We just received an email this afternoon for the additional tariff on our auto parts, potentially 79% total by May. The existing 25%, the March addition of 20%, and the possible 34% in May.
Trump Tariffs started today, Some Countries Caved in early morning.
by liam 71 Replies latest social current
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DisgruntledFool
Dagney...without giving myself away, I have been in the auto parts business for 47 years. These tariffs are creating the worst price hikes I have seen in my lifetime. So far, the company I am affiliated with is only raising prices in the teens percentage wise to start but even then they will be devastating to the end user who can ill afford to pay for repairs on their automobiles in the current economic environment.
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AnnaNana
Some informative links on the topic:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/regulating-imports-with-a-reciprocal-tariff-to-rectify-trade-practices-that-contribute-to-large-and-persistent-annual-united-states-goods-trade-deficits/
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Annex-I.pdf
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Annex-II.pdf
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/06/how-the-us-has-used-tariffs-through-history-and-why-trump-is-different.html
Reading about the history of tariffs in the US is enlightening.
Trump's use of tariff to increase national revenue is not something brand new. It's been done before.
What is interesting is reading the executive order and noticing how often the word "reciprocity" is used.
After understanding how the Watchtower functions with "opposite-world" use of words, it seems the nation's leaders do the same thing - they are not really concerned about "reciprocity", but are merely using a buzz-word to hide their true motives, namely, lording it over the rest of the world in a pharisaical way.
There is nothing new under the sun.
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Balaamsass2
4/3 5:39 et wsj opinion.
- Review & OutlookFollow
Trump and His ‘Little Disturbance’ From Tariffs
The effective U.S. tariff rate is now higher than after Smoot-Hawley. "President Trump said there would be “a little disturbance” from his tariffs, but how does he define little? The stock market Thursday suffered its worst day since the government shut down the economy in March 2020. Not to worry, the White House says tariffs will eventually be worth the pain. Feeling better?"
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/donald-trump-tariffs-disturbance-markets-trade-243b36ef?st=qYgLW7&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
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AnnaNana
Some interesting questions to consider while reading the "Regulating Imports with a Reciprocal Tariff to Rectify Trade Practices that Contribute to Large and Persistent Annual United States Goods Trade Deficit" executive order...
(1) Who owns stock in the various companies that will benefit from the increased investments?
(2) What "reciprocal" assets are not measured in tariffs but take place under the table? (In other words, have any governments benefited from the opium trade, sex trafficking, slave labor, arms sales, etc, in markets overseas in exchange for lower tariff "reciprocity" rates?)
(3) Do the increased tariffs in certain countries accurately portray the supposed need for "reciprocity" spoken of in the order? For instance, is the tiny country of Lesotho really so important to the US as far as trade goes that its tariffs need to be increased to 50%? Or is the chart set up to mostly for impact purposes?
(4) What do farming and defense industry have to do with tariffs really?
(5) What's up with this statement? "This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person."
I'm not saying increasing tariffs is good or bad or otherwise. But it seems to me the motives expressed in the executive order are just as corrupt as the motives the Watchtower leaders give for their actions.
"We love you very much!"
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slimboyfat
Trump imposed a 10% tariff on the Heard and McDonald Islands inhabited only by penguins. 🐧 🐧 🐧 😮 😆
America you are being governed by a clown and all y’all pretending this insanity makes any sense are showing yourselves up big time. Power is slipping away in real time as countries round the world make other arrangements that don’t rely on the whims of a madman and his enablers.
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hoser
Anna Nana
I was thinking the same thing about the stock markets when the current president went back and forth on tariffs the last few months.
He would put them on then the next day day them off
Anyone with prior Knowledge to the announcement could pocket millions from the stock market if they were positioned correctly.
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no-zombie
I know that Slimbyfat beat me too it but ...
So the smartest businessman in America (who has already been bankrupt 4 times) is now tariffing penguins. Putin must be laughing his ass off, at you guys.
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Dagney
I am looking at broker invoices just received from our NJ office. Containers that typically land at $3K-4K are now landing at $14K per container.
Trade agreements should be reviewed and renegotiated regularly, of course. The people feeling the hurt from all this chaos are the businesses scrambling and the consumers. I have a feeling the chaos will settle somewhere in between. But the method is so difficult for the average to small business. But who cares about them right!
I will be out of here very soon. I also have been in auto parts for decades...and it's been a good industry to be part of, very recession proof. We had Brazilian suppliers in last week that will pick up some of the manufacturing, less tariff and landing costs. So it goes.
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Balaamsass2
Friday afternoon. What does the World think? Wallstreet Journal:
"2,200-Point Drop in Dow Ends Brutal Week for Stocks
Blue chips enter correction as Nasdaq, S&P plunge nearly 6%; more than $6 trillion erased from market in two days"
https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/stock-market-tariffs-trade-war-04-04-2025
"What Happened in Markets Today
Markets are in free fall. China retaliated against U.S. tariffs, escalating the biggest trade war in a century and sending global stocks to a second washout day in a row. The Nasdaq entered a bear market while sliding 5.8% at the close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 2200 points, or 5.5%. The carnage was widespread, with fewer than two dozen S&P 500 stocks rising for the day. The marketwide toll from the two-day tariff rout surged past a record $6 trillion.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell warned of economic harm. He said the U.S. economy was likely to face a period of higher prices and weaker growth than seemed possible a few weeks ago because of larger-than-anticipated tariff hikes. His remarks carried an undercurrent of caution about how the Fed would be able to address any fallout because the central bank will want to ensure one-time price increases don’t lead to persistently higher inflation.
The economy is still strong. Investors drew little solace from an unexpectedly strong jobs report that showed the economy added 228,000 jobs last month, well above the 140,000 economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected.
Uncertainty is the only certainty for investors right now. Even as Trump left the door open to making deals, he vowed new tariffs on drugs and microchips. JPMorgan analysts on Thursday boosted their odds on a global recession to 60%. Trump remained unbowed, saying now is a "great time to get rich" and that "China played it wrong, they panicked."
Investors rushed into Treasurys. That pushed 10-year yields below 4%. Bonds in other big economies, like Japan, Germany and the U.K., also rallied. Bond yields fall as prices rise. The dollar, which fell sharply Thursday, rebounded somewhat but remains near its weakest levels of the year.
This analysis comes from the Journal's Heard on the Street team. Subscribe to their free daily afternoon newsletter here."
My 2 cents. You can't plan factory moves, expansions, or even create accurate spread-sheets with daily changes from a "leader" tweeting new policies every day.