Tag: Trade Policies

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”

More Tariff Stuff

It is no secret that I believe these Little Donny tariffs are doing very little to enrich the people of this country and everything to help out his wealthy boot-lickers.

What are these tariffs really all about?

Now, the toughest tariffs by far are on China, and they’re paired with relatively much lower (but still significant) tariffs on the rest of the world while the administration seeks trade deals with various countries in hopes of forming a trade coalition against China.

Trump’s advisers hope that this policy will achieve several things at once: bring manufacturing (and manufacturing jobs) back to the US, address national security concerns about dependence on China, boost US exports, raise revenue to help address the US national debt — and maybe even pave the way toward a restructuring of the global currency system.

If all that sounds fanciful, that’s because it’s extremely fanciful.

Many of those hoped-for benefits are quite implausible and extremely difficult to achieve. Tariffs, meanwhile, bring extremely significant costs and downsides that could very easily wreck his team’s hopes of trying to achieve those lofty aims.

Furthermore, even Trump’s revised tariff policy isn’t at all well-tailored to achieve those aims — it’s still beating up allies we’d need against China, and targeting goods and industries it would make little sense to produce in the US. And his erratic implementation gets in the way even more by ruining businesses’ attempts to plan.

In practice, the only thing Trump is really doing is economic damage – by making things more expensive, chilling investment in the US, reducing confidence in the US’s stability, and casting a pall of uncertainty over everything.

https://www.vox.com/politics/408722/trump-tariffs-bessent-manufacturing-china

So how’s it going collecting these tariffs?

Customs and Border Protection has announced the amount of money it’s taking in under President Trump’s tariffs, and the figures do not agree with the president’s repeated declaration that the US is collecting $2 billion per day. That figure was said to include revenue tied to the tariffs Trump calls reciprocal. But the agency said in a statement this week to CNBC that “since April 5, CBP has collected over $500 million under the new reciprocal tariffs, contributing to more than $21 billion in total tariff revenue from 15 presidential trade actions implemented since Jan 20, 2025.”

And in discussing a system snag that kept freight on the water already from facing the higher tariffs, a situation that lasted 10 hours, the agency said, “Even during the brief glitch, CBP’s average $250 million/day revenue stream remained uninterrupted.” The Treasury Department released data this week reflecting its daily statement of total deposits— “Customs and Certain Excise Taxes”—at $305 million, per CNBC. US Customs collects all tariffs at point of entry.

Money is being collected but that means prices will shoot up…..glad we are collected the cash but at what cost to you and me?

I still not convince the need for these shots at the new trade war that is being fired by Little Donny and his Merry Band of thugs.

Does anyone else see the danger these tariffs impose?

Did you know that tariffs sparked a revolution…..the American Revolution….

The basic economy of the times was this: The Colonies were there to export raw goods to Britain. In the case of Virginia, that was primarily tobacco. British merchants then exported luxury goods to the Colonies that the Colonies couldn’t, or didn’t, produce on their own. The British felt that this was a fine arrangement and that they were helping the Virginia economy, in particular, when they banned British farmers from growing tobacco (not that Britain had a great climate for the leaf).

The Colonists, particularly those in Virginia and Massachusetts, didn’t see it that way. The reason that “debtors” makes its way into the title of Holton’s book is telling. He wasn’t talking about Dickensian debtors living in squalor; he was talking about the Virginia gentry, which found itself constantly in debt to British merchants. Those gentlemen farmers were almost totally dependent on the price of their tobacco exports — which varied wildly — but had to keep up appearances by continuing to import British goods (or so they thought; appearances were very important to them, Holton writes). Various British laws also restricted what the Colonies could produce and how they could sell it. At various times, the British banned the Colonies from making their own iron; Colonists could only sell woolen clothing within their own colony — they couldn’t export it. For anything they did export, such as that precious tobacco, it had to be done on British ships.

That meant Virginia planters couldn’t sell tobacco on the European market, they could only sell it through British middlemen, and those middlemen were the ones who profited most. That merchant class in London was growing in political power at home, so parliament was inclined to listen to what the merchant class wanted, while those Virginia farmers across the ocean had no vote at all. The British felt they were being “indulgent” with their North American Colonies when Parliament repealed the hated Stamp Act. The Fairfax County lawyer-planter George Mason was one who didn’t see it that way at all: “Is the indulgence of Great Britain manifested by prohibiting her colonies from exporting to foreign countries such commodities as she does not want and from importing such as she does not produce of manufacture …?” He was complaining about the restriction on trade; the addition of import duties on what Colonists felt they had to import made matters worse. In modern parlance, the Colonists wanted free trade for their agriculture-based economies.

How tariffs helped spark the American Revolution

Are these modern day tariffs bringing this nation to the cusp of a new American Revolution?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Just Who Are These Cheating Bastards?

Donny came to power with the promise of making all the trade partners that US has that are not treating us fairly….then he took the throne and the retaliation started and has continued since January….that is about100 days of so….

We know who he has targeted the likes of China, Mexico, Canada, etc…..but now that it has started I would like to knbow just who the cheating bastards are…..how about you?

If you listen to President Donald Trump and his allies discuss his sweeping tariff plans, one word pops up a lot: “Cheating”.  (That is the common theme)

When he unveiled his initial tariffs plan, Trump said, “For nations that treat us badly, we will calculate the combined rate of all their tariffs, non-monetary barriers and other forms of cheating.”

Over the next few days, other administration figures echoed the “cheating” accusation.

“Our leaders allowed foreign countries to rig the rules of the game, to cheat, to steal, to rob, to plunder,” White House adviser Stephen Miller said on April 4 on Fox News. “That has cost America trillions of dollars in wealth. … They’ve stolen our industries.”

The White House didn’t provide any evidence.

While cheating on trade does happen – genuine accusations of it can be adjudicated at the World Trade Organization – the White House’s formula for calculating tariff rates leaned on how much of a trade imbalance a country has with the US, not on evidence of cheating.

Trump and his allies “tend to use the term ‘cheating’ as any action by a foreign country that leads to a bilateral goods trade deficit with the US”, said Kent Jones, professor emeritus of economics at Babson College, who specialises in trade policy. “On the face of it, this definition has no economic validity, since bilateral trade balances are generally determined not by trade and other government policies, but by specific patterns of trade by commodity.”

Our analysis of the 10 countries with the highest announced tariff rates on April 2 showed they are largely poor and small – and it is these factors, rather than unfair trade practices, that made them susceptible to the highest rates. Such countries export the resources they have and are too small and too poor, or both, to buy much from the United States.

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2025/4/10/fact-check-are-other-countries-cheating-the-us-on-trade

 

Tariffs: The Real Story

***Note this is a rather lengthy post on the tariffs that the Trump Administration are so proud of and with the promise of a better tomorrow.  If you do not care that your life and livelihood are about to change and not for the better then this post will mean nothing to you….pass it by***

Donny’s tariffs are the promise of so much and all it will deliver will be higher prices making your life difficult while billionaires will make up like bandits and without guns.

Let’s begin with the ‘Tariff King”…..that is what Donny named Pres. McKinley because of hos imposing of tariffs back in the day….I explain McKinley’s policies in a previous post….

More Tariff Talk

Here is the real story of McKinley’s tariffs….

It is true that the self-styled “tariff man”—his political opponents preferred the more derisive “Napoleon of protection”—was the biggest public face of mercantilism during America’s high-tariff era of 1870–1912. As a congressman, he wrote what came to be known as the “McKinley tariff” of 1890, and as president he signed another increase in 1897.

But a funny thing happened after the U.S. came out of the Panic (and subsequent four-year depression) of 1893: Goosed by sharp increases in domestic iron and copper production, Americans had too many goods chasing too few consumers. And McKinley himself began agitating to tear down some of those trade barriers.

“What we produce beyond our domestic consumption must have a vent abroad,” he said in September 1901 at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. “The excess must be relieved through a foreign outlet, and we should sell everywhere we can, and buy wherever the buying will enlarge our sales and productions, and thereby make a greater demand for home labor. The period of exclusiveness is past,” he continued. “The expansion of our trade and commerce is the pressing problem. Commercial wars are unprofitable….If perchance some of our tariffs are no longer needed, for revenue or to encourage and protect our industries at home, why should they not be employed to extend and promote our markets abroad?”

McKinley’s presidency was ended by an assassin’s bullet the very next day.  (please do not consider that option)

https://reason.com/2025/04/06/trump-is-wrong-about-mckinleys-tariff-legacy/

Donny has many promises around his ill advised tariffs and his calculations are in error….this analysis is issued by the AEI, a conserv think tank…..

Two scholars at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a conservative think tank, found the White House used the wrong value when assessing the rate at which prices would change as a result of tariffs. The correct version of the formula uses price changes in the cost of imports, meaning how much it costs a U.S.-based company to buy a good from a foreign seller. Instead, the White House factored in the retail price change, which is what consumers pay.

That meant the formula was off by a factor of four, because the White House valued the elasticity of import prices at 0.25 when it should have been 0.945, according to AEI.

“It’s pretty bush league,” Stan Veuger, one of the AEI fellows, told Fortune in a phone call. “For such a big policy you’d expect a much higher level of professionalism.”

Using the wrong value rendered the formula inaccurate, according to Veuger and his coauthor Kevin Corinth.

“Now, our view is that the formula the administration relied on has no foundation in either economic theory or trade law,” Corinth and Veuger wrote. “But if we are going to pretend that it is a sound basis for U.S. trade policy, we should at least be allowed to expect that the relevant White House officials do their calculations carefully.”

Another AEI economist, Derek Scissors, went even further, saying the administration hadn’t made a mistake so much as intentionally fudged the math to get the outcome officials wanted.

“This whole thing was rigged,” Scissors said Monday on CNBC. “It was a manipulated way to get very high tariffs because President Trump wanted to announce very high tariffs.”

https://fortune.com/2025/04/07/trumps-tariff-formula-was-rigged-to-get-inflated-rates-and-it-used-the-wrong-value-for-one-of-its-variables-conservative-think-tank-says/

Donny has taunted is “Liberation Day’ as a miracle off K Street….but he is wrong on so many accounts.

…

Economically, Trump’s fixation on goods makes no sense. This view is not unique to the president (though he feels it unusually strongly). There is a broader fetishisation of manufacturing in many countries. One theory is that it is potentially ingrained in human thinking by pre-historic experiences of finding food, fuel and shelter dominating all other activities.

But for Trump, the thinking is likely related to a combination of nostalgia for a bygone (somewhat imagined) age of manufacturing, and concern over the loss of quality jobs that provide a solid standard of living for blue collar workers – a core part of his political base.

Nostalgia is not a sensible basis for forming economic policy. But the role emotions play in international affairs has been receiving more attention. It has been identified as an “emotional turn” (where the importance of emotion is recognised) in the discipline of international relations.

Of course, that’s not to say that the concern over jobs and the unequal effects of globalisation is misplaced. It is clear that blue-collar workers have suffered in the US (and elsewhere) for the last 40 to 50 years, with governments paying little attention to the decline.

https://theconversation.com/trump-thinks-tariffs-can-bring-back-the-glory-days-of-us-manufacturing-heres-why-hes-wrong-253991

All this from the ‘stable genius’ who supposedly went to the Wharton Business School at the Univ of Penn….but he actually shows a kindergarten approach to economics…..

President Donald Trump said that he hopes to erase the U.S. trade deficit with other countries—but anyone who understands economics knows that wouldn’t be a good thing.

…

A trade deficit isn’t a “loss,” regardless of what Trump thinks. A trade deficit simply means that one country spends more on goods from another country than that country spends on goods from them.

Crucially, economists say that having a trade deficit is not an inherently bad thing at all, because the U.S. simply can’t and shouldn’t make everything. Trump’s insistence that the U.S. is being taken for a ride betrayed a fundamental misunderstanding of economics that is built on a dislike of other countries and a desire to be the dealmaker responsible for a new world order.

Trump warned that it would be the “worst” for China. In 2024, the United States had a $295.4 billion trade deficit with China. Trump said that China would need to “solve their surplus” before he would be willing to make a deal on tariffs.

https://newrepublic.com/post/193677/donald-trump-tariffs-deficit-understanding

Sorry Donny is a lot dumber than most consider….his tariffs prove it….

There’s a lot to say about these tariffs and how destructive they are, and most of it has been said. My colleague Timothy Noah wrote about the stupidity of tariffs as policy and how Trump has already cost him personally thousands of dollars. But I want to focus on something different here. I want to focus on Trump’s understanding of history. It’s so shockingly dumb—yes, even for him—that it’s hard to believe that we have a president of the United States who is this ignorant.

Here’s what Trump said the other day, and he has said versions of it a number of times: “In the 1880s, they established a commission to decide what they were going to do with the vast sums of money they were collecting. We were collecting so much money so fast, we didn’t know what to do with it. Isn’t that a nice problem to have?”

OK. First of all. Nobody can tell what commission he’s talking about. President Chester Arthur empaneled a commission that recommended reducing tariffs by 20 to 25 percent, going hard against the conventional wisdom of the day. But Congress defied him, lowering tariffs by just an average of around 1.5 percent (and yes, that’s another thing—Congress is supposed to set tariffs, not the president, making this move, among other things, an impeachment-worthy “abuse of power,” a phrase invoked by The Wall Street Journal editorial board Thursday).

But more importantly, there’s this. Allow me to put this as Trump himself might on Truth Social: THE MAN IS AN IDIOT!!!

https://newrepublic.com/post/193614/donald-trump-tariffs-dumb-history-income-tax

This is why his policy is so appealing (for now) to the peasants that support him….they have very, very limited knowledge of how economics works…so they will fall for some bullshit story every time.

Donald Trump has once again proven himself to be the most economically ignorant president in US history.

His so-called “Liberation Day” is nothing more than a desperate con job designed to fool Americans into believing he is fighting for their prosperity while, in reality, he is setting the economy on fire. His tariffs, sold as a bold move to protect American jobs and industries, will do no such thing. Instead, they will send prices soaring across the country, driving up costs for consumers, businesses, and manufacturers alike.

Trump has made a career out of blaming others for his failures, and this time, he is pinning economic hardship on foreign nations while forcing American families to foot the bill for his disastrous policies. At the same time, thousands across the world may lose their jobs.

Let’s not forget that Trump promised to cut inflation on “day one” of his presidency. Yet, what has he actually done? He has unleashed an economic wrecking ball on global markets, sending shockwaves through the financial world and triggering a fresh wave of instability.

Instead of taming inflation, he is fuelling it at a reckless pace, proving once again that his economic strategy is nothing more than hot air wrapped in populist bravado. The impact is already being felt worldwide, with British pensions losing billions in value as a direct consequence of Trump’s actions.

(irishstar.com)

But the truth is glaringly obvious to anyone with even a basic understanding of economics: tariffs are a tax on consumers. The burden doesn’t fall on China, Mexico, or Europe – it falls squarely on American workers, farmers, and families.

Prices on everyday goods will climb, businesses that rely on international supply chains will suffer, and the supposed economic “boom” Trump keeps bragging about will collapse under the weight of his own incompetence.

Trying to explain his tariffs Donny used Biden as an excuse….

“Our past ‘leaders’ are to blame for allowing this, and so much else, to happen to our country,” the former host of The Apprentice declared. “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Trump added: “This is despite the fact that the biggest abuser of them all, China, whose markets are crashing, just raised its tariffs by 34 percent], on top of its long term ridiculously high tariffs (Plus!), not acknowledging my warning for abusing countries not to retaliate. They’ve made enough, for decades, taking advantage of the Good OL’ USA!”

Of course he would use Biden….that is a cowards way out.

Sorry people but this whole tariff thing is one big con….

…

“Instead of coming up with a real plan to get American workers a fair shake, he’s making the United States into an international joke and driving up prices for U.S. consumers,” he added. “If Republicans in Congress allow him to keep this up, Trump will keep yo-yoing on tariffs and using threats to pressure U.S. companies to stay in line instead of fighting back against this senseless economic war on American families.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a longtime critic of “disastrous unfettered free trade deals,” said in a lengthy statement that “targeted tariffs can be a powerful tool to stop corporations from outsourcing American jobs… But Trump’s chaotic across-the-board tariffs are not the way to do it.”

“What Trump is doing is unconstitutional. Trump has claimed supposed ’emergency’ powers to bypass Congress and impose unilateral tariffs on hundreds of countries… This is another step toward authoritarianism,” the senator asserted. “And let’s be clear about why Trump is doing all this: to give massive tax breaks to billionaires.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-pauses-tariffs

Side note:  China tariffs will now be 125%….that means that iPhone and Apple geeks will be paying through the nose for the product….will they still wait in long lines for the newest version?

People need to read this especially those ‘smart’ people that think Donny is on their side.

As proof that he is not on your side…..after his infamous rollback….

Donald Trump is openly bragging about just how much money his billionaire buddies made off of his dangerous tariff gambit.

After announcing a 90-day pause Wednesday on his sweeping “reciprocal tariff” policy on nearly every country—with the exception of China—Trump was excited to take credit for making a buck for his guests at the Oval Office.

“He made $2.5 million today, and he made $900 million! That’s not bad,” Trump said, pointing to financial investor Charles Schwab and Roger Penske, a Nascar team owner, respectively.

Schwab’s estimated net worth is $12.6 billion, while Penske’s is $5.6 billion.

Bloomberg reported that Wednesday was the “best day ever” for billionaires, as the world’s wealthiest people raked in a heaping $304 billion as the markets shot back up.

The day’s biggest individual winner should come as no surprise: Elon Musk made a whopping $36 billion as Tesla stock soared up 23 percent. Trump’s surprising decision to temporarily back off his steep tariffs has sparked major concerns of obvious market manipulation, and even potential insider trading.

https://newrepublic.com/post/193860/donald-trump-brags-tariff-pause-made-billionaires-richer

How much did you make off his game?

Please look at all angles and stop letting petty biases get in the way.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

“Liberation Day”: Part Deux

A tariff on penguin crap?

Today the results of Donny’s “Liberation Day” has taken full effect….

The stock market opened on Thursday exactly as predicted—with a thud. Investors seemed rattled as they continued to digest the implications of President Trump’s bigger-than-expected tariffs, reports the Street.

  • The Dow fell more than 1,100 points, or 2.7%.
  • The S&P 500 fell 187 points, or 3.3%. The benchmark index is on track to have its worst day since September 2022, notes CNBC.
  • The Nasdaq, focused on tech stocks, plunged 790 points, or 4.3%.
  • Global markets also sank, and the US dollar fell to its lowest level of the year, per the Wall Street Journal. The dollar weakened more than 2% against the euro, the Swiss franc, and the Japanese yen, among others. Part of the reason is that “foreign investors are losing confidence in US investments that have come to dominate global portfolios,” per the story.

The ‘stable genius’ has done it again…screwed everything up.

Then when looking at his new round of tariffs we find a bizarre turn…..the McDonald Islands.

The unveiling of President Trump’s tariffs on Wednesday had White House journalists reaching for their atlases—or at least Google. On the list of penalized nations is one that’s actually an Australian territory in the Antarctic called Heard Island and McDonald Islands. Its inclusion is a bit of a puzzler:

  • Remote: The islands are about as remote as you can get, explains Wired. No humans live there, with the main inhabitants being penguins. It takes about two weeks to get there by boat from the Australian mainland. Combined, the islands are about the size of Philadelphia.
  • Zero trade: The islands were hit with the baseline tariff of 10%, the same as mainland Australia. Their trade with the US is $0, thus making the new penalty “somewhat moot,” notes the Washington Post.
  • Another island: The US imposed an even bigger tariff, 29%, on another remote Antarctic territory managed by Australia—Norfolk Island, per the Guardian. It has about 2,000 people and does conduct some trade with the US, with the big export being about $400,000 worth of leather footwear, according to stats from the Observatory of Economic Complexity. However, officials from the territory and Australia dispute those figures and voiced disbelief.
  • Leader vents: “Norfolk Island has got a 29% tariff,” said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. “I’m not quite sure that Norfolk Island, with respect to it, is a trade competitor with the giant economy of the United States, but that just shows and exemplifies the fact that nowhere on Earth is safe from this.”

There is a possibility of making a case against Norfolk Island….but what do the penguins on McDonald Islands produce that we import?

Penguin crap.

Have you ever considered where Donny got his idea for all these tariffs?

Here it is.

This is the formula that Trump's team says was used to calculate reciprocal tariffs. (Source: Office of the United States Trade Representative)

The formula shown uses a country’s trade surplus as the numerator — with “x” representing total exports for a given nation and “m” representing total imports.

That was then divided by total exports. In the below formula “ε” represents price elasticity for import demand and was set at 4. Meanwhile, “φ” represents the elasticity of import prices and was set to 0.25 — effectively canceling each other out.

Does that sound like Greek to you….well is because it is bullsh*t.  As much bullsh*t as the Laffer Curve theory (think trickledown economics)….this math is embarrassing….the reciprocal tariffs turned out not to be based on actual levies imposed by other countries. Instead, they’re based on a formula made up by the White House ― and widely mocked by experts.Instead of strategically imposing tariffs, Trump has chosen to “give the country the most massive tax increase in its history, possibly exceeding $1 trillion on an annual basis, which comes to $7,000 per household,” warned Center for Economic and Policy Research co-founder and senior economist Dean Baker. “And this tax hike will primarily hit moderate and middle-income families. Trump’s taxes go easy on the rich, who spend a smaller share of their income on imported goods.”You do realize that all this stupid game will cost you and your family heavily, right?  Can you now see how utterly moronic all these tariffs and such have become?’Stable genius’ my ass!

At what point do Americans start seeing the utter stupidity of this group of thugs in DC?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

It’s Here! “Liberation Day”!

Warning:  This post contains words that some may find offensive….so if you are easily offended please pass this one by

After about a week of confusion and the lack of information Clueless leader has finally released what his new round of tariffs will be.

Let’s review shall we?

“It’s our declaration of economic independence,” President Trump said at a “Liberation Day” event at the White House on Wednesday, declaring it to be one of the most important days in American history. The president unveiled a slew of new tariffs that were higher than many analysts had expected, the New York Times reports. “Our country and its taxpayers have been ripped off for more than 50 years but it’s not going to happen anymore,” Trump said.

  • Trump declared a baseline tariff of 10% on imports from all countries and extra “reciprocal tariffs” on imports from dozens of countries, the AP reports. They include a 34% tax on imports from China, 32% on imports from Taiwan, 25% on imports from South Korea, 24% on imports from Japan, and 20% imports from the European Union. He said the rate for imports from the UK would be 10%.
  • According to a chart Trump displayed, Cambodia will face the highest reciprocal tariff, at 49%, CBS News reports. The chart showed a 48% rate for Laos and 47% for Madagascar.
  • In an executive order, Trump declared a national emergency “arising from conditions reflected in large and persistent annual US goods trade deficits.”
  • The 10% tariff on all imports, apart from those compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, will take effect at midnight Friday, CNN reports. Officials said the extra tariffs on goods from around 60 countries will take effect next Wednesday.
  • Trump accused other countries of unfair trade practices, saying the US “has been looted, pillaged, raped, plundered” in his Rose Garden speech. “In many cases, the friend is worse than the foe in terms of trade,” he said, per the Telegraph. “We subsidize a lot of countries and keep them going and keep them in business,” he added. “Why are we doing this?”
  • Trump claimed the tariffs were “kind,” saying his administration was only imposing tariffs at half the rate that should be applied based on other countries’ trade practices, the Times reports.
  • The chart Trump displayed, however, showed a tariff rate based on “currency manipulation and trade barriers,” and it’s not clear how it was calculated, the Guardian reports. University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers said the new tariffs will give the US “the highest tariff rates of any industrialized country. And it’s not even close.”
  • The president also confirmed that a 25% tariff on auto imports would take effect at midnight.

WTF?

Just what in Hell did Cambodia or Laos do to piss off the big idiot?

These lame ass crappy policies are from the mind of an fucking idiot.

But the dumbest part of this shit storm is the idea of tariffs on illegal drugs.

President Donald Trump says a primary reason for his new tariffs against the United States’ three largest trading partners is what he calls a “national emergency” brought on by fentanyl flowing across the country’s borders.

Trump says he is holding Canada, China and Mexico accountable for the spread of contraband drugs.

“They’ve allowed fentanyl to come into our country at levels never seen before,” he said in a joint address to Congress on Tuesday night, referring to Mexico and Canada, “killing hundreds of thousands of our citizens and many very young, beautiful people, destroying families.”

You people realize that the importer pays the tariffs, right?

Okay now think about that for just a minute before your brain explodes.

You need some basic economic knowledge to see where this absolutely stupidity will fucking lead.

Here is a breakdown of some of the possibilities….

https://www.npr.org/2025/04/02/nx-s1-5345802/trump-tariffs-liberation-day

Let’s be honest the only people that will suffer are you and your family.

Donald Trump has been labeled the “most economically ignorant president in US history” following his recent actions.

His touted “Liberation Day” is being called out as a mere con job, aimed at deceiving Americans into thinking he’s championing their wealth, while he’s actually igniting an economic blaze. The tariffs he’s touting as a bold initiative to safeguard American jobs and industries are expected to do anything but that.

Instead, they’re predicted to cause prices to skyrocket nationwide, hiking expenses for consumers, businesses, and manufacturers alike.

Trump is notorious for shifting blame for his own shortcomings onto others, and this time he’s attributing economic woes to foreign countries, all while American families are left to pay the price for his catastrophic policies. Meanwhile, the threat looms that thousands around the globe could lose their jobs due to these decisions.

Despite promises to slash inflation from “day one” of his presidency, Trump has instead swung an economic sledgehammer at global markets, causing tremors across the financial landscape and ushering in a new era of uncertainty, reports the Mirror.

Far from curbing inflation, he’s accelerating it dangerously, confirming suspicions that his economic policies are merely bluster cloaked in populist rhetoric.

https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/con-liberation-day-how-trumps-1067011

The markets have not responded well to Donny magic Sharlie…..

The US stock market is poised to open with a steep plunge on Thursday in the wake of President Trump’s tariff rollout, reports the Wall Street Journal. World markets sank as well.

  • Dow futures fell more than 1,100 points, or 2.6%, per CNBC. The benchmark S&P 500 fell 3.3% and the tech-centric Nasdaq was in the worst shape, down 3.6%. Markets in Asia and Europe also dropped sharply, all of which suggests traders didn’t expect Trump’s tariffs to be as large as they were, notes the New York Times.
  • Two big multinational companies in the red were Nike, with shares down 9%, and Apple, down 7%. Companies with a big investment in imported goods also were down, including Five Below (11%), Dollar Tree (10%) and Gap (9%).
  • Many nations were still assessing how to respond after Trump levied a 10% tariff on all imported goods, plus extra penalties on countries the White House considers to be “bad actors.”
  • China, for instance, got hit with a new 34% tariff on top of previous ones, bringing the base tariff on Chinese goods to 54%. In response, the nation’s commerce secretary accused Trump of “unilateral bullying.” A sampling of others: The European Union got hit with a 20% tariff, Japan 24%, India 26%, and Vietnam 46%.

The markets could recover but it will take creative crap for them to do so.

But wait!

Is there any nation/s that failed to make Donny’s ire?  There are nations not on Donny’s list for harsher tariffs…..

The broad new tariffs unveiled by President Trump on Wednesday impose financial penalties on pretty much every country of note. However, Axios points out that one major nation is missing from the list—Russia. The White House says it isn’t about favoritism: Press secretary Karoline Leavitt says existing sanctions on Russia already “preclude any meaningful trade.” Axios, however, points out that the US does more trade with Russia than other nations on the list, including Mauritius or Brunei.

  • Three others: Cuba, North Korea, and Belarus also were not hit with new sanctions, with Leavitt again citing existing sanctions or tariffs.

Why are these American adversaries not on some list?

Do you really buy the bullshit of harsh sanctions precluded them from his anger?

A little economic knowledge would alert you to the possibilities facing you and your family.

I have had enough of trying to keep it civil….Okay let’s call a spade a spade….

Your president is one arrogant stupid motherfucker!  A “stable genius” my boney ass!  Anyone who thinks this stupid shit is going to make life better needs there tiny brain scrubbed out with hot sauce.  There is NO fucking upside to anything this moron you elected is doing.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Watch Your Wallet!

Today is one of those ‘big days’….today the much anticipated tariffs will go into effect on Canada and Mexico and China…..we will see just how successful they are at keeping America great…..

President Trump has said that the US will impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico on Tuesday, saying there’s “no room left” for the two countries to avoid the measures.

Trump signed an executive order on February 1 to impose the 25% tariffs on all goods coming from Mexico and Canada with a carve-out for Canadian oil, which will be hit with a 10% tariff.

Trump paused the tariffs for 30 days after speaking with the leaders of Canada and Mexico, who both pledged to work to stem the flow of fentanyl and migrants entering the US. But Trump said on Monday that drugs were still “pouring into our Country from Mexico and Canada at very high and unacceptable levels.”

Trump also wants to use the tariffs to pressure companies to manufacture in the US and to reduce the trade deficits between the US and its trading partners. He has previously acknowledged the tariffs will cause “pain” for Americans since they will increase domestic prices.

Canada has said it’s ready to hit the US with retaliatory tariffs right away, and Mexico is vowing it will respond as well. Last month, Trump also imposed a 10% tariff on China and said that it would increase by another 10% on Tuesday.

(antiwar.com)

The news that the tariffs would begin and W#all Street had a sell-off in anticipation….

A sell-off hit Wall Street on Monday after President Trump said tariffs he had announced earlier on Canada and Mexico would take effect within hours.

  • The S&P 500 fell 104.78 points, or 1.8%, to 5,849.72.
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 649.67 points, or 1.5%, to 43,191.24.
  • The Nasdaq composite fell 497.09 points, or 2.6%, to 18,350.19.

Trump said there was no room left for negotiations that could lower tariffs set to begin Tuesday on Canadian and Mexican imports. That dashed Wall Street’s hopes that Trump would choose a less painful path for global trade, and it followed the latest warning signal on the US economy’s strength, the AP reports. The hope on Wall Street had been that Trump was using the threat of tariffs as a tool for negotiations and that he would ultimately go through with less damaging policies for the global economy and trade.

Canada has made it clear of their one option….

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Monday he is prepared to cut off electricity exports to the U.S. if President Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on Canadian goods go through.

“If they want to try to annihilate Ontario, I will do everything — including cut off their energy with a smile on my face,” Ford told reporters at a mining convention in downtown Toronto, the Toronto Sun reported.

Consumers are already seeing and feeling the Trump effect….in a month of the Trump coronation the confidence is sliding….

 

And so it begins.

Things are about to get more expensive….I have noticed a rise is food prices even before the tariffs went into effect.

Now we have even more problems to look forward to in the near future.

So again….watch your wallet.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

TARIFFS? What Tariffs?

During the campaigns there was some mention about bringing jobs back to the US and tariffs would be that vehicle.

Many promises were made on the trail to his many screaming angry mobs and tariffs were the major jest of those promises….

After the election which he won he threatened China, Canada, Brazil, Mexico and others with the imposition of tariffs on there exports to the US….all of which will raise prices on the working class it would be like a tax on stupid.

But recently there has been possible cracks in his stand…..

Trump is caving on tariffs, and he isn’t even president yet. I’ve argued previously that the interests of the business lobby and the rich would likely take greater precedence in Trump’s second term than they did in the first. But even I didn’t anticipate that Trump would surrender on the policy dearest to his heart before Inauguration Day.

The Washington Post headline was comically euphemistic: “Trump Aides Ready ‘Universal’ Tariff Plans—With One Key Change.” Such soft-pedaling didn’t fool the markets. News of Trump’s retreat prompted a favorable response Monday morning on Wall Street, with the struggling bond market rallying briefly and the overvalued dollar falling against other currencies. These moves reflected fleeting optimism that Trump’s economic policies would not be as disastrous as feared.

But that favorable response quickly reversed after Trump stated on Truth Social that the Post story “incorrectly states that my tariff policy will be pared back. That is wrong.” For good measure, Trump labeled the story, by the Post’s excellent Jeff Stein, “Fake News.” This well-worn phrase is, typically, Trump’s “tell” that a news story that irritates him is quite accurate, but the markets weren’t subtle enough to register that.

Trump campaigned on a pledge to impose across-the-board tariffs of 10 to 20 percent on all imports. Everybody except Trump, including his economic team, recognizes that this would be ruinous for the economy, raising prices (Kamala Harris was quite right to call the tariff proposal a national sales tax) and provoking retaliation from the roughly 200 countries with whom the United States trades.

https://newrepublic.com/article/189896/trump-already-caving-tariffs

Interesting, yes?

If he actually caves on the tariffs thing how many of his other horrible ideas will he do so as well?

Will any of his masses actually notice that he is waffling?

Just a thought.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Winner-Take-All Economy

We are told almost daily of the attributes of the “free market” economy….but those markets are far from free….for many years I have written numerous times about this lie….this illusion…..

https://lobotero.com/2008/09/20/free-markets-truth-not-spoken/

https://lobotero.com/2020/05/25/that-free-market-illusion/

Then there is the economic inequality….where 1% of the population owns more than the bottom 80%…..but how bad can it possibly be?

Well as you might imagine I have also written numerous posts on this as well…..

https://lobotero.com/2014/02/25/the-increasingly-unequal-states-of-america-income-inequality-by-state-1917-to-2011-economic-policy-institute/

https://lobotero.com/2018/03/17/inequality-how-bad-can-it-be/

After WW2 the economic growth ranged across all levels of society but that equality was to be short lived……our economy has become winner take all….and each passing year the inequality spreads.

In the three decades following World War II, the US saw economic growth that was shared across all levels of income, from the working class to the richest 1 percent. But that changed after the mid-1970s as income inequality increased exponentially during the next four decades.

A new study by nonprofit research organization RAND nails down what really happened. It shows that this rising inequality took a substantial bite out of the earnings of up to 90 percent of American households.

In this week’s WhoWhatWhy podcast, we talk with the authors of the RAND study, mathematician Carter Price and labor economist Kathryn Edwards.

Price and Edwards detail the unique approach they took in putting this report together. Up until now, they explain, nobody had devised a formula to show just how individuals and their families were affected by the rising inequality across the entire income spectrum. 

Proof Positive of the Winner-Take-All Economy

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scriblo”

Trump’s Trade Wars

Are you a Trump supporter? If so, how do you think his numerous trade wars are faring for the country?

I have written numerous posts on what I think of this sanity that is nothing more than a political stunt.

But let’s look at the results of the so-called trade war with China just weeks before the vote.

trade warAs the curtain falls on the first Trump presidency, it is timely to reflect on what has been achieved – or not. And nothing could be more at the heart of US President Donald Trump’s mission to “Make America great again” than an audit of his
on China.
costly claim….It is more than two years since his crassest, most significant and most
: “Trade wars are good, and easy to win.” The shocking naivety of that statement still makes me shudder. But having declared war, he has fought it, and continues to fight it, unflinching in his conviction that one way or another he will eventually succeed, and that the United States will have been made stronger in the process.
Whether Trump wins another term in office or not, he can take comfort that his good fight will continue. His opponent in the presidential election, former US vice-president Joe Biden, has given
every indication
that Trump’s trade war on China will rage on.
tariff wars. 
But how well served have the US economy, American companies and workers been by the, and unprecedented efforts to roll back seven decades of globalisation and trade liberalisation?
 
I have listened to his drooling slobbering supporters applaud and scream when he mentions what is war is doing to China…..it is nothing but make believe and wishful thinking…..
 
Further Reading…..If you dare…..
 
 
To be honest I am not thrilled with the trade policies of the Dem candidate, Joe Biden, either…..on which I wrote recently….read those thoughts as well…..https://lobotero.com/2020/05/27/biden-on-trade/
 
Learn Stuff!
 
I Read, I Write, You Know
 
“lego ergo scribo”