Friday, October 18, 2024

Trump vs. Tariffs: Lesson One Know What a Tariff is and Does to Our Economy

Step One Lesson One Page One for Trump
(Basic Tariffs 101)

Zip your pie hole and STFU, please

From BUSINESS INSIDER vis-à-vis Trump’s pledge to slap a 20% or higher tariff on all imported goods has this shocking headline:

“These 5 parts of the stock market are most at risk if Trump wins the election and implements wide-reaching tariffs, Barclays says”

Key Points According to Barclays:

§  Trump's proposed tariffs would lower S&P 500 earnings as much as 4.7% next year.

§  Trump has pledged to unleash universal tariffs on all U.S. trade if elected.

§  Barclays outlined five sectors that are the most exposed to losses if Trump wins and implements his tariff plan.

§  Trump's plan to tax virtually all imports would take a big toll on 2025 earnings (Barclays research found).

§  Current outlooks view the election as a coin toss between Trump and Kamala Harris.

§  The outcome has high stakes for trade policy, as the former president has committed to unleashing trade barriers around the U.S.

Trump said during the presidential debate with Harris:Other countries are going to finally, after 75 years, pay us back for all that we've done for the world. And the tariff will be substantial in some cases.”

Trump previously said that if he is re-elected: All countries could face a 10% universal tariff, while duties on Chinese products would reach as high as 60%. Plus, a 100% tariff on cars imported through Mexico could also be in store.”

If implemented, Barclays expects these policies to cut into the S&P 500's earnings they said adding:To be sure, U.S firms have some way of navigating higher costs associated with tariffs. That includes shifting supply chains or passing prices on to consumers as higher cost and tax on the item(s).”

Import duties will hit profit margins to a degree, as companies risk losing market share if they don't absorb some of the costs.

Barclays analysts wrote:We find that SPX (S&P) earnings would be negatively impacted by 3.2% if the new Trump tariffs are enacted and another 1.5% if those countries were to retaliate with similar measures.”

Companies that rely more heavily on supply chains are especially at risk, with five sectors in most danger: (1) Materials, (2) Discretionary, (3) Industrials, (4) technology, and (5) healthcare.

1. Discretionary stocks would suffer the largest earnings-per-share impact from import tariffs alone — and sector earnings would fall around 10%.

2. Materials is most impacted by retaliatory tariffs on exports with sector earnings dropping close to 8%.

Other economists have loudly criticized Trump's tariff idea as fuel for inflation, given that prices will rise amid a pullback in foreign products. Accordingly, inflation would climb 0.09 percentage points in the short run, and U.S GDP could take a 1.2% hit in the first 12 months alone.

Barclays concluded:While the new proposed tariffs would have a modest direct negative impact on corporate earnings if implemented, the second order effects from higher cost inflation and slowing economic growth would be an incremental headwind to corporate earnings, and cause further pain.”

My 2 Cents: I’m not an economist by any stretch, but I do have money on Wall Street earned or lost via my government TSP fund (C & G fund via the S&P).

I would be impacted by this insane Trump tariff plan outlined above. Even without my TSP I would lose money on prices (tariff is added tax) on things I need to buy that says “MADE IN CHINA.” 

The B/L: Trump is totally ignorant about tariffs and as the expression example above says “He doesn’t know a tariff from his ass or a hole in ground.” 

Thanks for stopping by.


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