The articles you've linked are about threats of 10% to 25% tariffs in the context of active trade negotiations between the US and China. Here, there's an actually imposed tariff of 145% and no talks at all as far as has been reported. It's not the same situation.
Exactly. Anyone claiming it’s a repeat of history either doesn’t understand the history or doesn’t understand the current tariff proposal.
Order of magnitude difference. Hence the panic.
It’s a different situation because the numbers are different even though so far the outcomes are the same. Am I reading that right?
The outcomes are not the same because the numbers are not the same. A few days ago some Chinese journalists interviewed analysts familiar with CATL on batteries. At that time the tariff was 125%, and the analysts thought CATL could still eke out some profits: it's one of the very few Chinese businesses that can profit despite the 125% tariffs because China controls 75% of the world's battery anodes, 90% of cathodes and electrolytes. At 145% tariff CATL will be taking a loss and won't supply batteries at all.
I'm not sure what you could possibly mean by "outcome" that doesn't include a 145% tax as an outcome. Perhaps you've fallen victim to the misinformation that the exporting country pays tariffs? That's not so; a 145% tariff on imports from China means that an American business importing $10,000 of stuff from China is required to pay the US government $14,500 on top. (Or they can not do the import and lay off everyone who was involved in processing and selling the stuff, as many China-dependent businesses will likely do over the next few weeks.)
Still have another 90+ days to figure this out. Perhaps you have fallen victim to believing each move is a different game than last time. To me it appears all someone did was shuffle the pieces.
We don't have another 90+ days. The 145% tariff is in effect right now. Whoever told you about the 90 days was intentionally trying to trick you; there are other tariffs that were delayed for 90 days, but the announcement delaying those tariffs made it extremely clear that this one was not delayed.
No one tricked me, you’re just jumping to conclusions based on what I wrote and what point you want to make.
No it’s different because threats to get concessions, and actually enacting them to self sabotage your economy, it’s entirely different.