The only logical reason for tariffs on countries like Vietnam that I’ve seen:

A negotiation tactic to get Vietnam to put a tariff on China.

It’s to get everyone else to box China in.

I’m playing everyone’s favorite party game: guess the Trump administration’s strategy. Like most of you, I have no inside information. But that’s what makes it fun. Here’s my best theory.

Some assumptions first:

1) They’re not crazy. There is a strategy. It doesn’t align with

Matthew Prince 🌥

The only logical reason for tariffs on countries like Vietnam that I’ve seen:

A negotiation tactic to get Vietnam to put a tariff on China.

It’s to get everyone else to box China in. https://x.com/eastdakota/status/1909822463707652192

ceo /daylight | building @clickerxyz | kylemccollom.com

If it is a negotiating tactic, why not have some kind of consistent message on it? Right now we have Cabinet members and Trump flailing around giving mixed messages on what the goal is and whether this is negotiable or not. Vietnam tried to respond, offering to take away tariffs and got shut down.

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Agree it's chaotic and confusing, but obscurity may help if this is their goal.

Coinbase employee (Investigatooor), personal account. Onchain is the future.

Agree it's chaotic and confusing, but obscurity may help if this is their goal. https://warpcast.com/brenner.eth/0xdaeef379

This theory was right. https://x.com/tier10k/status/1910020421870637132

That’s what he did: https://warpcast.com/kyle/0x21faedc2

Not saying you're making this argument, but this to me just reads like the 4D Chess argument that has never been validated imo. 

If you wanted to successfully navigate a trade war with China, it seems to be that it would be incredibly foolish not to have shored up support with your allies in the EU and SE Asia.