[jlisenbe]

Affordability and inflations the highest issue mentioned.

Affordability (high prices) are the legacy of the high inflation of the Biden years. Inflation at present is slightly less than 3%, and that is a pretty good figure. Only a period of deflation would help with prices, but deflation, as I understand it, is generally not considered to be a good economic indicator. To vote democrat on the basis of 3% inflation is really foolish.

What Trump CAN do is us sanctions and import quotas

Wouldn't the practical result of import quotas be about the same as that of tariffs? It would result in higher prices due to the relative scarcity of the imported items and the ability of domestic producers to raise prices without fear of losing market share.

[tomder55]

Wouldn't the practical result of import quotas be about the same as that of tariffs?

It could . It may even be worse . I was speaking strictly of the constitutionality .

One thing however . quotas don't have to be across the board. One nation's quota restrictions is another nation's opportunity . If we want to decouple from China dependency it is what has to be done. There is no way US manufacturing can make up the demand .


“In recent weeks, my administration has strengthened American economic security by forging agreements with allies and friends across the world to broaden our critical minerals supply chains,” Trump said.
Trump discusses rare earth metals with Central Asian leaders | AP News



That is the correct course to take instead of tariff threats . We are now not considered reliable partners with some of our most critical allies .

To vote democrat on the basis of 3% inflation is really foolish.

High prices ;the affordability issue ? Nothing to see here . It is my predecessor's fault. That sounds just like the lines Clueless Joe would say.
This is what people remember
Trump promised lower prices on Day One.

Honestly I can't find one thing I purchase besides gas that has not gone up considerably in the last year. . I do a lot of the family shopping ? I know my weekly amount spent is well above 3% (and I carefully look for sales and am not loyal to brands ) . I purchased a car last year . The same model this year has gone up well over 3% . The average cost of a new car went to $50,000 this year.

Affordability is an issue . The average first time home buyer is now 40 . We have reached European levels where no youth owns their own home unless they have high paying jobs or inherit them. I fully understand why youth would reject that status quo. I fully understand why Mancommie appeals to people who are desperate for a change.
Not that his solutions work . In fact they are insane. Rents too high ? freeze them yeah that's the ticket instead of finding a way to increase the supply .

The only logic I see in Trump's on again off again tariffs is a vindictive ' get even' agenda instead of an economic growth agenda.
He sees zero sum games winners and losers . Trade benefits both nations .
How can he expect American companies to reshore when his polices raise the costs of the materials they need to do so? How can they reshore when day to day there is uncertainty ?

“It’s frustrating because we’re the most American auto company, and we export the most, and yet, we have this $2 billion headwind, which prevents me from investing even more in the U.S.”

Ford CEO says $2 billion in tariff costs prevents more US investments
Lucerne scrapped a $50 million reshoring project in Detroit because of the impact of Trump's aluminum tariffs.
How tariffs disrupted this auto supplier’s reshoring project - Automotive News

Instead of zero sum pie dividing he is more on tract with his negotiations for rare earth minerals . It becomes a collaboration game instead of a competition.

[tomder55]

Trump knows his tariffs are in trouble . Higher prices are reaching the shelves and SCOTUS may force him to reverse his "emergency" tariffs.
So he is floating a plan....“A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including rich people!) will be paid to everyone.”

Trump says he'll issue $2,000 tariff dividend to all except 'high-income people' - ABC News

So much for paying off the national debt. So much for them not being a tax.
His plan is socialist redistribution pure and simple. Giving bribes and gimmees to the public to buy votes is the Dems SOP . My friend used to call this tactic 'giving bread crumbs to the pigeons '

[jlisenbe]

And so, as it turns out, he has become just another D.C. pol.

[tomder55]

To give everyone $2,000 would cost $600 billion . . CRFB says this is twice the annual amount Trump’s tariffs are expected to raise annually.
Tariff Dividends Could Cost $600 Billion Per Year-2025-11-10

[tomder55]

US exempts 200+ agricultural products from reciprocal tariffs | Supply Chain Dive

But But But ......... Americans don't pay for tariffs . The nation being tariffed pays Right ?

[jlisenbe]

Wouldn't it be both?

[tomder55]

No the importer pays and that gets passed on to the customer .The only way the customers don't pay is if the importer absorbs the costs .

Who Pays Tariffs? Americans Will Bear the Costs of the Trade War

5 things to know about tariffs and how they work | PBS News

[jlisenbe]

I see your point. Not sure the importer can just raise prices to pay the full amount since there are alternatives that have not raised their prices, or at least not as much as the importer has to.

[tomder55]

on the other hand there is nothing to prevent alternate domestic sources to also raise prices to the new benchmark. That is what happened with steel . It reduces competition for the domestic suppliers

“We have seen some tariff impacts. We try to buy almost everything domestically, and almost all of our products are assembled domestically, but components of the completed products we buy may come from other countries and are subject to tariffs, so some of the products we buy have seen tariff increases. As far as the steel we use to manufacture all of our storage units, bobtails and transports, it’s all coming domestically now, so we’re insulated from direct tariffs there. However, indirectly, domestic mills have increased prices because the tariffs made international steel more expensive, which gave them the ability to raise their own prices.”
– Michael Kruger, sales and purchasing, Westmor

Measuring the impacts of US tariffs - LP Gas

[jlisenbe]

Nothing other than the higher prices will drive down demand and thus drive down sales. Yes, the steel manufacturers have raised prices, but have they raised prices as much as the price increases on imported steel? Evidently not, since Kruger said they are buying domestic steel to be insulated from direct tariffs. If it was all a wash, then there would be no reason to go domestic.

[tomder55]

So Trump destroys the soy bean export market. He realizes that was a mistake. To fix it he says he will give soy farmers some of the money he insists are being collected from foreign governments as a result of his tariffs.

But even his Treasury Sec Scott Bessent admits that tariffs are paid by the importer and not the nation the tariffs are imposed on.

Video | Facebook

So Trump will give payouts to soy farmers that comes from taxes ;fees whatever that were paid domestically by American business. They may eat the cost or pass them on to their customers and American consumers.
He can deny it all he wants to . Tariffs are a domestic tax.