alt Hacker NewsI see this devolving into a circular argument.
But you can rebrand tariffs as “fines” all you want.
When they’re applied wildly disproportionately to certain firms in a certain industry from a certain 3rd party country…it’s a defacto tariff.
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anon_e-moose • 04/03/2025
The other day I got a massive tariff from the police, alleging that my parking was somehow wrong. This is a free country, I can park where I want.
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I know this view is common in the US but the EU fines all kinds of companies - European and not - large amounts for various violations.
Just 3 days ago it was almost $500 million to various car manufacturers, the biggest piece to Volkswagen. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_...
In 2021 it was $900 million to Volkswagen and BMW https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/sv/ip_21_...
In 2019 it was $370 million to automotive suppliers: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/sk/ip_19_...
In 2016 it was $3 billion to truck manufacturers: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_16_...
That list keeps going. And these are just the EU actions. National governments have their own enforcement. Germany fines Volkswagen for another billion in 2018: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jun/13/vw-fined-1b...
Treating fines on US companies as a tariff means we should also count Volkswagen $4.3 billion fine for Dieselgate as a hidden tariff. Do you agree with that?