Tariffs Catch-All

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Yes, considering it was ghost written, he's probably never actually read it, not that I blame him.
He's never written any of his books (no surprise of course), as they're all ghostwritten. The guy he hired to write The Art of the Deal, Tony Schwartz, spent 18 months working with Trump on the book back in the 80s and so got a good up-close view of the man. He later said that he should have titled the book The Sociopath. When Trump first ran for president in 2016 Schwartz told any media outlet that would listen that in his opinion Trump was totally unqualified to be POTUS. He said he regretted placing Trump in a positive light.

Schwartz said in 2016 that “I put lipstick on a pig...I feel a deep sense of remorse that I contributed to presenting Trump in a way that brought him wider attention and made him more appealing than he is"...His first attempts to get Trump to participate in a series of traditional interviews did not work. Schwartz said discussion was consistently hobbled due to Trump’s short attention span, with Trump fidgeting until he’d ultimately call off the session. “It’s impossible to keep him focused on any topic, other than his own self-aggrandisement, for more than a few minutes,” Schwartz said. “If he had to be briefed on a crisis in the Situation Room, it’s impossible to imagine him paying attention over a long period of time.”

"Schwartz told the New Yorker he found the process [of writing the book] draining and said that he had made a concerted effort to make Trump appear “a sympathetic character” in order to ensure the book’s success, rather than “just hateful or, worse yet, a one-dimensional blowhard”. He said he purposely left out unflattering details of Trump’s character and business, including the knowledge that Trump had lied to him about the success of his casinos and hotels. The Trump Taj Mahal and Trump Plaza Hotel would subsequently both file for bankruptcy."

Just another in a long line of people who knew Trump well and who had worked with him directly who warned anyone who would listen starting in 2016 that Trump was totally unqualified for the office, and yet not enough people listened.
 
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"US President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs on most imports, sparking concerns that a global trade war would dent economic growth and hit fuel demand."

Lowered fuel demand sends oil prices down. Woohoo, Mr. Dogood! We get lower oil prices because people are expecting economic growth to plummet. Does that make you happy? Another own goal by Trump!
 




The Trump Administration had been openly seeking a weaker dollar to encourage development of mfg inside the USA. Three weeks ago:


“…Reagan collaborated with foreign allies to devalue the dollar via the Plaza Accord, as per the report. The dollar depreciated by around 40% and increased US exports while softening the trade deficit, reported Telegraph.

Some people in the Trump's administration are now demanding a "Mar-a-Lago Accord," referencing Reagan's approach, as per the report.

… To get a weaker dollar, Trump's advisors have proposed some options, such as making other nations tie their currencies to the dollar or deterring foreign investment in US Treasury bonds, as per Telegraph. These might be effective in the short term, but they pose risks that could make global markets and the US economy unstable, according to the report.
 




The Trump Administration had been openly seeking a weaker dollar to encourage development of mfg inside the USA. Three weeks ago:


“…Reagan collaborated with foreign allies to devalue the dollar via the Plaza Accord, as per the report. The dollar depreciated by around 40% and increased US exports while softening the trade deficit, reported Telegraph.

Some people in the Trump's administration are now demanding a "Mar-a-Lago Accord," referencing Reagan's approach, as per the report.

… To get a weaker dollar, Trump's advisors have proposed some options, such as making other nations tie their currencies to the dollar or deterring foreign investment in US Treasury bonds, as per Telegraph. These might be effective in the short term, but they pose risks that could make global markets and the US economy unstable, according to the report.

Oh, he is putting us in "an unbelievable economic position", it's just that the meaning of that term is very different from what he means. It is unbelievable that anyone sane and still connected to reality would actually pursue the destructive policies that he's following.
 
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You sad, ignorant little man.
This is so dishonest. The aggregate number does not tell the whole story. 60% of Walmart's inventory is from China. This is a selective consumption tax and the people who can least afford this tax are the ones most likely to pay it. They will then use this revenue to cut income taxes on top earners and corporations. It will be an incredible wealth transfer.
 

Why Trump is scrambling for allies in his trade war with China​



“… Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pointed out on Fox Business this week that US allies such as Japan, South Korea and India would soon be in trade talks with Washington, as would Vietnam.


“Everyone is coming to the table, and basically China is surrounded,” he said. Bessent added that a topic of talks should be a joint goal: “How do we get China to rebalance? That is the big win here.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked on Friday why American allies would help it counter China when Trump was treating friends and foes alike. She replied: “You’ll have to talk to our allies who are reaching out to us. The phones are ringing off of the hooks. They have made it very clear they need the United States of America, they need our markets, they need our consumer base.”

But everything that Trump has done since he arrived back in the Oval Office has been designed to destroy groups of like-minded democracies. Several times this week, he dissed the European Union. “I always say it was formed to really do damage to the United States in trade,” he said.

He’s not the only Europe hater. Vice President JD Vance revealed his distaste for the continent at the Munich Security forum and also in a group chat of officials about air strikes in Yemen.

Trump’s spite in the Western hemisphere is also an issue. …”
 

Why Trump is scrambling for allies in his trade war with China​



“… Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pointed out on Fox Business this week that US allies such as Japan, South Korea and India would soon be in trade talks with Washington, as would Vietnam.


“Everyone is coming to the table, and basically China is surrounded,” he said. Bessent added that a topic of talks should be a joint goal: “How do we get China to rebalance? That is the big win here.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked on Friday why American allies would help it counter China when Trump was treating friends and foes alike. She replied: “You’ll have to talk to our allies who are reaching out to us. The phones are ringing off of the hooks. They have made it very clear they need the United States of America, they need our markets, they need our consumer base.”

But everything that Trump has done since he arrived back in the Oval Office has been designed to destroy groups of like-minded democracies. Several times this week, he dissed the European Union. “I always say it was formed to really do damage to the United States in trade,” he said.

He’s not the only Europe hater. Vice President JD Vance revealed his distaste for the continent at the Munich Security forum and also in a group chat of officials about air strikes in Yemen.

Trump’s spite in the Western hemisphere is also an issue. …”
This sounds less like they've actually heard that Japan or South Korea or India want to negotiate on trade and more like they're just hoping that these nations are eventually going to want to come to the table and meet Dear Leader's demands. As this article makes painfully clear, they're pursuing two contradictory agendas - trying to convince our allies to help us isolate China and force them to meet our trade and tariff demands, while at the same time they've been deliberately alienating and driving away all of our traditional allies via tariffs, threats of just taking them over (Canada), arresting, detaining, and questioning their citizens while they are visiting the USA for no good reason, threatening to seize their property (Denmark over Greenland), and all sorts of other shit. The "Oh, we hate your guts and we're treating you like shit, now why don't you help us against China?" strategy doesn't seem like a winner, but I guess we'll see.
 
I pre-ordered a minimalist phone from a small company called Light (The Light Phone) and was expecting delivery in June sometime. They sent an email earlier this week that they had to move production from China due to the tariffs and were working on getting the new line up and running, resulting in a delay of 2-3 months in the middle of the rollout.

Now phones are exempt, but I imagine they costs of setting up the other production line are already sunk. Just another example of the sloppy policy hurting American businesses.
 
Tariffs are a regressive tax on tjhe midde class, working class and poor. If you are going to embark on somethjing as destructive and harmful as a tariff/trade way, you need to have a clear goal or two and state them clearly As of now, Trump Admin has offered countless goals, many of which conflict and most of which (such as bringing back manuf jobs_ can be far better addressed through programs such as Chips Act.Inlation Recuction Act, or subsidies like we do the defense industry via the Pentagom OR give low-interest loans to US and foreigh companies to bulld manuf plants in US. So far they have justified this insanity by:
1) need to stop fentanyl imports from Canada and Mexico
2) Ditto China
3) Even though we are far richer than other countries, everyone has screwedd us for 40 yuears. (Reality: we havce screwed middle.working lasses through tax policies which benefit the wealthy and larqe corps to detriment of middle and working class_
4) bring back manuf jobs (tariffs is the worst way to do this, You will have to subsidize via other means and these other means are far less destrictive to middle and working class/poor than tariffs
5) As a means to get tcountri4es to end DEI policies
6) means to get countries to lower tariffs and non-tar9ff barries
means to end VAT tqax
7) revenue raiser so tax cuts to wealthy and large coprs can be extended and expanded (this IMO is likely the real reason)
 
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