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Why I hate tariffs

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When such absolutely basic concepts of economics and trade are not understood by our government, we get the mess we have on our hands:

 
For people who think all you have to do is raise tariffs and manufacturing comes to US, and increasing chance of recession:

 
Here is what you hear when you put a person with half a billion dollar net worth in charge of US Treasury:


He "assumes" this and that. And seemingly hopes the prices go up and therefore, demand drops due to "elasticity." No plan. No strategy. Just a hope and prayer that China comes to them first. Our governmental ego must be stroked before we serve our US citizens so we are not going to pick up the phone. :(
 
That last line is the thing that gets me:


Maybe instead of playing golf three days a week, our president needs to visit business like this and families that depend on them....
 
The pain continues. Got an early morning text to my phone from DHL saying I need to pay duty on something. Doesn't say who sent it. What it is or anything. Only that I have 5 days or they will return the shipment to sender! They provided a link. I click on that and it takes me to DHL. It asks me the country. Why doesn't it know this already? I select US. Then it asks me the Waybill number. Really? I am supposed to know this number that shipper has? Why isn't this number already embedded in the URL? I find some number in the text and type it in. It takes that and shows that I own $141 and change. :( This is likely a review sample from China. But who it is from, I don't know. Chinese companies have cryptic addresses in them and names of the companies is often different than their US name.

So yeah, it the words of our president, I am making us "rich" by paying such fees. :(
 
So we got some fluff high-level arrangement with UK today. The few of us with British cars can rejoice with 25% extra tariffs going away. Otherwise, UK products are still subject to the universal 10% tax. I am surprised British government went along with that. Likely US government wanted a deal, any kind of deal, and Brits were willing to do us a favor.

 
It is a crazy world where our first "deal" is with a country where we have a trade surplus (UK imports more from us than the other way around): https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/europe-middle-east/europe/united-kingdom

United Kingdom​

The United States and the United Kingdom launched trade negotiations on May 5, 2020. Click here for the latest on these negotiations.
United Kingdom Trade Summary
U.S. total goods trade with the United Kingdom were an estimated $148.0 billion in 2024. U.S. goods exports to the United Kingdom in 2024 were $79.9 billion, up 7.6 percent ($5.6 billion) from 2023. U.S. goods imports from the United Kingdom totaled $68.1 billion in 2024, up 6.0 percent ($3.9 billion) from 2023. The U.S. goods trade surplus with the United Kingdom was $11.9 billion in 2024, a 17.4 percent increase ($1.8 billion) over 2023.

By our government logic, it should have been UK that should have tariffed us "reciprocally" than the other way around!
 
This is the second example of someone trying to sell a US made version of the same product for more, and having zero sales of that version: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/business-owner-tested-customers-pay-095701095.html

"
  • Ramon van Meer wanted to see whether people would buy a Made-in-USA version of his specialty shower head.
  • He found it would cost three times as much to produce — and raised the sale price by 85%.
  • After several days of testing, zero customers bought the USA model.
[...]

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.

[...]

He said that after several days and more than 25,000 visitors, he sold 584 lower-priced shower heads and not a single US-made version."


All the US nationalism stops the the wallet it seems.
 
So first China was supposed to eat the cost of tariffs. Now it is WalMart:


So WalMart is supposed to lose money so that we open factories to make clothes and shoes in US??? When did we decide which part of our industry is supposed to win and which is supposed to lose?
 
Major development! The three-judge panel of US Federal Courts of International Trade just halted the tariffs, ruling that the president exceeded his authority:


US court blocks Trump from imposing the bulk of his tariffs​


New YorkCNN —
A federal court on Wednesday ruled that President Donald Trump overstepped his authority to impose sweeping tariffs that have raised the cost of imports for everyone from giant businesses to everyday Americans.

But the administration immediately appealed the decision on Wednesday night, leaving the situation uncertain for consumers and companies and potentially prolonging the battle over whether Trump’s import duties will stand – and possibly reshape the global economy.

A three-judge panel at the US Court of International Trade, a relatively low-profile court in Manhattan, stopped Trump’s global tariffs that he imposed citing emergency economic powers, including the “Liberation Day” tariffs he announced on April 2. It also prevents Trump from enforcing his tariffs placed earlier this year against China, Mexico and Canada, designed to combat fentanyl coming into the United States.

The court ruled in favor of a permanent injunction, potentially grinding Trump’s global tariffs to a halt before “deals” with most other trading partners have even been reached. The court ordered a window of 10 calendar days for administrative orders “to effectuate the permanent injunction.” That means the bulk – but not all – of Trump’s tariffs would be put in a standstill if the ruling holds up in appeal and, potentially, with the Supreme Court.

The order halts Trump’s 30% tariffs on China, his 25% tariffs on some goods imported from Mexico and Canada, and the 10% universal tariffs on most goods coming into the United States. It does not, however, affect the 25% tariffs on autos, auto parts, steel or aluminum, which were subject to Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act – a different law than the one Trump cited for his broader trade actions.



We will have to see if the appeal court will reverse the injunction pending that appeal. Ditto for the Supreme Court. Otherwise, this noose may have come off our necks!
 
As I suspected, Appeals Court stepped in and paused the lower court order, allowing tariffs to be active again. Not sure how long that appeal takes. If it is not emergency, then it could take months. Then appeal to Supreme court, etc. The uncertainty is brutal for businesses which can't do any planning.
 
You know you have an absurd tariff policy when a republican Senator and staunch supporter of the president, can't believe the answers he is getting from our trade representative:

 
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