Trump's T-3 Machine: Terrible Trade Tariffs Hitting the Country Hard and Harmful

T-3 Strikes Full Force with Purposeful Malice

(“Art of the Con” in our collective face)

The headline (via Yahoo news) should catch your attention, yet it seems not to faze Trump one single bit:

$1,000 new added annual tax (Trump’s Terrible Tariffs Con) for a typical American household

With less fanfare than the tax cut bill that Trump signed into law in 2017, a new tax hike goes into effect now on thousands of everyday items imported from China.

A new tariff of 15% will be added to the cost of more than 40% of all consumer products imported from China starting September 1.

That amounts to about $109 billion worth of annual imports, according to research firm Panjiva. On December 15, the same 15% tariff will be assessed on another $155 billion worth of consumer goods from China.

Then the new Trump tariffs on virtually everything imported from China hits home and hard.

Trump has already imposed 25% tariffs on about $250 billion worth of Chinese imports, but those are mostly component products consumers never see. Those tariffs have led to some price increases, with some importers also taking a hit through lower profits. 

In some cases, Chinese suppliers have lowered their own prices to offset the tariff. Importers have also begun seeking new suppliers outside China, to avoid the tax.

The tariffs hitting today will apply to thousands of products sold at Walmart (WMT), Target (TGT), Best Buy (BBY), Home Depot (HD), Ikea, Amazon (AMZN) and other retailers. 

Basket full of Trump’s Terrible Trade Tariffs

(Tariff is a tax by any economic definition)

Here are some of the main product categories subject to the new tax, according to Panjiva:

·       Clothing: Footwear (sneakers), sweaters, clothes — $39B

·       Electronics: TVs, monitors, audio equipment — $24B

·       Machines: Printers, PC’s, hand tools, air-con parts — $15B

·       Plastic: Tableware, buckets, school supplies — $5B

·       Leisure products: NordicTrack machines — $5B

·       Furniture and bedding — $1B

Price hikes won’t hit consumers right away on every product since some importers have been stockpiling Chinese imports ahead of the new tariffs, so they’ll be able to sell from non-tariff inventories for a while.

But retailers have been griping about the tariffs nonetheless. A group of more than 200 shoe companies recently sent a letter to Trump calling the tariffs a “hidden tax … driving up costs for hardworking American families.”

My 2 cents: As my headline implies: Mr. and Mrs. GOP Trump voter and loyal supporter – “you own him, ‘fess up and take credit for him” and his nasty deeds both from his filthy mouth spewing personal insults and attacks and plain crappy public policy. 

You own him and he wants to own us like any crappy business con game acquisition that failed under him in the past (e.g., Trump University scam cost him $25 million for cheating students). 

With this, it's nothing less but a heluva lot more is at stake – our future.

Thanks for stopping by.