America Gets Even: Trump Launches 'Reciprocal Tariffs'

[TBoneTX 46,833]

America Gets Even:  Trump Launches 'Reciprocal Tariffs'

 

Richard Nixon ended the Gold Standard, Bill Clinton ratified NAFTA, and Donald Trump – no less ambitious in his aims – today announced a series of sweeping retaliatory tariffs designed to reorder the global trade system established in the wake of the Second World War.

The president began with a picture of American carnage in the Rose Garden and repeated the theme of his decade in politics.  He said that the country had been "looted, pillaged, raped, and plundered" by trading partners, both adversaries and allies alike.  "Taxpayers have been ripped off for more than 50 years," he told a crowd at the White House that included members of his Cabinet and union members in hard hats.  "But it is not going to happen anymore."

Then the color-coded chart, a bet that tariffs will deliver, and ultimately, the legacy of his second term.  [...]

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2025/04/02/america_gets_even_trump_launches_reciprocal_tariffs__152589.html

[TBoneTX 46,833]

Israel Says It Will Lift All Tariffs on U.S. Goods

 

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced and signed a plan to eliminate any remaining tariffs targeting U.S. imports.  The move came in advance of Donald Trump's announcement on Wednesday that a new schedule of duties would be imposed on foreign products.  [...]

https://pjmedia.com/rick-moran/2025/04/02/israel-says-it-will-lift-all-tariffs-on-us-goods-n4938518

[top_secret 2,623]

Cost me six digits already and I am positioned very well against that moron. So, I guess it could have been way worse for me so I should be happy I had a little foresite for once.  Lifelong Republican, registering independent now.  Trump is humiliating America.

 

Israel is subsidized by America anyways so who cares if they change tarif or not buying our stuff with the welfare handouts we give them.

[TBoneTX 46,833]

Once Wall Street gets over the delusion that it's all that matters, things will settle down sooner or later.  Some countries are already showing signs of capitulating.  Tariffs are never meant to be permanent, and I think that these are part of the "Art of the Deal."

 

Deficit countries (like the U.S.) always have the advantage in these instances.

 

And no one in my circle has been able to answer questions like "Why should Vietnam's tariffs on U.S. goods be higher than U.S. tariffs on theirs?"

[TBoneTX 46,833]

Interesting early analysis.  Discussion?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello Tariffs, My Friend—Trump's Trade Weapon Delivers Early Results

 

Markets worldwide, and in the United States, took a tumble on Thursday, the first full day of trading following President Trump's tariff announcement.  However, beneath the generally negative coverage in the media, there were numerous bright spots.

GM said it had decided to hire more temporary employees at its Ft. Wayne, Indiana, plant to expand production.  The Rose Lawn gathering included several auto workers who cheered Trump in anticipation of better conditions for the auto industry in the coming months.

Over at OPEC, Reuters reported that eight OPEC+ countries "unexpectedly agreed on Thursday to advance their plan to phase out oil output cuts by increasing output by 411,000 barrels per day in May, a decision that prompted oil prices to extend earlier sharp losses."  All of them, except Russia, had been featured on Trump's tariff chart on Wednesday—and on top of a 4% drop, oil fell further to below $70 a barrel.

These developments happened within 24 hours of Trump's announcement.  On Air Force One, the president indicated that countries and companies have been constantly calling the White House, hoping to make a deal.  Trump said that the threat of tariffs is making them reconsider their positions.

It was left to Steve Miran, the president's Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, to explain why countries will likely play nice with the White House:  [...]

 

https://tippinsights.com/hello-tariffs-my-friend-trumps-trade-weapon-delivers-early-results/

[TBoneTX 46,833]

Why We Should Be Very Angry About the Tariffs — and Why Trump Is Right Again

 

On April 2nd, President Donald J. Trump did something no other modern president has had the spine to do.  He declared "Liberation Day" and slapped sweeping tariffs on the very nations that have been gutting the American economy for decades.  A 10 percent universal tariff across all imports.  Targeted, punitive tariffs up to 34 percent on bad actors like China.  And guess what?  We should be furious—not at Trump—but at the spineless presidents before him who let things get this bad in the first place.

Let's be clear: these tariffs didn't start a trade war.  They responded to one.

For decades, our so-called allies and trading partners have been [...]

 

https://townhall.com/columnists/kevinmccullough/2025/04/03/why-we-should-be-very-angry-about-the-tariffs-and-why-trump-is-right-again-n2654937

[TBoneTX 46,833]

Will New Tariffs Increase the Cost of Exercising Your 2A Rights?

 

With the Trump administration imposing new tariffs on almost every U.S. trading partner, the cost of imported goods is going to increase.  By how much depends on what country is doing the importing, but the effects will almost certainly be felt by the firearms industry... and ultimately, its customers.

 

Even those companies that make firearms and ammunition here in the United States will be impacted if they import raw materials from overseas, and as The Reload's Stephen Gutowski notes at The Reload, companies like Glock (based in Austria), Taurus (based in Brazil), and Canik (based in Turkey) could see tariffs between 10 and 20 percent imposed on firearms imported into the United States.  [...]

 

https://bearingarms.com/camedwards/2025/04/04/will-new-tariffs-increase-the-cost-of-exercising-your-2a-rights-n1228206

[hplusj 407]

22 hours ago, top_secret said:

Cost me six digits already and I am positioned very well against that moron. So, I guess it could have been way worse for me so I should be happy I had a little foresite for once.  Lifelong Republican, registering independent now.  Trump is humiliating America.

I would argue that this is an opportunity for younger generations, finally, and a bold stroke for securing their party alignment.  What you tragically lost will be recovered in due time; in the meantime, any Dow plummet gives access to those without a stock portfolio.  Young adults who have had to spend the majority of their independent years just contemplating how to acquire assets, are able to buy low.  

 

The market will recover.  This is a gift to younger millenials and Z who have had zero opportunities here.  Sorry, I guess.

Edited April 6 by hplusj

[top_secret 2,623]

3 hours ago, hplusj said:

I would argue that this is an opportunity for younger generations, finally, and a bold stroke for securing their party alignment.  What you tragically lost will be recovered in due time; in the meantime, any Dow plummet gives access to those without a stock portfolio.  Young adults who have had to spend the majority of their independent years just contemplating how to acquire assets, are able to buy low.  

 

The market will recover.  This is a gift to younger millenials and Z who have had zero opportunities here.  Sorry, I guess.

 

Yea!  Gen Z is getting back all the sweatshop jobs making Nikes for $10 a day that Vietnam stole from them😅🤣😥😥

 

The "homeless" bums around here won't even take a job flipping burgers at McDonald's for $20 an hour.  They beg for handouts in front of signs saying "hiring".  Companies are desperate for workers and can't hire people at way higher wages then I got when I was young.  Why will they take over sweatshop jobs for the same or less.

[P055UM 305]

11 hours ago, hplusj said:

Young adults who have had to spend the majority of their independent years just contemplating how to acquire assets, are able to buy low.  

Hardly. $100 still buys $100 worth of shares. You are right that it will almost certainly recover and those who have the ability to invest now will see gains from their $100 going further at present. 
 

However, acting like this immediately puts more money in peoples’ pocket that can be invested is woefully upside down thinking, especially since most experts believe that in the short term, this will increase inflation, and therefore will lead to less money in the pockets of the average person.
 

Some people will benefit from this, undoubtedly, but it will be the same people that always do: the people with the means to exploit the situation - in this case buy low - ie the rich. 
 

If we truly wanted to help Millennials/ Gen Z, we should’ve cancelled more student debt. 

[hplusj 407]

2 hours ago, P055UM said:

Some people will benefit from this, undoubtedly, but it will be the same people that always do: the people with the means to exploit the situation - in this case buy low - ie the rich. 

Maybe explain that to the guy who woefully lost six figures above, overnight.  He seems to have missed the memo.

 

Nice theory, but the actual affect of tariffs on the stateside economies takes a lot longer to hit food shelves and gas stations than the stock market.  In fact, OPEC already made negotiations so we are likely to see fuel prices drop in the coming weeks.  Oil is down to less than $70/barrel so no, this is not going to cut the bottom line out from the younger folks' spending power.  It's going to make people who live on their portfolios cry a bit: those rich people you love so much.

Edited April 6 by hplusj

[hplusj 407]

2 hours ago, P055UM said:

If we truly wanted to help Millennials/ Gen Z, we should’ve cancelled more student debt. 

Hot take: if we actually wanted to help them, we would'nt have pushed them into a clearly predatory scam that had coopted the boomer experience of paying triple digit amounts for one semester of tuition.

 

In my opinion, boomers are absolutely responsible for the student debt woes of their kids. "Just do what I did, that's the path to success.  Borrow enough to make it through, it'll pay for itself."  They're welcome to pay off the mistakes they fostered in their own families.  I, as a taxpayer who swerved that unfortunate step, am not interested in doing that for them.

Edited April 6 by hplusj

[TBoneTX 46,833]

On 4/4/2025 at 9:17 PM, top_secret said:

Cost me six digits already

Sorry to hear it, brother.  It will come back, on its own or after you buy current bargains, if you choose.

On 4/4/2025 at 9:17 PM, top_secret said:

I am positioned very well

This is positive, and a lot of folks could probably benefit from your advice.  If you can remain objective (no political comments), consider posting something in the Tax & Finances forum (if immigration-related) or in Off Topic.  Political comments are welcome in the current forum, of course.

Edited April 6 by TBoneTX

[Neonred 3,841]

2 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

Sorry to hear it, brother.  It will come back, on its own or after you buy current bargains, if you choose.

This is positive, and a lot of folks could probably benefit from your advice.  If you can remain objective (no political comments), consider posting something in the Tax & Finances forum (if immigration-related) or in Off Topic.  Political comments are welcome in the current forum, of course.

 

A lot of us felt the market was getting lofty.  Over bought with high prices for stocks with very high P/E ratios.  I held off buying anything for that reason.  

Being over valued you had to know it was just a matter of time until there would be a correction, just not sure how or why.  Now we know.

 

I'll be adding to positions beginning tomorrow, just not all at once.

[TBoneTX 46,833]

Interesting dialogue.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WH Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett:  More Than 50 Countries Started Trade Negotiations This Weekend

 

President Trump's top economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, told ABC's "This Week" what's going on with the new tariff strategy.

"More than 50 countries have reached out to the president to begin a negotiation," Hassett said.  "But they're doing that because they understand that they bear a lot of the tariff."

"I don't think that you're going to see a big effect on the consumer in the U.S. because I do think that the reason why we have a persistent, long-run trade deficit these people have very inelastic supply.  They've been dumping goods into the country in order to create jobs," he said.  [...]

 

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2025/04/06/wh_economic_council_director_kevin_hassett_more_than_50_countries_want_to_start_trade_negotiations.html