Tuesday, November 26, 2024

America's attention-junkie shoots himself in the foot


President-elect Donald Trump on Monday promised massive hikes in tariffs on goods coming from Mexico, Canada and China starting on the first day of his administration, a policy that could sharply increase costs for American businesses and consumers. 
The move, Trump said, will be in retaliation for illegal immigration and “crime and drugs” coming across the border.... 
"Measures proposed this evening could hit a number of strategic US industrial sectors hard, add approximately $272 billion a year to tax burdens, raise goods prices, lift interest rates, and sap strength in an already-vulnerable household sector,” said Karl Schamotta, chief market strategist at Corpay Cross-Border Solutions. 
 After the announcement, the Canadian dollar fell 1.2% against the US dollar, and the Mexican peso fell 2% against the dollar. China’s yuan, though controlled by the government, traded higher – above 7.6% – in offshore markets. 
 Although investors believed the tariffs could ultimately strengthen the dollar, America’s financial markets took a hit, too. 
The extraordinary tariffs would raise costs dramatically for Americans for everyday goods that had previously come over the border without any import taxes. 
That stunning shift could stymie economic growth, especially if inflation-weary consumers spend less in the face of higher costs. 
US stock futures, which were higher before Trump’s announcement, fell somewhat – Dow futures were down 160 points, or 0.3%. Nasdaq futures were 0.4% lower, and the broader S&P 500 was also down 0.4%. US Treasury bond prices fell. 

I really never realized the solution to all our problems was a trade war with Canada.

— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) November 25, 2024 at 9:44 PM
Personally, I think Trump just wanted to draw attention to himself yesterday because Biden is about to succeed in brokering a peace deal between Israel and Lebanon, and Attention Must Be Paid Only To The Orange One!

It’s a mistake to ask this question because it assumes Trump’s rationality. He wants to do this because it makes him feel powerful. He doesn’t care if the effects are good or bad. Indeed, the more destruction he causes, or the more people fear destruction he may cause, the more powerful he feels.

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— George Conway (@gtconway.bsky.social) November 26, 2024 at 7:04 AM
Trump sounded just like a Karen customer writing a sharply-worded email to the CEO: His blathering diatribe ends"Thank you for your attention to this matter"! Really! The Canadian statement yesterday didn't make much sense because Trump's idea that tarifs will reduce illegal drugs doesn't make ANY sense at all. But the impact is just nuts:

You think Canadians are trying to get into the US illegally? Did you know almost all of the fentanyl coming into Canada is FROM the US along with all your dirty guns & other narcotics? Also TRUMP negotiated the USMCA approved by congress that he is illegally breaking with these tariffs:

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— Melanie Wildman (@melaniewildman.bsky.social) November 25, 2024 at 10:04 PM

Interesting how the people paranoid about nefarious foreign entities imposing their will on Canada and undermining our national sovereignty are suddenly first in line advocating we give into Trump’s threats

— Luke LeBrun (@lukelebrun.ca) November 26, 2024 at 7:59 AM
Canadian politicians lost their minds: Our Conservative premiers are aghast at how the tariffs would fall on them - but Donnie, we thought you liked us! Meanwhile, Trudeau just keeps on keeping on: Finally, this summary:
Jeff Tiedrich / Everyone is entitled to my own opinion
hey, remember Donny’s first chaotic presidency, where he’d announce policies via twitter — often to the surprise of his own staff, who would then have to hastily rewrite position papers, and pretend they knew all along what was going on?
well, Little Donny Tweet-Monkey is back.
that’s right, the Day One Dipshit has worked himself into a Big Mad over the completely imaginary problem of drug mules streaming across our ‘open’ Mexican and Canadian (?) borders — and he’s going to put a stop to that shit by slapping 25% tariff on all Mexican and Canadian goods.
wonderful. Mexico provides us with vegetables, car parts and medical instruments, and Canada supplies much of our lumber and oil. expect prices to rise immediately after this Day One fuckery — because despite what your drunk MAGA uncle is going to tell you in two days at Thanksgiving, tariffs are a tax paid by importers and passed on to you, the consumer.
but let’s leave the aside for now, and instead focus on the bullshit way that Team Donny is going to try to deny the basic reality of prices going through the roof.
here’s an actual thing that Scott Bessent, Donny’s pick to lead the Treasury department, said recently about tariffs.
“tariffs can’t be inflationary because if the price of one thing goes up, unless you give people more money, then they have less money to spend on the other thing, so there is no inflation.”
got that? “prices going up” and “inflation” are two different things — which is incoherent fucking gibberish, because prices going up is literally what inflation is.
but get ready, when avocados become unaffordable, for your drunk MAGA uncle to loudly proclaim that “IT’S NOT INFLATION” — because these brainwashed nitwits have zero critical thinking skills, and believe everything Dear Leader tells them.
Oh we're in for it now.
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