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Noah Smith

@Noahpinion

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Hey Dems: When Trump does less protectionist dumbfuckery than Biden did, you should be reevaluating a few things.

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Crémieux

@cremieuxrecueil

Feb 24

I learned from the White House that the Nippon Steel deal is happening now, it's just transformed so that it's Nippon Steel getting control of U.S. Steel through a major investment instead of acquiring it outright.

6:04 PM · Feb 24, 2025

82.9K

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Malarky-In-Chief

@ripwiz

Feb 24

You do not actually have to "give it to him"

I do

How Trump and Congress Can Correct Biden’s Financial Policy Failures: Check out my latest piece: open.substack.com/pub/vanceginn/

Don’t scare him away!

Biden had some idiosyncratic Silent Generic values that ended up having outsized effect on stuff like protectionism, Israel etc

I really think it would be very positive for economists to put serious effort into the right way for the US to reshore / nearshore / friendshore as efficiently as possible. I feel like many (Peterson) are stuck in the mindset that the era of hyper-globalization will come back

When it happens, I’ll give him credit.

555

Lana Del Rey Nationalist

@LDRNationalist

Feb 24

I really think you could get Trump to rethink free trade if you allowed him to negotiate investments into America in exchange for lower tariffs.

1.1K

Launch! - Blue Haired Liberal

@DBZYuYuYasha

Feb 24

The Nippon one is a genuine win, but I bet alot of this other stuff was happening anyway.

947

@BKCaliNative

Feb 24

Bluster, put em down, then deal time.

Yup. The Dems remain fast asleep. I cannot believe they canned that Steel deal (see what I did there?)

Protectionism helped the United States defeat the Nazis.

Things have gotten so polarized that cognitive dissonance is ignored when arguing their opinions. I'll have a few posts highlighting something Trump has done that's positive and get a lot of praise about what was said. The second I say something critical about

Dems have always been historically more protectionist than free-trade loving republicans.

I’m pretty sure this would’ve happened under Biden as well.

Jimmy Scrambles

@RazzberryYams

Feb 24

He's doing less protectionist dumbfuckery if you ignore the protectionist dumbfuckery from the last couple weeks.

"Trump does less protectionist dumbfuckery than Biden" That is not how it looks from Canada.

uhhh he keeps threatening tariffs you know

Jersey Mike

@sturmovikdragon

Feb 24

Odd on USS maintaining an integrated operation? Don't think its not in Japan's playbook to reduce US industrial capacity as well.

Hey Noah: remember Foxconn?

They aren’t capable of self reflection. If they were they’d win every election like they used to.

What should I reevaluate?

It seems a lot better, but it’s still disappointing that a Japanese company is forced to jump through all of these hoops.

The local news comment section

"less"

ONE LESS thing

Sure, let me know when that happens.

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Throatwarbler T Mangrove

@mangrove_t

Feb 24

so, you're suggesting we don't nominate Biden again for '28?

There were VERY few people agreeing with Biden on this. Framing this as “duh Dems are bad!” Is lazy

CleGuy15

@PurpleHatKid

Feb 24

Do the tariffs not count?

Legit

Did we ever figure out who in the administration pushed Biden to axe the Nippon Steel acquisition?

I guess you’re not counting the tariffs because he’s going to be perpetually pushing them back another month for the next 4 years?

There’s only two possibilities here - 1) this deal would have got to this point if Dems were in control also or 2) Trump or one of his proxies is getting paid off

Moti

@sententiousness

Feb 24

So we are okay with massive lies pre-election?

Noah Filiation

@NoahFiliation

Feb 24

Has there been any actual confirmation of this other than Trump making an announcement? Last I heard, both Nippon and USS were caught off guard by Trump’s announcement.

Stop the whine. Nippon investment as well as all these investments are positives. Taking it a step further Nippon should be allowed to buy US steel to modernize that would lower costs and raise capacity as long as on site management and oversight of production remain American.

Such as?

lol, imagine credulously taking the Trump Admin and those sucking up to him at their word on "deals" that are happening. Some people truly never learn.

otack85

@otactk85

Feb 24

One of the truly mystifying things from Biden’s last days. What was it he thought he was protecting? 1967?

202

Mammoth Nation

@MammothNationUS

Joe Biden said the quiet part out loud: they want to lock Trump up and throw away the key.

0:26

Get a LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP today using Promo Code SAVEUSA

From mammothnation.com

Protectionism should not apply to allies like Japan and should only be used as a negotiating tool while we equilibrate these trade deals. We also need to pour more money into R&D and economic development, as innovation is our core competitive advantage and source of new wealth.

Richard Hasse

@RichardHasse

Feb 24

Allowing the Saudi's or Japan to buy up more of America is a BAD THING!!!

@MonsieurBobo

Feb 24

Not doing protectionist dumbfuckery was the one area Republicans were supposed to be better on, but even Republicans criticized this deal until they could take credit for it.

@NOYGC212

Feb 24

I’m on his team now, not worried about the Russia Ukraine betrayal and the sex assault and the felonies and the rolling purge.

Georgia Simpson

@Georgia64204810

Feb 24

History will not be kind to biden

hedgehop

@brzzg

Feb 24

He's begging people to figure out that his entire doctrine is all about optics. Just sign away the worthless rare earths nobody wants. Just say it's an investment not a buy out. Just say Canadian mounties will stop the fentanyl that's not coming across the border. It's just WWE

Harrison Bergeron

@BigLawNoMaw

Feb 24

Seriously, who supported stopping this? Domestic competitors? I honestly don't get why Biden did this, and I would hope very few Dems agreed

Don Lothario

@donlothari0

Feb 24

I think this was a more uniquely Biden thing tbf I don’t see Obama blocking that deal

Angelo Rivera

@LuAngeloRiv

Feb 24

Noah, you know that there were plenty of private investments during the Biden years including similar amounts from apple. They just didn’t advertise it like Trump and his cult do.

Dylan

@dylanhenrich

Feb 25

Biden’s decision was bad, but we shouldn’t pretend this isn’t just a reflexive anti-Biden move by Trump.

Cultural Bystander

@CulturalBystand

Feb 24

Dems generally hate all business, not just American.

Single Malt, now with kakistocracy

@neill_norman

Feb 24

Protectionist dumbfuckery? Blocking the US Steel acquisition didn’t raise prices to consumers. Trump’s tariffs will. Not the same. Your argument fails.

Chester Birdbath

@chesterBirdbath

Feb 24

Noah isn’t Trump slapping tariffs against the entire world? How does this one issue tilt your analysis so completely against Dems here?

square1 -

@square1_NYC

Feb 24

Hey Noah: When ostensibly small-government Republicans are bragging that a U.S. President is responsible for private investment through green-lantern willpower, you should be reevaluating a few things.