seen a thesis/opinion that the tariffs as positioned is a covert solicitation for bribes, a test to see who’ll line up to kiss the ring and ask for exceptions

holds some water but I don’t really see how it’s expected to scale internationally? “hope the CEOs beg their national economic leadership”?

the whole damn thing is ofc stupid but (as I’ve said in other cases) shrugging the whole off because of that is dangerous - worth interrogating even despite the stupid, because they still have impact