Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon use satire to criticize Trump’s tariffs on India and global trade partners during their late-night shows (CNBC)
Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon, late-night TV hosts, have recently come out openly to criticize the largely belligerent tariff policies of the US president Donald Trump. Such hilarious bits cover the ever-increasing backlash against the imposition of huge tariffs on more than 90 countries, among them a 50% levy on imports from India.
The hilarious anecdotes are built around elucidating the wider economic and political tensions brought on by such trade restrictions.
“Today, more of President Trump’s tariffs hit over 90 countries, including Canada, Brazil, and India,” Fallon kicked off his standup. He added, “The only places Trump didn’t charge are North Korea and Epstein’s Island.”
“Fifty per cent tariffs on Brazil will skyrocket prices for bananas, mangoes, and pineapples,” he said and joked, “Edible Arrangements are safe, as long as you don’t hike the price of cantaloupe and long toothpicks.”
On his blockbuster show, Tonight, Jimmy Fallon opened with a pun to recount how far-reaching are the tariffs of Trump. Fallon joked-that is-spared by these levies, other than in North Korea, the infamous Epstein Island.
He lightly warned against the consequences of the 50% tariffs against Brazil, saying nothing would "be excited to see what a product price increase will do to such tropical imports as bananas, mangoes, and pineapples!" He lightheartedly jabbed that "Edible Arrangements" might be safe, provided that we don't see price spikes on cantaloupes and long toothpicks, at all.
Furthermore, Stephen Colbert mocked the tariffs on India on his show. He said, "With those gauze and bandages going up by 50%, emergency medical supplies are about to take themselves out of the budget."
"I am going to launch my product, 'Steve's wad'," Colbert said in his humorous comment underscoring the absurdity of raising prices on important healthcare items without actually melding humor with a particular subtle critique of policy decisions likely to affect ordinary consumers.
These tariffs are retaliatory acts of punishment against India for the ongoing import of Russian oil, which in turn, according to the Trump administration, undermines international sanctions on Russia. That is why Trump has hiked duties on Indian goods-in his personal bid to pressurize New Delhi into ending ties with Moscow.
As India defends the energy strategy of the country from strategic and military importance, it argues that it utilizes as imports key Russian materials such as uranium hexafluoride and palladium, denoting the inadequate consistency in US policy with respect to this type of energy because it still imports those materials from Russia. There lies complex geopolitics in global trade.
Colbert and Fallon show the best fact that they are mirroring the real-world implications and how one can get into serious trouble by bad trade policies that affect millions of innocent people. Their humor flashes at real tensions in global commerce, reminding all that political maneuverings have much more to do with everyday life than what meets the imagination.
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