this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2025
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The United States has placed Switzerland on a list of countries with "unfair trade practices".

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[–] Clbull@lemmy.world 8 points 6 hours ago

Does Trump want to fuck with the impenetrable banking fortress nation that is Switzerland?

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 10 points 9 hours ago

And we have been doing exactly what President Trump wants for a long time.

And now you can see where it put you. Nowhere.

[–] rxbudian@lemmy.ca 13 points 12 hours ago

Welcome to the Trump's list of bad countries, lets trade with each other.
We're growing fast ...

[–] Adderbox76@lemmy.ca 52 points 23 hours ago

Trump is all about pretenses.

There are the "reasons" he's making those decisions, and then there are the "pretenses" he uses when the opportunity comes around to make them.

Swiss banks hold a lot of money from oligarchs and billionaires. Putin wants pressure put on them. But Trump has to find the "pretense" to do it so as to at least nominally not be seen as a russian asset. But what a coincidence, Lindt announces that they're going to supply Canada directly from Europe to avoid his tariffs. And BOOM. Pretense established.

[–] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 18 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Lol.

As an American I would give my right nut to live there instead of here.

[–] Wanpieserino@lemm.ee 7 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

As Belgian I do think Switzerland is one of the best countries on the entire planet. There's a reason why they have 30% immigrants, and it's not because German is a fun language to learn 😁

[–] ajikeshi@lemmy.world 2 points 7 hours ago

German

you do not need to learn german, switzerland has german, french and italian speaking regions

[–] MapleEngineer@lemmy.world 35 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Can we get a digital badge that the citizens of any advanced liberal democracy that Magastan panels as "bad" can proudly display on their socials?

[–] ahal@lemmy.ca 18 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Don't sully the "-stan" countries like that, they don't deserve that association.

[–] T00l_shed@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Doesn't "Stan" just mean land of (these people)?

[–] ahal@lemmy.ca 8 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah, it does. But I think the intent of "Magastan" is to draw a comparison to "those countries". But this is stooping down to Trump's level imo

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[–] dzso@lemmy.world 25 points 1 day ago (4 children)

How many months is it going to take for the Magats to realize they fucked America over?

[–] hanrahan@slrpnk.net 6 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

They won't, they're immensely supportiv"

I did not mean that Conservatives are generally stupid; I meant, that stupid persons are generally Conservative. .-- John Stuart Mille

These are Cipolla's five fundamental laws of stupidity:

  1. Always and inevitably, everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.

  2. The probability that a certain person (will) be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.

3. A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.

  1. Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular, non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places, and under any circumstances, to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake.

  2. A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.

[–] CMonster@discuss.online 12 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

Even if they self aware enough to see that, they will never admit it.

[–] Ledericas@lemm.ee 1 points 9 hours ago

they can be almost selfaware, r/selfawarewolves was a fun sub to visit.

[–] GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca 4 points 22 hours ago

Or they'll say they need to go through this difficult transition in order to return to their former glory.

[–] Bytemeister@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Empirical evidence says at least 100.

[–] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 6 points 23 hours ago

they'll long be dead and their grandchildren will still claim this as "the best time in American history".

[–] Atherel@lemmy.dbzer0.com 72 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Switzerland has a positive balance of trade in goods and therefore appears on this list.

Ah that's why...

We have good arguments. And we have been doing exactly what President Trump wants for a long time.

Maybe it's time to fucking stop pleasing the orange cunt, he doesn't care!

[–] Eatspancakes84@lemmy.world 22 points 1 day ago (4 children)

This focus on the balance of trade is sooo stupid. The US spends more than it produces so it has an aggregate deficit on the trade balance. To stop this, you need to force Americans to spend less (I.e. ignite a recession), or produce more.

Tariffs against selected countries that have a strong bilateral trade surplus with the US will not affect the US’ aggregate trade balance, since it doesn’t affect consumption by/ or production of the US economy. This is common knowledge from econ 101, and shouldn’t need to be explained to a president that supposedly has a degree in business.

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[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 148 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

Lmao what the actual fuck? Switzerland…? He’s going after the Swiss now…? I just… wow. What is happening.

Edit: it’s apparently about - and I shit you not - chocolate. And it’s their volume market brand. Not even the really good stuff.

[–] Ledericas@lemm.ee 4 points 9 hours ago

swiss banks have putins money in it.

[–] RamblingPanda@lemmynsfw.com 41 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Probably because Lindt said that they might supply Canada from Europe instead of the US.

Begun the chocolate wars have.

[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 23 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)
[–] RamblingPanda@lemmynsfw.com 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's getting harder and harder to laugh at shit like this. I mean, it's still funny, but it really is not.

[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I feel the exact same. It’s tragicomedic.

I laugh to hide the pain. The secret sixth stage of grief is gallows humor.

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[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 5 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

I thought the US especially enjoyed their puke flavoured chocolate? They don't need European chocolate.

[–] Ledericas@lemm.ee 1 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

hereshey is more sugar than actual chocolate, although lindht is not good either. i get thier 90-100% all the time.

[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 1 points 6 hours ago

Lindt definitely isn't the best choice. But between that and Hershey's...

[–] moonbunny@sh.itjust.works 3 points 22 hours ago

The European chocolates would be specifically earmarked for Canada, so the US can keep their chocolate to themselves.

As a Canadian, I’d much prefer chocolate from local chocolatiers, though European chocolates are also a delightful treat.

[–] pntha@lemmy.world 52 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

they probably hold billions in frozen Russian assets

[–] Jhex@lemmy.world 8 points 23 hours ago

LOL... well the clowns were elected to the presidency... why are we surprised at the never ending circus?!

Making quality products that people actually want to buy is a dishonest and abusive practice, I'm glad someone finally spoke up.

[–] N0body@lemmy.dbzer0.com 100 points 1 day ago (6 children)

Europe needs to see that unity is the way to go. A united Europe is needed to stand against the mad kings in Russia and the US.

[–] wewbull@feddit.uk 14 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Europe, the place where 27 separate sovereign nations have formed a Union, needs to realise how important it is to be united?

Is that what you're saying?

Well tbey are commenting this on an article about switzerland, which is not in the EU. Though it is in Schengen and the EEA.

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[–] random_character_a@lemmy.world 38 points 1 day ago (1 children)

What? Swiss banks been mean to Putin?

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[–] Skunk@jlai.lu 30 points 1 day ago (1 children)
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[–] filister@lemmy.world 56 points 1 day ago (3 children)

The US is on a way to piss off all of its trading partners and former allies.

[–] nicky7@lemmy.ml 36 points 1 day ago (1 children)

We're never going to recover. He's speed running the fall of a nation.

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[–] DaddleDew@lemmy.world 45 points 1 day ago (2 children)

He's either completely senile or doing Putin's bidding by destroying whatever is left of the US's international credibility.

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[–] SabinStargem@lemmings.world 3 points 21 hours ago

If nothing else, at least Magats won't be able to hide their gold there anymore.

[–] Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 36 points 1 day ago (4 children)

He's doing the best Zapp Brannigan impression I've ever seen.

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[–] Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world 29 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The US is so fucked. People are not going to give the bully their lunch money. They’re going to team up against the bully.

[–] TylerBourbon@lemmy.world 4 points 21 hours ago

Which is good, and I say that as an American. The current leadership cannot be trusted. It's going to be a long time before we can be trusted again. If ever.

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