they do stuff like that.
I don't understand why. Do you mean that companies have to make investments in production lines in the US which reduces profits?
The shortage of local aluminum means that somebody can build a new plant because the tariffs allow them to make a profit.
Do you understand anything about the aluminum market? That would be a starting point.
The issue isn’t willingness to invest, it’s constraints. The US doesn’t have much bauxite, and primary aluminum smelting needs huge amounts of very cheap, stable electricity. Building a new smelter costs billions and takes years.
I know that China tried to import via Mexico which the US already then tried to prevent.
Until the new plants are built everything with aluminium is more expensive. That's inconvenient but the idea of moving production processes works.
???
The fuck does that have to do with anything?
We. Have. No. Ore. For. Aluminum.
Even if we did, we need power and new machinery that take decades to make.
It means that the US has tried to stabilize prices for aluminium for some time.
If there is no ore then autonomy is impossible. But the tariffs will make sure that as much aluminium as possible is recycled.
Autonomy is impossible, why do you think we have the global supply chain in the first place?
It's abundantly clear that this is not your topic of expertise, tariffs or resource trade. Just quit digging the hole, man.
There is also the current Greenland issue:
https://maritime-executive.com/article/greenland-approves-european-backed-mine-on-remote-west-coast
The US is planning on having their own raw materials.
There are global supply chains because it is cheaper. There are unused Bauxit mines in the US. If Trump wants them to be used he has to use the tariffs. There don't seem to be big reserves but in preparation of a war it makes sense. Sourcing it from Australia could be intercepted.
Who? Which supplier do you think will tell their shareholders that they're not getting huge dividends from the tariffs?
All, unless they increase prices.
It's aluminium producers who profit from the tariffs, not buyers.
Exactly. Tariffs drive prices up, and non-tariffed producers are incentivized to also raise prices, because it's pure profit that will go out as fat checks to their shareholders and execs.