@OopsGuess We aren't interested in your tech. We have our own. Taiwan Hong Kong are family affairs and not your problems. We can hand you some treats for your trip, maybe buy some of your corn so your MAGA won't starve.
“BUYER BEWARE” is the most revealing two words any president has ever posted about his own trade deals.
Think about who the buyers are. Japan bought in for $550 billion. South Korea bought in for $350 billion. The EU bought in for $750 billion in procurement commitments. Indonesia bought in on February 19, literally the day before the Supreme Court destroyed the legal authority underpinning every single one of those agreements.
He is telling the buyers to beware. The buyers are his own partners. The countries that cooperated. The ones that committed hundreds of billions in investment because they were promised specific tariff rates under IEEPA authority that six Supreme Court justices just declared never existed.
Now read the threat. “Will be met with a much higher Tariff, and worse, than that which they just recently agreed to.”
Much higher than what? He is currently at 15% under Section 122. That is the statutory ceiling. There is no 20%. There is no 25%. He maxed out the only tool he has in 48 hours. The only authority that goes higher is Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, which allows 50% but has never been used in 96 years, has zero case law, and requires a presidential finding that a country “discriminates” against American commerce.
He just told every foreign ministry on earth three things simultaneously. One, the deals you signed are not being honored. Two, the replacement authority is already at its ceiling. Three, the next escalation comes from a Depression-era statute that has never survived judicial review because it has never been invoked.
This is not strength. This is a man who lost unlimited tariff power on Friday morning and is now threatening countries with authority he does not yet have, under statutes that have never been tested, with a 150-day clock running on the only tool currently in his hands.
India already postponed its delegation. The EU is freezing ratification. Japan called it “a real mess.” Australia is exploring WTO challenges. That was before this post. “BUYER BEWARE” will accelerate every single one of those responses because it confirms what every trade ministry suspected but hoped was not true. The deals are not secure. The authority is not stable. And the president’s response to losing power is to threaten the partners who trusted him with it.
The countries are not playing games with the Supreme Court decision. They are doing exactly what rational actors do when the legal foundation of their commitments evaporates. They are repricing American trade promises in real time. And every threat that follows makes the discount rate steeper.
BUYER BEWARE indeed. The buyers are listening.
https://t.co/zeIWmXSi6F