Asmongold TV - "There Are No Winners In This Tariff War" | Asmongold TV

Episode Date: August 19, 2025

"There Are No Winners In This Tariff War" Asmongold show for all of his stream highlights, competitions, reactions & more. ----------------- ---------- Keywords: video game analysis, gaming news, gaming reactions, reaction videos, gaming podcast, gaming opinions, streamer reactions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This announcement that China will increase the tariff rate on American goods coming into China to 125% effective Saturday comes off the back of a clarification from the White House that the increased rate that Donald Trump announced of 125% on Chinese goods coming into the US is in fact in addition to the 20% he'd already implemented earlier in this presidency. So that's bringing the total on Chinese goods coming into the states. up to 145%. So this tit for tat continuing and continuing to escalate. Now, in the statement put out by China's state council tariff commission,

there is quite an interesting statement. They say that even if the US continues to impose higher tariffs, it will no longer make economic sense. They say at the current tariff level, there is no market acceptance for US goods exported to China If the US continues to play the tariff numbers game, China will ignore it. It does go on to hedge a little bit, saying that if the US insists on continuing to substantially infringe on Chinese interests, Beijing will resolutely counterattack and fight to the end.

So suggesting there that, you know, Beijing might stop with the tit for tat on the tariffs, but there are, of course, other way. China could just stop IP protection and allow a counterfeit free-for-all. Well, they already have. The thing is that, I mean, that's already been going on. I mean, there's tons of examples and, like, stories that people have of, like, you know, having a product, taking it to China and then having some company in China basically bootleg the product and then re-upload it and do that for, like, less money. And so the fact is, like, I mean, should America try to, like, trade and do business there whenever they're, like, just blatantly violating, you know, like our copyright laws, which are, like, a lot of things that we're selling to them. In my opinion, I think the answer to that is no.

I feel like, again, just because it's beneficial for us doesn't mean that we should always do it. I think that if you empower and you enable a group of people that are effectively working against your best interest on a regular basis, that's not really something that's going to help you or be good for you at all. And so, yeah, America can't survive without China, to be honest, at least not at the moment. I think that there's definitely a lot of interdependence. And I wouldn't want to see the – I don't know why. like this is the problem is that this is just me why the fuck is this happening why can't they just figure out the IP conflicts why can't they just come up with a deal where you know

Chinese companies can't just blatantly take advantage of American companies fix a degree of the trade deficit and move on I feel like that's what that's what most people probably fucking want in China that's probably what they want here in the US so like what is this like how is this even happening when the answer to this is so simple. Just test sometimes. Yes, exactly. It's ego on both sides. Well, it's frustrating. It is because if they don't cheat, they'll literally go under their entire economy is based on cheap exports now. Well, maybe it is, but either way, I mean, there has to be some level of concession because, I mean, like, really, I mean, you just look at it. I mean, even if you're China, you have to see how Americans coming into your

your economy and then having their products stolen and then undersold and undercut by these stolen products you you have to see how this would be a reason why americans wouldn't want to do business there right i mean you don't have like even if you even if you love china you think china is the greatest country in the world you have to be able to see this right and understand that so they don't give a fuck no they can not give a fuck but like at a certain point you have to acknowledge like well you know maybe it makes sense why they're mad So why are Americans doing business there? Honestly, I think that there are a lot of reasons.

I mean, some of them do business there because they think it's an overall net positive, even though some of them think it probably won't happen to them. Some of them are not able to do business over there because of that happening. So there's a lot of reasons, honestly. It's cheap? Yeah, and also it's cheap. That's another really big reason. Saving face and pride is greater than logic.

Well, I don't think that's going to happen forever. is that Beijing can inflict pain on the American economy, even if it's only symbolic. For example, we've heard that Beijing plans to now reduce the already rather small number of American films that are imported into China every year. So there aren't many American films going into China every year. John Zinnon's Suicide Watch. It is a hugely lucrative market for those that do get in.

However, you know, this is, of course, something that really strong. strikes at the heart of American culture, the American economy saying that, you know, Beijing's saying. Yeah, I think this is really bad, by the way. And I think that, like, there's a degree of unreasonability here. And, like, maybe this is just me speaking as an American. But I do think that China are the ones that are taking advantage of the situation. When, you know, like, certain laws aren't followed. You're not even able to, like, go to arbitration with Chinese companies, etc. this seems very one-sided.

And I just find it to be disappointing, right? Because, like, we have a good thing. Just make it a little bit more fair and everybody's going to be happy. Why can't you do this? It doesn't make sense to me. They're going to target industries like Hollywood and the film industry. Now, we have also heard from Xi Jinping today. He's finally spoken publicly about this U.S.-China trade.

war. He said that there are no winners in a tariff war. He's, he was meeting actually. He's right. I mean, and in the short term, he's definitely right. I mean, there's a lot of businesses that are American and Chinese businesses that are losing out over this because they can't come to a fair, equitable deal. It's really disappointing that this has happened. It sucks. I think there's a lot of people that have gotten fucked over by this massively. And like, in my opinion, I think it's like it's mainly China's fault, but like obviously Trump is extreme too about it. So yeah, Trump's a fucking dumbass. But like, why is what why does the responsibility fall on Trump when China are the ones who are the aggressors? China are the ones that are not following copyright. China are the ones that are

allowing, you know, these markets to be flooded with like cheap knockoffs, etc. Why is it on Trump in order to capitulate to this group of people that is engaging in multiple unethical practices. It's bullshit. It's total bullshit. Yeah, that's it. That's how I feel about it, right? Like, if Biden was the same way, I'd be saying the same thing about Biden. I feel like a lot of people are against this because it's Trump.

But again, like, if you go back and you listen to, like, a lot of these, like, Democratic senators talk about this from like years ago, they were saying the exact same things that Trump was saying. With the Spanish prime minister and called on China and the EU to jointly oppose unilateral bullying, of course, referencing Donald Trump's tariff rate. Someone says, why is it on Trump? Because he's the fucking president. He's the one pushing the shit, dude. That that's why? No, you're not understanding what I'm saying, is that why is it on Trump to de-escalate tensions whenever the tensions were created by, unethical behavior by China. If China is the one that is engaging in unethical business practices on a consistent basis, then why isn't it on them to bear the responsibility of this retaliation? Like if you constantly over and over cheat, fucking steal people's shit, etc.,

I mean, why is it on the other person to come to the table when you're the one doing that? because the response isn't working, I don't know if it's working or not. I mean, I think that it will take time. It will definitely take time. And also, by the way, keep in mind, the previous response wasn't working for 30 years.

This has been a problem my whole life. Like, my whole life, I've heard about China, you know, like stealing people's shit and then not listening to like our laws, violating trade rules, etc. I've been hearing this forever. So like, you want to say it's not working

after it's been happening for like, less than two weeks. Yeah, it's been about two weeks or so. And okay, that's fine. But let's try to change something now that it hasn't worked for, you know, let's change the other thing that hasn't worked forever. If the tariffs aren't working, we find another way. Nobody forced Trump to be the guy to step up. He took this on himself. I did. I mean, I would want Trump to solve this. I think a lot of people do. And also people forced Trump. They did force him. By voting for him, they forced him. he ran on this platform and he said, I'm going to do this.

People voted for it. I don't even understand. And also, like, again, I feel like so much of this criticism is centered more reasonably. It kind of feels like Trump put China in a position to do nothing and win. How is China doing nothing and winning? A massive amount of their economy is tied to the United States. If China isn't exporting these products to the United States, it can't go and export them to another country. at the same ratio that it can at the United States.

Now, they can export some countries to other, or sorry, some products to other countries. Like, apparently they have a deal with like Spain apparently going on now, right? That's what's happening. And so they will try to make up the difference. But America is like 5% of the world's population. And it's one third or something like that or 20%. I forgot which one of the entire like global imports. Like we have the biggest economy in the world.

Our economy is like a quarter of the entire world. So to think that like to lose that, do you really think that's like doing nothing and winning? That's doing nothing and losing. And they're not doing nothing. Let me reward. As long as China holds out, they'll come out ahead. I'd love to be proven wrong. How are they going to like I just, I don't see anybody, this is the problem.

I don't see anybody coming out ahead with this. I don't. I don't think that it's good for America. Now, I think Trump should continue doing this, by the way. I think he should. The reason why is that the previous agreement was not in our best interest. And so the argument that, well, the previous agreement where you're being disrespected, treated unfairly, and not being given an equal, like, shake on things, that one is slightly better than this worse agreement.

I think that if somebody is trying to force you into a bad deal that's bad for you, you should never try to take the lesser of two evils because at that point you're selling out the country. So yeah, no, then stop the tariffs. Yeah, I think that they need to come to an agreement that lasts, that like provide certain protections who made and enforces copyright. Well, America does. But if China wants to do business with America, then there have to be concessions made. That's it. And if they're not willing to make those concessions, then I think that we should keep the tariffs.

So that's the way I see it. And also, like, by the way, yeah, the seller loses. Yeah, China is, we mainly import from China, right? China doesn't mainly import from us. And so basically what I'm saying is that maybe I said the second part wrong, but basically like China, China's economy relies on them sending us a bunch of cheap bullshit, right? A huge amount of their economy is built off of them sending us happy meal toys, uh, fucking forks, just random nickel.

knacks, do dads, and bullshit. And by the way, I'm not trying to be disrespectful. I totally respect China. I just think they're engaging in something that's unfair. But the fact is that that's a huge part of their economy. And if they don't have that, that's massively detrimental to them. And they're the ones that are stuck holding all of this stuff. I think it would probably be a lot easier for us to find somebody else to make new forks

than for China to find somebody else to buy forks at the same rate, at the same prices, at the same level that the United States of America does. I think that's a lot harder than for us to find another place to buy forks. That's what I think. Aegee saying that going against the world will only lead to isolation. Now, some of the most recent comments we've heard from Donald Trump do indicate that he still wants to talk to Xi Jinping's talks repeatedly about... Yeah, they have to work this out, man. I think they will, but it's just going to take a little bit more peacocking.

That's what I think is going to happen. You're being hypocritical because you're choosing to buy those forks? Well, yeah, I mean, obviously, right? Like, of course. But like I'm talking about like the government. I'm not looking at it from the perspective of a consumer. I'm looking at it from the perspective of the government. His friendship with Xi Jinping about the fact that he has a lot of respect for the Chinese leader.

But on the other side, we are not seeing the same kind of rhetoric in return from Beijing. So it doesn't seem like those negotiations. The negotiation talks will be in the works anytime soon. I think it'll probably take a little bit longer because, you know, like, let's be honest, nobody wants to look bad. I think it's ignorant as fuck. I've seen a lot of graphs that China manufacturers, a lot of important stuff too, leads the world in many important sectors. The questions is how dependent is it on those goods because it's not so cheap? No, I think that you're absolutely right that it will definitely negatively affect the U.S.

if we have trade problems with China. It absolutely will. But I'm saying that when you have an economy that's built on selling something to another person, you are going to bear the majority of the burden. Because it's a lot easier for, you know, let's say us to find somebody else to make these machines or whatever you're making, than it is for them to sell all of these products at the same ratio that they were selling it to the United States. Because like, let's say they can sell it like people are using India as an example. India has a national GDP per person of $2,000.

They can't go to India and sell this stuff at the same ratio that they can to the United States. They just can't. Like, I'm sorry. I understand what you're saying. Yes, absolutely. And that's also assuming that India isn't going to feel the same way that the U.S. does. And they'll take the same deals. And how many people in India?

There's a lot of people in India. There are. Oh, do you see an analogy of video games, man? I don't know what you mean by that. But yeah, cost of living. is cheaper, bro, that's why. If I look at India and I look at the way that they live, the standard of living in India

and their purchasing power is dramatically less than the United States. And I'm sure that there are places in India that look really nice and they have the same equivalent standard of living as the United States. But that is the vast, vast, vast minority of India. In the U.S., like if you compare this, USA

average GDP per capita, $89,000. Like if you think that there is any parity between $2,000 and $89,000, you are out of your fucking mind. I'm sorry, you're completely out of your mind. Like I would understand if it was like 20,000 versus 25,000 or like even 20,000 versus 30,000. That's not really a big difference because the population difference. But this is like multiples.

I mean, like, what is this? Like 30 times more, 20 times more. It's huge. So, yeah. that's the power of the U.S. dollar, exactly. And then also because the U.S. dollar is used so often, then you're going to lose money in currency exchange as well. So, yes, there's a huge amount that China loses

by not being able to trade with the U.S. Absolutely they do. But it's also true that it is massively detrimental to pretty much everybody that it's happening. And I just hope that they can come to a deal. And do you think Trump will force the world to boycott Chinese goods by punishing anyone who does business with China? Do you think that we should push it this far?

maybe yeah uh it depends yeah so like i mean if we think that china is facilitating and allowing economic espionage then yeah absolutely we should try to work to destabilize their economy as much as we can because they're effectively doing that to us like it's again like who's throwing the first stone is it the one who's responding to you know the theft of their products or the person who's stealing the products in the first place. It's obvious. Won't that make more enemies? Potentially, yeah.

But I think that, like, really, again, if the only way that you can be friends with people is for you to engage in a relationship with them that's detrimental to you and positive for them, then you're not really friends in the first place, are you? Like, I wouldn't say you are. I don't think that's a very good way to look at it at all. Like, if the only way that somebody will be friends with you

is if you have a monetary relationship with them that is beneficial towards them primarily. That seems a little bit unfair. They go into effect today. What do you think about the Trump tariffs? Don't affect me. Why not? I'm pro-Trump, but don't affect me.

What do you think about it? Tell me your opinion on how he's going about it. What do you think? Dominance, baby. British country in the world. That's it. Oh, man. Yeah, I saw this.

I thought this shit was fucking funny, man. Yeah, there you go.