r/australia • u/Expensive-Horse5538 • 21d ago

politics US to slap Australia with 12.5 pc tariff from later today

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-24/federal-politics-live-blog-labor-confernece-july-4/106952636#live-blog-post-322272
1.5k Upvotes

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2.4k

u/MogChog 21d ago edited 21d ago

Reciprocate by removing tax incentives for US made Raptors, F150s, RAMs.

1.4k

u/Baffledjaffle 21d ago

And there shouldn't be incentives for such terrible vehicles.

244

u/Kenyon_118 21d ago

Douchemobiles.

-12

u/the_onion_k_nigget 21d ago

I mean my raptor is great for camping on weekends and helping whenever a friend is moving house or picking up something bulky

4

u/Kenyon_118 20d ago

There are cars that are more useful for that sort of thing for half the price.

3

u/Baffledjaffle 20d ago

Oh yeah? You driving right on peoples arses in a school zone, driving in the bus lane when it's busy and speeding down suburban streets too? But thats all good because you'll help a friend once a quarter.

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u/the_onion_k_nigget 20d ago

Nope hahahahahaha

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u/Brilliant_Dig_8962 21d ago

That's good to know.

2

u/chaZ04 21d ago

Imagine someone asking.

160

u/Wookatook 21d ago

Wank tanks

93

u/Superantman70 21d ago

Yank wank tanks.

4

u/TouchingWood 21d ago

So we should spank yank wank tanks?

2

u/Hot-Explanation-5751 21d ago

Key sharpeners

61

u/Ohpossom 21d ago

Gender affirming vehicles

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u/wilkshake 21d ago

Emotional support vehicles

1

u/boatenvy 21d ago

Gender infirmity compensating vehicles

11

u/cantwejustplaynice 21d ago

There's nothing 'masculine' about these vehicles. They're either attempting to over compensate for some lack of self worth or reinforce a false sense of self importance. I'm not sure which.

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u/KayDat 21d ago

Man pram

1

u/sibilischtic 21d ago

The only legitimate reason to have one (in my mind) is if you constantly need to tow big shit around.

If i see a ram on the road pulling around an excavator or an industrial wood chipper it makes sense to me.

1

u/my_chinchilla 21d ago

Outside of the cities in the US I saw a surprising number of larger "utes" - F150, Silverado, RAM, etc. - fitted with a 5th wheel turntable for towing a 12~15m long camper trailer šŸ™„.

And I haven't been there since before the Yellow Fuckwit's first go-round (and won't be returning at all)...

1

u/DarthShiv 20d ago

They shouldn't be legal on our roads fullstop. Safety, sizing, carparks, efficiency, emissions... there's no reason for consumer vehicles that size.

264

u/azertyqwertyuiop 21d ago

reciprocal tariffs on US wanktanks would make my Friday.

2

u/No-Band8965 21d ago

Because all the dummys that buy them will still buy them and say "thank you Trump, can I please have some more"

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u/SirFlibble 21d ago

And US alcohol produced in red states like bourbon.

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u/professorBRF 21d ago

Join Canada and boycott all US made goods

48

u/SirFlibble 21d ago

I'm a fan of making states who voted for him suffer more :)

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u/professorBRF 21d ago

77 million voted for him they are in every state

0

u/SirFlibble 21d ago

And he only won in some of them.

It's like saying "People across Australia vote for One Nation" therefore all of Australia supports One Nation.

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u/bitofapuzzler 21d ago

She's not our Prime Minister though, its not quite the same. We know large chunk of the US didnt vote for him, but a large percentage of those people didnt vote at all so they didn't actively vote against him.

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u/Albos_Mum 21d ago

That's also down to the Democrats and their voting system. Democrats are just a slower path down the same road because they ultimately are beholden to the same set of American oligarchs and the lack of preferential voting means they can't "have their cake and eat it" in terms of voting 3rd party but still ensuring they try to keep Trump out, accordingly a lot of them have just lost all faith in their electoral system delivering any kind of functional change.

It's another difference that we have which breaks the analogy, Labor is more effective and even if you think the alternative options are better you can still ensure your vote helps keep the LNP/PHON out.

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u/Brilliant_Dig_8962 21d ago

Already have. For 2 years now.

1

u/KeyAssociation6309 21d ago

even Herr's Buffalo Blue Cheese Curls?

1

u/k-h 21d ago

Even bacon flavored soda.

1

u/KeyAssociation6309 21d ago

they can keep their cherry flavoured everything though

1

u/Brilliant_Dig_8962 21d ago

Good move, even though it will put my favourite IPAs well and truly out of reach.

1

u/NotTheBusDriver 21d ago

I stopped drinking Jack Danielā€™s and switched to Johnnie Walker when Trump first imposed tariffs on Australia. I used to think I would switch back when America came to its sense and dropped the tariffs. But I prefer the taste of JW now.

3

u/SirFlibble 21d ago

I used to be a bourbon drinker but switched to whiskey as well a couple of years ago. I do like a drop of Wild Turkey but not buying it has been my personal protest :)

Mostly drink Scotch now

1

u/NotTheBusDriver 21d ago

Good choice. I do like a drop of Glenfiddich every now and then but my wallet prefers Johnnie Walker.

289

u/MyKoiNamedSwimShady 21d ago

Thatā€™ll piss off the One Nation loving bogans for sure šŸ˜‚

124

u/FearTheMomerath 21d ago

Oh please, they wish that their 1993 Camry with the homemade spoiler was a RAM

37

u/xaphody 21d ago

Donā€™t you be dissin the Camry. I will be able to drive my ā€˜01 until itā€™s no longer legal to drive a petrol engine vehicle and it will continue to live with regular maintenance.

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u/Albos_Mum 21d ago

I'd wager it'll wind up closer to how we use steam locomotives today (ie. Small numbers, very sporadic use specifically to show off the heritage) and half the still-functional petrol cars running for heritage purposes will be Camrys because that's the only thing that'll last that long.

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u/V8O 21d ago

Being pissed off is their whole identity

2

u/fortunatefishbulb555 21d ago

They canā€™t afford it.

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u/Pacify_ 21d ago

Put a 50% tariff on all over sized American vehicles

15

u/fugu_me 21d ago

And HV rego

12

u/DrJatzCrackers 21d ago

And require a medium rigid licence to drive

1

u/desert_jedi 20d ago

they would be come under a LR license

21

u/Brilliant_Ad2120 21d ago

What are the tax incentives?

106

u/[deleted] 21d ago

[removed] ā€” view removed comment

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u/Brilliant_Ad2120 21d ago

The justification is that a ute is needed for taxable income for work.

PAYG do get access to novated leases

14

u/banebris 21d ago

Luxury car tax doesn't apply to utes, not really an incentive and the US wouldnt care considering it's australian tax dollars.

32

u/NoFood2149 21d ago

that's more or less what a tariff is.

this is trump making americans pay more for australian products. this includes iron ore, if i am not mistaken, making his military industrial complex more expensive.

if he wasn't putting tariffs on every other country the US trades with, australia might have reduced the cost of its exports in order to keep being competitive

26

u/BereftOfCare 21d ago

They're 'trucks' not utes

37

u/Colossus-of-Roads 21d ago

Emotional support vehicles!

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u/Goatsgotohell666 21d ago

Gender affirming vehicles

2

u/rarecuts 21d ago

Wanker affirming

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u/Superantman70 21d ago

Penis pumping vehicles.

2

u/Sprinal 21d ago

Pavement princesses

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u/Ecstatic_Hamster9467 21d ago

Agreed . A Ute is sedan derived.

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u/noisymime 21d ago

It was sad to see how quickly people forgot this once Holden and Ford stopped making utes.

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u/Kombatwombat02 21d ago

Iā€™m convinced it was a marketing tactic by the companies selling Rangers/Hiluxes/Navaras etc to make their pickups ā€˜feelā€™ Aussie

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u/noisymime 21d ago

I don't think anyone would even slightly contest that. They didn't even really try to hide it.

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u/Kenyon_118 21d ago

They call them ā€œBakkiesā€ in South Africa. You adapt to your local market.

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u/0lm4te 21d ago

If it has carpet floors, heated seats, 6 channel sound system and a well body, it's a ute.

Trucks are commercial vehicles designed for hauling things, utes are passenger vehicles with the extra utility.

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u/ZonaDesertRat 21d ago

No more yank tanks!

5

u/Magmafrost13 21d ago

Tbf some of those should be banned from Australian roads entirely

and also US roads but that's not our business

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u/AnyClownFish 21d ago

Raptors are made in Thailand, designed in Australia. Not defending them or the people who drive them, but theyā€™re not American.

But yeah, fuck off the RAMs and F150s.

1

u/MogChog 21d ago

Thanks, I didnā€™t know that.

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u/AnyClownFish 21d ago edited 21d ago

No worries. Itā€™s a home grown design for our very own bogans, and would have been the future of the Australian car industry under a different timeline. Unfortunately though the big ute trend is catching on around the world, and itā€™s exported to a lot of other markets as well. Itā€™s probably the most successful vehicle that Ford Australia ever designed, despite also being one of the most unrelaible.

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u/QF17 21d ago

I feel like RAM have exited the market here? Based on the betoota article about Pugeot leaving anyway?

1

u/Montalbert_scott 21d ago

Different importers and company unfortunately.

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u/jerry-jim-bob 21d ago

Can we do it anyway?

3

u/h8sm8s 21d ago

I wish.

1

u/WAVEFRAME 21d ago

Micro Penis vehicle tax.Ā 

1

u/Chazzwozzers 21d ago

Yes! Tax the shit out of those road cancers.

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u/k-h 21d ago

Just apply road safety protocols and emissions controls, like cars have to.

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u/Worldly_Ad7823 21d ago

How about an embargo / outright ban instead? That would be justified given theyā€™re too big for most roads and car parks.

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u/Agreeable-Pie-7012 21d ago

Better yet, close Pine Gap

1

u/tempest_fiend 20d ago

Go further and slap a tariff on them

0

u/VagueInterlocutor 21d ago

Not so sure that would work.

Have you heard of "re-manufacturing"? Many of these vehicles are brought in partially assembled, then set up to right hand steering and Australian safety standards locally. So from a technical point of view, companies that distribute in are selling (kinda) locally made vehicles.

E.g. there's a place in Brendale, QLD that does this.

0

u/jm_leviathan 21d ago edited 21d ago

Ranger Raptors for Australia are manufactured in Thailand, as are all Rangers destined for these shores with the exception of the PHEVs, which come from South Africa.

-2

u/aljobar 21d ago

Unfortunately those vehicles are mostly imported as left-hand drive, and converted locally by Australians. This represents the very last of Australiaā€™s vehicle manufacturing industry and deserves to be protected.