Tariffs Catch-All

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Hilarious that Trump thinks lowering the tariff to 80% is going to make a goddamn difference. Wasn't it originally about 80% before Trump decided to retaliate against the retaliation?

Here's what I don't get. Trump has been steadfastly in favor of tariffs for a very long time. It's not opportunism. But really he should like what tariffs bring. Has nobody explained to him a fundamental dynamic of international trade, as adapted to his sensibility?

Asian people endure long hours in sweatshops to make stuff for us to consume. They do all the work; and we get affordable clothes and shoes.

How is that not incredibly appealing to Trump? It's basically his life ethos.
 

This weekend the Canadian invasion of Seattle by Toronto Blue Jays fans looks like it might be different than previous years.

Blue Jays superfan Arthur Gallant went to a game between his team and the Seattle Mariners last summer and intended to return for the three-game set this weekend.

However, when U.S. President Donald Trump started his 51st state rhetoric about Canada, Gallant said it didn’t feel right to cross the border.

“I have to put my country over my team and really send a message with my money,” he told Global News.

“It’s not personal, it’s not about the city themselves.

Data provided by the Whatcom Council of Governments comparing the number of B.C. licence plates crossing the border into Washington State found that in April 2024, 200,853 vehicles crossed, compared to 98,576 in April 2025.

As of Thursday afternoon, hundreds of tickets are still available for all three Blue Jays games in Seattle this weekend.
I wonder if this will keep Jays fans at home when they play in Cleveland this year? Jays fans were the most obnoxious of all visiting fans over the years. Cleveland is the closest MLB city to Toronto and they would come by the chartered busloads for a three game series. They were very nice and friendly when encountered in the bars and restaurants but were worse than Yankees or Red Sox fans when they showed up in the ballpark. During 12 years as Indians/Guardians season ticket holders we eventually learned to sell our tickets for the Blue Jays games.
 
Hilarious that Trump thinks lowering the tariff to 80% is going to make a goddamn difference. Wasn't it originally about 80% before Trump decided to retaliate against the retaliation?

Here's what I don't get. Trump has been steadfastly in favor of tariffs for a very long time. It's not opportunism. But really he should like what tariffs bring. Has nobody explained to him a fundamental dynamic of international trade, as adapted to his sensibility?

Asian people endure long hours in sweatshops to make stuff for us to consume. They do all the work; and we get affordable clothes and shoes.

How is that not incredibly appealing to Trump? It's basically his life ethos.
Or is he?

 

The US deal on steel tariffs imposes conditions on the “nature of ownership” of British plants as part of its efforts to freeze out Chinese steel, it has emerged.

It is understood Donald Trump’s administration pushed for requirements to be attached to the steel deal to ensure that the Chinese-owned British Steel plant in Scunthorpe was not used by Beijing as a backdoor to circumvent US tariffs.


Government sources say Washington is understood to be reassured that Scunthorpe is now in effect controlled by Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, and is likely not to come back under the direction of Jingye Group, its Chinese owners.

However, before the UK government took steps to seize control of British Steel last month the US had been concerned that the Scunthorpe plant could have been used as a base for processing Chinese steel to take advantage of lower tariffs.
 
Hilarious that Trump thinks lowering the tariff to 80% is going to make a goddamn difference. Wasn't it originally about 80% before Trump decided to retaliate against the retaliation?

Here's what I don't get. Trump has been steadfastly in favor of tariffs for a very long time. It's not opportunism. But really he should like what tariffs bring. Has nobody explained to him a fundamental dynamic of international trade, as adapted to his sensibility?

Asian people endure long hours in sweatshops to make stuff for us to consume. They do all the work; and we get affordable clothes and shoes.

How is that not incredibly appealing to Trump? It's basically his life ethos.
Trump is preparing for the next cave.
 

On Friday morning, West Coast port officials told CNN about a startling sight: Not a single cargo vessel had left China with goods for the two major West Coast ports in the past 12 hours. That hasn’t happened since the pandemic.

Six days ago, 41 vessels were scheduled to depart China for the San Pedro Bay Complex, which encompasses both the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach in California. On Friday, it was zero.

President Donald Trump’s trade war imposed massive tariffs on most Chinese imports last month. That’s led to fewer ships at sea carrying less cargo to America’s ports. For many businesses, it is now too expensive to do business with China, one of America’s most important trading partners.

Officials are concerned not just about the lack of vessels leaving China, but the speed at which that number dropped.

“That’s cause for alarm,” said Mario Cordero, the CEO of the Port of Long Beach. “We are now seeing numbers in excess of what we witnessed in the pandemic” for cancellations and fewer vessel arrivals.
 

On Friday morning, West Coast port officials told CNN about a startling sight: Not a single cargo vessel had left China with goods for the two major West Coast ports in the past 12 hours. That hasn’t happened since the pandemic.

Six days ago, 41 vessels were scheduled to depart China for the San Pedro Bay Complex, which encompasses both the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach in California. On Friday, it was zero.

President Donald Trump’s trade war imposed massive tariffs on most Chinese imports last month. That’s led to fewer ships at sea carrying less cargo to America’s ports. For many businesses, it is now too expensive to do business with China, one of America’s most important trading partners.

Officials are concerned not just about the lack of vessels leaving China, but the speed at which that number dropped.

“That’s cause for alarm,” said Mario Cordero, the CEO of the Port of Long Beach. “We are now seeing numbers in excess of what we witnessed in the pandemic” for cancellations and fewer vessel arrivals.
I still think when the shelves start to empty out this summer and panic buying starts to set in that Trump will fold like a cheap suit - like he always does and has already done with tariffs on other countries. His staff will find some way to end the tariffs (or lower them to 10%) and still claim "victory". The problem is that the Chinese may not let him off the hook that easily, as they could continue their tariffs on our products being sold in China and could limit what is being shipped here to extend the pain, so to speak.
 
Come on MAGA, step up and support this business. You might not be able to replace all the shower heads in your home, but who needs more than one anyway. Am I right?

A business owner tested if customers would pay more for American-made. The results were 'sobering.'


As a small business owner, Ramon van Meer said he's used to hearing people say they'd be willing to pay more for products made in America.


When President Donald Trump ratcheted up tariffs on Chinese imports by an additional 145%, van Meer decided to see if shoppers would put their money where their mouth is.

"I wanted to know the answer and then use it for my own company," the Afina founder told Business Insider.

So the serial entrepreneur set about finding US suppliers to make his best-selling product: a specialized filtered shower head.

Van Meer said his filters are made in the US, some additional materials are sourced in Vietnam, and the final product is made in China with a single supplier.


To move everything over to the US, he said he had to find four to six separate suppliers who would handle various aspects of the production process. All told, he found it would cost three times as much to produce — more than the cost of simply paying the tariff.

Armed with real numbers, he set out to do a test with two identical products, with the only difference being their origin and, critically, their price: visitors to Afina's website were presented with the option of a Chinese-made item for $129 or a US-made version for $239.


"I'm big on just testing it out with real data and real purchases," van Meer said. "Not asking customers, not a survey, not even add-to-carts."

"When somebody has to pay for it, that's the actual real data," he added.

After several days and more than 25,000 visitors, he said he sold 584 of the lower-priced shower heads and not one single purchase of a US-made version.

A table from Afina's test, showing 0 purchases for the more expensive Made-in-USA version of its shower head.
In a blog post that went viral, van Meer called the results "sobering."

"We wanted to believe customers would back American labor with their dollars. But when faced with a real decision — not a survey or a comment section — they didn't," he wrote.

Nowadays van Meer said he's spending most of his time trying to shift production out of China to a country with a lower tariff rate.

"Staying in China is not sustainable because even if they make a deal, we don't know what's going to happen," he said. "The United States is also not an option, because there's just no facilities that can make it."

Van Meer said Afina currently has enough inventory in its US warehouses to last until August, at which point he would have to start charging for the tariff.

Asked whether he would roll that cost into the price or apply a surcharge, as other businesses have said they would do, van Meer said he hadn't yet decided.

"We'll probably do testing," he said.
 

On Friday morning, West Coast port officials told CNN about a startling sight: Not a single cargo vessel had left China with goods for the two major West Coast ports in the past 12 hours. That hasn’t happened since the pandemic.

Six days ago, 41 vessels were scheduled to depart China for the San Pedro Bay Complex, which encompasses both the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach in California. On Friday, it was zero.

President Donald Trump’s trade war imposed massive tariffs on most Chinese imports last month. That’s led to fewer ships at sea carrying less cargo to America’s ports. For many businesses, it is now too expensive to do business with China, one of America’s most important trading partners.

Officials are concerned not just about the lack of vessels leaving China, but the speed at which that number dropped.

“That’s cause for alarm,” said Mario Cordero, the CEO of the Port of Long Beach. “We are now seeing numbers in excess of what we witnessed in the pandemic” for cancellations and fewer vessel arrivals.
And of course Trump thinks this is a sign of prosperity.
 
Come on MAGA, step up and support this business. You might not be able to replace all the shower heads in your home, but who needs more than one anyway. Am I right?

A business owner tested if customers would pay more for American-made. The results were 'sobering.'


As a small business owner, Ramon van Meer said he's used to hearing people say they'd be willing to pay more for products made in America.


When President Donald Trump ratcheted up tariffs on Chinese imports by an additional 145%, van Meer decided to see if shoppers would put their money where their mouth is.

"I wanted to know the answer and then use it for my own company," the Afina founder told Business Insider.

So the serial entrepreneur set about finding US suppliers to make his best-selling product: a specialized filtered shower head.

Van Meer said his filters are made in the US, some additional materials are sourced in Vietnam, and the final product is made in China with a single supplier.


To move everything over to the US, he said he had to find four to six separate suppliers who would handle various aspects of the production process. All told, he found it would cost three times as much to produce — more than the cost of simply paying the tariff.

Armed with real numbers, he set out to do a test with two identical products, with the only difference being their origin and, critically, their price: visitors to Afina's website were presented with the option of a Chinese-made item for $129 or a US-made version for $239.


"I'm big on just testing it out with real data and real purchases," van Meer said. "Not asking customers, not a survey, not even add-to-carts."

"When somebody has to pay for it, that's the actual real data," he added.

After several days and more than 25,000 visitors, he said he sold 584 of the lower-priced shower heads and not one single purchase of a US-made version.

A table from Afina's test, showing 0 purchases for the more expensive Made-in-USA version of its shower head.
In a blog post that went viral, van Meer called the results "sobering."

"We wanted to believe customers would back American labor with their dollars. But when faced with a real decision — not a survey or a comment section — they didn't," he wrote.

Nowadays van Meer said he's spending most of his time trying to shift production out of China to a country with a lower tariff rate.

"Staying in China is not sustainable because even if they make a deal, we don't know what's going to happen," he said. "The United States is also not an option, because there's just no facilities that can make it."

Van Meer said Afina currently has enough inventory in its US warehouses to last until August, at which point he would have to start charging for the tariff.

Asked whether he would roll that cost into the price or apply a surcharge, as other businesses have said they would do, van Meer said he hadn't yet decided.

"We'll probably do testing," he said.
We have to be careful how this is presented, since we also argue for living wages. We don't want this to come across as a direct correlation between labor and goods cost. I'm sure that most of us here understand that there are other variables, but will the cult?
 
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