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#Trump just claimed #America has for many years been “loot pillaged & raped” by other nations. More proof he has no idea what it means to be raped.

#Trump claims that many countries have targeted the #US w/ “non-monetary barriers,” like currency manipulation, subsidies, exorbitant taxes & theft of intellectual property.

Trump specifically talked about the #EuropeanUnion’s value-added tax, which he has long despised. #VAT rates are common outside of the United States, & the U.S. is actually an outlier for not having one.

#Trump singled out other countries for their #tariffs on US cars, but important to remember his admin already announced 25% tariffs on cars & auto parts imported into the US. Those go into effect just after midnight Thurs.

Trump is mentioning tariffs that other countries put on American products, but not the high tariffs that the US charges on certain products from other countries. For example, he mentioned a 10% tariff that Europe puts on American vehicles.

The 25% #tariff on cars & car parts that #Trump is talking about goes into effect just after midnight. The #UAW union is a strong supporter of those #tariffs, but auto companies & economists have said they will lead to significantly higher car #prices & could even slow US auto production.

Trump said his tariffs offered an example of his admin “standing up for our great farmers & ranchers.” Reminder: in his first term, he had to bail farmers out after they were hurt by his #TradeWar w/ #China.

#Trump talks about the #trade deficits the US has amassed w/other countries and says, “We’re really not taking it anymore.” The trade deficit is the difference between what a country #exports & what it #imports. The #US has long imported more goods than it exports.

Economists don’t agree #TrumpTariffs will really lower the US trade deficit.

#FactCheck #TrumpLies #economy #tariffs #inflation #recession #Trumpcession #geopolitics #USpol
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/us/politics/trump-us-trade-deficit.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=p&pvid=BDD83014-9AC7-4D03-920E-1AE6DAAAD536

#Trump is cherry picking a lot of high #tariffs that foreign countries charge on American products. But the US has high tariffs on certain products too, like sugar, footwear, apparel & peanuts, a legacy of efforts to protect those industries. The United States charges 350% tariffs on tobacco from many countries, 260% tariffs on Irish butter substitutes & 197% tariffs on Chinese stainless steel kitchenware, for example.

#Trump claims that the price #eggs have gone down under his watch after an outbreak of #BirdFlu. But economists warn that #tariffs of the kind that Trump is pursuing are likely to lead to much higher #prices for #consumers. The big question is whether that will translate to persistently higher #inflation.

#Trump again criticizes the creation of the #IncomeTax in the US in 1913, arguing that it’s a mystery why the nation ever instituted one. American policymakers embraced the income tax for 2 reasons: to collect more taxes from the #rich & to pay for a growing federal govt.

Conversly, #tariffs disproportionately burden #LowIncome Americans, who spend more of their earnings on goods that tariffs make more expensive.

#Trump calling the #trade deficit a “national emergency” that threatens US #security, lays out his *legal* argument for his actions.

“They rip us off,”Trump says of the #EU, announcing a 20% #tariff on the 27-nation bloc.

Trump holds a chart showing reciprocal tariff rates for US trading partners & says he will charge half of that much? There is no explanation for the calculations that he is using to justify the #tariffs. Likely because they’re arbitrary revenge tactics.

Many of these tariff rates seem much higher than some economists & policymakers had been expecting.

#Trump says the US will calculate a tariff rate for other countries based on #tariffs & “other forms of cheating” — whatever that means.

He says #China will face a 34% tariff, while the #EU will be 20%. #Japan will be 24% & #India 26%.

#Trump says he will charge the #UK a 10% #tariff. Remarkable, since the US runs a #trade surplus w/Britain, it’s a close ally & the country has been trying to negotiate a trade deal w/Trump.

Trump says he will also establish a “universal baseline tariff” of 10% that will apply to ALL COUNTRIES, in ADDITION to the numbers he’s already announced. That means a country like China will face a 44% tariff on top of the 20% already imposed.

That is also on top of #Trump’s other #tariffs that China will also face, including 25% tariffs on autos & 25% tariffs on metals.

Trump says to foreign countries, “If you want your tariff rate to be zero, then you build your product right here in America.”

“They’ve got some very bad things going on in South Africa,” #Trump goes on a #ConspiracyTheory based tangent when he outlines the reciprocal tariff against that nation. Trump & #Musk have repeatedly amplified false claims about the persecution of #white Afrikaners in #SouthAfrica, & made an exception to his refugee ban to screen Afrikaners for #refugee status. Trump included in his tangent a typical criticism of the #media for how it covers South Africa.

#Trump claims that experts have been wrong about #NAFTA, #China & his first-term #tariffs & that they will be wrong again about his current trade actions.

Futures on the S&P 500, which allow investors to trade when exchanges are not officially open, began to tumble after Trump started outlining the tariff rates. The index had ended the day higher, but futures are now down more than 1%.

#Trump touts manufacturing jobs that have been created since his 2nd term began as well as the fact that some consumer prices have eased. The issue is that neither of those very modest trends are likely to continue w/these #tariffs, economists say. A new report released this week showed that manufacturing activity contracted in March & businesses in that sector are now expecting much slower growth & higher prices.

#Trump said #grocery & other #prices are starting to come down, & that his policies are bringing down #inflation. In fact, inflation has picked up in the first weeks of his term, & economists almost universally expect #tariffs to further drive up prices.

“There’s a reason this came at 4 PM ET, with #markets closed,” said Jorn Fleck, senior director with the Europe Center at the Atlantic Council.

He said the #tariff on the #EU, his area of expertise, is a “very high number” that will be painful for #consumers & #businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.

People had been expecting #Trump to announce high #tariffs, but these numbers are stunning. In addition to a 10% tariff on ALL COUNTRIES, dozens of other countries face extra tariffs between 10 & 50%. That will force some manufacturing back into the US, but will also definitely raise costs for American #consumers & #manufacturers & incite #TradeWars on many fronts.

The White House clarified that yes, as I posted earlier in this , the tariff numbers in the charts #Trump held up include BOTH reciprocal levies & the 10% baseline. So #Europe will face a 10% reciprocal tariff + a 10% baseline. #China will face a 24% reciprocal tariff, + the 10% baseline. Etc.

Disgusting: The majority of the nations listed for “reciprocal” #tariffs on the 8-pg document distributed to reporters by the #Trump admin are #poor, #developing economies. They include some of the world’s poorest nations -- #SouthSudan, #Burundi & the #CentralAfricanRepublic -- as well as countries in the throes of #war, notably #Sudan.

@wonkothesane

https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/02/business/egg-prices-fall-usda/index.html

@kimlockhartga @Nonilex

just like the shortages early in covid dramatically raised food prices, yet kroger's et al just kept the prices up after the shortages were gone, i'm expecting to see all sorts of spikes in consumer good prices blamed on tariffs regardless of reality.