Tag: Tariffs

Butt Licker To The Rescue

Just days ago the US Court of International Trade put a whammy on Donny’s dreams of harsh tariffs on the world…..and yesterday a Trumpite came to the rescue.

President Trump’s tariffs were reinstated by a federal appeals court ruling on Thursday. The court’s ruling came after a second federal court found that an emergency powers law does not give Trump authority to enact tariffs, and that most of the ones he’s already ordered after invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act are unlawful.

  • US District Judge Rudolph Contreras ruled that the law does not permit the president to “unilaterally impose, revoke, pause, reinstate, and adjust tariffs to reorder the global economy,” the Hill reports. The US Court of International Trade reached the same conclusion on Wednesday.
  • The appeals court didn’t rule on the merits of the tariffs or the trade court’s ruling, but granted an emergency request to hold up the ruling, allowing Trump to keep collecting the tariffs while the issue is being decided in the courts, per the AP.
  • The Justice Department asked two sets of judges to let the Trump administration proceed with its tariffs, per the New York Times. If need be, administration officials had said they’d ask the Supreme Court on Friday for emergency relief, per the Washington Post.
  • After the 33-page ruling by Contreras, who was appointed by Barack Obama, for the DC District Court, the government filed another appeal. His ruling gave the government 14 days to appeal before it took effect, meaning the tariffs are still in place for now.
  • White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that there are “other legal authorities” Trump could use to impose tariffs, per the Guardian, and that he “is willing to use those.” She criticized what she called “a troubling and dangerous trend of unelected judges inserting themselves into the presidential decision-making process.”
  • The Guardian notes that only three of the 11 judges who granted the stay were appointed by Republican presidents. After the ruling, Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro blasted the 12 states that sued as elitist Democratic coastal states, though Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Illinois, and Minnesota aren’t on either coast and the first two voted for Trump last year.

A loyal visitor to IST asked if this could be settled by the Supreme Court…..and I answered that I did not know for sure….and now the answer is yes if could be settled by SCOTUS.

SCOTUS has been in Trump’s corner for many of its rulings….so the pathetic tariff question will be answered by a pack of political hacks.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Those Yo-Yo Trade Policies

One day there are up the next they are down…..is it to give his, being Trump, Fat Cat buddies a chance to make more money?

It appears so to me.

Donny’s newest threat was against Apple…..

President Trump’s latest tariff threat is directed at Apple—he is threatening a 25% penalty unless the company starts making iPhones in the US, reports NBC News. Most are currently made in China, though CNBC notes that the company has been recently moving some production to India.

  • “I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhone’s that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else,” Trump wrote Friday on Truth Social. “If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the U.S. Thank your for your attention to this matter!”
  • EU, too: Trump also threatened to impose a 50% tariff on the European Union, one of the nation’s largest trading partners, per the Wall Street Journal. He faulted their “powerful Trade Barriers, Vat Taxes, ridiculous Corporate Penalties, Non-Monetary Trade Barriers, Monetary Manipulations, unfair and unjustified lawsuits” against US companies.
  • Markets: Dow futures were down more than 600 points on the combined threats. Apple shares fell about 3%.

Apple’s drop effected the entire market….

US stocks fell Friday after President Trump threatened 50% tariffs on the European Union that could begin in a little more than a week.

  • The Dow dropped 256.02 points, or 0.6%, to 41,603.07, off 2.5% for the week.
  • The S&P 500 declined 39.19 points, or 0.7%, to 5,802.82, finishing the week down 2.6%.
  • The Nasdaq fell 188.53 points, or 1%, to 18,737.21, down 2.5% for the week.

Trump threatened the tariffs before the US stock market opened, saying on his Truth Social platform that trade talks with the EU “were going nowhere” and that “straight 50%” tariffs could go into effect on June 1.

Stocks fell immediately in Europe, the AP reports. The US market also took a quick turn lower, and futures for US stock indexes tumbled after earlier suggesting only modest moves at the open of trading. The S&P 500 lost as much as 1.3% shortly after trading began, but it pared its loss as traders weighed whether Trump’s latest threats were just negotiating tactics aimed in hopes of getting a deal or something more. Apple dropped 3% and was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500 after Trump went after the company specifically. He said he’s been pushing Apple to move production of iPhones to the US, and he warned a tariff “of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the US” if it doesn’t.

I have thought from the beginning that these tariffs were a game that Donny is playing and the more he employs these yo-yo economic policies the more I am convinced that these tariffs are put in place to benefit him sand his Fat Cat thugs…..those people that care NOTHING for this nation and its people as long as they can continue to play the system for their benefit.

Does anyone see this as ‘making America great again’?

If so please define why.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Bad News For Donny’s Tariffs

The news broke that a US court has peed all over Donny’s pet policy…..tariffs.

President Trump does not have the authority to impose broad tariffs on imports, a federal court ruled Wednesday, rejecting the argument that the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act gives him that power. The US Court of International Trade had been asked to issue an injunction in the case involving lawsuits trying to block the tariffs. Instead, the three-judge panel skipped directly to issuing a judgment, Axios reports. The emergency legislation, the judges ruled, does not authorize any of the “Worldwide, Retaliatory or Trafficking” orders, adding, “the challenged Tariff Orders will be vacated and their operation permanently enjoined.”

The unanimous decision applies to the 10% “Liberation Day” tariffs Trump slapped on all foreign products on April 2, as well as the higher levies on goods coming from several dozen nations. Ruling on two cases at once, the court ordered that the tariffs already collected also be vacated, per Politico. At least seven lawsuits challenging the tariffs have been filed. White House aides had said before the ruling that the decision would be appealed if it went against the administration, per the Washington Post. The case could well go to the Supreme Court, per the New York Times, but if the ruling stands, it could be the end of Trump’s trade war.

Tariffs usually need congressional approval, but Trump maintains he has the authority now because the US trade deficits are so high they constitute a national emergency, per the AP. The law does not say the president can use tariffs to protect the nation from economic threats, per the Times, but Trump invoked it anyway. One of the panel’s judges was appointed by Ronald Reagan, one by Barack Obama, and one by Trump.

But how will this ruling effect things?

  • Ruling: The Court of International Trade—a federal body made up of Reagan, Obama, and Trump appointees—decreed that Trump doesn’t have the legal authority to impose most of the sweeping tariffs he has enacted. Trump did so under his interpretation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, notes the Wall Street Journal, but the court found that he overreached and invalidated them.
  • Affected: This means most of the tariffs Trump imposed, or imposed and then lifted pending negotiations, are gone, though Axios notes some exceptions: those on autos, steel, and aluminum were not enacted under the 1970s law and stand.
  • Fallout: The ruling “blows a hole in global trade talks, already under way with more than a dozen nations,” per the Journal, and it “throws into question recent agreements with the UK and China.” The New York Times finds that the court essentially wiped out Trump’s leverage with US trading partners.
  • What now: The court gave the Trump administration 10 days to formally unwind the tariffs, but the White House plans to appeal. “The judicial coup is out of control,” tweeted Trump adviser Stephen Miller.
  • Markets: Dow futures were up 300 points Thursday morning, reports CNBC, and world stocks also rallied.

Good to see that there are still some judges that Donald the Orange does not own….and there is still a small amount of commonsense.

But like in the past he will probably disregard and judgments against him as he has done so many times in the past.

Is it possible that Congress will now jump to Donny’s aid on this issue?

Will the bully now go after this court in revenge?

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Is The “Liberation Day” Unraveling?

Trump’s tariffs…..chaotic, confusing and incomprehensible.

Yes, I write a lot about tariffs.  I am no economic expert but the training I have had leads me to write about the ill-conceived economic plans around tariffs.

The end game of tariffs is that the consumer foots the bill imposed by idiots that use tariffs to further their own wallet expansion.

In the first few weeks of his administration Donny arbitrarily hit almost every country with some sort of tariffs, ranging from 125% to about 19%, and sine those awful days he has steadily walked back some those tariffs and now he has a new plan….

President Donald Trump has declared that the U.S. will be independently setting new tariff rates on several trading partners, bypassing the need for individual agreements.

What Happened: Trump announced during a meeting with business executives in the United Arab Emirates that new tariffs would be introduced within the next two to three weeks. Trump stated that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will be informing the relevant parties by “sending letters” about the new tariffs and the associated costs for conducting business in the United States, reported the Financial Times.

Trump noted that while there were “150 countries” interested in striking deals, it was not practical to meet with all of them. His administration has already reduced many of the tariffs announced on April 2 to 10% for a 90-day period.

(benzinga.com)

So the “Liberation Day” plan is a bust and now they are rethinking their stupidity and coming up with a new plan…..

On Friday, Trump claimed about 150 countries would soon receive letters “essentially telling” them of new US duty rates on their exports. Many learned of similar rates last month, only for the plan to change in a matter of days.

A new chapter, without pomp or ceremony, is now under way. What this one will entail – or how long it lasts – is anyone’s guess.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/17/trump-liberation-day-tariff-walk-back

We wait for the release of this generic letter to see how it will effect our economy and as usual they details are kept from the public for we do not need to know where our income will go….we should just take the word of proven liars….well you may but I refuse to do so.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

More Tariff Stuff

I know I spend a lot of time writing about the tariffs and their effects on this country that is because there is a wealth of misconceptions about these lame economic moves….for one no country pays these tariffs….YOU pay for them every time you go shopping.

With that said…..

Remember when Amazon stated that they would be labeling their products with the cost to the consumer and Donny went batcrap crazy and called Bezos to have the idea squashed and it was?

Personally I thought it was a good idea but Donny does not want you to know how badly you will be getting screwed….but guess what a majority thinks the Amazon idea is a great one….

YouGov released a new poll this week on Americans’ views of President Donald Trump, his handling of the economy, and their optimism for the future. The poll found a whopping 75% of Americans believe that Trump’s tariffs will increase prices, and a strong majority wants those additional costs explained to them on the packaging.

The poll of 1,850 adult U.S. citizens, conducted between May 2nd and 5th, also found that “Majorities of Democrats and Republicans think Trump’s tariffs will lead to price increases. Among Republicans, the share who think tariffs will raise prices ‘a lot’ has increased 8 percentage points in the past two weeks, to 22% from 14%.”

Additionally, 46% of respondents said they believe that Trump’s tariffs “are harmful to the economy and consumers, with no real long-term benefits” – as opposed to 38% who said the tariffs “may cause short-term economic pain, but lead to long-term economic growth.”

But yet there are those that want to idolize Donny and his ignorance and defend these ‘taxes’ on the rest of us.

Donny has waffled on several of his tariffs and what did that achieve?

While the various tariff rollbacks and pauses have been welcomed by businesses, the respite has not removed uncertainty entirely. Brief pauses in tariffs are not sufficient for many companies to make longer-term investment or supply chain decisions.

There are fears that the uncertainty is taking a toll on the US economy. A Bloomberg poll of economists put the chances of a recession next year at almost 50-50, the news agency reported on Monday.

The farmer will most likely get hit hard…..plus could endanger our food supply…..

Specifically, while Trump publicly proclaims that he stands with farmers, his tariff war with China stands to rob producers of their markets.  Since Trump’s last term, China has already been looking to countries like Brazil for soybeans as the US has proven an unreliable partner.  Adding insult to injury, unexpectedly cancelling government contracts with thousands around the country early in his term placed undue stress on farmers who already have to contend with what extreme weather events throw their way.

Now, with the details of the UK-US trade deal becoming known, the signal – that is, the truth – of the Trump administration’s vision for agriculture is coming into view. To the point, not unlike how US agriculture has been directed for the past few decades, it is becoming clear that this administration will prioritize exports. The problem with this vision is that, even if it generates short-term profits, it endangers our long-term national food security by dangerously further internationalizing our agricultural system.

…

Trump’s efforts to undo the previous administration’s policies set up our food system for disruption and crisis, subjecting farmers to the uncertainties of international markets and developments elsewhere. If there is a signal with the noise that Trump is making with our food system, then this is it – farmers better get ready for a volatile next few years and more bailouts, as operations will continue to go under. Overall, Trump’s nationalist rhetoric amounts to little, as our food system becomes more global, increasingly made vulnerable to dynamics outside our control.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/05/15/trumps-trade-deals-endanger-farmers-and-our-food-system/

Prices will head up….Walmart has made a statement and the prez has leveled his ire on the company….

President Trump’s tariffs are just “too high,” according to Walmart, which says it will raise prices, including on some food items, in response. Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said Thursday that tariffs on China are pushing up the costs of electronics and toys, while tariffs on Costa Rica, Peru, and Colombia are increasing the costs of some foods, reports CNBC. “The higher tariffs will result in higher prices,” McMillon said on an earnings call, per CNN. “We will do our best to keep our prices as low as possible. But given the magnitude of the tariffs, even at the reduced levels announced this week, we aren’t able to absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins.”

Customers should expect price hikes beginning later this month, per CNN. “You’ll begin to see that, likely towards the tail end of this month, and then certainly much more in June,” Walmart CFO John David Rainey tells CNBC. He admits this is “not good for consumers,” per Reuters, but stresses the US is dependent on certain imports, whose prices have climbed dramatically under Trump’s tariffs. “The magnitude and speed at which these prices are coming to us is somewhat unprecedented in history,” he tells the Wall Street Journal. Though Walmart welcomed the recent deal to lower tariffs on Chinese imports from 145% to 30%, it said the remaining level is still “too high,” per CNBC.

Such statements risk Trump’s ire. The White House attacked Amazon’s reported plan to show the added cost of tariffs on some items as a “hostile and political act,” while Trump threatened a 100% tariff on Mattel’s toys after the company announced it would raise prices in response to tariffs last week. Walmart appears confident in its position, however. Of the trade war, Rainey told analysts, “We are equipped to manage this as well or better than other retailers,” per Investing.com. Walmart continues to expect annual sales to climb between 3% and 4% for the fiscal year ending in January, per Reuters.

He be pissed!

Will he threaten Walmart and make them change their tone as he did with Amazon?

You decide.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

When Will Manufacturing Return?

I have written a lot about the tariffs and what it will mean to us mere peasants…..but Donny has said that it will revive the US manufacturing sector….is that really the case?

If this promise is true….how will it revive that sector?

There are some doubting Thomas’…..

The Trump administration’s tariff scheme appears less and less likely to bring manufacturing jobs back to U.S. shores.

Businesses across the country are crunching the numbers and realizing that, despite Donald Trump’s insistence, they can’t balance out his tariff hikes across the supply chain.

“Some manufacturers who had plans to open factories in the country say the new duties are only adding to the significant obstacles they already faced,” Bloomberg reported Friday.

That’s because the supply chain to produce those goods in the United States simply isn’t there, requiring companies to import raw materials and factory equipment—which Trump’s tariffs have made unaffordable—from abroad.

And Trump’s unpredictable approach to announcing and enacting or even retracting his tariffs has added confusion and significant volatility to the market, making businesses less likely to invest in large, long-term projects such as factory development.

Nora Orozco, the owner of footwear company Evolutions Brands, wants to open a Texas factory that would create 200 jobs. But the nitty-gritty of Trump’s so-called “manufacturing renaissance” just doesn’t work, according to the small-business owner.

“I like the idea of onshoring, but this makes it impossible for us,” Orozco told Bloomberg.

Reinvigorating American manufacturing has been a tall order for both political parties since the country offshored and automated the bulk of those jobs decades ago. But 2022 did see a spike in job announcements for reshored manufacturing gigs, according to the Reshoring Initiative, a U.S. manufacturing advocacy nonprofit.

https://newrepublic.com/post/195070/donald-trump-tariffs-manufacturers-opening-factories

We are also told that it may be a long haul to return the manufacturing sector to its once proud glory.

If so then why do we have open manufacturing jobs?

President Trump has been upending the global economy in the name of bringing manufacturing back. President Joe Biden signed into law massive investments aimed at doing something similar. The American manufacturing sector is reviving after decades of decay.

But there’s something a bit weird undercutting this movement to reshore factory jobs: American manufacturers say they are struggling to fill the jobs they already have.

According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are nearly half a million open manufacturing jobs right now.

…

One big reason manufacturers can’t fill these jobs overnight is because they require workers to have particular skills. And it’s not just skills needed to work on assembly lines. Only around 2 in 5 manufacturing jobs are directly involved in making stuff. Manufacturers also employ people to do research and development, engineering, design, finance, sales, marketing and so on.

https://www.npr.org/sections/planet-money/2025/05/13/g-s1-66112/why-arent-americans-filling-the-manufacturing-jobs-we-already-have

The late Steve Jobs explained to Obama why he and others have gone overseas….

The famously blunt Apple boss wasn’t shy about shooting down the president’s musings. “Those jobs aren’t coming back,” he replied.

The reason why wasn’t just lower costs in countries like China. “Rather, Apple’s executives believe the vast scale of overseas factories as well as the flexibility, diligence and industrial skills of foreign workers have so outpaced their American counterparts that ‘Made in the U.S.A.’ is no longer a viable option for most Apple products,” wrote the Times, summing up discussions.

To illustrate, the paper offered a story shared by a former Apple executive about a last-minute design change to the iPhone’s screen that forced a change in the manufacturing process at the Chinese factory where the phones were being assembled.

Around midnight, a foreman “roused 8,000 workers inside the company’s dormitories, according to the executive. Each employee was given a biscuit and a cup of tea, guided to a workstation and within half an hour started a 12-hour shift fitting glass screens into beveled frames. Within 96 hours, the plant was producing more than 10,000 iPhones a day,” the article reveals.

“The speed and flexibility is breathtaking,” the executive told the Times. “There’s no American plant that can match that.”

https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/steve-jobs-quote-on-american-manufacturing-still-applies-today/91181530

Will those ‘well paying’ jobs ever return….and if they do will Americans rush to snap them up?

But I am sure that there are some out there that feel confident that Donny’s plan will do the thing that he has promised.

Sadly I am not one of them.

But it you feel strongly that this is the proper way to go about this situation then by all means explain why you feel that way.

We await the answers.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Our Early Tariff Wars

+++Note–this is going to be another short days for posting for I return to the doctor for blood letting, scans and consultation….in the last week I have been stuck so many times I am starting to feel like a pin cushion.  I will be checking when I can on IST using my phone so please bear with me for I may miss something.  Thanx for your time and understanding+++

You guys know me I do like to inject history into the conversation whenever I can….and what better subject for that injection than tariff wars?

Tariffs are nothing new, nothing Donny came up with on his own….nope they have been with us since the very beginning of this nation….

President Donald J. Trump claims that “tariffs are going to make our country rich.” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer counters that “Trump’s tariffs are going to raise prices on American families by as much as $1,200 a year.” Debate rages on amid American tariff measures and other nations’ counter-measures. This debate over who wins and who loses from tariffs is not new. It’s not even particularly populist. As it turns out, arguing about tariffs has a long American pedigree, dating back to the administration of the first president, George Washington.

There are three important lessons we can learn from this early American tariff debate. The first and most important lesson is that each system proposed in the 1790s, like all centralized systems of industrial policy and tariffs, allowed government to choose winners and losers. Second, at a time when some form of mercantilism was still the default position for nearly all Americans, there was still vigorous debate. And third, tariffs are fundamentally a moral issue.

Americans would like to believe that the most contentious moral and political issue in the United States before the Civil War was slavery. Sadly, it was not. Until 1857, slavery often took a backseat to questions that we tend to overlook today, things like the national bank, transportation infrastructure, and immigration. The most contentious issue in early America, however, was the tariff, especially a protective tariff designed not to raise revenue but to discourage foreign trade altogether.

Why did tariffs arouse such strong opinions? To answer this question, we need to look at the major tariff debates in the early American republic. The first such debate, between the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans during the 1790s, set many of the terms for the later debates occasioned by Henry Clay’s “American System” during the populist Age of Jackson, as well as the high tariffs implemented by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War.

What the tariff fight of the 1790s reveals is not the clash of free market liberalism vs. dirigisme—indeed, no one in the late 1700s promoted total free trade—but rather the clash of two different industrial policies, each of which wanted to grant the US Government coercive power over the marketplace.

Lessons from Early America’s Tariff Wars

You see nothing new.

In case you, my reader, would like to learn more about the early tariff wars then this may help.

A Brief History of Tariffs in the United States and the Dangers of their Use Today

Now hopefully you will have a better grasp on just what a tariff war is about and make a rational decision if they are good or bad.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Those China Negotiations

If you will recall the prez slapped a tariff of 125% or was it 145%….any way he recently slacked off to a 80% tariff on goods coming in from China.

All the while we are told that there is massive negotiations going on to try and moderate these trade limitations.

News came out over the weekend that some progress in those negotiations is being made…..

“I’m happy to report that we made substantial progress between the United States and China in the very important trade talks,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters on Sunday in Switzerland. He didn’t go so far as to say an agreement was reached, though the White House did, putting the headline “US Announces China Trade Deal in Geneva” on a transcript of Bessent’s remarks on its website. No one provided information in support of that conclusion, but Bessent said details would be released Monday, NBC News reports.

Signs of a truce in the trade war sparked by President Trump’s tariffs would pump up the financial markets, per the New York Times, and reassure those fearing it will bring the global economy down. Later Sunday, per the AP, the Chinese delegation held a news conference in Geneva in which it described the weekend talks as “candid, in-depth and constructive dialogue.” The two sides agreed to “establishing a consultation mechanism” for more discussion on trade and economic issues, said Vice Premier He Lifeng.

Before Sunday’s round of talks began, Trump posted online that “great progress” was being made toward what he said could be a “total reset” on his tariffs, per the AP. Trump said Friday that the US might lower the tariffs on China from 145% to 80%, per the Washington Post. China has maintained it won’t make trade concessions in reaction to the tariffs. The two sides have not agreed on whose idea the negotiations were. Chinese officials say the US asked them to participate. American officials disputed that.

That is good news indeed….but is it?

This administration is noted for a whole bunch of misinformation…..is this to try and placate the markets or is it just wishful thinking?

As I was working on this post at 5 am news that the markets, the futures, jump almost a 1000 points….so I guess my previous questioned was answered.

I am hoping that some sort of deal can be made because without one Christmas is going to be really expensive this year.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Soon You Will Be Paying More

+++Note….this will be a another short day….sorry about that…..I go for another chemo session and I will be in no shape to do what I usual do.+++

This is just to let you know what will be hitting you the hardest in your wallet if this tariff crap continues.

Things like….clothes, party stuff, back to school supplies, etc…..

In the past few weeks, Trump has imposed massive import taxes on many U.S. trading partners ― including an astonishing 145% tariff on Chinese goods ― only to abruptly change or suspend some of these tariffs. But Trump’s chaos is already starting to freeze supply chains. U.S. businesses are cancelling or postponing shipment orders from China.

Don’t expect a toilet paper shortage like what we experienced during COVID lockdown. Because many essential goods like food, beverages and paper goods are more likely to be made domestically, they are more immune from these shortages, said Casey Armstrong, chief marketing officer of ShipBob, a global fulfillment and supply chain platform.

“You’re not going to run out of food or toilet paper, but don’t be surprised if your $3 spray bottle or favorite pair of $5 socks vanishes from shelves or doubles in price,” Armstrong said

HuffPost talked to supply chain experts about which categories of common goods are most vulnerable to disappearing from shelves soon.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/monicatorres2/donald-trump-tariffs-items-most-likely-impacted

The international trade wars provoked by President Donald Trump’s tariffs are becoming very real. Experts expect the increase in importation and exportation taxes to have a profound impact not only on prices, but on the inventory of everyday goods sooner rather than later.  U.S. importers are already canceling and delaying orders from China, subject to tariffs as high as 145%. Other companies are front-loading imports from countries with lower import taxes before the 90-day pause ends July 9. Overall, imports are slowing down, “because importers are not sure what the ultimate demand for products will be. They know they have to raise prices because they are paying the tariffs,” Jason Miller, a professor who studies supply chains at Michigan State University, told the Christian Science Monitor this week. According to experts, these 15 products will likely vanish or become significantly more expensive by summer.

https://www.eatthis.com/products-that-may-vanish-by-summer-due-to-supply-shortages/

Christmas is about to get more expensive if these things stay in place.

Speaking of Christmas….what is the most bought item for the day….toys…and Donny has taken exception to a decision by a major toy company….Mattel….

President Donald Trump threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on toy-maker Mattel after the company said it would diversify its production to other countries, but not the United States.

Sitting in the Oval Office Thursday, Trump indicated he was not afraid to punish Mattel, the creator of Barbie, Hot Wheels, Uno, American Girl and more, for refusing to move its production in the U.S. – the ultimate goal of Trump’s tariffs.

It was in response to Ynon Kreiz, the chairman and CEO of Mattel, telling CNBC on Tuesday that it was unlikely the company would move production into the U.S as a result of tariffs; preferring instead to diversify production to other countries or just raise prices on U.S. consumers.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-dolls-mattel-production-tariffs-b2747530.html

If this becomes reality then that $10 Barbie will cost $20….

This will suck for the kids.

These tariffs will also effect food prices and other necessities….

This does not include the predicted rise in food prices or gas prices….do not understand the gas price stuff since according to most the US is an oil exporting country…..why would we have to pay more if there is no tariffs that need to be covered?

Just wondering.

I hear that the tariffs on China will remain at 125%…..if that continues Christmas will truly suck….that was before this possible waffle….

Earlier this week, the US struck a deal with the UK on tariffs. Now, President Trump appears ready to strike another with China. “80% Tariff on China seems right!” Trump wrote Friday morning on Truth Social. He added that it would be up to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who plans to meet this weekend with Chinese officials in Switzerland, reports the Wall Street Journal. The figure of 80% would mark a pullback from the current 145% levy on Chinese goods, but it’s still higher than analysts hoped—and it would “still pose serious hurdles to trade between the world’s two largest economies,” per the Journal.

Bloomberg News reported earlier that the US would float a 60% tariff ahead of the talks in the hope that China would reciprocate. That might be why Wall Street seems only modestly pleased with Trump’s suggestion: Dow futures rose about 60 points in the wake of the news, notes CNBC. Meanwhile, a separate story in the Journal notes that Chinese exports to the US plunged 21% in April when compared to last year, as Beijing directed more of its goods to Southeast Asia, Latin America, Europe, and Africa

Sorry to be a bummer but better you consider this and make preparations for the increase prices of goods for Christmas than get caught flat footed.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The House Of Waffle

No this is not some review of a chain eatery….but rather more on the ever changing tariffs that Little Donny and the gang cannot make up their minds.

Donny’s tariffs were putting a strain on our auto industry to the point that Mazda will shutter and wait.

Then as if right on cue…..Donny heard from Wall Street and he danced his auto tariffs back….putting the Magic Sharpie back to work.

President Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday to relax some of his 25% tariffs on autos and auto parts, a significant reversal as the import taxes threatened to hurt domestic manufacturers. Automakers and independent analyses have indicated that the tariffs could raise prices, reduce sales, and make US production less competitive worldwide, per the AP. The Wall Street Journal reports that the order involves changes in how the import taxes would be enforced to prevent multiple tariffs stacking up on foreign-made vehicles. The changes are retroactive, meaning automakers will be reimbursed for some tariffs already paid.

Under the order, imported tariffs not covered by trade deals with Canada and Mexico will still face 25% tariffs, but automakers will be reimbursed for up to 3.75% of a car’s value, CNBC reports. After a year, that will fall to 2.5%. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the goal was to enable automakers to create more domestic manufacturing jobs. “President Trump has had meetings with both domestic and foreign auto producers, and he’s committed to bringing back auto production to the US,” Bessent said. “So we want to give the automakers a path to do that, quickly, efficiently, and create as many jobs as possible.” Later Tuesday, Trump said, “It’s a little bit of help. We just wanted to help them enjoy this little transition, short-term.”

The tariffs imposed by Trump were seen by some as an existential threat to the auto sector. Arthur Laffer, whom Trump gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to during his first term, said in a private analysis that the tariffs without any modifications could add $4,711 to the cost of a vehicle. It remains unclear what impact Trump’s broader tariffs will have on the US economy and auto sales. Most economists say the tariffs—which could ultimately hit most imports—would raise prices and slow economic growth, possibly hurting auto sales despite the relief that the administration intends to offer on its previous policies.

This is not, contrary to popular belief, a negotiation style…..it is a game that sole purpose is the make the wealthy more so….

That leads me to ask…is Trump trying to destroy the economy?  If so….why?

Not content with shattering the post-1945 international order, which delivered prosperity and power to his country for eight long decades, Donald Trump is seemingly set on destroying the US economy. And he’s doing it because he, and the American right, have lost their ability to grasp reality.

Start with the economic vandalism, unfolding in real time and mesmerising to watch. For weeks, you could see the US stock market falling and falling until on Thursday the S&P index passed an unwanted milestone: it stood more than 10% down from the peak it had reached less than a month earlier, a fall that meets the Wall Street definition of a “correction”. In other words, even if the market eventually rallies, this is no blip.

The talk now is of a recession and you can tell that Trump himself suspects it’s coming. “I hate to predict things like that,” he said this week. “There is a period of transition because what we’re doing is very big. We’re bringing wealth back to America … It takes a little time.” Did you catch that? The great booster, who campaigned on a promise to turn things around “on day one”, is now adopting the lotus position, talking of “transition” and urging patience.

The source of the trouble is not mysterious. It is Trump himself. His actions since taking office less than two months ago have spooked investors. They crave stability but see a president who governs by whim. Those whims can change hourly – imposing a tariff after breakfast only to drop it before lunch. One minute it’s a 50% levy on Canadian aluminium, the next it’s 200% on European wine, only for one or the other to be binned within hours. It keeps Trump in the news, which he loves, but plays havoc with companies that have to plan for the long term. Confronted by chaos, they prefer to wait to see where things settle. That means orders on hold, workers without work, less money in everyone’s pocket.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/14/donald-trump-crashing-us-economy-fake-news

Please if you support this maniac tell us just why the Hell is he Making America Great Again?

Also Donny is doing what he does best….blaming others for his screw ups….

President Donald Trump defended his attempt to cast blame on his predecessor, former president Joe Biden, after the Labor Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis found that the American economy shrank by 0.3 percent during the first quarter of this year, marking the first drop in three years as Trump’s tariff policies disrupted businesses and their supply chains.

Earlier in the day, Trump took to Truth Social on Wednesday to blame his predecessor for the dismal numbers, writing that what was transpiring was “Biden’s stock market, not Trump’s.”

He added: “I didn’t take over until January 20th. Tariffs will soon start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers. Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden ‘Overhang.’ This will take a while, has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS, only that he left us with bad numbers, but when the boom begins, it will be like no other. BE PATIENT!!!”

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-economy-biden-blame-gdp-data-b2742579.html

If recall correctly the markets were around 40,000…it was a good year for the markets….so on 20 January it became a Trump market….so his statement that “Biden’s stock market, not Trump’s.” is pure steaming bullshit.

Are you buying the snake oil this idiot is selling?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”