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Tomorrow will be four weeks since Trump announced America’s LIBERATION DAY (from its wallets) with the biggest tariffs ever, now 145 percent tariffs on imports from China and a 10 percent minimum tax on all other countries. Has the phone from China rung yet with them begging with tears in their eyes to make a deal? I’m sure they’ll be calling any minute! Right after they get off the phone with Brazil to order up all of their soybeans.
Contrary to what Trump told The Atlantic, he does not run the world. And like Wile E. Coyote off a cliff, we’re going down and have not quite reckoned with it or how bad it’s going to be, though pandemic-hardened consumers are stocking up, and purchases of canned goods, ketchup and instant coffee are up double digits.
But don’t you dare blame Donald J. Trump for the price hikes and empty shelves to come, ooh, that makes him mad!
EARLIER TODAY!
After Punchbowl News reported that Amazon was considering adding a line item to orders imported from other countries, so consumers could see exactly how much these tariffs are fucking them over, a “pissed off” Trump freaked out and rang up Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. And The Beez immediately caved, even though Trump’s tariffs and the resulting stock market fuckery have already cost Bezos $109 million today, and about $68 billion since “Liberation Day.” But not supporting a candidate-lady who laughed, that is priceless.
“Of course [Trump] was pissed,” an anonymous White House source told CNN. “Why should a multibillion dollar company pass off costs to consumers?”
Because that is what a price is? BUT STOP TARIFFING YOURSELF, JEFF! And then Karoline Leavitt fumed about it, because fuming is her only emotion.
“This is a hostile and political act by Amazon. Why didn’t Amazon do this when the Biden administration hiked inflation to the highest level in 40 years?” Then she accused Amazon of being partnered with a “Chinese propaganda arm.”
Eesh, why did Trump take a million dollars from him for that “inauguration” fund, then? The guy should really be more thoughtful about who he hangs out with!
And hold up, is she admitting that tariffs make things more expensive?!
One company that is adding a tariff line item, Temu. The “Temu Things” subreddit is in full meltdown with consumers pointing out a line with massive “import charges” on their invoices.
Getting rid of the de minimis tariff exemption for packages under $800 is going to have another side effect too; somebody’s got to collect all of those tariffs on polyester shirts and whatnot, and inspect packages to make sure nobody’s claiming their shirt is a shawl from grandma, or something. Are the ports staffed with enough Customs workers to take that on, or is everybody’s package just going to get stuck there for months? We shall see!
Meanwhile, it seems like empty shelves are going to be a future reality. At the Port of Los Angeles, the main point of entry for cargo ships from China and Southeast Asia, the executive director says shipments are expected to sink 35 percent next week. In Washington state, the Northwest Seaport Alliance saw an increase in March as retailers stocked up in anticipation, and now ships are coming in with 30 percent less cargo. And ships are going out and turning around and coming back, then just sitting in dock waiting with their soybeans or whatever, because orders are being cancelled.
And now UPS says it will cut 20,000 jobs and close 73 facilities in expectation that Amazon shipments will be cut in half. Trucking volumes are already down, and Mack Trucks and Volvo Trucks are laying off hundreds of workers. Outlook not good for the stevedores, either, with all those cargo ships buying one-way tickets to Palookaville!
Trump bragged to Time Magazine that he has made “200 deals,” SECRET deals, MANY deals, and he’ll tell everybody about them soon, though, and Peter Navarro said there would be 90 deals in 90 days. But here we are at day 27, still nobody is saying with whom these big beautiful deals were made!
If China is talking to anybody (and they say they’re not), it’s not buffoon Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. But “uh, maybe they’ll call me one day,” he told Fox News. Sure they will. Maybe Beyonce will, too! And he just knows they’ll come crawling back real soon, because we buy “five times more” stuff from them than they buy from us.
Is he sure we don’t need some of that stuff though? The US relies on China for as much as 80 percent of active pharmaceutical ingredients and 90 percent of generic antibiotics. And more than 90 percent of the medical gear worn by American health care workers. Guess it’s back to those pandemic garbage-bag outfits! And now with the uncertainty, PPE manufacturers and drug companies like Pfizer say they will not invest in research and development in the US, and can’t really blame them.
Earlier today That Man did back down from part of his automotive tariffs, so that car importers already paying a tariff on the car will now not ALSO be paying a tariff on the steel and aluminum, and can get a rebate for any double-tariffs they paid. So benevolent, and how well-thought-out this rollout was!
Meanwhile, Rand Paul and the Democrats are expected to vote this week on revoking Trump’s self-bestowed emergency tariff powers. Trump will just veto it, of course, but as layoffs, empty shelves, and furious constituents pile up, maybe two-thirds of the House and Senate will grow some spines and override him? (Why you need two-thirds to override a presidential veto of Congress vetoing the president seizing Congress’s specifically enumerated taxing power is just one of those funny things!) We can dream!
Now if you’ll excuse us, we are off to order 10 tubes of Japanese sunscreen and several restaurant-sized jars of Lao Gan Ma chili crisp, and maybe some K95 masks for the plague to come, and re-watch On The Waterfront.
OPEN THREAD!
[ Al Jazeera / WSJ gift link / Investors Business Daily / NBC / NY Times archive link ]
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