Trump floats slashing China tariffs to 80% with 'many' deals 'in the hopper'
The US is considering slashing its tariffs on China's goods at trade talks this weekend, after President Trump's promised that the 145% rate was "coming down."
On Friday morning, Trump posted on Truth Social: "80% Tariff on China seems right! Up to Scott B," referring to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Bloomberg reported earlier that a more dramatic cut would be a first step, made in hopes of a matching tariff reduction by China.
The aim is to further deescalate the mounting trade war between the two countries, which threatens severe damage to the global economy — including to US businesses and consumers.
Optimism for a shift in US policy grew on Thursday as Trump announced a trade deal with the UK, the first for his administration since imposing — then pausing — sweeping "reciprocal" tariffs against all trading partners in early April. He said Friday that the US had "many trade deals in the hopper," and White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said over 20 more deals were "close to being resolved."
Trump said the "breakthrough" US-UK trade agreement would boost US export markets for agricultural products, including beef and ethanol.
As top US officials, including Bessent, get set to meet with Chinese counterparts this weekend, Trump has suggested he might meet with Chinese President Xi after the initial talks.
China has reportedly compiled a list of US goods exempt from its 125% tariffs, aiming to ease trade tensions without making public concessions. But Trump has previously defended the China tariffs, claiming China "deserves it" and would likely absorb the costs.
Meanwhile, US negotiations with the UK's neighbors in the EU have taken a different tone, with the EU on Thursday unveiling a list of US products it will target with tariffs in the event trade negotiations fail.
On the economic front, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell emphasized on Wednesday that while sentiment has deteriorated, the tariff "shock hasn't hit yet" as the central bank held interest rates steady. The scale of tariff disruption on the economy will largely depend on how quickly trade deals are reached. After meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday, Trump reiterated that the onus to make offers falls on other countries.
"We don't have to sign deals," he said at the White House. "They have to sign deals with us."
I guess he got tired of waiting on Xi to call and is taking the same path he took with Putin. Make concessions before negotiations begin. Tough talk backed by weak actions.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Stocks rise as Trump says 'Many Trade Deals in the hopper'
US stocks opened higher on Friday after President Trump posted on social media, "Many Trade Deals in the hopper, all good (GREAT!) ones!"
The Trump administration has telegraphed in the past week that the first deal it made with the UK represents a breakthrough agreement, with more trade deals to come. Investors will be particularly focused on the outcome of "exploratory" talks with Chinese officials this weekend.
"I've been briefed on about 24 other deals that are this close to being resolved," White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett told CNBC on Friday. "That's going to be very settling for markets."
To now having a partial agreement with Great Britain and 24 in the works? Maybe calculators are too complicated for trump and someone needs to give him an abacus. Or maybe he was just telling a bold face lie.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Trump’s first trade ‘deal’ doesn’t bode well for the rest of the world Allison Morrow Analysis by Allison Morrow, CNN 4 minute read Updated 9:18 AM EDT, Fri May 9, 2025
New York CNN — OK, so! After a month of negotiations, we finally have a “full and comprehensive” trade agreement with our old pals across the pond.
Huge news! What a relief, right? Pop the champagne, the trade war nightmare is almost over…
What’s that? What’s in it, you ask? Like, what is the “deal” part of the deal?
OK, so it’s more of a concept of a deal. If a trade deal is, like, Michelangelo’s David, this is more like a block of marble. Or really it’s like a receipt from the marble guy that says we’ve placed an order for a block of marble.
Maybe put the champagne back in the fridge.
Here is what the US and the UK announced Thursday: President Donald Trump’s team took the US tax on British imports from 10% to *checks notes* 10%. Yes, it is the exact same tariff rate that Trump announced on April 2, but with some fun new carve-outs:
British cars: That Bentley you’ve had your eye on was going to be taxed at 27.5%, but now it’s only 10%. Great news for that sliver of Americans in the market for a Land Rover, Jaguar, Rolls-Royce or Aston Martin. No other consumer goods were mentioned. Planes: British companies can now send plane parts to the US tariff-free. In return, British Airways is expected to order 30 Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets, according to Bloomberg. Steel and aluminum: Taxes on steel and what the Brits call “aluminium” (adorable) will be scrapped. Beef: Both countries get a bunch of tariff-free exports on commodities including beef and other agricultural products. That’s honestly it — there are no more details, as both sides said specifics are still being ironed out. It’s not all that surprising, given that traditionally trade deals require months or even years of painstaking talks.
“A trade agreement where the details are still being negotiated is not an agreement,” said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, on social media. “This does not provide the clarity necessary to lift the fog of uncertainty created by a trade war of choice.”
To hear the White House announce it on Thursday, though, you’d think they just won a Nobel prize and a gold medal. In a Truth Social post, Trump said it was “a very big and exciting day.”
President Donald Trump is flanked by aides as he makes an announcement about a trade deal with the UK in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, on May 8. Related article One trade ‘deal’ done, 199 to go
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called it “historic” with what sounded like a straight face, though it should be noted he joined the Oval Office event via speakerphone, because the Trump administration cobbled this whole spectacle together at the last minute. (The British ambassador to the US even said that Trump called Starmer in a “very typical, 11th-hour intervention.”)
The Brits, for their part, said even an imperfect deal is better than no deal at all.
Asked by reporters in England whether this deal marks an improvement on the US-UK relationship of six months ago, before Trump took office, Starmer replied: “The question you should be asking is: Is it better than where we were yesterday?”
Which is a gentle British way of saying: Look, we’re all doing our little dances in the Trump show to avoid tempting the wrath of the leader of the world’s biggest economy.
Wall Street, similarly, isn’t letting perfection be the enemy of the good. Stocks rallied in the US as investors – hungry for any sign Trump is going to relent on the trade war – embraced the White House’s optimism.
Just for kicks, let’s say this is an actual framework for a real trade deal that will get hammered out over the next few weeks. That is better than nothing.
But it took more than a month to roll out this titanic nothingburger with one of our closest allies. An ally that, with all due affection to our British brethren, accounts for just 3% of all US trade, Justin Wolfers, professor of economics at the University of Michigan, told CNN.
That doesn’t bode well for the thousands of American businesses that are currently paralyzed by Trump’s 145% tariffs on most imports from China, an adversary that’s not so charmed by the president’s 11th-hour shenanigans and is America’s third-largest trading partner.
US and Chinese envoys are set to meet this weekend in Geneva. But American officials aren’t even suggesting a trade deal will come out of it – the best that US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he’s hoping for is “de-escalation.”
Bottom line: Very little has changed about the state of the global economy since the US-UK “deal” was announced. We still have a 22% effective tariff rate today – the highest in more than 100 years – compared with 2.5% before Trump took office.
“Overwhelmingly the most important fact about today’s trade deal is that the 10% across the board tariffs are staying,” Wolfers said on social media Thursday. “Tiny tweaks here and there with some trading partners won’t change that. The US is a high tariff country for the foreseeable future, and the trade war continues.”
The Trump administration's latest trade deal with Britain unfairly penalizes US automakers that have partnered with Canada and Mexico, a trade group representing Detroit automakers said Thursday.
In a sharply-worded statement, the American Automotive Policy Council (AAPC) said the US-UK trade deal "hurts American automakers, suppliers, and auto workers," according to the group's president Matt Blunt.
The deal unveiled Thursday between US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer lowers the tariff on British vehicles to 10 percent from 27.5 percent on the first 100,000 cars shipped from Britain to the United States.
In contrast, AAPC members Ford, General Motors Company and Jeep-maker Stellantis now face import tariffs of 25 percent on autos assembled in Canada and Mexico. The Detroit companies organized their supply chains around the 2020 US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which Trump negotiated in his first term.
"We are disappointed that the administration prioritized the UK ahead of our North American partners," Blunt said. "Under this deal, it will now be cheaper to import a UK vehicle with very little US content than a USMCA compliant vehicle from Mexico or Canada that is half American parts."
Trump last week unveiled some steps to lessen the impact of tariffs on imported auto parts in moves applauded by GM and Ford.
The Trump administration will allow companies that assemble autos in the United States to deduct a fraction of the cost of imported parts for two years to give the industry enough time to relocate supply chains.
In another change, the administration said companies wouldn't face a 25 percent levy on imported steel or aluminum in addition to a 25 percent levy for an imported vehicle.
But last weeks' changes did not soften the 25 percent tariff on imported finished autos.
The Trump administration plans to negotiate separate agreements with Japan, South Korea and the European Union, all of which export finished autos to the United States.
"We hope this preferential access for UK vehicles over North American ones does not set a precedent for future negotiations with Asian and European competitors," Blunt said.
This is the type of consequences industry faces when they organize their supply chain around agreements trump made. They expected he would honor his word. Hopefully they won't make that mistake again.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Stocks declined Friday after President Donald Trump ramped up his trade fight again, slapping a tariff on Apple for foreign-made iPhones and recommending new stiffer duties on the European Union.
Apple shares shed more than 2% after Trump posted on Truth Social that iPhones sold in the U.S. must be made in the U.S. and if they are not “a tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple.” The move against Apple by Trump is the first against a specific company in his tariff rollout this year.
AAPL 5-day chart Separately, the president said trade discussions with the EU “are going nowhere” and so he’s “recommending a straight 50% tariff on the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025.”
Trump’s actions come at a time when tariff tensions were easing. Trump in April implemented duties on most nations in the world, which rattled the stock market and nearly put the S&P 500 in a bear market. The president then paused the stiffest tariffs for 90 days and hatched some preliminary agreements with the U.K. and China, causing stocks to recover. The S&P 500 got back to even on the year last week.
Investors were buying stocks on speculation that more agreements would be rolling out with various nations during this three-month pause period. Friday’s actions by Trump could mean that hope was misplaced.
“We’ve had this de-escalation tailwind at the market’s back for like six weeks now — and the market has had one of its best six-week stretches in the last 75 years — and a re-escalation of trade war rhetoric threatens that. I don’t think we’ll retest the lows or anything like that, unless it really ramps up, but this is certainly a step in the wrong direction from the market’s perspective,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird, in an interview with CNBC.
Friday’s declines added to the market’s weekly losses. The S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq are all down more than 2% this week.
Looking ahead, Rick Wedell, the president and chief investment officer at RFG Advisory warned that this “roller coaster ride” of de-escalating and re-escalating tariff tensions is likely to be a permanent fixture of Trump’s second term.
“It is very important for investors to understand that this lingering trade issue is likely to be here for, I think, the duration of this administration. I don’t think they are going to look the other way on trade at any point. I think they think of this as a defining characteristic of the administration’s legacy is fixing the international trade deals,” he said. “I would just encourage investors to never get lulled into a false sense either way.”
Tim Cook was on stage with trump at his inauguration. Now he is attacking Cook's business. But that's how users operate. They use you for whatever their purpose is at the time. You would have thought these billionaires would have learned that by now.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
‘Buckle up, this ride’s far from over’: Trump’s EU tariffs delay is no guarantee trade tensions won’t escalate, market watchers say
Investors should “buckle up” for more volatility as the potential for a trade war has not completely dissipated despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s delay of rolling out 50% tariffs on the European Union, analysts warn.
Trump announced on Sunday that he had agreed to push the rollout of the punitive import duties back to July 9, following a call with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The president had initially called for a 50% tariff on EU goods to begin on June 1. He accused the bloc in a social media post of being “very difficult to deal with,” and said trade negotiations with the EU were “going nowhere.”
European stocks rebounded Monday morning, moving into positive territory, after previously sinking on Friday in response to Trump’s fresh tariffs threats.
Von der Leyen said in a post on X over the weekend that the EU was “ready to advance talks swiftly and decisively.”
“The EU and US share the world’s most consequential and close trade relationship,” she said. “To reach a good deal, we would need the time until July 9.”
European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said in a post on X later Monday that he had “good calls” with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and that they would “continue to stay in constant contact.”
But while Trump’s announcement of the delay has granted the two parties some more breathing space, market watchers warned Monday that a lot remains at stake.
Shock tactics
Berenberg Chief Economist Holger Schmieding told CNBC that the six-week window until tariffs kick in was probably not enough time to “settle all detailed questions” – but he argued it should be sufficient to put the framework of a trade agreement in place.
“It should be enough to get an agreement like the one between the U.S. and the U.K.,” he said on CNBC’s “Europe Early Edition” on Monday.
″[It] is basically a matter of political will, and that depends a bit on the U.S. side,” he added. “If they do have the political will, we should really be able to have such an agreement with, probably in the end, a 10% tariff from the U.S. on all EU imports, hardly any EU retaliation, and [scaling back] a few sector-specific things … with some of the details to be finalized after July 9.”
However, Schmieding noted that if the end result were a 20% or 30% blanket tariff on EU goods, “the EU would have no choice” but to impose “significant countermeasures” against the United States.
Labeling Trump “an interesting negotiator,” Schmieding argued that the president often tries to shock those with whom he’s negotiating into agreeing to concessions. But the EU, he said, was unlikely to capitulate to these tactics.
“We just have to stay calm, and from the European side, we just have to negotiate – we have to remember from the European side that our market is big, that we do matter in economic terms to the U.S. quite a lot, not just vice versa,” he added. “So these negotiations should be negotiations among equals. The European Union is not a region which can be scared into just throwing in the towel.”
‘Unclear’ what Trump administration wants from Europe
Guntram Wolff, senior fellow at Bruegel, told CNBC that despite the extension of the tariffs deadline, “massive uncertainty” remained.
“This uncertainty is bad for business, it’s bad for consumers, and frankly it’s an unnecessary step in the negotiations,” he told CNBC’s “Europe Early Edition.”
“It’s very unclear what exactly the U.S. President wants,” Wolff added. “That’s the biggest obstacle at this stage, that in the negotiations the EU has made offers, has made proposals, but it doesn’t really know what the president wants.”
According to Wolff, the EU is “playing it rather well.”
“The U.K. has given in on all kinds of demands, China is the other extreme, [it] has really escalated … to a point where the U.S. had to blink, had to give in,” he explained. “Europe sort of tries to take a middle path.”
The EU does have capacity to retaliate should massive tariffs be levied on its exports by the Trump administration, Wolff added, pointing to the importance of its pharmaceutical products to the U.S., and the potential for retaliatory measures to be implemented in the services sector.
“But the EU so far has decided not to do it, really to keep a climate of de-escalation,” he said. “But at the end of the day, that might not be enough now.”
‘This ride’s far from over’
Naeem Aslam, chief investment officer at London’s Zaye Capital Markets, told CNBC on Monday the tariffs delay had sparked a “tentative risk-on rally” – but like Wolff, he cautioned that much remained at stake.
“Looking ahead, the EU-US trade dance is a high-stakes tango, with July 9 as the next flashpoint,” he said in an email.
“The EU’s dangling phased tariff cuts and “mutual respect” talks, but Trump’s America-first bravado could turn negotiations into a slugfest, rattling supply chains and fanning inflationary flames.”
Aslam added that sectors like tech and industrials were particularly “braced for whiplash.”
“Markets will hang on every tweet and trade talk whisper, with investors betting on whether this delay is a genuine olive branch or just Trump reloading for a bigger tariff showdown,” he said. “Buckle up; this ride’s far from over.”
The market volatility is always the case when you have a moron that has the power to upset the apple cart like Trump.. He's no stready eddy...The market loves a steady hand at the helm.
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe." Damanshot
‘TACO’: Wall Street Mocks Trump With 4-Letter Code to Call Bets Against Him David Gilmour May 28th, 2025, 6:30 am Share 4864 comments Trump (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Wall Street traders have developed a biting new acronym for a strategy that’s become surprisingly lucrative for President Donald Trump’s whiplash-inducing trade policy: TACO – “Trump Always Chickens Out.”
Reportedly first coined by Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong, the term has quickly gained traction among investors who are profiting from what they say is a predictable pattern: Trump threatens steep tariffs, the markets plunge, and days later he backs off in a way that prompts a rebound.
The latest example came over the weekend. On Friday, Trump sent markets reeling by announcing sweeping 50% tariffs on European imports. But by Sunday, the White House abruptly paused the move, citing a fresh round of trade talks. When the markets reopened on Tuesday, stocks surged.
The TACO trade strategy is reportedly being openly embraced by some investors, according to the New York Post.
“Once he delivers bad news, investors are buying those stocks when they are beaten down waiting for him to chicken out and watching those stocks rebound in value,” said Ted Jenkin, president of Exit Stage Left Advisors, in an interview with the outlet.
Economists say this type of market behavior, explicitly betting against a sitting president’s follow-through, is unprecedented.
University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers told Barron’s on Tuesday that “there was no BACO trade” – referring to former President Joe Biden – and “no CACO trade” referring to former President Bill Clinton.
“It was always taken as a given that when the president spoke on Monday, he would likely still mean it on Tuesday,” he added. “That’s no longer true. But what’s really hard is that it’s not even obvious when it’ll be true, and when it won’t be. Madness.”
Those with lots of extra money to spend do not mind a volatile market or a few crashes along the way, buy low sell high or short sell, get in get out.
Which most small investors are NOT. Most are I think not large investors with a ton of spare cash. Most just worked and saved their whole life. They don't like a volatile market. They mostly prefer a market they can better predict.
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe." Damanshot
Is it me, or have a lot of Trump supporters pulled in their horns, because they’re beginning to understand just what kind of major league sub-human scuzz they voted for?
Is it me, or have a lot of Trump supporters pulled in their horns, because they’re beginning to understand just what kind of major league sub-human scuzz they voted for?
To his credit, peen and Day ot Dawg are the only ones who sticking around. I (obviously) agree with very little of what they say and am not bashful of pointing out where I disagree and why... but I do want to give them credit for sticking around and keeping a little conversation going.
There are far more Trump-supporting posters who vanished pretty much instantaneously after Trump got to work.
There is no level of sucking we haven't seen; in fact, I'm pretty sure we hold the patents on a few levels of sucking NOBODY had seen until the past few years.
US Tariff Impact: Prices Surge At Walmart And Target, Employees Say—Some Jumps Top 38%
The tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump are reportedly leading to significant price increases at Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) and Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) stores across the U.S.
What Happened: The Walmart employees have been sharing images on Reddit that depict a sharp rise in prices, with some items seeing a surge of up to 45%. Similar price hikes have been noted at Target as well.
For example, a Jurassic World T. Rex toy at Walmart saw its price increase from $39.92 in late April to $55 in late May, a nearly 38% increase. The price of a Baby Born doll shot up from $34.97 in March to $49.97 in May, an approximate rise of 43%.
In addition, a left-handed fishing reel’s price jumped from $57.37 in April to $83.26 in May, a 45% increase. AisleGopher, a third-party website that monitors Walmart prices, confirmed these price hikes.
Last Thursday, Target also increased the price of the Baby Born doll to match Walmart’s increased price. However, Target CEO Brian Cornell stated that price increases would be a “very last resort”. As per the report by Insider, in reaction to the tariff-induced price hikes, Walmart CFO John David Rainey warned that prices would continue to rise on some items in the coming weeks and months. President Trump responded by suggesting that Walmart should “eat the tariffs.”
Why It Matters: The price hikes at Walmart and Target are a direct result of the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. These tariffs, aimed at protecting domestic industries, are causing a ripple effect on the retail sector, leading to increased costs for consumers.
The situation underscores the complex interplay between trade policies and consumer prices, with retailers caught in the middle.
As the tariff war continues, consumers and retailers alike will be closely watching the impact on prices and overall market dynamics.
Is it me, or have a lot of Trump supporters pulled in their horns, because they’re beginning to understand just what kind of major league sub-human scuzz they voted for?
I won't speak for all the people here who aren't posting more, but I do know Fate had said he limited his posting here not because of Trump, but because of the posters on these threads......and he is absolutely right. I don't know if his mind has changed and if that is has, he'll chime in if he wants.
As for me, I'm very pleased where things are and like much of what has been done. Not 100% but I'm so glad this administration is in power and not the alternative. I'd venture to say, even those that aren't posting often, probably feel the same. That said, this most recent budget stuff is not going the way I'd prefer it to, but that is more a congress thing than a Trump issue. Full steam ahead with Trump as far as I am concerned. This is the first time I've voted for him and have ZERO regrets so far. I do, however, regret engaging with many posters on here (not you) which is why most of them are on ignore. I wouldn't be surprised if others put these same people on ignore as well......it's simply not worth it.
At DT, context and meaning are a scarecrow kicking at moving goalposts.
There is definitely a lot of emotion that goes into these threads... starting with the campaign season and ramping up into the election and blasting off after. I wish I could say that I've stayed away from that... but honestly, I don't think anything in those same threads has been new or unique... just ramped up.
The posters that Fate (just using him as an example) specifically called out have been here for a long time, and he's gone 'round and 'round with them as long as they've all been posting in PP. Him (among others) basically saying "enough is enough" right after Trump is elected is weird to me. I've felt his absence more than most because he brought thought-provoking arguments to the table... but even Eve, who just came here to shout 'libtard' and literally bring nothing else to the convo, is silent. You'd think someone like that would take every chance to troll on here.
There is no level of sucking we haven't seen; in fact, I'm pretty sure we hold the patents on a few levels of sucking NOBODY had seen until the past few years.
Is it me, or have a lot of Trump supporters pulled in their horns, because they’re beginning to understand just what kind of major league sub-human scuzz they voted for?
I won't speak for all the people here who aren't posting more, but I do know Fate had said he limited his posting here not because of Trump, but because of the posters on these threads......and he is absolutely right. I don't know if his mind has changed and if that is has, he'll chime in if he wants.
As for me, I'm very pleased where things are and like much of what has been done. Not 100% but I'm so glad this administration is in power and not the alternative. I'd venture to say, even those that aren't posting often, probably feel the same. That said, this most recent budget stuff is not going the way I'd prefer it to, but that is more a congress thing than a Trump issue. Full steam ahead with Trump as far as I am concerned. This is the first time I've voted for him and have ZERO regrets so far. I do, however, regret engaging with many posters on here (not you) which is why most of them are on ignore. I wouldn't be surprised if others put these same people on ignore as well......it's simply not worth it.
Good for you... I guess your ok with Child cancer research being curtailed.... Sure sounds like a good thing right? Or maybe doing things that may kill the American farmer.. Great deal! How about pissing off some of our longest standing Allies. That's a safe way to live don't you think? Or how about ICE removing people that are here legally, that have businesses and families? do you find that acceptable?
All that for what? To dismantle DEI or freeze out LGBTQ people? You know, the ones that have gone to war and fought for the USA?
Is an anti abortion stance that important that you are willing to harm fellow citizens?
Are we really going back to a time when someone other than a WASP is considered a second class citizen?
I could go on, but I'm afraid I'm talking to a brick wall.
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe." Damanshot
There is definitely a lot of emotion that goes into these threads... starting with the campaign season and ramping up into the election and blasting off after. I wish I could say that I've stayed away from that... but honestly, I don't think anything in those same threads has been new or unique... just ramped up.
The posters that Fate (just using him as an example) specifically called out have been here for a long time, and he's gone 'round and 'round with them as long as they've all been posting in PP. Him (among others) basically saying "enough is enough" right after Trump is elected is weird to me. I've felt his absence more than most because he brought thought-provoking arguments to the table... but even Eve, who just came here to shout 'libtard' and literally bring nothing else to the convo, is silent. You'd think someone like that would take every chance to troll on here.
I'm pretty sure you're one of the people he has on ignore
I miss FATE as well. Same as FrankZ, although he and I have kept up on Discord. I have been lacking on that front though because, for whatever reason, the app keeps crashing on my phone. I need to get that fixed. Always love engaging with PDawg as well. Although, while both of them lean right, I don't think either voted for Trump, likely for the same core reasons I did not. I've actually confided a lot in Frank with all the troubles going on in my workplace because he had been through similar things. He's been awesome.
FATE would have me sometimes wanting to laugh alongside him, arms around shoulders, and sometimes I'd want to throw him through the proverbial window, but the discussions were always appreciated in the end. I used to find myself more in line with FATE and Peen on the issues, but that eroded with the rise of the TEA Party and came to a halting reversal when MAGA took over. Despite the passionate discussions that take place, I still consider both to be good "board friends."
I even have a soft spot for Eve. I know she goes into mega troll mode, but I've come to realize that it's a facade, sometimes at least. Other times I do cringe at what is posted.
What I can't stand is what Memphis is doing. Basically just spamming social media troll posts while having nearly everyone on ignore. Not exactly sure what that's meant to accomplish. He wasn't always like that. Even tried to offer an olive branch to him to have a few thoughtful discussions, but those were ignored. It's downright childish to be honest.
I think there are a lot who have left this section of the board at least, both right and left, likely due to the current overarching political climate. Rocket has been gone for some time. Portland also doesn't really post much in here now either. I nearly always found myself to the right of both of them, but at least appreciated the discussion, much as I do with people who are to the right of me.
I think with any climate such as this one, the discussions will be passionate, and the insults will happen. It's really about pushing through that and maintaining a dialogue regardless. It's not for everybody though.
Blue ostriches on crack float on milkshakes between the sidewalk titans of gurglefitz. --YTown
For the most part they want to blame their absence on posters like me because in the end they can't defend much of what trump is doing. They had an an angle when they could argue about what they claimed he was going to do. But now that he's elected he has been nothing but vindictive and petty. Attacking anyone and anything that has crossed his path or questioned him. The timing of which they left in mass is not a coincidence. And it's not the fault of others. As you aptly pointed out, the timing says it all.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
There is definitely a lot of emotion that goes into these threads... starting with the campaign season and ramping up into the election and blasting off after. I wish I could say that I've stayed away from that... but honestly, I don't think anything in those same threads has been new or unique... just ramped up.
The posters that Fate (just using him as an example) specifically called out have been here for a long time, and he's gone 'round and 'round with them as long as they've all been posting in PP. Him (among others) basically saying "enough is enough" right after Trump is elected is weird to me. I've felt his absence more than most because he brought thought-provoking arguments to the table... but even Eve, who just came here to shout 'libtard' and literally bring nothing else to the convo, is silent. You'd think someone like that would take every chance to troll on here.
Here's a pattern I saw - many posters like Fate, and Peen and others - stopped posting debatable points and instead started posting right wing media propaganda in the form or random people doing or saying dumb stuff and that being labelled as "this is the Democratic Party" or "This is everyone who is not a Trump Supporter". Whether it was about Biden, or immigration and justifying the errosion (abandonment) of due process. Hell - there was too much to recall off the top of my head.
I think a very large part of that was in response to many cries of 'nazis' and 'Hitler' from some on the left here on this board. The other part is that if you want to seriously have an intelligent response and defense to all the many ways in which Trump is engaged in highly questionable govenrance - it would be never ending. There are so many real issues (I listed about 6 in the thread I stated asking if it is simply chaos or planned) - it's a serious endevour to try to justify/defend them all. Simpler to fade out or troll/post memes. I guess in some small way kudos to Memphis for posting two posts within the last short while expressing HIS opinion in his words ... but the 95% of his other posts are regugitating right wing spin and when that spin was exposed for blatant lies there was no acknowledgement or redaction, so I can't take him seriously most of the time, which is a shame as when he posts his own thoughts they normally make for decent reading.
Another factor is probably some of the areas of greatest disagreement are emotive subjects - what Israel is doing in Gaza abhors me. Their response to the October 7th attack is disporportional and is tantamount to genocide. Immigration is another hot button issue, and the Trump solution is very divisive.
The more things change the more they stay the same.
I think a very large part of that was in response to many cries of 'nazis' and 'Hitler' from some on the left here on this board. The other part is that if you want to seriously have an intelligent response and defense to all the many ways in which Trump is engaged in highly questionable govenrance - it would be never ending. There are so many real issues (I listed about 6 in the thread I stated asking if it is simply chaos or planned) - it's a serious endevour to try to justify/defend them all.
This is a great point (I agree with your other points, but specifically keyed in on the quoted part). Many have theorized that a large amount of the Trump audio/video clips are him (successfully) flooding the zone. How are Trump defenders (or anyone for that matter) supposed to have an intelligent convo about stuff that was only meant to elicit a reaction, and nothing more?
There is no level of sucking we haven't seen; in fact, I'm pretty sure we hold the patents on a few levels of sucking NOBODY had seen until the past few years.
I typically find that the response they have to the zone flooding is to castigate those on the left who actually take the bait. While that might be merited to some degree, it also provides no defense or justification to the strategies being employed by the admin.
Blue ostriches on crack float on milkshakes between the sidewalk titans of gurglefitz. --YTown
I suppose I see it slightly differently. Trump is the president of The Unites States. The question actually boils down to who is that bait intended for? Who does that bait appease? It certainly isn't the left. It's intended for the far right trumpians which he counts on for support. It's to make them feel like he thinks exactly the way they do. And as we have all witnessed, what gets laughed about and called bait often actually comes to fruition. Things that sound so outrageous it certainly would appear to be empty rhetoric when you first hear it spoken. We all heard that him following the Project 2025 agenda was bait. He claimed he never heard of it. As of now there are at least 140 people who worked on Project 2025 previously in the Trump administration and many of the actions he has taken is straight from the Project 2025 playbook.
I think it's also noteworthy to point out just how idiotic someone who is the leader of the free world acts and sounds. I think that often times those taking the bait are the people who overlook many of the things he says. That's why he floods the zone. He hopes he will stop being called on the crap he says if he just says enough of it. He is counting on that and I think ignoring it is far more dangerous than pointing it out is taking the bait.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
I think that's actually a whole other facet to his presidency. He will do or say some things that seem outrageous and the response is "He's not serious!" or "He's not in line with that!" and then it turns out he is. P2025 is an example like you mentioned.
At this point, I think it's a little of both: he says things to appease to his base and I think he also says things to tell his base what to think.
My original post just had to do with the responses that I've seen. In my experience, they castigate the right for focusing constantly on everything he does vs taking the time out to realize he does a lot of crazy and stupid stuff.
Blue ostriches on crack float on milkshakes between the sidewalk titans of gurglefitz. --YTown
I suppose I see it slightly differently. Trump is the president of The Unites States. The question actually boils down to who is that bait intended for? Who does that bait appease? It certainly isn't the left. It's intended for the far right trumpians which he counts on for support. It's to make them feel like he thinks exactly the way they do. And as we have all witnessed, what gets laughed about and called bait often actually comes to fruition. Things that sound so outrageous it certainly would appear to be empty rhetoric when you first hear it spoken. We all heard that him following the Project 2025 agenda was bait. He claimed he never heard of it. As of now there are at least 140 people who worked on Project 2025 previously in the Trump administration and many of the actions he has taken is straight from the Project 2025 playbook.
I think it's also noteworthy to point out just how idiotic someone who is the leader of the free world acts and sounds. I think that often times those taking the bait are the people who overlook many of the things he says. That's why he floods the zone. He hopes he will stop being called on the crap he says if he just says enough of it. He is counting on that and I think ignoring it is far more dangerous than pointing it out is taking the bait.
I seem to spend more time on posting what I think are relevant articles that affect my retirement in 5 years and my kids futures than getting in pissing matches when people are posting twitter bot memes or "owning the libs". But still some of the actions are I don't think in any real Americans interest-it is almost like he is saying look at how horrible some of the agencies like FEMA are and then putting some clown in charge who didn't know we had a time of year that is hurricane season. It becomes a self-fulfilling proficiency. He is doing the same with RFK jr at HHS and Linda McMahon at Dept of Education amongst other agencies.
Trump made trade his biggest issue. Now he’s running out of time David Goldman Phil Mattingly Analysis by David Goldman and Phil Mattingly, CNN 6 minute read Published 5:00 AM EDT, Thu June 19, 2025
CNN — Despite unprecedented immigration raids, a massive domestic policy agenda and now the prospect of actual war, President Donald Trump’s first five months in office have nevertheless been dominated by his trade war. He notched some recent wins, but Trump is rapidly running out of time to seal the deal.
Or, more accurately, deals. More than 100 of them.
After pausing his “Liberation Day” tariffs that sent levies surging for dozens of countries’ exports to the United States, Trump has sought to make a number of bilateral trade deals that would open American businesses’ access to foreign markets and boost US manufacturing. The deadline is July 9. Trump has just two deals to show for his efforts over the past two months.
Trump and other world leaders had hoped to use the G7 meeting in Canada this week to hammer out more. The announcement of new deals could have solidified confidence that the US and global economies could avoid a recession this year – a major question mark that most economists believed was a distinct possibility just a few weeks ago.
The degree to which Trump – his preferences and, more importantly, his aversions – shaped the structure, logistics, schedule and deliverables planned for the summit underscored the shared view of Trump’s singular importance in this moment.
It was Trump’s time that was most coveted, and the subject of intense efforts in the weeks before to secure bilateral sit-downs or pull-aside chats on the sidelines of the official events, US and foreign officials said.
But then Trump left the G7 early on Monday to deal with the escalating Israel-Iran conflict. He left behind his economic team, but Trump’s early and unexpected departure removed the key piece from a complex trade puzzle.
Now Trump has four weeks left to score those deals, set the clock forward again or announce higher tariff rates – all while he’s increasingly occupied with a military conflict in the Middle East that could quickly become a wider war with direct US involvement.
Trade deals in limbo Trump and his economic team have long promised deals that have been “coming soon” for weeks. So far, only the United Kingdom and China have agreed to frameworks for US trade negotiations. The UK signed its agreement at the G7 this week. And China met US trade representatives in the United Kingdom last week and agreed to the terms of a previous arrangement after tensions escalated in recent weeks.
But Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick once again promised last week that new trade deals are right around the corner.
“There are so many coming,” Lutnick told CNBC last Wednesday. “You’re going to see deal after deal, they’re going to start coming next week and the week after and the week after. We’ve got them in the hopper.”
Those predictions have been wrong. Every time.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has repeatedly said the administration is in active negotiations with 18 trading partners after reaching those tentative agreements with the UK and China.
So where are the deals? Lutnick said last week Trump is in no rush, preferring to hammer out better agreements that benefit American businesses and consumers.
“Good shape isn’t good enough for the United States of America. We want great deals that are fundamental for America,” Lutnick said. “We can get them done. We need to open these other countries’ markets. Our farmers, our ranchers, our fisherman, they are going to have just a great time. Our machinists are going to sell a lot of equipment overseas.”
The key factor, Lutnick said, is opening up foreign markets that impose tariffs and other non-tariff trade barriers such as taxes and export controls that limit American companies’ access to those countries.
Airborne diplomacy At the G7, the US and Canada agreed to a 30-day timeline for a bilateral agreement, but a Canadian proposal privately broached with Trump that exchanged defense spending increases for a reprieve from Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs didn’t appear to gain any traction, two officials said.
A pull aside between Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba didn’t yield the agreement that Japanese officials had hoped for weeks could be finalized at the summit.
Meanwhile, Trump left behind in Canada a number of world leaders with frayed nerves but no new trade deals at the clock ticks down to zero.
“They’re either going to make a good deal or they’ll just pay whatever we say they have to pay,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One when asked about progress in negotiations with the European Union during the trip back to Washington.
Moments later, Trump was asked about the status of talks with Japan.
“The Japanese are tough,” Trump said a few minutes later when asked about negotiations with Japan. “But ultimately you have to understand we’re just going to send a letter saying ‘this is what you’re going to pay, otherwise you don’t have to do business with us.’”
The consequences of no action Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday said tariffs have already raised prices on some goods – especially electronics – and inflation could spike in the coming months as higher import taxes make their way through the system.
“So we’re beginning to see some effects. We expect to see more,” Powell said during his post-meeting press conference. “We’ve had goods inflation just moving up a bit, and, of course, we do expect to see more of that over the course of the summer.”
Powell noted that many goods being sold at retailers today may have been imported months ago, before tariffs were imposed. So it could take time before inflation takes hold.
“Many, many companies do expect to put all or some of the effect of tariffs through to the next person in the chain, and, ultimately, to the consumer,” Powell said.
Fed members in their quarterly economic forecasts on Wednesday predicted inflation would rise higher over the next couple years than they had expected in March. They also said the economy would grow more slowly and unemployment would rise more quickly than they previously believed.
Powell noted that the reduction in tariffs on Chinese goods to 30% from 145% was a relief. But the big question for the economy remains: Will tariffs move higher in the summer after the 90-day “reciprocal” tariff pause expires for so many other countries.
“The effects of tariffs will depend on their ultimate level,” Powell said. “Expectations of the level and economic effects reached a peak in April and have since declined. Even so, increases in tariffs this year are likely to push up prices and weigh on economic activity.”
While Powell took a soothing approach on Wednesday, the urgent deadline is viewed around the world as an acute threat to domestic economies and industries if agreements aren’t reached.
For Trump, it’s leverage.
After all, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, “we’re making a lot of money.”
U.S. will send tariffs letters in coming days, deals not needed, Trump says A looming deadline to make trade deals doesn't necessarily matter, President Trump said Sunday, because the U.S. will simply send letters to hundreds of countries assigning tariff rates.
Why it matters: The pause on Trump's sweeping global tariffs expires in about 10 days, with one deal and one temporary truce in hand, and the rest of the world in varying states of limbo.
What they're saying: "We made deals, but I'd rather just send them a letter, a very fair letter, saying 'congratulations, we're going to allow you to trade in the United States of America, you're going to pay a 25% tariff, or 20%, or 40 or 50%.' I would rather do that," Trump said on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures."
Asked about extending the pause, Trump said "I don't think I'll need to. I could, there's no big deal." "What I wanted to do is, and what I will do just — sometime prior to the 9th — is we'll send a letter to all these countries," he added. How it works: "I'm going to send letters. That's the end of the trade deal," Trump said, giving U.S. ally Japan as an example.
"Dear Mr. Japan, here's the story. You're going to pay a 25% tariff on your cars," he said. Trump said letters would go out "pretty soon" and that "we don't have to meet. We understand, we have all the numbers." The intrigue: Trump made similar promises of unilateral tariff letters on May 16 and June 11, saying both times they'd be sent in 2 to 3 weeks.
Related video: Canada Sets Tariffs on US Steel After G7 Summit Departure (Morning Rush - Video) Just days after President Trump left the G7 summit early, Morning Rush - Video Canada Sets Tariffs on US Steel After G7 Summit Departure
Catch up quick: When Trump paused the stiffest of the reciprocal tariffs in early April, officials promised they'd make 90 deals in 90 days before the pause expired.
Both Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett have promised a flurry of deals as soon as this coming week. Similar past promises, though, didn't result in agreements. On Friday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said trade deals could be wrapped up by Labor Day, a softening of the negotiation window. What to watch: Financial markets have largely moved past trade drama, with U.S. stocks hitting a new record on Friday.
Yes, but: Trump's promise to unilaterally assign tariff rates in the coming days could revive some of the uncertainty that caused markets to sink earlier this year.
Why would any country take his word for anything about Trade or really, any topic? His team put together a trade deal with Canada and Mexico in his last admin and he's basically ripping it up and causing one problem after another.
Why do you think he's attacking Canada? Because they don't be the 51st state.
So why believe anything this idiot says? Why should anyone?
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe." Damanshot
More sabre rattling by the feckless one.................
Trump threatens extra 10% tariff on countries that align with ‘Anti-American’ BRICS policies
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened an additional 10% tariff on countries that orient themselves along the “Anti-American policies of BRICS.”
Trump’s announcement, which did not elaborate on any specific policy of BRICS, came as the group’s meeting is underway in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The bloc’s leaders appeared to take aim at Trump’s sweeping tariff policies in a joint statement on Sunday, warning against “unjustified unilateral protectionist measures, including the indiscriminate increase of reciprocal tariffs.”
Without calling out the U.S., the leaders voiced “serious concerns about the rise of unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures which distort trade and are inconsistent with WTO rules,” warning that the “proliferation of trade-restrictive actions” threaten to disrupt the global economy and worsen the existing economic disparities.
“Any Country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS, will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% Tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social Sunday evening stateside.
Trump could have been provoked by the BRICS leaders’ joint statement taking a thinly veiled swipe at his tariff policies, said Stephen Olson, former U.S. trade negotiator and current visiting senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.
By “anti-American” policies, the president may be referring to “the desire expressed by BRICS members to move beyond a U.S.-led world order in finance and global governance,” said Olson, adding that how that alignment will be assessed was “anyone’s guess.”
This year’s BRICS host country Brazil did not respond to CNBC’s request for comments.
The BRICS group of developing nations also offered symbolic backing to fellow member, Iran, condemning a series of military strikes on the country, without naming Israel or the U.S which carried out the military operation.
The bloc includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Indonesia and Iran. The grouping describes itself as “a political and diplomatic coordination forum for countries from the Global South and for coordination in the most diverse areas.”
The bloc seeks to challenge Western-dominated institutions of global economic governance, as well as to supplant the U.S. dollar’s role in the global economy, according to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
This year, Chinese President Xi Jinping sent Premier Li Qiang to the BRICS meeting in his absence, while Russian President Vladimir Putin, who faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, attended online.
In response to Trump’s threat of 10% extra duty, a spokesperson for Chinese foreign ministry said at a regular press briefing Monday that China opposed any action of using tariffs as “a tool to coerce others.”
“China has been consistent in opposing any tariff war, trade war,” the spokesperson said, adding that “arbitrarily slapping tariffs does not serve the interests of any party.” That’s according to CNBC’s translation of her comments in Mandarin.
Separately, Trump confirmed that the U.S. will start delivering letters on Monday, detailing country-specific tariff rates and any agreements reached with various trading partners. That affirmed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s comments over the weekend.
The Trump administration has said that tariffs announced in April will take effect on Aug. 1, instead of July 9, for countries that have not reached an agreement with the U.S.
Bessent rejected the idea that Aug. 1 was yet another new tariff deadline. “We are saying this is when it’s happening, if you want to speed things up, have at it, if you want to go back to the old rate that’s your choice,” Bessent said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
In April, Trump announced a 90-day pause on the steep tariffs he had unveiled just days prior on most trading partners. That pause is due to expire on Wednesday, sparking concern among investors and U.S. trading partners.
Being against the genocide Netanyahu is committing by bombing and starving innocent women and children does not mean you hate the Jews. If so that must mean the thousands upon thousands of Israeli's protesting him and his actions on the streets of Israel must hate the Jews too.
Does that mean when Obama and Biden were president you hated America too? Get out of here with that simpleton, moronic BS.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Trump to extend key tariff deadline to Aug. 1 as he threatens new duties of up to 40% on certain countries
The president has also threatened an additional 10% tariff on goods from countries aligning themselves with a bloc of nations that includes China and Russia.
"They don't know what the they're doing." - Donald Trump
It seems all of these nations haven't crawled before his thrown and kissed his azz the way he thought they would. So he just keeps extending the deadline and making more threats like a petulant child.
Last edited by Referee 3; 07/08/2512:51 PM.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Trump says 50% tariff on copper imports is coming and threatens 200% on pharmaceuticals
President Donald Trump said Tuesday he’s imposing a new 50% tariff on all copper imported into the US. However, it’s unclear when the new tariff would take effect.
“Today we’re doing copper,” he said at a Cabinet meeting, adding that he believed the rate will be 50%.
This would mark the fourth across-the-board tariff Trump has imposed during his second term. Currently, most imported cars and car parts face a 25% tariff, while imported steel and aluminum both face 50% tariffs.
The White House didn’t immediately respond to CNN regarding Trump’s timeline for imposing copper tariffs.
Trump ordered a Section 232 investigation into copper imports in February, using a law that gives the president authority to impose higher tariffs based on national security grounds.
Copper is a crucial component in a variety of goods, including electronics, machinery and cars. Tariffs on copper could make those goods more expensive for Americans. The US imported $17 billion worth of copper last year, according to US Commerce Department data. Chile was the largest foreign supplier of the metal, shipping $6 billion worth of it to the US last year.
Copper prices surged to all-time highs after Trump said he plans to levy tariffs on the red metal. Copper futures in New York jumped as much as 15% and hit a record $5.68 per pound.
“I’ve been surprised it’s taken this long to get the copper tariff,” Ed Mills, Washington policy analyst at Raymond James, told CNN.
Copper prices have soared 38% this year as Trump’s tariffs are set to hike the cost of importing the metal, a reflection of stockpiling to get ahead of tariffs.
“A 50% increase will be a massive tax on consumers of copper,” Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank, said in an email.
“Watch what Trump does, not what he says,” Hansen said. “Perhaps we may see a staggered approach once the administration realizes the impact on consumers of such a big move.”
Trump also said on Tuesday that 200% tariffs on pharmaceuticals are coming “very soon,” but they may not take effect for some time in an effort to get more companies to move to the US.
Trump, who exempted drug imports from tariffs during his first term, has been promising to impose tariffs on pharmaceutical products for several months but has yet to announce any concrete measures. The administration launched an investigation into pharmaceutical imports in mid-April, setting the stage to impose tariffs on national security grounds.
The president now argues that the United States needs more domestic drug manufacturing so it does not have to rely on other countries for its supply of medicines. Multiple drug makers have announced expansions of their US-based manufacturing initiatives, though some were in the works prior to Trump taking office in January.
In response to the pharmaceutical tariff threat, Australia’s Treasurer Jim Chalmers said on Wednesday that the country is “urgently seeking” more details on the “very concerning” development.
“Our pharmaceuticals industry is much more exposed to the US market,” Chalmers told Australia’s national broadcaster ABC, adding that it amounted to billions of dollars in exports.
Meanwhile, on Monday Trump extended his “reciprocal” tariff pause to August 1. Those rates, briefly imposed in April, had been set to resume at 12:01 am ET on Wednesday. Trump has also been sending a flurry of letters to country leaders informing them what their new tariff rates could be come August, absent a new negotiated rate.
Trump threatens more countries with tariffs as high as 30%
President Donald Trump sent letters to the leaders of seven more countries Wednesday, adding to the growing list of US trading partners for whom he has threatened new tariff rates.
Among the latest recipients were the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Moldova, Brunei, Algeria, Libya and Iraq, with rates going as high as 30% on goods they ship to the United States. The new tariffs go into effect August 1, pending negotiations.
Trump said Wednesday afternoon that he planned to announce his tariff level for Brazil within the next day or two. “Brazil as an example, has been not good to us. Not good at all,” he said during a White House multilateral meeting with leaders of African nations. “We’re going to be releasing a Brazil number, I think, later on, this afternoon or tomorrow morning.”
The rates Trump said would be imposed on goods from Sri Lanka, Moldova, Iraq and Libya were lower than those he announced in early April. The rates on goods from the Philippines and Brunei were higher, compared to April levels. Meanwhile, the rate on goods from Algeria was the same (30%) as April levels.
Collectively, the US imported $29 billion worth of goods from those seven nations last year, according to US Commerce Department figures. That accounts for less than 1% of the $3.2 trillion of goods the US imported.
US stocks were mostly unchanged after Trump’s posts. The Dow was up 50 points, or 0.11%. The S&P 500 was up 0.25% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.58%.
The US and various trading partners have been negotiating new trade agreements since Trump announced so-called “reciprocal” tariffs back in April. Yet few deals have come to fruition.
During a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Trump said “a letter means a deal.” But that doesn’t appear to be how some countries are perceiving the missives.
In the letters, Trump wrote that he takes particular issue with the trade deficits the United States runs with other nations, meaning America buys more goods from there compared to how much American businesses export to those countries. Trump also said the tariffs would be set in response to other policies that he deems are impeding American goods from being sold abroad.
Trump has encouraged world leaders to manufacture goods in the United States to avoid tariffs. If they chose to retaliate by slapping higher tariffs on American goods, Trump threatened to tack that onto the rate charged on their country’s goods shipped to the United States.
Trump has now sent 21 letters on tariff rates to heads of state this week, and more could still come. The 25% tariff Trump threatened to impose on Japan and South Korea would be most likely to impact prices of goods Americans buy, since the two nations are America’s fifth- and seventh-top sources of foreign goods.
Wednesday at 12:01 a.m. ET was the initial deadline Trump set three months ago for countries to ink trade deals with the US or instantly face higher tariff rates. However, on Monday he extended that deadline to August 1.
Many times we find that people act deranged, unhinged and irrational from the overuse of illicit or prescription drugs. Like Musk and his Ketamine. In this instance it might just be a case of someone acting this way from a lack of them.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
30% tariffs on Mexico and EU just announced this morning-effective 8/1
prob just another try at a pump and dump scheme.
I will say though working as in electrical construction-this week with the 50% tariff was hell on existing projects we have to make sure we are able to purchase without getting hammered-or wait-or substitute to aluminum where we can
Sadly everyone from commodity businesses, to contractors to to employees to consumers will have to wait and see if these tariffs actually stick around this time or if it's more of trump playing the boy who cried wolf. Normal people are getting tired of it. The percentage of the tariffs and the deadlines keep shifting faster than the weather.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
New 30% tariffs met with disapproval. Shocking no-one with a brain.
Trump loves a strong man more than he loves anything else - look at his pandering to Putin. If I was the leader of a country it's very simple - I would have legislation passed and in place. Any and all increases in tariffs by any country will be met by immediate (next day) increases in recipricol tariffs of proportionate measure. If - as Trump has threatened - responding with increased tariffs will increase the USA's tariffs on my country, the response would be the same: Increased tariffs to match those tariffs. Period. I'd rather go through economic challenges knowing the root cause was Trump than the uncertainty and stoopid dance of tariffs are on, off, paused, back on and then who knows what.... Raise traiffs on me, I raise them on you in equal measure. End of.
The more things change the more they stay the same.
Rip-off America? From car rentals to coffee, inflation is rampant Supply problems, fuel prices and corporate greed all contributed to pushing costs higher for families and tourists — and the effect of tariffs is still to come Illustration of a rolled-up US dollar bill with travel-related imagery, showing rising costs. Costs of many day-to-day essentials as well as vacations and experiences have all risen Keiran Southern , Los Angeles Monday July 14 2025, 7.55am BST, The Times After stepping off the plane in Nashville, having paid far more than expected for your flight, the rental car desk awaits.
Four days with a Toyota Camry costs $670. A Starbucks coffee on the way to the hotel is another $7.
Your budget hotel somehow costs $500 for the weekend, breakfast not included. Eating out for dinner means the day’s spending is comfortably into four figures.
Welcome to America in the summer of 2025, where years of surging prices have left consumers struggling with widespread sticker shock.
Inflation, which began to rise sharply in 2021, has significantly increased the cost of just about everything. Overall, prices are about 26 per cent higher than they were before the Covid pandemic, according to the personal finance company NerdWallet.
There is a strong sense among American families and tourists that costs are becoming uncontrollable, hitting households of all income levels. The rising price of holidays, groceries and fuel are among the most visceral everyday examples of the soaring cost of living.
Here The Times breaks down how spiralling costs are putting a dent in your wallet.
Hotels There has been a significant rise in the average US hotel and motel room rate over the past decade — an increase of 24 per cent, according to NerdWallet.
Experts say the post-pandemic urge to travel is partly to blame, with soaring demand allowing hotels to jack up prices. Hotels say higher bills for utilities have also played a part.
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The American Hotel and Lodging Association said in this year’s state of the industry report that the cost of doing business had grown rapidly. Property maintenance, sales and marketing and IT expenses rose by 5 per cent in the year ending October 2024.
In few places are price increases more noticeable than in New York, America’s most popular tourist city. In September the average price of a hotel room in Manhattan reached a record $417, according to the real estate analytics company CoStar.
In Miami Beach, the year-to-date average daily rate for a hotel room was $283.38 in September last year, far above the $230.98 rate in September 2019.
For Las Vegas, the average daily rate for a hotel room was $198.20 in May. In the same month in 2019 it was $140.52, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
But despite complaints about prices, experts said that costs were being driven up, in part, by a change in consumer habits.
Sally French, NerdWallet finance expert and co-host of the Smart Travel podcast, said: “We’re often seeing the highest demand in the luxury space. People want the best experience.
“The days of ‘I’m OK with this generic hotel’ are gone. People want the hotel that’s going to make for an amazing photo. We see people spending more on higher-end things that they wouldn’t have done in the past.”
Flights Perhaps surprisingly, air fares are down 18.5 per cent compared with 2015, but this does not tell the full story.
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Under a process known as unbundling, airlines are charging lower fares for basic economy seats but hitting travellers with extra charges for “perks” that once came as standard, such as being able to check in a bag.
Southwest, for example, ditched its “bags fly free” policy in May and charges $35 for the first piece of luggage and $45 for the second.
These fees, which can substantially add to the cost of a journey, are not captured in NerdWallet’s data.
Rental cars Rental car prices made headlines early in the pandemic after surging due to tourists being more willing to drive rather than fly for summer holidays.
Rental rates have since flattened and there was a below-inflation rise over the past 12 months. But the ten-year picture tells a grimmer story. Since May 2015 the price of renting a car has jumped 29 per cent.
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Illustration of a place setting. Eating out The price of dining out in America has risen significantly in only a year. Costs were up 3.9 per cent in May compared with the same month in 2024. In all, prices increased by 49.3 per cent over the past decade.
Fast food prices shot up due to supply chain issues and inflation. Chains had to pay more for energy and staff, while the cost of food also rose.
The price of eggs became a totemic election issue, a vivid demonstration of the impact of inflation on shoppers. Earlier this year, a spike in bird flu sent prices even higher.
The average cost of a dozen “grade A” large eggs reached $6.23 in March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). During the surge, the Waffle House fast food chain added a $0.50 surcharge for each egg.
President Trump took credit for prices dropping — they dipped to $4.55 in May, the BLS said — and celebrated the end of Waffle House’s surcharge this month.
In response to complaints about the price of takeaway food, chains including McDonald’s and Wendy’s last year began offering value meals to attract budget-conscious customers.
Concert tickets. Concerts As anyone who forked out for Taylor Swift or Beyoncé tickets in recent years will attest, prices for concerts, theatres and cinemas have risen faster than inflation.
The cost was up 4.7 per cent over the past year, according to NerdWallet. Since 2015 prices have jumped by 39 per cent.
After an unprecedented scramble for tickets to Swift’s Eras tour, fans sued Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation for alleged price gouging.
Taylor Swift performing on stage. Dynamic pricing used by Ticketmaster meant that high demand for Taylor Swift tickets sent prices soaring ANDRE DIAS NOBRE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES They said that Ticketmaster abused its position as the dominant force in the US market to impose higher prices on the presale, sale and resale markets. Ticketmaster denied any wrongdoing and the case is pending.
Last May the US justice department sued Live Nation for alleged antitrust violations. Merrick Garland, the attorney-general at the time, said “it is time to break up” the company.
Fans have become accustomed to paying hundreds of dollars to see their favourite artists.
• Why are gig tickets so expensive — and is Live Nation to blame?
Lady Gaga’s The Mayhem Ball tour starts this week. Tickets for the opening night in Las Vegas start at $215, rising steeply for better seats. The prices are similar for her concerts in San Francisco, Seattle and New York.
Dolly Parton will perform six times at the Colosseum in Las Vegas in December and tickets sold out immediately in June. Fans are struggling to find tickets for less than $1,600 on resale sites.
French said the sharp rise in ticket prices was due in part to the willingness of fans to pay. “There’s been a broader push for people valuing experiences over things,” she said, adding that after the pandemic there was pent-up demand for in-person events.
Illustration of theatrical masks and a US flag. Broadway theatre As with concerts, theatre has become increasingly out of reach for the middle classes.
The most recent season was the priciest on record, with theatregoers paying an average of $129.12 for a ticket. The figure for the 2018-19 season was $122.73.
Fans hoping to see the most popular shows typically have to fork out far more than $130 per seat. Tickets for Othello, which featured the Hollywood stars Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal, cost almost $1,000.
Wicked opened on Broadway in 2003 but still regularly sells more than $1 million worth of tickets in a week. A family of four hoping to see a Saturday night showing with decent seats at the Gershwin Theater would be charged $1,190 including fees. An individual ticket costs $297.50.
Such prices are possible because of how wealthy many Broadway audiences are. The average annual household income for a regular theatregoer is $276,000, according to the Broadway League demographics report.
Mickey Mouse pointing toward a Disney World sign. Resorts Visitor numbers to Las Vegas are down every month this year, amid widespread complaints that the Strip has become too expensive.
Resort fees and parking charges draw frequent criticism, while the cost of food and drink in Sin City often leaves a bad taste in tourists’ mouths.
Walt Disney wanted his theme parks to be accessible to everyone but even the company’s biggest fans would struggle to argue today’s prices are inclusive.
Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. The “happiest place on Earth” is out of reach for many family budgets AARONP/BAUER-GRIFFIN/GC IMAGES Tickets for Disneyland in Anaheim, California can cost as much as $206 on the busiest days. Add-ons allowing visitors to skip the lines further increase the cost, then there is parking, food and merchandise, the prices of which regularly attract criticism on social media.
For a family of four with two young children, a four-day visit to Walt Disney World in Orlando including a stay at a Disney-owned hotel cost $4,266 last year, according to The Wall Street Journal.
That is up from $3,230 five years earlier, adjusted for inflation.
Grocery basket full of food next to an empty basket. Groceries The average American family is likely to have noticed a sharp rise in the cost of everyday essentials.
Four years ago baby wipes cost $4.99 but today the average price is $6.63, according to consumer analytics company NielsenIQ. Bleach was $3.52 and is now $4.90.
The average unit price of dog food was $5.78 in 2021, but last month the figure was $8.42.
Lindsay Owens, executive director of the Washington think tank Groundwork Collaborative, said inflation was not entirely to blame and that corporations were exploiting the situation for profit — a process known as price gouging.
“They decided to see if they could pass along all of their rising costs so that their margins wouldn’t be eaten into,” she said. “And when they realised that they could, they decided to go for more, and so they started passing along a little more than they needed to.”
Illustration of Donald Trump's face with a tattered American flag. What happens next? Americans hoping for a respite from rising prices might be in for disappointment. Trump’s tariffs will lead to more increases, at least in the short term, economists said.
And while inflation has dropped significantly from its 9 per cent peak in the summer of 2022, consumers will be living with the consequences for years. As history tells us, inflation may go down — but prices don’t.
Didn't read all the article. I got to the point where it quoted a 2019 hotel rate. Figure that's something that is. Stretching the bounds of credibility for a meaningful article. Also saw talk about concert tickets.... Which have little to do with the real cost of living and real inflation pressures.
I believe inflation is there and will hit hard when and if tariffs are applied and continued to be in effect. There isn't any investment In manufacturing or other infrastructure as a result of the tariffs. But time will tell.
Last edited by mgh888; 07/14/2512:59 PM.
The more things change the more they stay the same.
Yet as many or more posts are made in this forum than any other one on this board. It's odd how there were a lot more people posting in this forum when Biden was president.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Some people who don't like what I have to say. Some people who don't want to hear or admit certain factual information. People that don't want to read articles and information that runs counter to what they want to believe. People like you. it's not my fault some people are so close minded they refuse to see anything but what they want to hear.
Even you taught me something yesterday. Tariffs are nothing abut a huge tax burden imposed on the American people. If you could look past your hatred maybe you too could learn new things too.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
NGL... I blocked Pit on politics a while ago. I think many people realized there is no middle ground. There are just arguments, goal posts being moved, or deflection with... "but, what about".
NGL... I blocked Pit on politics a while ago. I think many people realized there is no middle ground. There are just arguments, goal posts being moved, or deflection with... "but, what about".
When it comes to football, I am all for commenting on Pit's stuff. It's usually really good.
Well actually - since it's right there and you posted it - the last 4 posts in that thread are not Pit replying to Pit. That's just an example of how a large group of posters try to deflect and essentially lie about Pit's post in order to dismiss them out of hand without addressing the *sometimes* hard to debate content he includes.
Do I think Pit posts too much? Yes. Do I think he sometimes comes across as a smart ass and argumentative for the sake of being argumentative? Yes, but often while responding in kind to another poster doing something pretty similar. Do I agree with everything Pit posts? Hell no. Does he sometimes shift a conversation and 'move the goal posts' - Yes, just like many others do here whether they be on the 'right' or the 'left'. Is Pit a left wing looney with biased, communist colored spectacles on? No, if you actually pay attention he's much more centrist even while admitedly normally he posts negatively about Trump and the extreme MAGA politicians. I guess it's just a case of what triggers people to respond. . . . case in point, Eve spammed the board with "Libtard" for years and years and years. I don't recall a single 'right' leaning or Trump supporting poster ever calling her out on it. But somehow when Daman, Pit, Perfect or Bad - whoever - posts something questionable that I don't agree with, or maybe Oober or DL or Clem - somehow Memphis and many others post about how we SHOULD call those posts out instead of ignoring them. The typical double standard in full force - along with the deflections and many other things posters on both sides do.
That's clearly my opinion.... Just the facts below:
post 1 - is a response to a post I had made. He clearly is talking to me and responding to my post. post 2 - in a Ukraine War thread - is an article about China announcing a position on Ukraine war with Russia and the EU. Appropriate. post 3 - Regarding Trump talking about Putin and Ukraine, Pit posts a link of Trump using the words Bull S**t and asking if it's now acceptable for the POTUS to cuss in public (hot on the heels of his F bomb) - it is not a response to himself or anyone else. Appropriate. Post 4 - In the Ukraine War thread - Pit posted a link to an article claiming Hegseth did not inform the White House before he authorized pause on weapon shipments to Ukraine. Appropriate.
Last edited by mgh888; 07/17/2506:48 AM.
The more things change the more they stay the same.
They only see what they want to see and only attack those they disagree with. Typical trumpian nonsense. I consider the source and post anyway. Mostly it's articles and information and yes, I add my 2 cents because trump is a scourge on this nation. This isn't about right or left to me in terms of trump. It's about a revenge filled, hateful, habitual liar running our country. If there has ever been a time to speak out that time is now.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Small Businesses Feeling the Pinch of Tariffs, But Few Feel Heard
New survey reveals rising costs, quiet adjustments, limited faith in trade policy
NEW YORK, July 28, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- As the national conversation around tariffs heats up, a new survey from marketing research firm Savanta reveals that small business owners (SBOs) are adapting quietly, even as they express low confidence in trade policy and limited faith in government decision-making.
While the debate often focuses on global economics and political strategy, small businesses are feeling the strain in more practical ways through rising costs, supply chain disruptions, and tough pricing decisions. And many feel left out of the policy conversation entirely, with 57% saying they don't believe U.S. trade decisions are made with small businesses in mind.
"Small businesses are feeling the pressure from tariffs, even if they're not making noise about it," said Kyle Gollins, Head of Commercial, Americas at Savanta. "They're absorbing costs, raising prices, and doing what they must to stay competitive."
Tariffs Raise Costs and Disrupt Operations Roughly 4 in 10 SBOs (42%) say recent or proposed tariff policies have directly impacted their business. The most common effects are rising product and material costs (41%) and supply chain disruptions (24%), signaling that the impact isn't just financial, but also operational.
Quiet Adjustments Are Underway Nearly half (47%) of SBOs have already made or are planning changes in response to tariffs. Among them, 58% have raised prices. Others are rethinking sourcing strategies, delaying investments, or absorbing the costs themselves.
While reshoring remains a political talking point, most SBOs haven't followed suit: only 21% say tariffs have prompted them to consider shifting operations back to the U.S., while 34% say they've made no such considerations.
Absorbing Costs, But for How Long? Only 18% of SBOs say they're fully passing tariff-related costs to customers, while 47% are passing on costs partially or fully. Notably, 29% aren't passing on any of the added expense. Among those absorbing the impact, time is limited – 51% say they can do so for 12 months or less.
"The challenge for small business owners is managing the consequences of tariffs," said Ethan Granholm, senior research analyst at Savanta. "Rising material costs, disrupted supply chains, and shrinking margins are real problems they're dealing with every day—and many aren't sure how long they can continue to absorb the hit."
Confidence in Trade Policy Is Low and Divided Just 26% of SBOs say they have high confidence in the U.S. government's handling of trade policy, while 33% report low confidence. The gap is political, with 52% of Democrats saying they have low confidence, compared to just 14% of Republicans.
Mixed Views on Impact and Advantage Tariffs remain polarizing. While 35% say tariffs put them at a competitive disadvantage, 21% believe they offer an edge. Looking ahead, 36% expect tariffs to negatively impact their business over the next year, while 23% anticipate benefits.
Rising Costs Lead the List of Concerns When asked what concerns them most about the future of tariffs and trade policy, SBOs overwhelmingly point to rising material costs (51%), followed by policy unpredictability (39%), long-term competitiveness (31%), and strained global supply access (25%).
A Divided Take on Tariffs Overall When it comes to the bigger picture, SBOs are split:
35% say they're opposed to tariffs
21% are supportive
The rest are either neutral or unsure
About Savanta Savanta is a data, market research, and advisory company. We inform and inspire our clients through powerful data, empowering technology, and high-impact consulting.
Survey Methodology The poll, conducted by Savanta, had a sample size of n=1,000 U.S. adults aged 18+ and was conducted from July 18 to 19, 2025. The margin of error is +/- 3% per 1,000 completes.
Trump plans to impose a Russia ‘penalty’ on India in addition to a 25% tariff as trade talks stall
President Donald Trump is ratcheting up the pressure on India, calling into question the prospects of a deal with a key US trading partner just days before his tariff deadline.
Trump, in a pair of social media posts Wednesday, sharply attacked India’s trade barriers and directly targeted India’s sustained reliance on Russian oil purchases and military equipment. He doubled down on his threat to impose 25% tariffs on all Indian imports and threatened an additional “penalty” in response to India’s energy purchases.
“Remember, while India is our friend, we have, over the years, done relatively little business with them because their Tariffs are far too high, among the highest in the World, and they have the most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary Trade Barriers of any Country,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Also, they have always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia, and are Russia’s largest buyer of ENERGY, along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to STOP THE KILLING IN UKRAINE — ALL THINGS NOT GOOD!”
Trump’s tariff escalation comes on the heels of a series of deals with major US trading partners that have set a rough baseline of between 15% and 20% and included a series of pledges to expand market access for US products and foreign investment commitments.
For India, it marks a major setback in a monthslong effort to secure a deal that officials believed on several occasions was nearing the finish line.
Top trade officials have been transiting back and forth between the Washington and New Delhi for months in pursuit of a final agreement. But the recent trade agreements with Japan and the European Union have emboldened Trump in the final days before the August 1 deadline for the administration’s paused “reciprocal” tariffs to snap back into place, officials say.
Trump’s ability to secure commitments on market access for US producers has become a particularly salient fixation as Trump has reviewed draft offers in recent days, the officials said. That has created a significant obstacle to the prospects of an agreement with India, one official told CNN.
“They’re willing to go part of the way,” the official said. “But the president isn’t in a ‘part of the way’ mood - he wants barriers removed completely or as close to completely as possible.”
Trump’s approach is tied in part to a strategy that has become increasingly apparent to foreign trade officials involved in late-stage talks: Trump has no qualms about letting those higher tariffs go into place - a message he’s delivered repeatedly in public over the last several weeks.
But it’s also created an environment in which Trump has embraced a clear sense of leverage over trading partners - even close allies - who are desperate to maintain access to the world’s largest consumer market.
“I think President Trump is frustrated with the progress we’ve made with India but feels that a 25% tariff will address and remedy the situation in a way that’s good for the American people,” Director of the National Economic Council Kevin Hassett said at the White House on Wednesday.
The tariffs on India, Hassett said, might cause them to “reconsider their practices.”
“Over time, I would guess that Indian firms will be onshoring production in the US, and Indians might even open their markets more to us so that we reconsider our future trades,” Hassett added. Russia penalties
At the same time, Trump has escalated in parallel his threat to impose secondary sanctions on Russian energy exports in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s refusal to de-escalate attacks on Ukraine.
That dynamic, which has long been weighed across successive administrations, would directly impact India and China most as nations who purchase the bulk of Russian energy products.
India’s oil imports from Russia have ticked up this year as Russia continued to be the top supplier to the world’s most populous nation. Russia for roughly 35% of India’s overall supplies, followed by Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates.
CNN has reached out to the White House for more information on what the penalty will be and if India will be receiving an official letter from the United States marking the tariff, as other nations have received.
On Tuesday, Trump told reporters that India would pay 25% tariffs if they don’t reach a deal by August 1.
When imposing a 50-day deadline on Russia to reach a ceasefire earlier this month, Trump announced that countries that purchase Russian oil would face secondary sanctions. That ceasefire deadline has since moved to August 8.
Trump officials have been privately making clear to counterparts that Trump’s threat to significantly escalate an already sweeping US sanctions regime on Russia should be taken seriously and is not a negotiating ploy, the officials said.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday he shared that message directly with his Chinese counterparts during trade talks in Stockholm.
“I think anyone who buys sanctioned Russian oil should be ready for this,” Bessent told reporters at a news conference at the conclusion of the talks.
According to an analysis of Russian fossil fuel exports and sanctions conducted by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air in June, India continued to be the second-largest buyer of Russian fossil fuels behind China.
Yes even higher taxes for Americans to pay ... so they can get a freebie check back in the mail and the MAGA crowd can tell you how brilliant it all is. Woot woot. Reminds me of the Don McLean lyrics "For $5 the flower is free".
The more things change the more they stay the same.
I’ve been taking a wait and see approach with the tariffs.
On one hand, if there’s anything I know about public corporations, it’s that they don’t like to decrease their margins and costs. I don’t see in my mind how it couldn’t flow through as a price increase to the end purchaser.
On the other hand, we haven’t seen a crazy impact yet, although I think inflation did tick up in the last month, IIRC.
I don’t like widespread tariffs. Historically, they did not work well for us. But the fact comes down to we don’t know what we don’t know yet. I think the full effects, positive or negative, still needs a lot of time.
Blue ostriches on crack float on milkshakes between the sidewalk titans of gurglefitz. --YTown
When all else fails there is always hope. I understand how some people using fuzzy math can't figure out that when an import tax is added to goods, somebody has to pay the bill for that. Somebody pays that added 15% or 20% or 30%. Whether that's small business owners fighting to make it or taxpayers purchasing those goods.
You do realize that many of these tariffs are still being negotiated right? I'm not sure claiming how well it's going in the middle of the process is a wise path to follow. I'm not sure why you believe all of these goods can increase in costs and that cost will not eventually make itself to consumers?
The key word in your post is "yet".
It seemed that for years all we heard was that if you raise wages it will increase costs. But now it seems some people are prematurely claiming a victory because they claim just the opposite applies with tariffs. Raise wages? Increased costs and inflation. Create and increase tariffs? That isn't costing us anything.
Quite the conundrum.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
I’ve been taking a wait and see approach with the tariffs.
On one hand, if there’s anything I know about public corporations, it’s that they don’t like to decrease their margins and costs. I don’t see in my mind how it couldn’t flow through as a price increase to the end purchaser.
On the other hand, we haven’t seen a crazy impact yet, although I think inflation did tick up in the last month, IIRC.
I don’t like widespread tariffs. Historically, they did not work well for us. But the fact comes down to we don’t know what we don’t know yet. I think the full effects, positive or negative, still needs a lot of time.
A couple things-the quarter GDP was at 3% because a lot of companies that could pre-order to beat the tariffs did-short term rise-it will even out. Ford got hammered in quarterly statement-800 million loss in one quarter on tariff related costs.
and then the jobs report today
Economy U.S. added just 73,000 jobs in July and numbers for prior months were revised much lower Published Fri, Aug 1 20258:30 AM EDTUpdated 9 Min Ago thumbnail Jeff Cox @jeff.cox.7528 @JeffCoxCNBCcom
U.S. added just 73,000 jobs in July and numbers for prior months were revised much lowerwatch now VIDEO03:57 U.S. added just 73,000 jobs in July and numbers for prior months were revised much lower Nonfarm payroll growth was slower than expected in July and the unemployment rate ticked higher, raising potential trouble signs for the U.S. labor market.
Job growth totaled 73,000 for the month, above the June total of 14,000 but below even the meager Dow Jones estimate for a gain of 100,000. June and May totals were revised sharply lower, down by a combined 258,000 from previously announced levels.
At the same time, the unemployment rate rose to 4.2%, in line with the forecast.
The June total came down from the previously stated 147,000, while the May count fell to just 19,000, revised down by 125,000.
Stock market futures fell further after the news while Treasury yields also were sharply lower.
“This is a gamechanger jobs report,” said Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. “The labor market is deteriorating quickly.”
The weak jobs report, including the dramatic revisions, could provide incentive for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates when it next meets in September. Following the report, futures traders raised the odds of a cut at the meeting to 63%, up from 40% on Thursday.
“Today’s report adds weight to signs of a slow but persistent cooling trend. While the labor market is not in crisis, hiring momentum continues to soften, and pressures are beginning to build,” said Ger Doyle, North America regional president at Manpower Group.
There were few signs of strength in the July jobs count, with gains coming primarily from health care, a sector that has continued to show strength in the post-Covid recovery. The group added 55,000 jobs, easily leading the way. Social assistance also contributed 18,000 jobs.
However, federal government employment continued to decline, down 12,000 or the month and 84,000 since its January peak, before Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency began paring down the jobs rolls.
On wages, average hourly earnings increased 0.3%, meeting the estimate, though the yearly gain of 3.9% was slightly higher than expected.
The household survey, which is used to compile the unemployment rate, was even worse than the establishment survey of total payrolls gains. That showed a decline of 260,000 workers, with the participation rate edging down to 62.2%, the lowest since November 2022.
A more encompassing unemployment indicator that includes discouraged workers and those holding part-time positions for economic reasons rose to 7.9%, its highest since March.
The report comes with questions rising about firms’ willingness to hire in the face of ongoing trade negotiations and escalating tariffs.
President Donald Trump has demanded the Fed lower interest rates aggressively. However, the central bank on Wednesday again voted to hold its key borrowing level in place, where it has been since December, despite blistering criticism from the president.
Trump released another angry post Friday morning on Truth Social, appearing to call on the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee to overrule Chair Jerome Powell.
“Jerome “Too Late” Powell, a stubborn MORON, must substantially lower interest rates, NOW. IF HE CONTINUES TO REFUSE, THE BOARD SHOULD ASSUME CONTROL, AND DO WHAT EVERYONE KNOWS HAS TO BE DONE!” Trump posted. Following the jobs report, Trump posted again, calling Powell “a disaster.”
Though there are concerns about where the labor market is headed, top-line economic numbers are still holding up.
Gross domestic product increased at a 3% annualized pace in the second quarter, considerably better than expected. However, that largely reflected the unwinding of a huge import buildup ahead of Trump’s April 2 “liberation day” tariff announcement. Underlying demand numbers in the Commerce Department report were mostly weak, while consumer spending increased from the first quarter was still tepid.
Trump fires labor statistics boss hours after the release of weak jobs report
The president called the data "rigged" and implied that BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer manipulated the data "for political purposes."
President Donald Trump on Friday ordered the firing of the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, hours after a stunning government report showed that hiring had slowed down significantly over the past three months.
Taking to Truth Social, he attacked Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of the BLS. He claimed that the country's jobs reports "are being produced by Biden appointee" and ordered his administration to terminate her.
"We need accurate Jobs Numbers," Trump wrote. "She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified. Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they can’t be manipulated for political purposes."
He intensified his attack in a later post, writing: "In my opinion, today’s Jobs Numbers were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad."
An administration official told NBC News that McEntarfer had indeed been fired.
The deputy director of BLS, Bill Wiatrowski, who took up the role during the Obama administration, will become the acting director "during the search for a replacement," Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said.
Julie Hatch Maxfield, the official who oversees the office that produces the employment report, joined the agency during Trump's first term.
The BLS on Friday morning reported that the U.S. economy added just 73,000 jobs in July, well below estimates. It also said it had revised the May and June numbers and they turned out to be lower than previously announced by more than 200,000 jobs.
McEntarfer didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
President Joe Biden nominated McEntarfer in July 2023 and was confirmed by the Senate in an 86-to-8 vote (with six members not voting) in January 2024. She received overwhelming bipartisan support in the vote.
Vice President JD Vance was among the Republicans who voted to confirm her.
McEntarfer has spent much of her career in the federal government. Throughout the last 20 years, she has worked in the Census Bureau, Treasury Department and on the White House's Council of Economic Advisers.
Trump claimed without evidence that the commissioner "faked the Jobs Numbers before the Election to try and boost Kamala’s chances of Victory."
The BLS routinely revises economic data such as the jobs report, GDP figures and inflation data. Due to the scale of the U.S. economy and response rates to BLS surveys, there can often be lags in data collection. But that lag does not imply any wrongdoing or manipulation.
Trump has previously praised the BLS reports, when they were favorable to his administration in April, May and June.
In May, the White House said that April's jobs report "proved" that Trump was "revitalizing" the economy. In June, Trump posted, "GREAT JOBS NUMBERS" on Truth Social.
In March, standing in the Oval Office, Trump brought up "how good some of these numbers are."
The politicization of economic data and potential interference with it by political appointees is something that's typically seen in nondemocratic countries like Russia, Venezuela or China.
Labor Secretary Chavez-DeRemer said after the firing, “our jobs numbers must be fair, accurate, and never manipulated for political purposes.”
Any erosion of trustworthy data can impact businesses, consumers, lending and policymakers. Historically, the United States' economic data has been considered the gold standard due to the independence typically given to agencies that collect it.
The agency surveys U.S. businesses and consumers by contacting them online, by mail, through phone calls and in-person visits. It uses responses received through those methods to generate reports for the public and government decision-makers.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics is the primary agency that collects information about the nation's labor markets and economy.
In its mission statement, the agency says that it "measures labor market activity, working conditions, price changes, and productivity in the U.S. economy to support public and private decision making."
The accuracy of government data collection has also been in question due to sweeping government job cuts.
Last August, the BLS said 818,000 fewer jobs had been created over a 12-month period than initially thought.
At the same time, Trump, who recently resumed attacking Fed Chair Jerome Powell, said that the central bank chief "should also be put 'out to pasture.'"
Trump has repeatedly pressured Powell to lower interest rates. But Powell has said there's still "a long way to go to really understand" what the effects of the president's tariffs will be.
"If you move too soon, you wind up maybe not getting inflation all the way fixed and you have to come back. That's inefficient. If you move too late, you might do unnecessary damage to the labor market," Powell said on Wednesday.
More sewage regurgitated from his KFC hole based on his conspiracy laced feelings and of course somebody was fired strictly based on his vindictiveness. Nothing new there.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
She was confirmed by an 86 to 8 vote, how much more fair can that get? Once again, Trump blaming someone else for doing what he's doing, Playing politics.
Worst President EVER.
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe." Damanshot
you MAGA hatters are really screwing up the cash flow. get your president under control.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
That’s a bad look. It will have a chilling effect on transparency, unless he can say exactly why she was inaccurate, which I doubt he will.
Instead of firing the Director of Labor Statistics-he should have fired the idiot that came up with instituted all of the up and down tariffs. About 35k jobs per month over a 3 month span is really, really weak.
Businesses aren't going to hire in times these uncertain.
Trump fires lead official on economic data as tariffs cause market drop
US President Donald Trump has fired the boss of one of America's most important economic institutions hours after weaker-than-expected jobs data stoked further alarm about his tariff policy.
On social media Trump claimed that Erika McEntarfer, commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), had "RIGGED" jobs figures "to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad".
The unprecedented move by the White House sparked accusations that Trump was politicising economic data.
The Senate's top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, said the president was "a bad leader" who "shoots the messenger" for weak statistics.
US stock markets were rattled on Friday after Trump, a Republican, forged ahead with his plans to raise import tariffs on goods from countries around the world.
Figures were then released by BLS showing that employers in the US added just 73,000 jobs in July, far below forecasts of 109,000 new roles.
The agency also revised down employment growth in May and June, reporting 250,000 fewer jobs than previously thought. It was the largest downward revision in employment figures - apart from the Covid-era - since 1979.
It is not unusual for the BLS to amend jobs figures as more data comes to light, however. During Joe Biden's presidency, statistics for 12 months over 2023-4 were retroactively revised downward by 818,000 jobs.
Though this month's changes were much larger than usual, analysts said the updates were consistent with other data showing slowdown.
The president posted on Truth Social on Friday: "The Economy is BOOMING under 'TRUMP.'"
But Heather Long, chief economist at the Navy Federal Credit Union, said the job figures were a "gamechanger", adding that "the labor market is deteriorating quickly" because of uncertainty caused by Trump's tariffs.
The president has dismissed concerns about his tariff plans, which he says will boost manufacturing in the US and rebalance global trade.
But data this week and a string of updates from companies on tariff costs have made those forecasts harder to ignore.
On the decision to sack McEntarfer, former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers said: "Firing the head of a key government agency because you don't like the numbers they report, which come from surveys using long established procedures, is what happens in authoritarian countries, not democratic ones."
Friends of BLS, a group whose members include two former commissioners of the agency, said: "When leaders of other nations have politicized economic data, it has destroyed public trust in all official statistics and in government science."
McEntarfer called her time as commissioner "the honour of my life", while describing the agency's work as "vital and important".
Leading US stock market indices all closed sharply lower on Friday.
Trump has attacked key economic figures in the past, most recently Jerome Powell, chair of the US Federal Reserve, as the central bank continues to leave interest rates unchanged.
Trump is demanding a cut, but the Fed is holding fire until it sees the full impact of tariffs on the US economy.
In the aftermath of the jobs report, Trump launched a further salvo at Powell, stating he should also be put "out to pasture".
A member of the Fed's rate-setting committee, Adriana Kugler, is resigning early giving Trump an opportunity to install someone new. Her term was due to end next January.
The head of the Labour Department, which oversees the BLS, wrote on social media that the agency's deputy commissioner William Wiatrowski would step into the role during the search for a replacement.
The Labour Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Some analysts speculated that the jobs data could reflect a hit to small businesses, which are typically slower to respond to surveys and are especially vulnerable to tariffs.
McEntarfer worked for the government for more than 20 years before being nominated by Biden to lead the BLS in 2023. She was later confirmed near unanimously by the US Senate, including by current Vice-President JD Vance, who was then an Ohio senator.
Michael Strain, director of economic policy studies at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute, defended Entarfer, saying she had conducted herself with "great integrity".
"It is imperative that decisionmakers understand that government statistics are unbiased and of the highest quality. By casting doubt on that, the President is damaging the United States," he wrote on social media.
Jed Kolko, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said the firing raised serious alarm.
"For six months, I've said that threats to economic data have been more collateral damage than intentional harm. No longer. Firing the head of the BLS is five-alarm intentional harm to the integrity of US economic data and the entire statistical system," he wrote on social media.
Trump defended the decision and said her departure was needed to ensure there were "people that we can trust" in these posts.
"Why should anybody trust numbers?" the president told reporters when leaving the White House on Friday.
"I believe the numbers were phony, just like they were before the election, and there were other times - so you know what I did? I fired her, and you know what I did? The right thing."
Tariffs The fight over data comes as Trump remakes trade policy, hitting goods from countries around the world with new tariffs ranging from 10% to 50%.
When Trump put forward similar plans in April, shares in the US tumbled more than 10% in a week as concerns spread to the dollar and bond markets.
The stock market recovered after he suspended some of the most drastic measures, leaving in place a less punishing, more expected 10% levy. In recent weeks, indexes in the US have been trading around all-time highs.
The latest measures are less extreme than what Trump first put forward in April, but they will still push the average tariff rate to roughly 17%, up from less than 2.5% at the start of the year.
"The reality is Trump got emboldened by the fact that markets came right back," Michael Gayed, a portfolio manager for The Free Markets ETF, told the BBC's Opening Bell. "Now he's going to try his luck again."
The more things change the more they stay the same.
I’d call myself mostly a centrist— certainly left-leaning on social issues, but very fiscally conservative. It’s amusing (or frustrating) how some assumed my concerns about spending and national debt are just partisan reactions. Nope—I’ve cared about this under every administration and I always will.
BUT ...at this point, I (almost) hope the next Democratic president (and yes, there will be one eventually) mirrors Trump’s playbook exactly—executive orders, hardball tactics, the whole abuse of office and bullying of other branches that are supposed to be checks and balances .... Not because it’s the 'centrist' approach, but because the system is so broken that maybe the only way to force accountability is for MAGA to face its own tactics turned against them.
The more things change the more they stay the same.
No, you are not a centrist. Dawglover neither was nor is a conservative. Anyone and everyone who doesn't walk the trump company line is now a "liberal progressive who is trying to destroy America" Or as Peen would call them, "Communists". There is no such thing as a centrist. You're either all in or you're the enemy.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
The Trump administration takes a very Orwellian turn
Back in March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order targeted at the Smithsonian Institution that began as follows: “Over the past decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.”
Despite the high-minded rhetoric, many worried the order was instead a thinly veiled effort to rewrite history more to Trump’s liking. The order, for example, cited a desire to remove “improper ideology” – an ominous phrase, if there ever was one – from properties like the Smithsonian.
Those concerns were certainly bolstered this week. We learned that some historical information that recently vanished from the Smithsonian just so happens to have been objective history that Trump really dislikes: a reference to his two impeachments.
Back in March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order targeted at the Smithsonian Institution that began as follows: “Over the past decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.”
Despite the high-minded rhetoric, many worried the order was instead a thinly veiled effort to rewrite history more to Trump’s liking. The order, for example, cited a desire to remove “improper ideology” – an ominous phrase, if there ever was one – from properties like the Smithsonian.
Those concerns were certainly bolstered this week. We learned that some historical information that recently vanished from the Smithsonian just so happens to have been objective history that Trump really dislikes: a reference to his two impeachments.
The Smithsonian said that a board containing the information was removed from the National Museum of American History last month after a review of the museum’s “legacy content.” The board had been placed in front of an existing impeachment exhibit in September 2021.
Just to drive this home: The exhibit itself is about “Limits of Presidential Power.” And suddenly examples of the biggest efforts by Congress to limit Trump’s were gone.
It wasn’t immediately clear that the board was removed pursuant to Trump’s executive order. The Washington Post, which broke the news, reported that a source said the content review came after pressure from the White House to remove an art museum director.
In other words, we don’t know all the details of precisely how this went down – including whether the removal was specifically requested, or whether museum officials decided it might be a good way to placate Trump amid pressure. The Smithsonian said in a statement Saturday that it was “not asked by any administration” or government official to remove content and that an updated version of the exhibit will ultimately mention all impeachment efforts, including Trump’s.
But it’s all pretty Orwellian. And it’s not the only example.
Trump has always been rather blatant about his efforts to rewrite history with self-serving falsehoods and rather shameless in applying pressure on the people who would serve as impartial referees of the current narrative. But this week has taken things to another level.
On Friday, Trump fired the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This came just hours after that agency delivered Trump some very bad news: the worst non-Covid three-month jobs numbers since 2010.
Some Trump allies have attempted to put a good face on this, arguing that Dr. Erika McEntarfer’s removal was warranted because large revisions in the job numbers betrayed shoddy work. But as he did with the firing of then-FBI Director James B. Comey eight years ago, Trump quickly undermined all that. He told Newsmax that “we fired her because we didn’t believe the numbers today.”
To the extent Trump did lay out an actual evidence-based case for firing McEntarfer, that evidence was conspiratorial and wrong, as CNN’s Daniel Dale documented Friday.
And even some Republican senators acknowledged this might be precisely as draconian and self-serving as it looked. Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, for one, called it “kind of impetuous” to fire the BLS head before finding out whether the new numbers were actually wrong.
“It’s not the statistician’s fault if the numbers are accurate and that they’re not what the president had hoped for,” said Lummis, who is not often a Trump critic.
Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina added that if Trump “just did it because they didn’t like the numbers, they ought to grow up.”
Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska both worried that Trump’s move would make it so people can’t trust the data the administration is putting out.
And that’s the real problem here. It’s not so much that Trump appears to be firing someone as retaliation; it’s the message it sends to everyone else in a similar position. The message is that you might want that data and those conclusions to be to Trump’s liking, or else.
It’s a recipe for getting plenty of unreliable data and conclusions. And even to the extent that information is solid, it will seed suspicions about the books having been cooked – both among regular Americans and, crucially, among those making key decisions that impact the economy. What happens if the next jobs report is great? Will the markets believe it?
We’ve certainly seen plenty of rather blunt Trump efforts to control such narratives and rewrite history before. A sampling:
He engaged in a yearslong effort to make Jan. 6 defendants who attacked the Capitol in his name out to be sympathetic patriots, even calling them “hostages,” before pardoning them.
His administration’s efforts to weed out diversity, equity and inclusion from the government often ensnared things that merely celebrated Black people and women.
He and his administration have at times taken rather dim views of the free speech rights of those who disagree with them, including talking about mere protests – i.e. not necessarily violence – as being “illegal.” A loyalist US attorney at one point threatened to pursue people who criticized then-Trump ally Elon Musk even for non-criminal behavior.
Trump has repeatedly suggested criticism of judges he likes should be illegal, despite regularly attacking judges he doesn’t like.
His term began with the portraits of military leaders who clashed with him being removed from the Pentagon. It also began with a massive purge of independent inspectors general charged with holding the administration to account.
All of it reinforces the idea that Trump is trying to consolidate power by pursuing rather heavy-handed and blatant tactics.
But if there’s a week that really drove home how blunt these efforts can be, it might be this one.
Politics Why utility bills are rapidly rising in some states By August 23, 2025 / 6:19 AM EDT / CBS News
If you noticed your utility bill has gone up this summer, you're not alone. On average, electricity costs are 5.5% higher today than they were a year ago, according to the latest federal data, and natural gas is up 13.8%.
Nearly 60 utility companies are set to increase electricity rates this year by more than $38 billion, affecting more than 57 million Americans, according to analysis from the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank.
President Trump recently commented on the rising prices, blaming them on renewable power. He wrote on Truth Social that renewables were "THE SCAM OF THE CENTURY!" And he vowed he would not approve wind and solar projects.
But higher rates are largely a result of higher demand, and that's being driven by the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence, oil and gas drilling, space heating and electrified forms of transportation — all technologies that require immense amounts of power, according to Rob Gramlich, president of Grid Strategies, a D.C. based energy consultancy firm, "When supply is scarce, then prices go up," he said.
Gramlich says that after 25 years of a flat demand for energy and a dip during the pandemic, demand rose once economic activity picked up after the pandemic was over.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has also played a role in higher costs, disrupting international energy supply chains and causing rates to go up in the U.S. Rapid growth in data centers and newer electrified forms of technology mean the nation will need 15% more capacity — or 120 gigawatts — by the end of the decade to keep pace, Gramlich estimated.
The increasing demand is a big reason why the U.S. Energy Information Administration expects residential electricity rates to increase steadily by as much as 18% in the next few years, far outstripping the annual inflation rate of about 2.7%.
The fastest way to bring rates down would be to increase supply, but there are challenges.
U.S. falling behind on transmission Gramlich, in recent testimony before Congress, said there's no shortage of fuel to add to the grid — it's a shortage of transmission that's the major problem.
At the end of 2023, there were more than 2,600 gigawatts of energy waiting to get connected, representing over twice the current installed capacity of the U.S. power grid, according to the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. And 95% of it was generated by solar, wind, and battery storage.
To meet growing electricity needs, the U.S. needs to expand transmission systems by 60% by 2030, and even that may need to triple by 2050, according to a 2022 report by the Department of Energy.
"If we can get a lot of transmission built, then I think we can meet the AI-driven data center demands," Gramlich said.
AI data centers consume far more power from the grid than regular data centers, says Norman Bashir, a fellow at MIT's Climate and Sustainability Consortium, where researchers are studying the impact of generative AI on the grid.
"AI data centers are much more power intensive," Bashir told CBS News Boston last month. "So, if you have a normal data center, an AI data center would be up to 10 times more power intensive."
Role of tariffs and equipment shortages Beyond the transmission backlog, Gramlich says tariffs and equipment shortages are making energy projects more expensive. One example — gas turbines are extremely scarce right now, and that's holding up the expansion of natural gas power plants.
"The price of an actual turbine has almost tripled," Gramlich said. And the wait time for a gas turbine is around three or four years — even as long as seven, according to a May analysis by S&P Global.
Energy sources Over the past decade, the nation's energy mix has increasingly grown to favor natural gas and renewables, like wind, solar and hydropower, that have become much cheaper to produce. New nuclear plants won't be on line before 2030, Gramlich said, and coal is becoming less economically viable because of maintenance and update costs required to address pollution concerns.
"That leaves wind and solar and battery storage that can help in this decade," Gramlich told CBS News.
But the Trump administration has enacted policies to curtail new clean energy projects and instead foster greater reliance on fossil fuels. Approving and permitting new clean energy projects has become increasingly difficult, taking away a valuable asset from energy providers at a critical time.
"If things keep going like this, [utility bills] are gonna be higher next year," Gramlich said.
Trump energy policies projected to raise prices Upon returning to office, Mr. Trump issued a "National Energy Emergency" executive order, arguing the country needs "reliable, diversified, and affordable supply of energy to drive our Nation's manufacturing, transportation, agriculture, and defense industries, and to sustain the basics of modern life and military preparedness."
Most of the actions tied to that order have gutted renewable energy generation and are bolstering fossil fuel development.
The passage of Trump's signature legislation, One Big Beautiful Bill Act, is expected to make energy more expensive, impact jobs, and make it more difficult to meet rising energy demand, according to analysis by Energy Innovation, a nonpartisan energy and climate policy think tank.
OBBBA will change the tax code, increasing generation costs, resulting in a drop in power generation capacity of 340 gigawatts by 2035, says Michael O'Boyle, acting policy team director of Energy Innovation in an email to CBS News. To put that in perspective, 1 gigawatt typically powers 750,000 homes, so 340 gigawatts could power about 255 million homes.
O'Boyle estimates wholesale energy prices will increase by 74% by 2035, resulting in a $170 annual increase in the average household energy bill. Some 760,000 jobs could be lost by 2030, and the states that are expected to see the biggest impacts on energy cost increases and job losses from the OBBBA are South Carolina, Florida, Texas, Kentucky and North Carolina.
The Energy Department criticized the analysis and its support of renewables arguing, "The OBBBA ensures taxpayers will no longer be forced to subsidize intermittent energy sources like wind and solar – subsidies that have only resulted in more expensive, less reliable energy," said Ben Dietderich, the department's press secretary and chief spokesman, in an email to CBS News.
Ending Biden-era clean energy policies Since he returned to office, Mr. Trump has been dismantling Biden-era clean energy policies, resulting in the termination of more than $22 billion in renewable energy projects, according to an analysis by the environmental policy firm E2.
"Unfortunately, the president and Congress is making it harder for Americans to have access to the cheapest, cleanest, quickest to deploy power there is," said Bob Keefe, E2's executive director.
"By slowing clean energy deployment, the Administration is directly fueling cost increases," Jason Grumet, CEO of the American Clean Power Association, said in a statement. Grumet cited EIA data and noted, "The top four clean energy states are seeing prices decline this year, while the 10 states with the least renewable power all face rising costs."
Trump admin. keeping fossil fuel generation alive To address rising energy demand, the Energy Department has ordered some utility companies to keep coal power plants open beyond their retirement dates, an action that could cost more than $3.1 billion a year by 2028, according to analysis by Gramlich's firm, Grid Strategies.
"These coal plants are basically uneconomic in the market. Each year, they incur tens of millions of dollars of maintenance just to stay operating," said Gramlich.
Those costs to extend the life of coal plants will be borne by ratepayers, according to a ruling by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Coal plants are generally planned for retirement when their operating cost exceeds their expected revenue or their value to the electric grid, the EIA has pointed out. Coal-fired plants, which produce high levels of CO2 emissions, have been under pressure to be phased out in many states, in particular, those with clean energy goals. According to the EIA, natural gas and clean energy sources are providing a growing share of the nation's electricity, while coal has been waning. By the end of 2023, the maximum potential power plant output for coal was 15.2%, down from 45% in 1990.
If additional fossil fuel-based plants delay retirement dates — 28% were expected to be retired by 2035 — the bill to ratepayers could grow to more than $6 billion.
Still, Energy Secretary Chris Wright supports the administration's efforts to keep fossil fuel generation online longer.
"The United States cannot afford to continue down the unstable and dangerous path of energy subtraction previous leaders pursued, forcing the closure of baseload power sources like coal and natural gas," he said in a statement, upon releasing a report on the U.S. grid's reliability. "If we are going to keep the lights on, win the AI race, and keep electricity prices from skyrocketing, the United States must unleash American energy."
President Donald Trump has framed the decision as part of a fight against illegal drugs. But mail companies say that many aspects of the new rules remain unclear.
The facts Previously, most imported goods with a value of $800 or less were exempt from tariffs. That rule, known as the de minimis exemption, is set to end on Aug. 29 — though letters or personal gifts worth less than $100 won’t be affected, postal operators said. A number of national mail companies around the world from Europe to Asia and the Pacific have responded by temporarily suspending some mail services to the U.S. For consumers, this could mean delays in receiving packages — which may now also incur tariffs of $80 or more. The move stems from sweeping tariffs the president imposed on most U.S. trading partners earlier this year. What are the changes? The de minimis — which in Latin means something too small or insignificant to be considered — tax exception was passed by Congress in the 1930s and amended over the years. Under the Obama administration, the exemption was raised from $200 to $800 — where it remained until this year. ed companies to save tens of billions of dollars in fees on cheap imports, most of which came from China — though Etsy sellers and family-run businesses also benefited from the rule.
The Trump administration ended the exception for China and Hong Kong in May. In an executive order signed last month, Trump extended the decision to all countries starting Aug. 29, meaning that most low-value parcels will also be charged tariffs.
Which countries are affected? National mail services in more than a dozen European countries have said they are pausing at least some of their deliveries until they have figured out how to deal with the new rules.
In Germany, Deutsche Post and DHL Parcel Germany said they were temporarily suspending business customer parcels to the U.S. beginning Saturday — though shipments via DHL Express are not affected.
Belgium’s Postal Service suspended shipments containing merchandise starting Saturday, while Spain’s Correos said that it will not accept packages worth $800 or less beginning Monday. France’s La Poste said it may be forced to temporarily suspend some shipments unless a solution is reached before the implementation date. Britain’s Royal Mail said it plans to withdraw its services for a day or two, before rolling out a system to deal with the requirements.
Suspensions have also been announced across Asia and the Pacific. India’s Department of Posts said that it would temporarily stop mail service to the U.S. beginning Monday. Thailand temporarily suspended all international postal parcel services to the U.S., while South Korea, Singapore and New Zealand suspended most shipments. Australia Post has temporarily suspended so-called transit shipping — where goods from other countries are shipped to the U.S. via Australia.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
What will it mean for shipping costs? The extra charges on a package will depend on the methodology used to calculate it, according to the executive order. The duty rate will either match the level of tariff the U.S. has imposed on the country of origin, or a specific duty based on the following:
For countries with a tariff rate of 15 percent or less, such as Britain, each package will incur an additional charge of $80. Parcels originating from countries with U.S. tariffs of between 16 and 25 percent will incur an additional $160. Countries with a tariff rate of more than 25 percent will face an extra $200. The new rules could also put the onus on senders to pay import duties before the shipment leaves for the U.S., according to Belgium’s bpost. It said in a statement the changes mean “import duties for all shipments with goods must be prepaid, regardless of value.”
Letters, documents and gifts under $100 are exempt — though DHL said in a statement that any parcel declared as a gift “will be subject to even stricter controls than before to prevent the misuse of private gift shipments for sending commercial goods.”
‘Sneakflation’: How Trump’s tariffs are gradually raising costs for American consumers By
Alicia Wallace 8 hr ago
When tariffs are tacked on to many imported goods, someone’s got to foot the bill.
According to President Donald Trump, foreign countries and overseas businesses are eating the cost. But evidence shows that American consumers and businesses are paying for the tariffs the administration has implemented as its go-to policy levers.
“It been proven, that even at this late stage, Tariffs have not caused Inflation, or any other problems for America, other than massive amounts of CASH pouring into our Treasury’s coffers,” Trump posted on his social media site, Truth Social, earlier this month. “Also, it has been shown that, for the most part, Consumers aren’t even paying these Tariffs, it is mostly Companies and Governments, many of them Foreign, picking up the tabs.”
Trump’s post did not include any substantiation for his claims.
There is a growing field of evidence to the contrary: Economic data, academic research, businesses’ expenses, and people’s first-hand experiences are showing that it’s American firms and consumers who are seeing increasingly higher costs due to the tariffs.
That burden is expected to grow only heavier in the months — and, potentially, years — to come as more tariffs take effect, and others settle more deeply into supply chains.
What the latest data shows If foreign exporters are absorbing tariff costs, one possible way to see that in US economic data is whether they’re lowering their pre-tariff export prices.
If that’s the case, it would show up as lower or falling US import prices.
Recent months’ data, however, has shown that import prices (which exclude the costs of tariffs, insurance and shipping costs) have held mostly steady. They’ve risen by 0.5% since the November election and by 0.2% since March, after which the bulk of new tariffs were announced, according to a recent note from Pantheon Macroeconomics.
“One argument that had looked plausible until recently was that import prices had been supported by pre-tariff stockpiling in [the last part of 2024 and the first three months of 2025], which saw goods imports soar to record highs,” Pantheon economists Samuel Tombs and Oliver Allen wrote in an August 19 note. “That left foreign exporters flush with orders, providing little incentive to cut pre-tariff prices to remain competitive. But import prices have remained resilient despite goods imports dropping back very sharply in [the second quarter], suggesting a steep decline in prices ahead is unlikely.”
A more granular look at import price data indicates that there’s a slight dip in import prices from China; however, for the vast majority of countries, it’s basically been flat, Olu Sonola, head of US economic research at Fitch Ratings, told CNN in an interview.
“So that’s telling you that all of that is paid by importers,” he said. “It’s now a question of, is it the manufacturer, is it the retailers, or is it the small business that’s bringing it in? They now have to figure out, ‘How much of this can I take on, and how much of this will I pass on?”
“It’s very likely they will pass the bulk of it on,” he added.
To this point, consumers have been mostly shielded from starkly higher prices.
Through June, US consumers had absorbed 22% of tariff costs, but that share was expected to rise to 67% by October, according to an August 10 estimation from Goldman Sachs economists. That assessment led to a demand from Trump that the investment giant fire its chief economist.
Goldman Sachs economists said they expect that about 70% of the direct costs of the tariffs will eventually fall on the consumer, and that the total could rise to 100% if including the spillover effects of domestic producers raising their prices (something that has already occurred and is expected to continue — more on that below).
There’s a laundry list of reasons why tariff-driven price hikes are a slow boil: Businesses loaded up their warehouses with pre-tariffed goods; higher costs have been split by entities along the supply chain, lessening the blow at the retail store; and Trump’s fits-and-starts approach to tariffs has meant that the bulk of them did not go into effect for months, and many items are exempted (for at least now).
At the same time, inflation has remained relatively tame for both good and not-so-good reasons: Ongoing deflationary trends in key areas, marking a continued unwinding from pandemic-era shortages and price spikes; falling gas prices (they’re down 9.5% from July of last year) amid global economic uncertainty; and then because of depressed consumer demand in areas such as travel.
Still, recent Consumer Price Index inflation reports reveal increases in the cost of certain imports the United States relies on heavily, including household furnishings, linens, tools, toys and sporting goods.
Slow-bleeding, tariff-driven ‘sneakflation’ As of August 8, imported goods cost 5% more than pre-tariff trends predicted and domestically produced goods are running 3% higher, according to newly released research from Harvard Business School professor Alberto Cavallo and colleagues.
Cavallo, in an interview with CNN, said he expects that the passthrough will continue in steady increments but could be limited in some cases depending on the competitiveness of the product category and industry.
“I think it could take over a year for us to see some of the effects of these tariffs,” he said. “But a year from now, maybe two years from now, we’ll notice that consumers ended up paying a significant amount of the tariffs even if they didn’t notice the increases right away.”
New research last week from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta showed that businesses — those directly exposed to tariffs and those who are not — expect to raise prices this year.
At the end of 2024, surveyed businesses anticipated increasing their prices by 2.5% during the year ahead. By mid-May, those estimates shot up to 3.5%, according to the Atlanta Fed, which found that little difference existed in the price growth expectations of firms with or without foreign exposure.
However, the survey showed some starker increases expected among services, providing firms, which prompted questions around whether these price increases could deliver an inflationary impulse as was seen three years ago .
“The chief concern regarding the impact of tariffs is whether we will experience the same phenomenon that we witnessed during the pandemic. That is, will price pressures spread beyond only the prices that are directly affected by increased import duties?” Atlanta Fed researchers wrote in the report.
“Businesses say they’re working both with suppliers and consumers to help share some of the cost burden,” Bush said. “They do indicate that they’re willing to eat some of the cost for now. But I think as the realization sets in that these tariffs are not going back down, they will start to pass more on to consumers.”
The world’s largest retailer said as much on Thursday: Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said that the company’s costs have risen every week because of tariffs but will aim to keep prices down “for as long as we can.”
Small increases over time could make it easier for some consumers to handle; however, to others — especially those with little to no wiggle room in their budgets — that slow burn could very well feel like a slow bleed.
“Lower-income Americans are sadly adept at juggling their expenses and trying to make every dime count,” Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, wrote in an email to CNN. “They may go without meat or coffee one week in order to buy shoes for their kids. The next week, they may skip a car payment to cover their electric bill and a medical expense. It’s a constant juggle where they allocate money to their most urgent need at that moment.”
Retailers and major brands know that many Americans live paycheck to paycheck, so they’re using “sneakflation” to pass along the tariffs in small increments in hopes that consumers won’t notice or will be able to better absorb it, Long added.
AI is the biggest reason Utility costs are going up.
The main reason utilities are going up is, that they are traded on the NYSE. Their CEOs need to show growth every year to survive at their positions. So guess what? Up up up go the prices even though demand is starting to level off due to solar and other alternatives. Now the upper middle class and the rich with alternative or solar power get the benefits and the lower middle class and poor make up for those loses and pay the man, more and more.
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Thomas Jefferson.
Federal appeals court strikes down major chunk of Trump’s tariffs The ruling will not take effect right away, giving the administration time to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Donald Trump holds up a chart on reciprocal tariffs. President Donald Trump holds up a chart while announcing new "reciprocal" tariffs on more than 60 trading partners during an event in the Rose Garden at the White House on April 2, 2025. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
By Doug Palmer, Kyle Cheney, Josh Gerstein and Daniel Desrochers 08/29/2025 05:47 PM EDT Updated: 08/29/2025 06:13 PM EDT
A federal appeals court on Friday struck down President Donald Trump’s use of emergency powers granted by Congress to impose tariffs, opening the door for the administration to potentially have to repay billions worth of duties.
The 7-4 ruling raises doubt about deals Trump has struck with the European Union, Japan, South Korea and other major trading partners to reduce the “reciprocal” tariff rates on their imports, from the levels the administration originally set in April.
“We conclude Congress … did not give the president wide-ranging authority to impose tariffs” of the kind Trump imposed in his sweeping executive orders, the majority wrote.
The ruling also invalidates the tariffs that Trump has imposed on China, Canada and Mexico to pressure those countries to do more to stop shipments of fentanyl and precursor chemicals from entering the United States.
The decision, however, will not take effect until Oct. 14, giving the Trump administration time to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.
Trump blasted the “Highly Partisan Appeals Court” in a Friday evening Truth Social post, and warned that blocking the tariffs “would be a total disaster for the Country” and “make us financially weak.”
“Now, with the help of the United States Supreme Court, we will use them to the benefit of our Nation, and Make America Rich, Strong, and Powerful Again!” Trump wrote, signaling that the White House will appeal, as expected.
“President Trump lawfully exercised the tariff powers granted to him by Congress to defend our national and economic security from foreign threats. The President’s tariffs remain in effect, and we look forward to ultimate victory on this matter,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement.
The ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upholds a May decision by the U.S. Court of International Trade, which concluded that Trump exceeded his authority under the 1977 law he invoked to impose both the fentanyl trafficking tariffs and his worldwide tariffs, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
“We are not addressing whether the President’s actions should have been taken as a matter of policy,” the majority wrote in its ruling, which was in response to a combined set of cases brought by several small importers and multiple Democratic-run states. “Nor are we deciding whether IEEPA authorizes any tariffs at all. Rather, the only issue we resolve on appeal is whether the Trafficking Tariffs and Reciprocal Tariffs imposed by the Challenged Executive Orders are authorized by IEEPA. We conclude they are not.”
Trade and customs experts told POLITICO that repayments would be a logistical nightmare, and would likely trigger a wave of legal challenges from other businesses and industry groups seeking reimbursement.
The appeals court’s majority said their conclusion that Trump’s tariffs were illegal was bolstered by a series of Supreme Court decisions articulating the “major questions doctrine,” a legal theory rejecting claims that Congress implicitly granted the executive sweeping powers.
“The tariffs at issue in this case implicate the concerns animating the major questions doctrine as they are both ‘unheralded’ and ‘transformative,’” wrote the majority, which consisted of one Republican appointee and six Democratic appointees.
Dissenting from the ruling Friday were Obama appointees Richard Taranto and Raymond Chen and George W. Bush appointees Kimberly Moore and Sharon Prost. Trump has not appointed any judges to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals.
“IEEPA embodies an eyes-open congressional grant of broad emergency authority in this foreign-affairs realm, which unsurprisingly extends beyond authorities available under non-emergency laws, and Congress confirmed the understood breadth by tying IEEPA’s authority to particularly demanding procedural requirements for keeping Congress informed,” Taranto wrote for the dissenters.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump began aggressively using the international emergency law to impose tariffs shortly after taking office, first hitting China, Canada and Mexico with the fentanyl trafficking tariffs. He then tapped the authority to impose a baseline tariff of 10 percent on almost all countries and additional tariffs ranging up to 50 percent on dozens of individual trading partners, including the 27 nations of the European Union.
No president has previously used the 1977 act to impose tariffs, although they have often used it over the past five decades to impose economic sanctions on other countries.
Trump said the high number of deaths due to fentanyl constituted a national emergency that justified using tariffs to pressure China, Canada and Mexico into stopping the drug and its precursor chemicals from entering the U.S.
He also said the “large and persistent” U.S. trade deficit was a national emergency that justified imposing a broader set of “reciprocal” tariffs on most countries, which he then used to pressure some trading partners into negotiating trade deals.
Treasury Department data shows the Trump administration took in about $107 billion in customs duties between February and July of this year. A fair portion of that are the tariffs Trump has collected using IEEPA, but it also includes other U.S. duties that aren’t affected by the appeals court ruling, including some Trump has imposed using other authorities.
Another case challenging the tariffs has also been making its way through the courts.
A federal district judge in Washington, D.C., in a case brought by two Illinois toy companies, ruled on May 29 that Trump did not have any authority under the International Economic Emergency Powers Act to impose tariffs.
That went further than the Court of International Trade ruling, which said that the 1977 law did give Trump some tariff authority but it was not “unlimited.”
The Justice Department appealed the ruling in the toy companies case to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has scheduled oral arguments for late September.
So far it seems his answer to everything is just put the label "emergency" on it and he feels that's enough to give him the power to do what he wants. Not only does that give him the power to do what he wants in trumplandia, it gives him the power to do it where he wants. And his supporters applaud it all.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
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