As reported in the New York Times:
President Trump on Friday said he would impose a 100 percent tariff on all products from China in response to curbs Beijing announced this week on rare-earth minerals, a rapid escalation of tensions between the world's largest economies.
On Truth Social, Mr. Trump wrote that the tariffs would take effect on Nov. 1 and be imposed “over and above” other tariffs on Chinese exports, which are already 30 percent and in some cases much higher. The United States would also put export controls on critical software, he said.
A 100 percent tariff on all products sold in America that originate in China would drastically raise prices on consumer goods to an extent probably unimaginable to most Americans, since Chinese-made goods account for somewhere between 15-20% of all imported goods purchased in this country (including 30% of apparel and garments). I don’t know how many of us have visited WalMart lately, but I invite anyone who does to check out the labels on their various goods.
China would, of course, retaliate with similar tariffs on all American-made goods, much as they have already done with agricultural products such as soybeans, in response to Trump’s tariffs.
A 100% tariff on goods imported from China would effectively kneecap the US economy, on top of all the other geopolitical implications, of which there are many.
So, it won’t happen. That threat will be walked back at some point, though it’s obviously not clear how or when.
The markets today weighed in with 800 point drops in the Dow and Nasdaq, respectively.
The only questions I can think of, then, are: who knew about Trump’s announcement before it occurred, who shorted the market in anticipation of that announcement, and who bought rare earth stocks this morning in anticipation of that announcement?
In other words, who is making a fortune off this nonsense?
I can almost guarantee you someone is.
