Tag: Tariffs

Things Are Getting Ugly

Between tariffs and sanctions the economy is suffering with Trumponomics……..the latest jobs report is one example but there are others….

We got a much better sense of what the American labor market is doing today. And the news was not good.

The economy added only 22,000 jobs last month, far fewer than economists had predicted, according to a new release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The new data also shows that the economy gained slightly more jobs in July than we thought at the time, but that it actually lost 13,000 jobs in June — making that month the first since 2020 to see a true decline in U.S. employment.

The unemployment rate now stands at 4.3%, one tenth of a percent higher than it was last month. All in all, the American labor market has been frozen since President Trump declared “Liberation Day” and announced a bevy of new tariffs in April.

On the one hand, some aspects of that job loss shouldn’t be a surprise. As we’ve covered at Heatmap, the Trump administration has spent the past few months attacking the wind, solar, and electric vehicle industries. It has yanked subsidies from new electricity generation, rewritten rules on the fly, and waged an all-out regulatory war on offshore wind farms. Electricity costs are rising nationwide, constraining essentially all power-dependent industries except artificial intelligence.

https://heatmap.news/economy/jobs-report-manufacturing-trump

Remember the promise by Donny that manufacturing jobs would return top the US with his tariffs?

So far that has not been the case.

The U.S. manufacturing industry shed more workers in August despite policies from President Donald Trump’s administration aimed at bolstering the sector.

The United States lost 12,000 manufacturing jobs for the month, continuing a downward trend since its most recent peak in February 2023, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. Overall, employers added a disappointing 22,000 jobs in August, signaling a slowdown in U.S. hiring.

It will take time to see how tariffs’ impact on the manufacturing labor force plays out. So far this year, the uncertainty around the new trade policies and consumer spending has prompted some businesses to slow hirings.

“There’s no good reason for manufacturing to be hiring right now, and there are a lot of good reasons for it to be taking it easy,” said Ron Hetrick, a senior economist at labor market analytics company Lightcast.

Manufacturing job loss isn’t exclusive to the Trump administration. Jobs in the industry – which slid to 12.7 million in August, or about 8% of total nonfarm employment – have dipped dramatically since their peak in 1979 when they accounted for roughly 22% of total employment. While there were gains made after the Great Recession, jobs began trending down again in early 2023.

That downward trend has continued into 2025, with the sector losing roughly 78,000 jobs over the year through August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/economy/2025/09/05/manufacturing-employment-decline-jobs-report-august/85945275007/

I guess the kneejerk reaction to stats that Donny did not appreciate and the firing of the head of the BLS is not going to make his ‘Save America Economy’ any better.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Veggies Are Next

First if was some stuff about Bird Flu and the price of eggs shot up by 50+%…..then Donny imposed his tariffs and everything became more and more expensive….first it was the prices for meat….

Of course I felt obligated to pass on what I had read about this rise….

Expensive Being A Meat Eater

So like any other normal person I decided to supplement my smaller meat portions with veggies…..now that is not going to happen….

Wholesale food prices rose 1.4% from June to July, with one big subsector leading the way: fresh and dry vegetables, which surged 38.9% in that same time period, per the AP. That’s the largest month-on-month spike for veggies since March 2022, as well as the biggest increase in a summer month since record-keeping for this data started after World War II, reports Axios, citing Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The outlet notes that these wholesale stats could portend a jump in prices soon at the supermarket as well.

So how much does this “veggie-flation” have to do with the Trump administration’s ongoing global trade war? “Because we get most of that produce across the border, and they’re imports, the tariffs have a lot to do with that,” Phil Kafarakis, CEO of IFMA The Food Away From Home Association, tells Axios. “Over a third of our vegetables are imported,” agrees Michigan State University food economist David Ortega, who tells Marketplace that items like tomatoes, cucumbers, cauliflower, and asparagus are especially susceptible to higher tariffs.

Kafarakis, meanwhile, tells Axios that things could even get worse in the fall, when harvest season begins, with a possible decline in farm workers to gather that produce amid Trump’s accompanying immigration crackdown. “Getting into October, the quality and then the capacity of what we’re able to bring in is going to be a real, real problem,” he notes. “Prices will soar to keep demand in check.”

I guess that means if I want to get more healthy food I will be eating more fruit….that is wrong as well for a lot of our fruit comes through import and that means higher prices for this as well….

Since produce is getting more expensive does that mean vegans will be paying through nose more so than us god awful meat eaters?

Thoughts?

Finally a short economics lesson…..just a look at how much we spend on groceries….

According to the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) July 2025 food plans, a moderate-to-liberal-cost grocery plan for a single adult ranges from roughly $300 to $450 per month, depending on age and gender. For a family of four, following a moderate-cost USDA food plan, monthly grocery spending would rise to around $1,337.60, depending on the ages of the children — a 3.4% increase from $1,293 in the same month in 2023. Even the low-cost (thrifty) plan would cost a family of four $994 a month.

Using the USDA’s food plan as a guide, a single adult, earning the national median monthly income of $5,175, should plan on spending roughly 7-9% of their income on groceries. Meanwhile a family of four earning the national median household income, which was $80,610 via the Census Bureau’s 2024 report, should plan on spending as much as 20% of their income on food every month. However, while these USDA figures offer a structured benchmark, they’re ultimately falling short of what most people are actually spending. The BLS has found that the average American is spending $504 on groceries monthly, but the USDA suggests that a single adult should be spending $400 instead — a 22% difference. Even worse, this is before factoring in things like regional price differences, dietary needs, bad grocery shopping strategies, and food waste.

Read More: https://www.moneydigest.com/1938236/how-much-money-average-american-spends-on-groceries-per-month/

And this is far from over…..who would have thought that in this land of abundance eating could become a luxury?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Tariffs–Blowing Smoke

Since January there has been daily updates on the tariffs that Donny has imposed on the world….it is a Duncan yo-yo….up and down….a pause and then strong condemnation and then another pause….I see China got another pause in tariffs….where are all those countries scrambling to do a deal?

To me it is more about stock manipulation and the markets than it is about punishing whoever has offended Little Donny….

But you decide….

Donald Trump’s words and actions rarely align perfectly. If you watch carefully, what he doesn’t say can be just as telling as what he does.

“Starting on day one, we will end inflation and make America affordable again, to bring down the prices of all goods,” he told the nation ahead of his re-election. The US president declared that 2 April would “forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn”, only to pause tariffs a week later.

He promised peace in Ukraine on day one of his presidency, only to later clarify this was “said in jest”; and he has claimed very few people can beat him at golf, only for footage from Scotland to raise questions over just how honest that round might be.

As a real estate mogul, reality TV star and political campaigner, Trump learned to bend narrative to his will, even if it meant straying from reality.

As president, this often leaves a gap between what he says and what he does. In many cases, the administration’s actions are more important to follow than the firehose of words.

If you were, say, a US business buying coffee from Brazil, you might have rushed to import it last week after Trump insisted 1 August was the cast-iron deadline for new tariffs. “It stands strong, and will not be extended,” he wrote on Wednesday – hours before signing an executive order that said new steep tariffs on the country would come into force on 8 August, after all.

And if you’re a US consumer, you might reasonably ask how inflation can be “dead”, as the White House has claimed, if you’re still shelling out more on groceries each month.

The president has an awful lot to say about tariffs. They will, he argues, raise “trillions” of dollars for the US federal government; eliminate trade deficits with other countries; and even punish Brazil for putting his ally the former president Jair Bolsonaro on trial for allegedly seeking to seize power after losing the 2022 presidential election. The list goes on.

But what about what the president doesn’t say?

And if you’re a US consumer, you might reasonably ask how inflation can be “dead”, as the White House has claimed, if you’re still shelling out more on groceries each month.

The president has an awful lot to say about tariffs. They will, he argues, raise “trillions” of dollars for the US federal government; eliminate trade deficits with other countries; and even punish Brazil for putting his ally the former president Jair Bolsonaro on trial for allegedly seeking to seize power after losing the 2022 presidential election. The list goes on.

But what about what the president doesn’t say?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/05/donald-trump-tariffs

Donny has struck a few trade deals….nothing like what was promised but give him credit for the deals he has concluded….like with Japn and the UK….

By its own reckoning, the Trump administration has now inked “the largest trade deal in American history”—twice. On July 22, it announced a deal with Japan, with the promise of $550 billion in direct investment in the United States. Shortly after came the European Union trade deal, which the administration hailed as “historic structural reforms.”

All this fanfare over record-breaking trade deals brings to mind the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which, in its time, was on track to be the globe’s largest free trade pact before President Donald Trump abandoned it in 2017. TPP partners represented 40 percent of all U.S. trade, and unlike today’s skeletal agreements, we had the details. In fact, we had 30 chapters of them, covering everything from intellectual property to tariffs to e-commerce.

In contrast, the Japan deal that Trump claims to have struck is more puzzle than promise. The White House fact sheet on the new deal claims, “Japan will invest $550 billion directed by the United States to rebuild and expand core American industries,” and that 90 percent of the return from investment would go to the United States. However, this language veers in a different direction from the Japanese cabinet release, which says “Japan will enable government-affiliated financial institutions to provide up to $550 billion in capital contributions, loans, and loan guarantees.” Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow Brad Setser has called the investment pledge “vaporware.”

The E.U. deal is, if anything, even thinner on details, with European negotiators rushing to clarify it was only a preliminary framework—political, provisional, and definitely not legally binding.

It didn’t have to be this way. The Trump administration claims its tariffs are drawing countries to the table for tough negotiations. Yet in 2016, TPP partners were already there, ready to sign an agreement that closely reflected U.S. trade standards and practices, having overcome significant domestic hurdles. The TPP’s multilateral negotiating framework actually provided an efficient mechanism for participating countries to modernize their existing bilateral free trade agreements, and it augmented less comprehensive pacts like NAFTA and the Korea-U.S. agreement (KORUS).

https://reason.com/2025/08/07/the-art-of-the-empty-trade-deal/

It is all smoke and mirrors and the faithful eat it up as somehow a breakthrough in trade….

So far I have not seen the ‘breakthrough’…..yes these sanctions has brought in some cash but at what price?

You as the consumer is paying the price….can you get that through that tiny mind?

After 6+ months the only thing he has accomplished was stealing more of your hard earned cash….congrats!  You asked for it, you got it!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

All That Expensive Food

I do not know about you but I have been watching my food budget get chipped away by policies from DC and the greed of those god awful middle men…..

I thought I was just being paranoid but apparently I am not alone….

The vast majority of US adults are at least somewhat stressed about the cost of groceries, a new poll finds, as prices continue to rise and concerns about the impact of President Trump’s tariffs remain widespread. About half of all Americans say the cost of groceries is a “major” source of stress in their life right now, while 33% say it’s a “minor” source of stress, according to the poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Only 14% say it’s not a source of stress, underscoring the pervasive anxiety most Americans continue to feel about the cost of everyday essentials, the AP reports.

  • The worry affects young and old alike. Groceries are one of the most far-reaching financial stressors, affecting the young and old alike, the poll finds. While Americans over age 60 are less likely than younger people to feel major financial anxiety about housing, their savings, child care, or credit card debt, they are just as worried about the cost of groceries.
  • Even higher-income households are stressed. According to the poll, 64% of the lowest-income Americans—those who have a household income of less than $30,000 a year—say the cost of groceries is a “major” stressor. That’s compared with about 4 in 10 Americans who have a household income of $100,000 or more. But even within that higher-income group, only about 2 in 10 say grocery costs aren’t a worry at all.
  • Other worries weigh heaviest on younger people. Other financial stressors—like the cost of housing or the amount of money in their bank accounts—are also broadly felt, but they weigh more heavily on younger Americans, who are less likely than older adults to have significant savings or own property. About half of US adults say housing is a “major” source of stress, according to the poll.
  • “Buy now, pay later.” The survey also found that about 3 in 10 Americans overall, and 4 in 10 under age 45, say they’ve used what are known as “buy now, pay later” services when spending on entertainment or restaurant meals or when paying for essentials like groceries or medical care. An increasing share of those customers are having trouble repaying their loans, according to recent disclosures from the lenders.
  • Some groups are more stressed than others. Women are more likely than men to report high levels of stress about their income, savings, the cost of groceries, and the cost of health care, the poll found. Hispanic adults are also particularly concerned about housing costs and both credit card and student debt. About two-thirds of Hispanic adults say the cost of housing is a “major” source of stress, compared with about half of Black adults and about 4 in 10 white adults.
  • Esther Bland, 78, who lives in Buckley, Washington, says groceries are a “minor” source of stress—but only because her local food banks fill the gap. Bland relies on her Social Security and disability payments each month to cover her rent and other expenses—such as veterinary care for her dogs—in retirement. “I have no savings,” she says. “I’m not sure what’s going on politically when it comes to the food banks, but if I lost that, groceries would absolutely be a major source of stress.” Bland’s monthly income mainly goes toward her electric, water, and cable bills, she said, as well as care of her dogs and other household needs. “Soap, paper towels, toilet paper. I buy gas at Costco, but we haven’t seen $3 a gallon here in a long time,” she says. “I stay home a lot. I only put about 50 miles on my car a week.”

Just keep an eye on the trends….

Many Americans have been struggling with the price of groceries since the pandemic. In fact, the U.S. Economic Research Service reported a 23.6% increase in food prices from 2020 to 2024. This is higher than overall inflation, which was at 21.2% during this period (and which was already near a record high).

Surging prices on staples like eggs hit especially hard because, while it is possible to try to trim your grocery budget, there’s only so much you can do to cut back on essentials.

Unfortunately, things are not likely to get better any time soon. In fact, things are very likely going to get worse. That’s because tariffs are scheduled to go into effect on almost all U.S. trading partners. These tariffs were originally slated for August 1, but have now been pushed back to August 7.

Tariffs are taxes on imported goods, which are inevitably passed on to consumers. If there are higher import duties due on the food you eat, you are going to pay more for it. In fact, you are going to pay significantly more for many kinds of foods because it’s not that easy to just switch to sourcing certain items in the U.S.

https://www.thestreet.com/retail/tariffs-cause-august-grocery-price-surge-five-foods-hit-hardest

At first I thought my concern was from extreme dislike for this idiot that we put in the White House….but a trip to the market changed all that….the dislike has now become hate.

People may relish the idea of Donny’s programs of arresting those 7 year old hardened criminals and overlook they are being taking to the cleaners by other policies…..maybe that is the cost of ethnic hatred.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Tariffs And Prices

There is a new ‘pause’ on tariffs and that should stabilize prices but it does not seem to be doing that at all….

In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick bragged about the “amazing” revenue that the Trump administration’s tariffs are delivering to the U.S. Treasury.

“The tariff revenues are amazing: $700 billion a year,” Lutnick told Shannon Bream. “That’s just net new money the government never had before. You take that for 10 years, that’s $7 trillion.”

Ignore, if you can, the still bizarre (but increasingly common) sight of a Republican executive official bragging about how much money the federal government has extracted from the economy. Similarly, try to ignore Lutnick’s questionable calculation of how much revenue the tariffs will generate—the best estimates right now suggest they will generate between $2.5 trillion and $2.7 trillion over the next decade, not the $7 trillion that Lutnick claims. (But those estimates are tricky things, given the lack of certainty surrounding all of this.)

Focus instead on the obvious question that Lutnick’s claim ought to bring to mind: Where, exactly, is all that “new money” coming from?

All taxes are paid by someone, and President Donald Trump’s tariffs are no exception to that rule. The question of who pays and in what amounts is likely to become even more of a focal point in the coming days and weeks, as the White House follows through on its threat to hit imports from dozens of countries with higher tariffs starting on August 1.  (The good news is that this ‘pause’ may keep prices from rising too much)

https://reason.com/2025/07/29/yes-tariffs-are-raising-prices/

So if the tariffs are on old why are prices still rising?

There is a good reason why.

The effects of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs are winding their way through the American economy, and a new piece of analysis claims that corporate America is using them as “cover” to further jack up prices.

Progressive advocacy group Groundwork Collaborative issued a new report on Tuesday that uses corporate executives’ own words to show how many firms are taking advantage of the tariff situation by using it as an all-purpose justification for price increases. The report found many of these executives’ admissions through quarterly earnings calls in which they discussed plans to increase costs even if their inputs were not being significantly affected by the tariffs.

Among others, the report cited a statement made earlier this year by Aaron Jagdfeld, the CEO of power generation products manufacturer Generac Power Systems, who said on an earnings call that “even if we have metals that weren’t impacted directly by tariffs, the indirect effect of tariffs is that it gives steel producers and the mills and other fabricators… great cover for increased pricing in some cases.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-tariffs-corporate-greed

True to their greed corporations are using tariffs to raise prices and then when tariffs hit (if ever) then they should use the tariffs as cover for their greed and the rise in prices which will prove many Americans out of markets like housing, food, etc.

Is this what the mentally challenged voted for last year?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Tariffs: The Big Day Has Arrived

Today is 01 August and the pause of Donny’s yo-yo economics of tariffs is ended and the gas pedal of economic war will be pushed.

Well maybe not so fast…right on cue Donny has hit the brakes….yet again….

Hours before the midnight deadline he imposed on himself, President Trump signed a new executive order Thursday evening imposing tariffs on dozens of US trading partners. The plan confirms some previously announced provisions while changing other parts, including the deadline: The tariffs apparently take effect at 12:01am Aug. 7, the New York Times reports, instead of Aug. 1. The rates seem to go as high as 50% on imports from nations Trump wants to punish or did not make enough concessions to the US.

Among the highest adjusted reciprocal tariffs, per CNN, are: Syria, 41%; Laos and Myanmar, 40%; Switzerland, 39%; Iraq and Serbia, 35%; Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Libya, and South Africa, 30%. Canada goes from 25% to 35% in theory; goods trading under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement are exempt, per the Times. That covers most Canadian exports at the moment, economist said. A senior administration official told CNN that talks with Canada over fentanyl and tariffs haven’t been as constructive as the negotiations with Mexico, which was granted a 90-day reprieve on higher tariffs on Thursday. The increase on Canadian imports still goes into effect on Friday, per CNBC.

The order applies to 68 countries and the 27-member European Union, per the AP. Countries not named in the new order will face a baseline 10% tariff. Many countries that Trump listed in his Liberation Day reciprocal tariffs have settled in at 15% or 20%. Some of the tariff levels reflect frameworks already reached with trading partners, such as the UK and European Union. “The president has essentially reordered global trade,” an administration official told reporters.

This should inject some joy into the markets (again)….on the upside consumer prices should not rise too much during this lull.

Did Donny decide to extend the deadline because the Fed ignored his desire and did not raise points?

As long as we are on tariffs…..I have never thought this was a good idea….to me it was just a cope out to manipulate market prices…..but just how ‘legal’ are these exorbitant Tariffs?

A federal appeals court showed clear doubts Thursday about the Trump administration’s claim to sweeping tariff powers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act—a law that, notably, never mentions tariffs. The Justice Department contends President Trump can use the statute to levy broad new taxes on imports, but judges pushed back, questioning whether the law’s actual language supports that authority, CNBC reports. Justice Department attorney Brett Shumate admitted that “no president has ever read IEEPA this way” but said Trump’s actions are lawful.

The 11-judge US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit panel drilled into the statute’s intent, with one judge noting that the IEEPA mentions foreign exchange and currency but not tariffs. “There’s an old expression in the law, ‘noscitur a sociis’: ‘you know it by its friends,'” the judge said. “Tariffs seems to have no friends in that statute. So, why?”

  • The 1977 law gives the president the power to regulate commerce in times of war or national emergency. Judges questioned Trump’s claim that trade deficits are a national emergency that tariffs can address, the AP reports. “If the president says there’s a problem with our military readiness, and he puts a 20% tax on coffee, that doesn’t seem to necessarily deal with (it),” Chief Circuit Judge Kimberly Moore said.
  • Neal Katyal, representing opponents of Trump’s tariffs, argued the administration’s reading of the law would let the president “do whatever he wants, whenever he wants, for as long as he wants, so long as he declares an emergency”—a level of executive power he called “breathtaking” and unprecedented in American history.
  • A lower court struck down Trump’s sweeping tariffs in May, but the Federal Circuit Appeals Court paused that ruling, keeping the tariffs in place as the legal fight continues. The case—VOS Selections v. Trump—could become a landmark test of the president’s authority on trade, potentially shaping the fate of several similar lawsuits. The plaintiffs argue that Trump has usurped Congress’ authority to set tariffs, CNBC reports.
  • Trump, for his part, has cast the case as crucial for his trade agenda and national security, warning in a Truth Social post Thursday that without the power to impose retaliatory tariffs, “our Country … would be ‘DEAD,’ WITH NO CHANCE OF SURVIVAL OR SUCCESS.”
  • A ruling in the case isn’t expected immediately, but whatever the court decides, the case is likely to end up before the Supreme Court, the New York Times reports.

SCOTUS?  That is where the Constitution and laws go to die.

Sad that this nation has no one but political hacks that will protect the system….and we all know how pathetic these d/bags are on the Court.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Tariffs To The Left….Tariffs To The Right

Since our boy Donny has taken office he has imposed tariffs on most of the world….from an island populated by penguins to the nation of China, which has tariffs already of about 145%….all because Donny wants to punish China for its one sided trade with the US.

Consumers are started to see prices increase as these tariffs start taking effect.  But just how badly is these policies hurting the Chinese economy?

China’s economy has shown strong growth in the first half of 2025, growing by 5.3 percent despite ongoing trade tensions with the United States. The growth rate has exceeded Beijing’s targets, showing the resilience of the world’s second-largest economy.

According to The Washington Post, the impressive economic performance comes as Chinese manufacturers have increased their exports during a temporary pause in the trade war. This surge in exports has been a key factor in supporting China’s economic growth, as both customers and producers took advantage of the trade war ceasefire.

Trump’s decision to increase tariffs to 145 percent in April has proven ineffective in slowing China’s economic progress, while American consumers face significantly higher prices on everyday goods due to these tariff policies. The Chinese economy has defied Washington’s expectations, weathering the trade war better than many U.S. officials had predicted.

Following the May truce that helped ease trade tensions, negotiators from both countries are now working to transform the temporary agreement into a permanent trade deal, though Trump has already made significant concessions to China in previous negotiations. The deadline for these negotiations has been set for mid-August.

https://wegotthiscovered.com/news/trumps-145-tariffs-prove-useless-as-chinas-booming-economy-defies-washingtons-dire-predictions/

So these extreme tariffs are hurting nobody but the consumer….was that the plan all along?

What Donny and his ‘expert’ panel of morons overlooked is China is a member of the BRICS and as such have a built in trading partners.

BRICS is short for the countries that make up the economic bloc that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and some say South Africa.

I have said all along since the very beginning that these tariffs are not going to save anything on the contrary it will cost the consumer heavily in an economy that does not need more pressure of the consumer.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Upside Of Tariffs?

I know, I know I have been critical of Donny’s one trick pony, tariffs….but in all fairness I want to let my readers know how the tariffs are effecting this country….

How much cash has been brought into the treasury?

President Donald Trump’s radical new tariff regime has brought in a surge of revenue from importers who must pay the higher duties. But is it enough to replace the income tax as the main source of funding for the federal government, as Trump administration officials have argued?

Treasury Department data shows that will be a massive stretch.

The United States has generated $74.3 billion this year from tariffs as of June 18, the latest data available — 84.7% more than the same time last year. Federal income taxes, meanwhile, brought in $2.4 trillion in 2024.

And the $34.1 billion difference in tariff revenue year-on-year is just part of the story. High levies can cause huge surges in revenue that later level off as trade patterns shift and businesses seek to lower costs along their supply chains.

https://www.politico.com/interactives/2025/trump-tariff-income-tracker/

To be clear I never question how much cash would be coming in……my main concern was what it would do to prices and effect the common person.

And along those lines this report….

Predictions from mainstream economists were dire after President Donald Trump launched his tariff campaign just a couple weeks after he began his second term in office: Prices would rise — sharply — they said, reigniting an inflation crisis that tens of millions of Americans had elected him to solve.

But that massive, tariff-induced inflation spike hasn’t materialized. Not even close.

Not yet, anyway.

Consumer prices rose just 2.4%, annually, last month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was less than economists had expected, and only slightly higher than the 2.3% rate in April, which was the US economy’s lowest inflation since February 2021. According to the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index most closely followed by the Federal Reserve, core inflation — which strips out volatile items like food and gas prices — fell to 2.5% in April. That was the lowest reading since March 2021.

…

Research firm Telsey Advisory Group, which has been tracking the prices of 80 select consumer items across a wide variety of retail categories, reported this week that just 19 products it has tracked have gained in price since mid-April — and 16 items’ prices fell. Similarly, the New York Times’ Wirecutter, which recommends consumer products, tracked the prices for 40 of its top picks over the course of two months and found this week that the vast majority didn’t change price at all: 10 gained in price and only half of those gained more than 7%.

“There haven’t been many significant upticks in prices as of yet given that many retailers are still selling through their lower-cost inventory,” Dana Telsey, CEO and chief research officer of Telsey Advisory Group told CNN.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/20/business/tariff-price-increases-inflation-explained

So far that is good news….but keep in mind that the harsher tariffs have been put into pause for a 90 day period and that is soon to expire….that is unless Donny does what I expect….another pause.

So far so good….but how long can that last?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

“Deal With China Is Done”

More tariff news….

For awhile now the US and China have been in negotiations , trade talks, on the supply of rare earth minerals…..now there is word of a possible deal….

President Trump on Wednesday said the US and China have struck a deal to ease the trade war between them, reports CNBC. China will supply critical rare earths and magnets “up front,” the president wrote in all-caps post on Truth Social. In return, the US “will provide to China what was agreed to, including Chinese students using our colleges and universities (which has always been good with me!).” Trump said the deal—which was born out of two days of negotiations by economic officials from the respective countries—is still subject to his and President Xi’s final approval. “We are getting a total of 55% tariffs, (and) China is getting 10%,” Trump wrote, adding that the “relationship is excellent” between the two countries.

  • London talks: His confirmation came after senior US and Chinese negotiators signaled they had reached the framework of a deal on mineral and tech exports after the talks in London, per the AP. The outlet adds, however, that it was “not clear whether any progress was made on the more fundamental differences over China’s sizeable trade surplus with the United States.” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick put it this way after the talks on Tuesday: “First we had to get sort of the negativity out and now we can go forward.”
  • Context: The new deal essentially gets the US and China back to where they were in early May after an agreement was struck in Switzerland, per the New York Times. The Swiss deal subsequently fell apart as China held back shipments of rare earth minerals and magnets.

Now how did Donny’s ‘yo-yo economics’ play with the markets?

Not as well as Donny may have wanted.

Wall Street’s rally stalled Wednesday after stocks climbed back within 2% of their all-time high.

  • The S&P 500 fell 16.57 points, or 0.3%, to 6,022.24, marking its first drop in four days.
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.10 points, or less than 0.1%, to 42,865.77.
  • The Nasdaq composite fell 99.11 points, or 0.5%, to 19,615.88.

The action was stronger in the bond market, where Treasury yields eased after a report showed inflation ticked up by less last month than economists expected, the AP reports. That raised expectations for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates later this year. Markets didn’t react much to the conclusion of two days of trade talks between the US and China.

On Wall Street, a 1.9% drop for Apple was the heaviest weight on the market. It’s been listless this week after unveiling several modest upcoming changes to the software that runs its devices. Chewy dropped 11% after the seller of pet supplies reported a weaker profit for the latest quarter than analysts had forecast. Tesla swung between gains and losses before finishing with a rise of 0.1% to continue its shaky run. It’s been recovering much of its big losses taken last week after Elon Musk’s relationship with Trump imploded, which in turn raised fears about a loss of business for the electric-vehicle company. Musk on Wednesday backed away from some of his earlier comments and said they went “too far.”

Trump said Wednesday that China will supply rare-earth minerals and magnets to the United States, while his government will allow Chinese students into US universities in a deal that still needs an agreement by him and by China’s leader. Trump also said that “President XI and I are going to work closely together to open up China to American Trade. This would be a great WIN for both countries!!!” Investors are still hoping for a more sweeping trade deal that would ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

This will do little to help struggling families buy the goods that they need….but not to worry Donny got a ‘deal’ he can brag about.

+++Off I go for yet another round of doctors and stuff….hopefully I will make it home early enough to get back to doing what I do best+++

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

All That And Tomatoes Too!

There is always something in the news about the food supply most times it is something is recalled because of some lingering disease….well this time it is tomatoes.

The Food and Drug Administration has updated an ongoing recall of tomatoes to its most severe level, warning there is a high risk of “serious adverse health consequences or death” to those who consume affected products. The recall, for potential salmonella contamination, applies to tomatoes distributed in late April. The New York Times reports consumers are unlikely to come across fresh tomatoes that have been recalled at this point, but the bacteria can survive for months in wet environments, so if any affected tomatoes were frozen, they could still be impacted. The tomatoes were sold in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, Newsweek reports. No illnesses have yet been linked to the tomatoes.

But wait there is more tomato news….

Framers in Florida are destroying their crops before market because of tariffs and lack of labor.

Thousands of unharvested tomatoes are being plowed over in South Florida in a sign of what is to come under President Donald Trump’s tariffs—or tariff threats—and immigration policies. Reporting by Miami’s local Fox affiliate, WVSN, revealed that farmers are cutting their losses and letting crops go to waste due to increased picking and packing costs.

“You can’t even afford to pick them right now,” Heather Moehling, president of Miami-Dade County Farm Bureau, told WVSN. “Between the cost of labor and the inputs that goes in, it’s more cost-effective for farmers to just plow them right now.” Moehling said tomatoes are currently selling between $3 and $4 per box.*

But farmers need to sell a box of tomatoes for closer to $11 to break even, according to Tony DiMare, president of DiMare Homestead, which owns over 4,000 acres of tomato farms in Florida and California. American farmers haven’t been able to out-compete cheaper Mexican tomatoes currently flooding the market, DiMare told WVSN.*

Even though the tariffs on Mexican imports never took effect for goods compliant with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, including U.S. tomatoes, the threat of tariffs alone was enough to disrupt the U.S. market, DiMare told WVSN. “The Mexican industry exported, in some cases, double and triple the daily volumes to beat being subject to the 25 percent tariff in February and March and the 10 percent tariffs in April. That just devastated our markets in the U.S.,” DiMare said.

To protect U.S. tomato farmers from the harm caused by tariff policies, Trump plans to impose an import duty of 20.91 percent on most tomato imports from Mexico starting in July. The action, which will end a 2019 trade agreement establishing a minimum price on Mexican imported tomatoes, is expected to drive up the cost of tomatoes for U.S. consumers, according to Michael Strain, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

https://reason.com/2025/05/12/trumps-tariffs-and-immigration-policies-destroy-thousands-of-acres-of-tomato-crops-in-florida/

Granted I am not a farmer but I cannot understand why no income is better than some.

Will these farmers get government subsidies because of the loss of crops?

If someone can explain the economics behind this destruction then please do so for me it makes little sense.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”