Regarding the tariffs announced last night by Trump, remember to buy European and

Not a hard challenge, since American products will become a lot more expensive

I had this talk with someone I barely know about Trump.
She said he must know he's never gonna be remembered as an exceptional president, so instead he is trying to just be remembered, doesn't matter if for good or bad.
I think that makes so much sense.
- i think, that he is so controversial and so many people wants to side with him and be anti-woke/anti-left that even when he fails he will be remembered as a martyr of their cause.
  
  Considering how e.g. the Brexit people still insist that what was implemented was "not the Brexit we voted for" instead of admitting that it was a fundamentally stupid idea that could never work in any implementation variant you are probably correct.

I love how he's complaining about VAT, thats paid by the consumer and businesses exporting goods can reclaim it. (if my understanding is correct).
- Yes, the end consumer pays and the parties in the chain pass it through

As an American living abroad, I support this message. I’ve already moved over 90% of my SaaS subs to Euro alternatives. Hardware will take a while. Other day to day stuff has been quite easy.

Marketing is a hell of a drug! When I was in south america for vacation everyone wanted US products when they had cheaper better options but still looked at the US.

I work in data and we are pretty much just a Microsoft implementation factory. That's gonna be difficult to just swing around.
But besides Microsoft, I'm fine on products. We rarely have stuff from the US.
- I feel that.
  And what are ya gonna do? How far down and to the left in the Magic Quadrant do you go before you find a non-American alternative?
  Sucks to be here. I had hopes the money (of the threatened companies) would win over the rhetoric, but now the company I work for is effectively built around software that’s not got mature non-American alternatives. I’m still trying to recommend European options when they’re available
- I think I'm stupid. The tariffs/counter-tariffs also affect software?
  
  I don't think you're stupid. It's a valid question.
  So, tariffs will only affect the US domestic price of things. Importing stuff from overseas to the US will bump the price by the tariff amount. The goal of this is to stimulate Americans to buy American products. Or rather, deter them from buying something not American.
  The Buy From EU movement is essentially the same thing, but rather than doing a deterrent, we will try to encourage Europeans to use European (or just non-US) products or services.
  So no, Microsoft will not become more expensive outside the US, they will most likely not pull their services from the EU as they need us just as much as we need them.
  The goal of this is to show Trump we don't really care about him wanting the US to end up in economic isolation, whilst at the same time bolstering EU economics.
  But to the be clear: there are exactly 0 winners in tariff based trade wars. You can reason all you want to find some positive examples, like:
  less overseas shipping (meaning less fossil fuels, less pollution),
  stronger domestic economy (because you can no longer import stuff, you'll have to make it yourself), - or maybe better products (because you'll still have to compete with overseas products).
  But:
  because of the splintering you'll have more production facilities and stuff still needs to be moved within the economic region
  because of the splintering, companies will have to sell at a higher price to cover cost of lower capital outlay
  because you'd have to reverse engineer stuff to produce it yourself, you'll make an inferior product at the same, or higher, price.
  But mainly: getting the tariffs to work will take a lot of time. It's essentially a reboot of the system we have been building for a century. But the time the tariffs will have the desired effect, consumers will no longer have the money to even spend on these new domestic products.
  It will be like the Great Depression which will be followed by a war. History will inspire our future.
  That said I can't wait to see 2070, sadly I'll be old and grey by then. If not dead.