And just like that the 'Ukraine' thing was forgotten, similar to how the 'COVID' thing was big right up until the 'Ukraine' thing started. Circus.
I'm torn on these tariffs. Let me start by saying I'm not American. I'm a European owner of a Trump cap and I still wear my Trump Christmas jumper. You could say I'm somewhat of a fan of the Don, many euros are. Here's what I see with the tariffs.
1. They aren't reciprocal, well not in an apples vs apples sense. The formula given is basically just the trade balance percentage as the other variables amount to one in all cases. Yeah some people are saying VAT, trade barriers etc etc. The US has sales tax, its not as gay as VAT, but its a thing. The US has state level barriers as far as I know also, CA being weird about cars, some states having oddness over alcohol. So Trump is attempting to balance trade, the fluff about it being due to bad tariffs here there and everywhere is just fluff in most cases. Balancing trade, I get that, he was elected for that, the Americans chose well, the sniveling EU worms probably should have bent the knee yesterday.
2. I recall the 80's, my father worked for big US textile mills and ran their operations as they shifted to Ireland [yeah they were screwing the US even back then], then to Turkey, then to India/Bangladesh. Dismal US policies and unfettered greed led to the absolute killing of US industry. Have to admire Trump wanting to bring that industry back. Make stuff in your own country, good policy. Good for normal people, bad for robber barons.
3. Its classic Trump chaos play. Many countries will bend the knee straight away. Some like the EU [not a country, not a flag] will issue the only thing they produce - the standard 'strongly worded statement', I humbly suggest that the US issue a 1000% tariff on this. Trumps genius however is in introducing chaos and market drops, he is quickly lowering the US debt yield, the bulk of which is due soon. The refinance on this will be much cheaper - possibly as much as a trillion a year. Couple this with DOGE and you have a real chance of making meaningful change for the US.
4. It's a shifting in global markets, doesn't feel like it will be as extreme as the talking heads on the n00s suggest. Here's why I think that. High value, low margin things, like cars can be shifted to production in the US, its painful but will happen. Watch VW, BMW, Mercedes scramble. Things like steel, pharma, basic commodities *should* be produced locally. Your Chinese tat wont go away, you would need upwards of 1000% tariffs on these things to make it even slightly worthwhile producing stateside. Luxury goods similarly wont move, the margins on these are as big as the customers wallets.
5. China and most of the developing world will be fine with this, deals will be struck, it will be acknowledged that the US is getting back to the 80s [wonderful!]. The EU will be hammered by this however. They cut of their nose in poking Russia and stopping low cost energy all while getting into bed with Biden and his woke band of losers. They are the exceptional losers in all of this, which is even worse when considered that the EU used to have a bigger GDP than the US, but then quickly sank, and now will crash even further.
6. Short term many things are going to get very expensive in the US. Things that no one actually needs. Your Chinese mop and bucket will still be sold by an American company, it will go up 5%. Food will be the same, maybe more on some exotic stuff, but honestly farmers markets, local organic beef, good wine, you can have great US food, hopefully MAHA sorts out the evil local robber barons. US produced cars, planes, heavy goods will become the number one choice. What will cost more is 'fast fashion', which as the men here know is trash. A well made pair of jeans, coat, or overalls last a decade or more, as I type this on my farm, im wearing 40 year old boots that belonged to my grandfather. High quality is good. Garbage 'tech' will cost more - do we really need new phones each year?
In short I'm not sure these tariffs will stick, they aren't what they are proclaimed as, and the media have it all wrong [as usual]. That said, if Trump pulls off this gamble, its a masterstroke.