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Apple supplier Pegatron says tariffs will mean third world-style shortages for US
As I’ve said before, when someone is setting your house on fire, “wait and see” is not a viable response.9secondkox2 said:
That’s all I’m saying. Just wait and see. As much as one side wants to believe trump is an evil bogeyman who can only do wrong, and the other side sees only positive qualities, reality will be what it will be.Wesley_Hilliard said:
We'll see what happens.9secondkox2 said:
Meanwhile China is removing some tarriffs snd msking exemptions.Wesley_Hilliard said:The economy is crashing. Ports are empty. Truck drivers have nothing to transport. Shelves will soon be empty of key goods. The dollar is dropping. Jobs are being lost. People aren't buying anything. There's no flow into the treasury. Our national debt is going up as a result of these tariffs as Americans do without. The global trade continues with the US removed unabated. We're the only ones harmed by this action. No one is negotiating anything.
So yeah, great plan all around so far.Like I said before, it’s too early. Less knee jerk reactions and more balanced analysis before we see the ultimate results.Nobody like a fight. But sometimes they’re necessary. And when you fight, you don’t do so just to fight. It’s to win. So far, we are seeing other countries wilting.China is already slowing export shipments and thst means less sales and less money going to China. They’ll feel it. That’s more money staying in America. Will it result in actual essentials not being available? It’s an interesting question since we don’t get everything from China. But posdible. It’s also posdible China silently shapes up (though not quite admitting so publicly) and everyone benefits. The other option is other countries and even American itself picks up the slack and a new global economy emerges. There are a number of ways it can go.But ultimately time will tell.I am not reflexively objecting to the tariffs because I don’t like Donald Trump. I am objecting because it is so clearly a bad idea that will do serious damage to our economy. I am objecting because it’s clear there is no plan. I am objecting because it’s clear that the president and his administration don’t understand even the basics of what they’re tinkering with, and they are lying to the public about it as they tinker.They have conflated others’ tariffs with our trade deficits. They have conflated trade deficits with the federal deficit. They announced worldwide tariffs on a list of countries, some of which are not countries, some of which are uninhabited, some of which don’t have tariffs on us, some of which we don’t have a trade deficit with, etc. They announced large tariffs on Canada and Mexico first, two of our largest and closest trading partners. The worldwide tariffs are applied indiscriminately on friends and foes alike, undermining longstanding alliances. They have cited China as the primary target of the trade war, while destroying any leverage we might have had against China, by launching tariffs against all of our allies. They had no understanding of how tariffs would impact American companies like Apple or auto manufacturers, so they announced carve-outs and exemptions, but then insisted they hadn’t, or that they’re only temporary. They had no understanding of how launching a trade war in the spring will probably cause the greatest possible damage to the agricultural sector. They have no understanding that tariffs won’t just increase prices for US consumers, but will result in cancelled orders, shortages and empty shelves, from now, all the way through the economically critical holiday season. They are unaware that the US lacks the capacity or lead time to ramp up and replace production of halted imports. They argue that increased tariffs will protect US manufacturing, but insist that they are doing deals that will eliminate the tariffs. The president announced that they have more deals in progress than there are countries. The president announced he is talking with Xi Jinping, yet China says there have been no calls or conversations.The list goes on. The incompetence and malfeasance is real and it is obvious.So no, I am not inclined to “wait and see” if this is all just three-dimensional chess and master statecraft. It is glaringly obvious that it is not.Just to add to the list, as I was writing this, bulletins popped up that the economy contracted last quarter, amid fears of recession.So no, we don’t have time to wait and see.
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Arms race: Apple's waiting for robotics for US iPhone assembly, says Commerce Secretary
This feels like a “the internet is a series of tubes” sort of comment from an official who has no idea that he has no idea what he’s talking about.
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Apple supplier Pegatron says tariffs will mean third world-style shortages for US
Israel, Vietnam and others came straight out of the gate and offered exactly that. Netanyahu even came here in person and offered it publicly, in the Oval Office. They would drop their tariffs so we could drop ours. Fair as fair can be.9secondkox2 said:
This. It’s why American tariffs are not only reproach, but necessary. The USA has been getting slammed on the world stage as we have been tariffed to death. As soon as we what they’ve been doing, they cry foul.mike_galloway said:The elimination of the USA's massive trade imbalance with the rest of the world is a necessity. The USA has been living on borrowed money for a long time and using it for excessive consumption. Effectively, China and other countries lends the USA money to buy their goods.
It is likely that if Trumps sticks to his guns this rebalancing will be achieved but at the expense of the current generation of Americans, who will pay the price for previous the generations over consumption.
The rest of the world will not pay this debt but they will suffer as world trade will decrease without American over consumption.
On balance this probably has to happen but it would be better done with a more stable man at the wheel.
Easy solution: drop your tariffs and we will drop ours.It’s pure common sense and fair as fair can be.Once the trade-hostile countries grow up and get fair, they will be treated in kind.But as long as they pretend to be bullies, the bully buster will show them what’s up.Best to just play fair and get along with the USA. Everyone will benefit.It’s not right for the USA to suffer for their gain. A level playing field is the goal and it’s a very easy thing to do once these hostile government leaders get over themselves and think of their people for once. They talk “global”but what they mean is just themselves getting rich at others expense. Play fair and everyone wins - if they really care about being good global citizens.
Funny thing. They were rebuffed. They got no deal. Why is that? we can wonder. The answer is that Mr. Art of the Deal sees capitulation as weakness, so he must push for more and screw over friend and foe alike. There is no fair as fair can be. Let's not forget that the baseline here that has remained all along is a 10% minimum tariff on imports from every country (except Russia), even if they have imposed no tariffs, we have no trade deficit, or we have a trade surplus, or we have no trade at all, because penguins don't actually use money.
You can put all the lipstick you want on this pig, but everyone can see you and the pig wallowing around in a sty full of pig ***t.
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Amazon denies it had plans to be clear about consumer tariff costs
One can only imagine that Jeff Bezos is making the mental note that a $1m donation, a high-profile endorsement and appearance at the inaugural, a narrow restriction on the subject-matter and stance of the Washington Post's editorial page and the inclusion of The Apprentice on Amazon Prime can all be quickly negated by a false internet rumor. Instead of having a staffer pick up the phone and check if the rumor is true, Trump sends out his Press Secretary to excoriate and threaten Amazon. If he didn't know it before, Bezos is surely aware now that a business or political relationship (or any relationship) with Donald Trump is not is so much transactional as it is mercurial.
What the emboldened Trump 2.0 is about to find out is that, as he increases the pace at which he turns on friends and allies, he will soon have no friends left. This time he's hired an inner circle that won't say no or even mildly make suggestions to temper his impulses, like making a phone call to check facts before issuing public attack on one of his wealthiest supporters. Trump may think he's powerful, but Bezos has enough FU money to generate a suddenly renewed interest among some Congressional Republicans to reassert their power over tariffs and other things. After all, Bezos wants free markets, deregulation and lower taxes, and what he's getting right now is a huge increase in taxes that will negatively impact his primary business, plus, today, a public attack on that same business.
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Amazon denies it had plans to be clear about consumer tariff costs
Additionally, let's also note the unseriousness of the complaint (trotted out by the White House and regurgitated here by @sbdude) that Amazon didn't itemize the effects of inflation. Despite all the rumors to the contrary, a president does not have direct control over the rate of inflation. Next, inflation at some level is almost always occurring. It may be low, but while a one or two percent rate is generally considered acceptable, it still means prices are going up. So if Amazon were to try to note the effect of inflation on the price of goods it sells, what would be the baseline?alterbentzion said:
Let's try to be factual, please. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the change in CPI between 2020 and 2024, a four-year period, was closer to 9%, peaking in the period from 2020 to 2021. Nobody knows how the whole tariff thing will shake out, but I'm finding estimates of an increase in CPI of between 3% and 4% for the one coming year if the tariffs are as steep as Trump threatens to make them.sbdude said:So many cute comments in here about "grifter-in-chief" and "hijacking the economy". How soon you forget about the 23.6% rise in CPI between 2020 and 2024. Do you all wear blinders when a Democrat is in office? Or is it like pregnancy - your hormones make you forget about the previous administration when there's a new one to harp on.Also, "Amazon denies it had plans to be clear about consumer tariff costs" is click-batey at best. Where was the "clarity" on inflation when prices skyrocketed?
As far as pricing clarity goes, inflation (like deflation) may be something you can account for on a financial report, but it isn't a line item you can place on a bill. Taxes and fees are.
On the other hand, the current president is very proudly making it clear that he is setting tariff rates himself. For Amazon, showing the effect would be pretty straightforward. What was the price of an imported item the day before the tariff was levied? What was the price after? It's a simple calculation. Of course, Amazon says they weren't going to do that anyway, but there are probably a lot of items in their listings where that number could be easily generated.
