The only thing that scares me is the unknown unknowns. War. History has a way of repeating. Times of economic strife lead nations to pick up arms. We're not the only country that will suffer because of this. In fact we may suffer the least... because Trump just upset the worldwide apple-cart in a big way today. I only hope that in the game of 3D chess, both him and the people around him have played out and have an answer for every possible move going forward. I think they did. I hope they did. But on this one, I could be wrong. Lets just hope they have.
Your POTUS said "thighland" in the press conference. thighland. 3D chess. Barron's article: https://www.barrons.com/articles/china-trump-reciprocal-tariffs-conflicting-rate-0ef39c12 Responding to a question from a Bloomberg TV reporter about whether the rate for China would be more than 50%, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said yes. But the reporter didn’t ask about the 25% tariffs in place from his first term. Including Wednesday’s announcement, Trump has added 54% in new tariffs in his second term. Barron’s asked the White House whether the 34% reciprocal tariff gets added to the existing 45%. Yes, a White House official who asked not to be quoted by name said in an email. The new rate was 34% plus 45%, or 79%, for those goods already subject to the full tariffs. Hold on, the official emailed back 10 minutes later. The rate for China isn’t 79% but 54%, because the “Venezuela tariffs” aren’t in effect yet, the official wrote. That was apparently a reference to Trump’s threat to impose 25% tariffs on countries, including China, that import Venezuelan oil. What about the 25% tariffs from the first term? “You’re the first one to ask me that,” the White House press official said when called for clarification. The official hung up, did some checking, and phoned back.
they did not. you can already tell. They were debating the policy up until the last minute. They used a blanket formula. And they included islands that aren't countries. And they called Taiwan a country.
They probably didn't mean it that way, but hey, by any reasonable measure, Taiwan is a country, even if that pisses off the Chinese Communist Party.