The real pain from Tariffs has yet to hit America considering what has happen in the background with DOGE dismantling, firing, stopping leases of key offices in the FDA that monitors the United States pharmaceuticals. We import more pharmaceuticals than export to foreign countries. That difference EXPLODED in the last two years of Trump's first term...2019 and 2020. Later, deep into the Pandemic...Trump would not only deny it...he blamed it on the prior administration when it occurred during his administration along with not admitting he refused to sign the clean water infrastructure bill sitting on his desk in his last few days of office to have lead and toxins removed from the water pipes of the United States. Simply, it was Trump who opened the flood gates for countries like China to import pharmaceuticals to Americans and then the U.S. did not have the resources to maintain a trade balance & advance technology equilibrium with China in the Pharmaceutical industry during the Pandemic. America exploded with health problems during the Pandemic...drug imports and exports exploded too. The problem started developing in that our technology and education costs to get the know-how in the pharmaceutical research & development is too expensive...still too expensive in comparisons to other countries who can do it at a fraction of the costs. Simply, higher education abroad is much cheaper and more specialized. In comparison, those who leave their countries to become educated in the United States to see quality education, the chance to experience life in another country, greater freedom (typically the top reason), greater freedom instead of being forced into a specific field of education, and to improve their career (profit) opportunities. Now, because of Trump's tariffs...there's a global shift taking place in foreign countries...they're now pumping billions of dollars into their education system to equal the opportunities in the United States and to keep talented students home instead of the United States attracting those talented students from abroad especially with the U.S. new immigration policies. The above was the one thing Musk was right about...the cost of education in the United States is too high and with the new immigration policy...we will quickly lose our advantage in the technology fields. I have friends in Japan, South Korea, India, Pakistan who sent their older children to the U.S. for education. In contrast, the younger children are not being sent to the United States because their governments are investing more money into improving the education system in their country. Unfortunately, Musk (DOGE) has made an error...they've gotten rid of key agencies that keeps America safe (e.g. Pharmaceutical monitoring system, lead monitoring the U.S. water supply/lead, bacteria, water-borne illnesses, and toxic algae). If the water supply in the border communities of United States/Canada becomes too contaminated, we can always call our friendly neighbor Canada to ask them to send more water to the United States beyond the current levels of water being sent to the United States...right??? To make matters worst, DOGE and the new person that runs the U.S. Education system has stopped grants. Many of it given to Universities and Research fields involving advance education like Pharmaceuticals. Thus, if/when Trump announce tariffs on Pharmaceuticals... We're fucked !!! wrbtrader
Vietnam’s current tariff on US goods is 9%. Taiwan is 4 & 15%. We will see how this negotiates out because Trump views a trade imbalance as a tariff and some taxes and fees.
Will the tariffs work out to our benefit in the long run? Way too early to tell. The intial pain is quite a bit more painful than implied. Will the juice be worth the squeeze? Could be, but in the here and now everyone's balls are being squeezed tight, so don't be surprised to hear people squealing, and let's not forget, there are no guarantees of success. The risk is tariffs turning into trade wars which then turn into shooting wars. That's quite the gamble for the thin promise of jobs that nobody seems to want anymore.
Trump put a tariff on Heard Island so that Australia could not use that location for shipping goods tariff free
Widespread tariffs have never worked. I bought a new washer last week just in time the price went up 15% one night this week. Inflation is going to fly here. Commodity prices may have dropped for a day or two but worldwide shortages and lack of new business development is going to create supply issues again. See lumber when the tariffs hit Trump term one.
American companies can not afford to build manufacturing plants to manufacture popular consumer goods so that they're made in United States only...the reason why U.S. companies go abroad to other countries to manufacture the same goods. Just the same, there was an explosion of offshoring customer service in the financial institutions, technology, and healthcare industry primarily during the 1990s and early 2000s, driven by the lower labor costs and cost of living in countries like India and the Philippines. Seriously, I can not remember when I've called customer service at my U.S. bank, a repair company for the refrigerator, air condition or the double oven I purchased for my mother who lives in the United States... a customer service rep who speaks English good enough to understand who's not located in the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Mexico et cetera. I get it, the costs of outsourcing customer service saves American businesses 30% to 90% because of lower labor costs while the Unions primary complaint was that it took away American jobs. Yet, on the flip side, we have an administration that discourages unionization...trying to have the cake and eat it too. Trump actually said that the wages of US workers are “too high”. He insulted the nation’s workers by insisting their pay is too high because from Trump’s billionaire, pro-business viewpoint, that makes it too hard for US companies to compete. Trump said that workers’ pay was too high even though corporate profits and the stock market were booming at the time. Trump suggested that automakers in the midwest move some operations to the south so that they could reduce their workers’ wages – the last thing that workers want. “You can go to different parts of the United States.” Trump said that after the auto industry in the midwest “loses a couple of plants – all of sudden you’ll make good deals [to lower workers’ wages] in your own area”. Trump praised the idea of firing workers who are on strike, even though that is illegal under federal law. In a conversation with his billionaire campaign supporter Elon Musk, Trump applauded the idea of corporations telling their striking workers: “You’re all gone.” “You’re the greatest cutter,” Trump told Musk. “I look at what you do. You walk in and say: ‘You want to quit?’ I won’t mention the name of the company, but they go on strike and you say: ‘That’s OK. You’re all gone.’” https://cwa-union.org/trumps-anti-worker-record https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/oct/23/trump-anti-worker-union-statements https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/apr/01/trump-workers-unions-executive-order Simply, I do not trust Trump's tariffs because he has no timeline, investment promises by companies who can not afford to build manufacturing jobs in American domestic markets because they can not afford our "labor costs" and "expensive healthcare system". Further, arguably more important, U.S. companies have used and been encourage by politicians like Trump to fuck over the American worker by outscourcing (offshoring) jobs that the Federal agencies were not allowed to do. Therefore, based upon their ideology...get rid of the Federal agencies and get rid of their contracts with companies who are unionized. As Marjorie Green stated...they don't deserve the pay that they get...a post that the South African/Canadian immigrant (Musk) "liked". Reminder, many America's jobs are contracted with our Federal government (the biggest employer in the United States)...kill those Federal jobs/agencies and their contracts...hurts American jobs beyond the federal government...a $500 to $600 billion dollar industry. Thus, foreign investments into the United States will not be able to substitute for that lost labor. Also, Trump needs to get rid of some Federal agencies to make room for the Federal government laying the groundwork for AI governance under the first Trump administration, which enacted a pair of AI-related executive orders: EO 13859 in February 2019 and EO 13960 in December 2020...they will also get rid of customer services at the Federal agencies. The next time you call about that recall on an American made product or your car like a Tesla...it will be an AI you're talking to from the Federal government or talking to someone from Vietnam who can barely speak English telling you that the repair person who will show up at your home is named Nguyễn Tất Thành... A worker living in America on a H-1B (specialty occupation) work visa from Vietnam. Yet, Steve Johnson, a U.S. military decorated veteran and fired federal employee from the FDA water monitoring agency who keeps our drinking water safe is on the nearby street corner with a sign that says looking for work. Approximately 30% of the United States federal workforce consists of military veterans...15 - 20% are military veterans who had served in combat. Shame on Trump, Musk, and those like Marjorie Greene. wrbtrader
The Democrat President will likely end the tariffs in Jan 2029,so we will get the pain without any reward. The quick and easy economic boost that comes with ending the tariffs likely gets the Democrat 2 terms.
If we're still waiting until the 2028 election for tariffs to pay off it will be 2008 for Republicans all over again. 2026 will be a complete flip of house and senate, no republican candidate will have a chance in 28. Trump has until years end to be proven right, and that's a stretch.