Trump backed off on most of his tariffs after Japan sold a ton of bonds and he panicked. He replaced most of the tariffs with a blanket 10%, and kept tariffs on China and Canada (because those countries had counter-tariffed the US, supposedly.) Now the report is that what US negotiators are demanding is that in exchange for avoiding US tariffs, other countries tariff China.
It should be noted, first, that China will not back down. The way Trump is framing this is “China will come to us” and sub-voce “beg” and that’s not happening, it would be a massive loss of face for Xi and for China and China is a “face” society. So massive tariffs on both sides will continue unless the US makes the first overtures and in a face saving way. The US rates on China are 125% and the Chinese rates on America are 85%.
These are nuclear levels and are going to bring trade damn-near to a halt. China has also put export bans on a number of companies for “dual use” techs: in practice, they’ve hit Lockheed and Boeing (big military aviation companies) so hard that I’m not sure those companies will be able to build planes, the supply chain is that China-centric and there are no alternatives.
(Aside: the criminally minded will be scrambling to smuggle into the US, and fortunes will be made, as they were during Prohibition. Those who wish to reduce criminal risks can just import Chinese goods to Canada and Mexico and sell them to whomever. “I don’t know officer, I don’t ask them why they want all those machine parts. Not my business.”)
It’s hard to say how this will play out, because:
- Lots of western countries have a hate-on for China. European and Canadian politicians, early on in Trump’s regime, had suggested “why tariff us, let’s go after China together!”
- But… that was then, and this is now. A lot has changed in three months. No one trusts Trump to keep deals any more and China is looking mighty stable. Even if you’d really rather do business with the US, like Europe, can you expect any deal to be kept?
I’m genuinely unsure how this will play out. My personal preference would be to tell the US and Trump to pound sand: they don’t keep their deals, so you just can’t do business with them no matter what the theoretical case is. (That case is mostly that it’s hard to compete with China, their goods are so cheap, whereas the US is sclerotic so you can sell them stuff, especially if they’re in a trade war with China and can’t buy cheap: charge them 2x as much and still come in under!)
If Trump had gone for this as the start, he would have gotten it. Canada and Europe would have fallen over themselves to join in. Now? Not so sure.
There’s a lot of “Trump is a genius and there is a PLAN” going around in MAGA circles. Bullshit. If this was Trump’s actual goal, what he did made it harder to achieve rather than easier. What actually happened is that Japan jerked the bond market’s chain and Trump backed down and is trying to pivot.
It’s not a completely stupid pivot, the West isn’t competitive against Chinese manufacturing, and one way to deal with that (a bad way, but still a way) is to just cut China out of Western markets and sell over-priced goods to each other.
Years ago I said that the way geopolitics were playing out was leading to a “New Cold War” — there’s an entire category on this blog, just on that.
Crunch time has come and we’ll see if it happens, and who’s on each side. Trump’s made America’s chances of putting together a strong coalition far weaker than they should have been, but anti-China fear and a refusal to end rentierism in the West mean that we can’t, actually, compete against China, so there’s still a strong temptation to form that anti-China bloc.
If so, we’ll be the weaker side, as the USSR/Warsaw Pact was last time and we will lose the new Cold war, falling further and further behind technologically and watching as the Chinese enjoy goods we can barely even dream of, just as was true of the late Soviet Union.
Everything, and I mean everything, will be sacrificed to keep the oligarchs in power, keep making them richer and keep the flow of unearned cash pouring into every rich person’s orifices.
Update: Seems that the EU and China are in talks to end EU tariffs on electric vehicles. That sound you hear is Elon Musk puckering up to kiss his ass goodbye.
Emma
You underestimate the corruption and blind Atlanticism of the Anglo and EU governing elites. The current generation no longer have the capability to make sounds decisions for their countries. Anyone who might have been able to do better have already been taken it judicially or otherwise.
The Soviet at least produced everything they needed. Maybe not in sufficient numbers or to the right specs for the desires of their populations, but they could make the stuff they need for their societies to function. How the heck are the West going to survive even for 3 months without Chinese stuff?
We’re evidently led by the leadership of Planet Korell (https://asimov.fandom.com/wiki/Korell).
Feral Finster
Look at a global map of coutnries which do more business with China vs. the US.
Anyway, anyone remember the short-lived trade war with China during Trump’s first term?
Mark Pontin
‘We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.’ – Lord Palmerston
The world is what it is. Put these besides your Australia LNG move yesterday–
China ‘optimistic’ about deeper UK financial co-operation
Vice-minister Liao Min speaking as renminbi green bond launched in London
https://www.ft.com/content/8eeedc68-69fc-46f2-a75b-3a5c844469f6
https://archive.ph/PxP0F
Head of British military makes first Beijing visit in 10 years
Trip by Tony Radakin announced only by China’s government amid strained Sino-American relations
https://www.ft.com/content/2deb7089-5575-4b1e-8efc-2cb893c90e46
https://archive.ph/zPeMN
Oakchair
The economic war with China will cripple their economy and cause the West to prosper ushering in a new decade of 5% growth. Just like the economic war with Russia did…
Purple Library Guy
Trump’s big problem is that he has just one real skill when it comes to dealing with others: A combination of outrageous audacity and randomness intended to put opponents off balance. It can be a fairly effective schtick under some circumstances.
The problem is, when you’re running a country, and its trade and economy, both the outrageous acts and the randomness itself destroy confidence in the economy, so whether your tactics win or lose the narrow contest you’re doing with other leaders, your country’s economy still loses. Nobody’s going to invest in the United States while Trump keeps whipsawing policies so nobody knows from one minute to another what the conditions are going to be like after they invest.
Plus, a lot of other leaders know his schtick pretty well by now and he doesn’t have much for an encore.
someofparts
By all means correct me if I am getting the history wrong, but would it be fair to say that the US is trying to do to our “allies” what the old Soviet Union did to the Balkans?
Mark Level
A couple of quick comments, a clear post & I think we can tell where things are going–
1. As stated, nobody trusts Trump at this point. Due Dissidence had a piece on the Israeli murder of 15 EMTs/ Fire/ Rescue staff that they got caught lying about when 1 murdered man’s cell phone was recovered. 36 Israeli Emergency workers came out and said that this is completely unacceptable, as well, and demanded an investigation for war crimes!! But the real connection to this thread is this– friggin’ toady Keir Starmer came out, contradicted what he’d said October 8 of last year that Israel is completely justified in cutting off food, water, energy, etc. and demanded that a cease fire be restored and the blockade stopped!! Now WHAT could have caused such a change in a person who is clearly a sociopath with no conscience who defamed his former “friend” & mentor Jeremy Corbyn as an “anti-Semite” for regarding Palestinians as human beings with actual human rights? Russell Dobular clearly stated that now that Trump attacked the “ally” UK as well as the bad “enemies”, there is no longer the need to Bend the Knee to the Empire. Seems clear to me (& politically winning given Starmer’s execrable popularity level.
2. I agree with your statement about Globalist Leaders but, trying to put myself in their shoes (a nauseating exercise), Globalism is their true God and Trump is just a Mercurial and untrustworthy blip on the screen of international realpolitik. I think the decision to break with the US and not be backstabbed 2 weeks or 2 months or 6 months from now.
Oh, and since Mark Pontin is on here, a personal note to him– You made an ugly, contrary to actual facts ad hominem attack on me in the Philistines thread and I made a correction. You either didn’t bother to see my reply or you ignored it as beneath your contempt . . . I cannot know.
I have friendly feelings for most, not all people on this site. Here’s your absurd lie: “So say Mark Level and and Oakchair, two Americans who probably have neither lived nor even visited anywhere else, and who consequently remain so ignorant and brainwashed by American exceptionalism that they imagine the US is representative of ‘Western society’ — whatever that is — or, indeed, of anything other than the US.”
Here was my reply to your gratuitous, cheap-shot smear: ”
Mark Level
Hey Mark Pontin– you evidently haven’t read too many of my posts. When I was 23 in 1983, I took a 6 month trip from Texas across Mexico and Central America, incl. Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, where I stayed and volunteered picking coffee with many locals in the CST (Sandanista Union) as well as other Internationalists from Europe, New Zealand, and elsewhere. I also traveled briefly to Costa Rica to renew my Nicaraguan visa. When I went home in March 1984 I went back to College and got a degree in Spanish, including a summer school semester taking Mexican history and literature courses at the University of Guadalajara in ’85. I returned to Mexico most summers from Northern California (where I taught High School Students ESL, mainly Hispanic immigrants but also Chinese, Central American, Vietnamese, Palestinian, Afghan, etc.) and used my Spanish (that was my Undergrad Major, history my minor.)
Then I spent the summer of 2004, 11 weeks with in Spain. Also, most summers between the late 80s to roughly the mid-90s I returned to Mexico for a month or more, where I passed as a local (my mom was Sardinian and Spanish, and dark-skinned, like my grandmother and myself, and spent time in the DF (Distrito Federal, Mexico City) and the Atlantic coast resort of Puerto Angel.
I also spent 2 visits to Thailand in 2009, and a day trip to Montreal with friends from Vermont c. 2006. I’m pretty well traveled and moving to New Mexico before moving to Mexico Viejo later this year.
Prattle on, display your judgmental ignorance, throw stones while living in a glass house. There aren’t many jerks on this site, but you just joined the list in my book. I will not take much of what you say seriously in the future given that you remorselessly judge and attack others without basic facts. You should be ashamed if you are capable.”
Your “probably” projected a weight it couldn’t carry. Como dijo una persona sabia, “Mejor de cuidar la boca cerrada aunque sea considerado un tonto que abrirla y probar la cosa.”
If you don’t apologize a 2nd time that I brought this forward to your attention, I think many other people on here might share my estimation of you (muy bajo.) I hope to hear something back, thanks.
Ian – almost didn’t let this thru. No more about this after this post, unless there is a response and keep it polite from now. As usual I tend to be too lax about regulars, and didn’t stop this before it got started. My apologies.
Mark Level
Got it, Ian, no sweat. I appreciate the 2nd opportunity to correct the falsehood.
different clue
I found a comment over at NaCap offering an even simpler reason for why Trump suddenly changed his most-of-the-world tarriff approach ” for ninety days”. I will simply copy-paste the comment and hope that Ian Welsh allows it.
” April 10, 2025 at 3:50 pm
Riffing further on Dean Baker’s “just sayin’ ” item within this post, I am seeing posts strongly suggesting that Trump’s advice to “buy stocks . . . some people are going to become unbelievably rich” followed by his ” 90 day tarriff suspension notice” may really be a dump-and-pump scheme designed to enrich his personal self and some of his personal class-comrade friends.
https://www.reddit.com/r/skeptic/comments/1jvxify/after_years_of_incessant_crying_over_corruption/
https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1jvv8a9/trump_admin_faces_insider_trading_investigation/
https://www.reddit.com/r/MurderedByWords/comments/1jvydiw/if_it_looks_like_a_duck_quacks_or_insider_trades/
mago
The accelerating rate of events is whiplash crazy.
First it’s on, then it’s off. (Talking tariffs but it could be tarragon.)
Japan unloads treasury bonds, but no they didn’t. It was China.
Wall Street tanks, but bounces back and rather than losing, billionaires win and Trumpet their success.
One thing for sure is the poors will keep on losing, and the killing and fighting and hatred will keep on keeping on as long as negative emotions endure.
More on topic, China is on the ascent no matter its particular problems. They don’t have to answer to a certain Middle Eastern potentate.
The yellow hoard, the little red book, mares milk and. . . fill in the blank. I’ve got nothing to say about cat fights and all the problems and history under the sun.
Meow meow.
Mark Pontin
@ Mark Level —
I absolutely apologize for my gratuitous — and wrongheaded in your case — assumptions.
I’m sorry. And yes, I didn’t see any of your further response hitherto because I didn’t swing back through Ian’s site before now. I try not to spend to much time arguing on the internet, because what’s the point generally?
In this case, I let my dislike of Americans’ extending assumptions based on the US to the rest of the world — even the ROW that’s the West — get the better of me.
I do encourage people inside the US to consider the notion, on the other hand, that while humanity may be flawed, there are few societies on the planet that have *chosen* to worship so much that’s monstrous so comprehensively as has the US — or US elites, at any rate — in recent years.
Mark Pontin
In other news —
Spain defends closer trade ties with China after US warns against ‘cutting own throat’
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/spain-defends-closer-trade-ties-with-china-after-us-warns-against-cutting-own-2025-04-09/
‘MADRID (Reuters) – Spain will pursue closer trade ties with China in the interests of its citizens and of the EU, its agriculture minister Luis Planas said on Wednesday, rejecting a U.S. warning that moving closer to the Asian country would be “cutting your own throat”.
‘”We have excellent trade relations with China which we intend to not only continue having, but expanding,” Planas told reporters from Ho Chi Minh City … accompanying Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on a trip to Vietnam and, on Friday, China.
‘Planas had been asked about earlier comments by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who criticised Spanish Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo’s suggestion that Europe should more closely align with China.
miss jennings
This has removed the Gaza/Rafah/West Bank/ PALESTINE GENOCIDE from the frontpage headlines.
——–
A recent comment from MOA which ‘jibes’ with Ian’s point:
“This entire tariff war is part of a broader strategy to contain and imprison China in a trading “sandbox” of America’s own design, and utterly impoverish it:…
https://tinyurl.com/mr2dvaed
The commenter – a regular at MOA – then goes on to outline the various means and methods the Zionist-occupied US government will use to isolate China in order to form a ‘US trading bloc’ or ‘anti-China trading bloc.’
And a response to the comment:
‘But the point you make as to Russia China is important. Neither are revolutionary or even anti capitalist states. Neither make any real appeal to the worlds wage slaves to join their struggle with US imperialism, which is really striking in the case of the Chinese “Communist” party. They both instead focus on agreements with other national bourgeois based only the on their respective national capitalist interests. There is very good reason to anticipate they will continue to conduct themselves in this way.’
The commenter goes on to say that Russia/China are the only options at this point because even though they are ‘capitalist-lite’ they are nevertheless, according to this commenter, not ‘imperialist:
‘Also, even from their national perspective, they must respond to Imperialist attacks on countries in their neighborhoods or that provide critical resources…
Success in such efforts will draw the attention of other countries, making them bolder in the face of Imperialism. And all the while Imperialism will continue moving from crisis to crisis.’
https://tinyurl.com/2spunc6z
I would suggest here that China and Russia are in fact an integral part of the global imperial game.
——-
There was massive market manipulation here once again. Upwards of ninety percent of the 10-year Treasuries bought at auction were purchased by ‘indirect bidders’ who are proxies for foreign entities.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/indirect-bidder.asp
To repeat: Nine out of ten buyers knew what was going to happen. Or their algos did.
As one amateur investor wit put it: I was in the shower when my phone app’s buy signal went off!
Meaning even in this wonderful age of instant everything which has been graciously extended even to all the little people…when it’s all said and done even the savvy technically proficient little guys have no shot compared to the global power players/psychopaths.
———
It’s been suggested that the real reason the Zionist-occupied US needs to reshore production is not so that ‘joe 6pack’ will have a job in a factory rather it is because the Zionist-occupied US has come to depend too much on China for components for its warmaking tools.
miss jennings
Spain will pursue closer trade ties with China in the interests of its citizens and of the EU, its agriculture minister Luis Planas said on Wednesday, rejecting a U.S. warning that moving closer to the Asian country would be “cutting your own throat”
A helicopter ‘crashed’ today in the Hudson River in NYC. The helicopter had on board senior executive Agustín Escobar from the Spanish division of multinational Siemens, and his wife and kids.
Wikispookia says that the German-based international conglomerate Siemens ‘holds the position of global market leader in industrial automation and industrial software.’
Witnesses to the ‘crash’ say that the helicopter ‘split in half’ in the air and its rotors separated from it. They described hearing a ‘boom’ or a ‘loud bang’ before the helicopter broke up – well before it hit the water, upon which it ‘boomed’ again.
https://archive.is/TS8Pf#selection-737.113-737.117
This is an RT article about the incident:
https://www.rt.com/news/615569-helicopter-crash-new-york/
——–
Embedded in that RT article are links to two X/Twitter accounts both of which are exceedingly/unabashedly pro-Trump and virulently/psycopathically Zionist.
https://x.com/nicksortor/status/1910441530646536434
https://x.com/TheNewsTrending/status/1910422611001237779
Back on Feb 25 the ‘Nick Sortor’ account wrote this:
‘Eric Swalwell PANICS when I ask about his Chinese spy girlfriend Fang Fang, and whether that’s a bigger “national security threat” than Elon Musk’
https://x.com/nicksortor/status/1894448074795241978
[I have no doubt Swalwell is compromised. They all are.]
And on March 6:
‘Secretary Marco Rubio has begun REVOKING visas for those participating in criminal pro-Hamas riots
Sources told @BillMelugin_
that a university student who was charged with crimes related to these protests is the first to have their visa revoked, and “ICE will assist in removing this person from the country.”
SEND THEM ALL BACK!’
https://x.com/nicksortor/status/1897788138673614996
The entire account is a combination of over-the-top Trump nostalgia mixed with truly reprehensible support for ICE tactics and Jewish Zionist supremacy. And Elon love. Quite a mix.
The ‘Breaking News’ X account is abominable as well:
BREAKING: An individual was caught on tape in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, in the act of stealing a bag containing mail.
It is possible that the bag contained election ballots.
Crown Heights has a large Jewish population, and many are voting for Trump.
https://x.com/TheNewsTrending/status/1853510861333352522
This is pure unadulterated Zionist Jewish Supremacist propaganda:
https://x.com/TheNewsTrending
RT is a Russian state-controlled information source.
——
Michael Roth, the CEO of New York Helicopter Tours, offerred the obligatory sorrow before immediately saying that a bird may have hit the chopper, or the rotors failed.
These speculative assertions/explanations are entirely at odds with a plethora of eyewitness testimony saying that the chopper ‘split in half’ in the air.
Roth then proceeded to leave the photos of the family on his company’s website for sale at $25 a pop for at least four hours after the tragedy.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/hudson-river-helicopter-crash-company-had-photos-of-victims-on-their-website-to-buy-for-25/ar-AA1CHYo8
https://nypost.com/2025/04/10/us-news/owner-of-helicopter-that-plummeted-into-nycs-hudson-river-devasted-after-6-killed/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14597525/nyc-hudson-river-helicopter-crash-victims.html
miss jennings
I would suggest here that China and Russia are in fact an integral part of the global imperial game.
The entire world will tremble: What happens if the US attacks Iran
Washington might prefer limited military action, but Israel is likely to pull out all the stops – and the effects will reverberate globally
‘A military operation against Iran would automatically deal a blow to Chinese interests. This includes energy contracts, logistics chains, access to natural resources, and strategic infrastructure.
Iran is one of the largest oil suppliers to China, and any military intervention would jeopardize not only current supplies but also long-term investments.
However, Beijing has anticipated such a scenario and, in recent years, has actively diversified its presence in the region. By deepening relations with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and even Israel, China seeks to avoid overreliance on Tehran in its Middle East policy.
This allows Beijing to maintain regional influence even in the face of serious disruptions, minimizing the risks associated with potentially losing Iran as a partner.’
https://www.rt.com/news/615406-us-iran-war-bad/
——-
Putin lets western investors sell some Russian shares ahead of Trump talks
‘Investors including Jane Street, GMO, and Franklin Templeton were approved to sell shares in Russian companies to a US hedge fund called 683 Capital Partners, Putin said in a decree published on Monday.
The hedge fund would then be free to transact with two Russian investment funds without the need for further authorisations by Putin, the decree added.
New York-based 683 Capital Partners did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Managed by Ari Zweiman, the firm oversaw $1.6bn in assets at the end of 2024, according to US Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
https://archive.is/NAmbN
Jane Street Capital was spawned from Jeff Yass’ Susquehanna International Group (SIG). It includes such luminaries as Sam Bankman-Fried, Caroline Ellison, and people associated wiht the ‘Zizian rationalists’ who’ve been in the news of late for their real-life horror movie antics and capers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Street_Capital
GMO is famed investor Jeremy Grantham’s gig. Grantham has thrown much of his ill-gotten ‘wealth’ under the umbrella of ‘philanthropy’ as they all do, so as to gain the extraordinary financial advantages that come with their alleged philanthropizing.
In Grantham’s case he has been particularly concerned with the environment. If you take him at his word, that is.
Grantham has always been a bear but his bearishness has really been peaking of late. He’s been warning of a stock market meltdown since the beginning of the year:
https://www.morningstar.com/news/marketwatch/20250228187/jeremy-grantham-on-the-meltdown-coming-for-us-stocks-and-where-hes-putting-his-money-now
Interestingly, on March 6 of this year Grantham released a report for GMO entitled ‘Rising Toxicity and the Threat to Capitalism and Life Itself’ within which he makes the point that:
‘Every developed country ex-Israel now has a rapidly declining baby count. Japan, leading the pack, has a current crop of 20-year-olds that is down 50% from its peak about 50 years ago.’
So he and his have spent years scaring the plebs to death about imminent environmental collapse but now he’s worried about declining birth rates due to bad food and environmental toxins no doubt brought about by all the ‘wealth-buildng’ he and his have done over the years.
https://archive.is/evXd8#selection-2555.0-2555.60
https://blog.validea.com/jeremy-grantham-jonathan-jacobson-seth-klarman-and-jeffrrey-vinik-below-the-radar-philanthropy-of-top-investors-to-social-causes/
—–
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=franklin+templeton+israel&t=lm&ia=web
Art
Most of that is true, at least to some extent, no major objections.
No doubt the powers-that-be are going to, true to their conditioning, stay loyal to the money guys but there are barely heard whispers coming from the deeper shadows. The vices are gaining strength. If that ball gets rolling it will quickly get to pitchforks and torchlight. An end to civility and on to act three with carts and guillotines. Or their modern equivalents.
People forget that “The New Deal” was, in large part, a move to save rich capitalists from themselves by creating an alternative to a revolution that was rapidly gaining traction. FDR caught it early. Before momentum could build past the point of moderation. Some commentators suggest we were far closer to blood in the streets than most people would now admit.
The oligarchs think police action and information control will always control the masses. As always, they will until they don’t. Trump has gone out of his way to alienate the military. Even staunchly right-wing police are faltering simply because this administration is so grossly incompetent that they can’t even organize simple police actions. Even hard-core racist realize this level of clown-car stupidity is not a good look. The desired effect is people trembling in fear not doubled over laughing.
Trump has always been a physical coward. Musk and Vance are no great shakes either. Without a compliant police force to protect them they won’t stand a chance. Jan 6 with 1500 mostly unarmed rioters could be a shadow of the many thousands that could show up. This is more Declaration of Independence and less Constitutional order.
IDK if it goes that way. IDK if things get better if it goes that way. People are offended and really, really pissed. As we move toward an oligarchic/ totalitarian ideal the little people are feeling they have less, and less to lose. Revolution is not off the table.
NR
This is an anecdote from social media, so take it with a grain of salt, but the part about the air quality data is true at least.
“Small but illustrative example of what’s going on at the State Dept:
I know someone who a few years ago did an unpaid summer internship at an embassy overseas. It was a country where the govt is very hostile to us, but the common people love everything about the United States, from movies to music to the NBA, but mostly the people love the U.S. (despite their own govt’s propaganda) because they see us as everything their own country is not.
One of this person’s duties for the summer was to go up on the embassy roof every day and take air quality readings, then enter the data into the embassy website. It took him about 30 minutes each morning. And apparently the webpage with the air quality data was the most visited page of the entire embassy website, even more than the information on visas. The reason was that nobody trusted their own govt’s information on pollution and air quality, but they DID trust the U.S. embassy.
Enter Marco Rubio as SecState, the supposed adult in the Trump Romper Room. One of his first acts was to order all embassies and consulates to cease posting air quality data on their websites. And remember, this is something that took 30 minutes of time for an unpaid intern.”
I suppose at some point it doesn’t really matter anymore if these people are acting out of incompetence or malice.
Mark Level
Thank you, Mark Pontin. Apology accepted.
Feral Finster
@Mark Level:
“Now WHAT could have caused such a change in a person who is clearly a sociopath with no conscience who defamed his former “friend” & mentor Jeremy Corbyn as an “anti-Semite” for regarding Palestinians as human beings with actual human rights? ”
Simple. Britons grovel and scrape before their American Master because, take away the United States and great britain goes from America’s Special Little Buddy to a has-been backwater, drowning in debt and with nothing to offer anyone other than nostalgia and Male Buggery.
different clue
@Feral Finster,
” Nothing to offer anyone”? Nothing at all?
This may be an exception which proves the rule, but Bulldog Tools by Claringdon Forge are still some of the best garden tools of their type in the world.
https://thetoolmerchants.com/store/clarington-forge-garden-fork/
https://www.gardenstreet.co.uk/bulldog-m3
It may not be much, but it is something more than nothing at all.
mago
Hey dc, let’s not forget that culinary tour de force called the Chip Buddy.
Haha.
It’s mashed potatoes and fried fish stuffed between two pieces of white bread.
Allegedly Keith Richards’ favorito long before he fell out of a palm tree.