Are you kidding me?
I’m used to partisan, inaccurate drivel from all sides these days, but the media’s coverage of President Trump’s tariffs and the so-called “trade war” takes some kind of cake.
There’s no serious doubt that some in the media would absolutely love to tank the stock market. They figure that would hurt Trump’s re-election chances in 2020. Monday’s stock market slump, which saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) tumble 2.4% and the Nasdaq Composite 3.4%, looked just like what the doctor ordered.
I write this, incidentally, as someone who is no fan of the president. But I remember when politics was supposed to stop at the water’s edge.
And, anyway, facts are facts. Most of what the public is being told about these tariffs is either misleading or a downright lie.
I’ve been following the coverage all weekend with my jaw on the floor.
Uncle Sam benefits
BREAKING: Bessent and FBI Director Kash Patel Announce Multimillion-Dollar Fraud Arrests in Sweeping Minnesota Crackdown
Heroic Crack Shot Local Cop Sniper Who Saved Trump’s Life ‘Erased’ from News by Embarrassed Feds: Family
‘Biscuit’ the dog is latest dead felon to get their voting rights back from Spanberger, confused owner says
Fox News Campus Radicals Newsletter: A rare reversal, a Christian battle and a reality check
Polish president scrambles back from overseas trip amid Donald Tusk-led ‘coup d’état’ at police-swarmed Constitutional Tribunal
NYT Points to ‘Murky’ Detail in ‘Ilhan Omar’ Brother-Marriage Fraud Probe: The Man Who Married Her
Judge grills Comey’s lawyers over effort to dismiss new charges
Treasury flags $8B in suspicious foreign-directed transfers through US money services firms
Liberal court delivers immigration win for Trump as judge warns of ‘floodgates’ if law firm succeeded
Major Human Trafficking Sting in Florida Nets 281 Arrests – Including Disney Workers
Minnesota Dem declined to refer Ilhan Omar for ethics probe despite fellow lawmaker’s 2019 request
Netanyahu rivals face impossible political decision following official election results: Bibi, Arabs, or failure?
Aspiring NYPD officer and college hockey captain killed in crash involving twice-removed Mexican national
Clancy father targeted in alleged wiretap as medical lawsuits hint at strategy split: cops
Pope Leo makes history in US election with move confirmed by Vatican
Yes, tariffs are “costs.” But they do not somehow destroy our money. They do not take our hard-earned dollars and burn them in a big pile. Tariffs are simply federal taxes. That’s it. The extra costs paid by importers, and consumers, goes to Uncle Sam, to distribute as he sees fit, including, for example, on Obamacare subsidies.
It wasn’t long ago the media was complaining because Trump was cutting taxes. Now it’s complaining he’s raising them. Confused? Me too.
And the amounts involved are trivial. Chicken feed.
President Trump just hiked tariffs from 10% to 25% on about $200 billion in Chinese imports. In other words, he just raised taxes by … $30 billion a year.
Oh, no!
The total amount we all paid in taxes last year — federal, state and local — was $5.51 trillion. This tax increase that has everyone’s panties in a twist is a rounding error.
Investors panic needlessly
BREAKING: Bessent and FBI Director Kash Patel Announce Multimillion-Dollar Fraud Arrests in Sweeping Minnesota Crackdown
Heroic Crack Shot Local Cop Sniper Who Saved Trump’s Life ‘Erased’ from News by Embarrassed Feds: Family
‘Biscuit’ the dog is latest dead felon to get their voting rights back from Spanberger, confused owner says
Fox News Campus Radicals Newsletter: A rare reversal, a Christian battle and a reality check
Polish president scrambles back from overseas trip amid Donald Tusk-led ‘coup d’état’ at police-swarmed Constitutional Tribunal
NYT Points to ‘Murky’ Detail in ‘Ilhan Omar’ Brother-Marriage Fraud Probe: The Man Who Married Her
Judge grills Comey’s lawyers over effort to dismiss new charges
Treasury flags $8B in suspicious foreign-directed transfers through US money services firms
Liberal court delivers immigration win for Trump as judge warns of ‘floodgates’ if law firm succeeded
Major Human Trafficking Sting in Florida Nets 281 Arrests – Including Disney Workers
Minnesota Dem declined to refer Ilhan Omar for ethics probe despite fellow lawmaker’s 2019 request
Netanyahu rivals face impossible political decision following official election results: Bibi, Arabs, or failure?
Aspiring NYPD officer and college hockey captain killed in crash involving twice-removed Mexican national
Clancy father targeted in alleged wiretap as medical lawsuits hint at strategy split: cops
Pope Leo makes history in US election with move confirmed by Vatican
Meanwhile, the total value wiped off U.S. stocks during Monday’s panic was about $700 billion. More than 20 years’ worth of the new tariffs.
Even if Trump slapped 25% taxes on all Chinese imports, it would come to a tax hike of … $135 billion a year. U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) last year: $20.5 trillion.
So even this supposedly scary “escalation” of this “tariff war” would, er, raise our total tax bill from 26.9% of GDP all the way to 27.5% of GDP.
Oh, and isn’t it interesting to see some people’s priorities? Apparently the most shocking part of this trivial tax hike is that it might raise the price of new Apple (AAPL) iPhones.
Last I checked, these were luxury items, right?
U.S. consumers gain
Meanwhile, the trade spat seems to be bringing down food prices. China is going to take less of our farm products. So wheat prices are down 20% since the start of the year. Soybeans are at 10-year lows.
Good for consumers, right?
BREAKING: Bessent and FBI Director Kash Patel Announce Multimillion-Dollar Fraud Arrests in Sweeping Minnesota Crackdown
Heroic Crack Shot Local Cop Sniper Who Saved Trump’s Life ‘Erased’ from News by Embarrassed Feds: Family
‘Biscuit’ the dog is latest dead felon to get their voting rights back from Spanberger, confused owner says
Fox News Campus Radicals Newsletter: A rare reversal, a Christian battle and a reality check
Polish president scrambles back from overseas trip amid Donald Tusk-led ‘coup d’état’ at police-swarmed Constitutional Tribunal
NYT Points to ‘Murky’ Detail in ‘Ilhan Omar’ Brother-Marriage Fraud Probe: The Man Who Married Her
Judge grills Comey’s lawyers over effort to dismiss new charges
Treasury flags $8B in suspicious foreign-directed transfers through US money services firms
Liberal court delivers immigration win for Trump as judge warns of ‘floodgates’ if law firm succeeded
Major Human Trafficking Sting in Florida Nets 281 Arrests – Including Disney Workers
Minnesota Dem declined to refer Ilhan Omar for ethics probe despite fellow lawmaker’s 2019 request
Netanyahu rivals face impossible political decision following official election results: Bibi, Arabs, or failure?
Aspiring NYPD officer and college hockey captain killed in crash involving twice-removed Mexican national
Clancy father targeted in alleged wiretap as medical lawsuits hint at strategy split: cops
Pope Leo makes history in US election with move confirmed by Vatican
No, no, of course not! Silly you. This is also bad news … for farmers!
And all this ignores the much bigger picture, anyway.
The tariffs are simply a means to an end. The president is trying to get China to start buying more of our stuff. He knows the so-called Middle Kingdom, which now has the second-biggest economy in the world, responds to incentives more than to nice words. These tariffs give China an incentive to open up.
OK, so China’s first reaction is just to retaliate. Big deal. That’s just posturing.
Right now we export less to China than we do to Japan, South Korea and Singapore put together. That’s the point. So the effect of China’s new tariffs on the U.S. are yet another rounding error. Even if China banned all imports from the U.S., that would amount to only 0.6% of our gross domestic product. And we’d sell the stuff somewhere else.
Don’t buy the hysteria. President Trump is simply trying to pressure our biggest competitor to buy more American goods. That should be a good thing, even if you don’t like him.
Story cited here.
