The baseline tariffs remain, specifically as they pertain to China. However, in a move to diminish public backlash President Trump has now exempted the majority of consumer electronics from the 125% reciprocal tariff levy.
The types of electronic and computer systems exempted, as announced by U.S Customs & Border Protection, Cargo Systems Messaging Service [DATA HERE], is extensive. The machines used to make semiconductors will also be exempt.
All of the following products are now exempt from the larger global tariffs, including the tariffs in place against China:
•Computers (laptops, desktops, servers) •Workstations •Computer systems •Keyboards •Mice •Hard drives •Memory modules (RAM) •Power supplies •Computer motherboards •Graphic cards •Semiconductor manufacturing equipment: •Photolithography machines •Etching and doping machines •Wafer handling robots •Cleanroom systems used in chip fabrication Used by companies like TSMC, Intel, and Samsung in chip production. •Smartphones •Mobile phones with data transmission capabilities •Devices like iPhones, Android phones, and similar mobile communication devices •Wireless routers •Network switches •Modems (cable, DSL, etc.) •VoIP equipment •Communication hubs •Internet gateway devices •USB flash drives •SSDs (solid-state drives) •Memory cards (like SD, microSD) •Other flash storage devices used in everything from laptops to cameras and game consoles. •Individual solar cells, unassembled •Photovoltaic cells assembled into modules or panels, with or without bypass diodes •Custom or specialty solar panels •Microprocessors (CPUs, SoCs) •Memory chips (RAM, Flash, etc.) •Logic ICs, analog ICs, mixed-signal ICs •Specialized application chips (ASICs, GPUs, AI chips) •Widely used in all electronics: smartphones, laptops, vehicles, appliances, industrial controls •All types of LEDs [SOURCE]
The exemption announced April 11th is retroactive back to April 5th. According to the announcement, companies who imported during the window of tariffs may request a refund due to changes in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS).
This is a major appeasement move to both the Communist Party of China (Beijing) and corporate tech titans like Apple.
There is no other honest framework to view this, other than President Trump retreated fearing backlash from corporate donors, Silicon Valley allies and the broader system of adverse politics. The administration will try to spin this, but it is a really bad look.
Elon Musk won the argument, defeating Peter Navarro, Howard Lutnick, Scott Bessent and Stephen Miller. I was wrong. Obviously, Elon Musk has the most power and influence in the administration.
That is a long list of stuff that’s not made in America.
They’ll do the tariffs in a way to encourages repatriation of domestic production. But it’s going to take years.
Sad isn’t it. Our “leaders”, along with big money, have really screwed us.
What pi**es me off is, China now knows what we NEED, and not what we want! China is winning.
Dood, China has been spying on us for decades and has agents in every major corporation and every key government agency.
Going all the way back to Nixon who first reached out to China. I was against it then, and still am.
But Howard Lutnick says it’s only temporary. Separate tariffs for these items are coming soon, maybe in a month.
Yes. This is a smart move to calm the waters and it will all shake out soon. The Art of the Deal indeed.
Wrong. It goes to show you how performative the whole thing is. They’ll slap tariffs to infinity on the cheap clothes and plastic junk bought by the middle and lower classes, but they lack the intestinal fortitude to piss of the tech oligarchs, the wall street crooks, and the big multinational corporations. It is literally all fake and gay if trinkets must be made in America but we still rely on foreign countries for essentials for modern life.
Yes and read all the high tech things cost peanuts to produce, so they are all cash cows.
Do these high tech things use slave labor in China so that they are cheap produce?
Yes.
🙄 🙄
Thanks to US moving our manufacturing
to China……🤬
China has minimum wage.🙄
Labor laws.
Overtime, hazardous pay, holiday pay.
Employee/employer contracts.
Housing allowances
Medical allowance
Maternity leave
Even high temperature allowance
May not seem like a large amount-
but cost of living is lower.
Minimum Wages in China: A Complete Guide
Labor Laws in China – China Guide | Doing Business in China
But that is precisely what Lutnick was saying. We must start producing these critical items here. They are pausing to give the companies time to ramp up American production. Then we will cut China out. Will they actually do it? I can’t say, I’ve been disappointed way too many times, but with Trump I’m willing to wait and see.
POTUS could have stopped ALL this BS weeks ago with one “social” security EO, with 14th Amendment authority…
Giving US seasoned citizens who have been fleeced the longest {and hardest},
Our damn Monies back…
POTUS has chosen the security of Government…
Over the security of Our {We The People} unalienable Rights…
Best they {Govt} can do is cut the rate of theft {taxation} of Our public Monies…
We, the seasoned citizens, have been fleeced {taxed} without representation Our whole lives…
No mas.
In God We Trust
{All others pay cash}
Trust God
Fear not
We still have the ultimate power. Budweiser them all!
Do you understand how SS works? … That money (SS surplus) was stolen and SPENT every single month since 1968.
The money is ALL GONE. So what, print it all up again (highly inflationary) so you can have more $$$, and screw everybody else?
You got what you worked for in quarters & wages. It’s a set formula, not an “on demand” system. If you need more money, GET A JOB.
When it was 1st established, the goal of SS was to keep seniors out of dire poverty, NOT to provide a middle-class lifestyle. If you wanted a middle-class retirement, you should have worked longer or saved more.
One reason I worked several years longer than I wanted was because I understood inflation & what it did to purchasing power over the years. Other seniors should have, too.
All I hear from my fellow seniors now is “Give me more money, I want more, I DESERVE MORE. I don’t care what it does to the budget, the currency, or if my kids get any SS when it’s their turn. Give me money”.
You have received your promised amount every month, taxation is not “theft”, and you elected the people who taxed you. So get a job.
Winner, winner, chicken dinner.
It’s called “reading the room”.
And being wise enough to pivot if or when necessary.
A thing President Trump is very good at doing.
Exactly, Betsy. VVSGPDJT has lotsa moves and the dance is underway.
I actually commend PDJT. I had a discussion with a buddy this morning; he was trying to get his head around how everything will shake out.
I told him, I don’t think PDJT cares if gizmos are made in other nations and will keep some things cheap, he really just wants weapons, ships, jets, medicine, and essential goods made HERE.
This article speaks to exactly that.
He is also engaging in an Economic War with China in hopes that we will not be required to engage in a shooting war with them.
Eyes on whether there is also a pincer move between China and the US to destroy the Europeans, especially the central bank death grip on the world.
At this point in time, we have physical custody of (and the ability to seize) a good chunk of central bank gold that was shipped here in the last 3 months. They, in turn, hold 3.4 Trillion in US long term (10, 20, 30 year) Treasuries. (According to Tom Luongo who added up all the direct and indirect holdings, 1.1 trillion (yes 1 + 1) purchased by them since 2021.
Why do I think Xi and Trump are engaged in a lot of kayfabe?
Chinese tariffs at 34 %.
There’s that number again.
Everyone talks about how the Chinese hold our debt and could tank us if they sold it. China is now down to $750 billion, having sold half their holdings over the past 8 years.
Imagine a European Operation Sandman with $3.4 trillion.
And, the Fed doesn’t set the long term rates, the market does.
Mortgages at 22%? The Europeans might just be able to make that happen.
Of course, then we would need to seize their gold.
“I will turn your face to alabaster
When you find your servant is your master
You’ll be wrapped around my finger . . . ”
https://apnews.com/article/britain-steel-china-dd49f0ea0cf91cc8b479cc3ad17f39c1
And Bloomberg wants you to know that German Bunds are the safe investment now (gotta finance the weapons build up on the cheap, you know)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-11/us-bonds-have-never-lost-out-this-much-to-german-bunds-in-a-rout
All wars are Economic wars…
All ideologies have to be financed…
Freedom is financed with the blood of Patriots.
The Word of God says,
“Who goes to war before counting up the cost…”
In this global awakening of the result of FA with OPM…
One must conquer space…
The space between one’s ears…
Lest you hear…
Stand up…
When a Patriot tells you…
SHUT UP !!!
In God We Trust
{All others pay cash}
Trust God
Fear not
Agree….perspective! let’s face it….almost all of us are highly dependent on our electronics and they are now a daily necessity. Currently, no American company really could supply them, so IMO it was a smart concession. As Bshaw wrote….it’s the big picture that needs focus.
Yeaaaa.
Just forget all the ventilating about intellectual property theft.
Lutnick is not really smart. I put him in the Bondi, Patel group.
Wow, I guess the WH needs you to select the Secretaries!
You took the thought I was thinking
Yes, we neither need nor want shock therapy; what we need is a long range therapy plan to reestablish manufacturing — including manufacturing of sophisticated consumer electronic –back here in the USA.
This was after it was reported that Apple was rushing air freight of tons of Apple products and millions of iPhones. My iPhone needed updating so I traded it in on a new one now instead of later with tariffs in mind.lol
We have a son who’s a senior in high school. We went ahead and bought his MacBook for college early to avoid the tariffs. I feel a little like we’ve been scammed.
Well it is still less expensive now than it would have been come Summer/ back to school time.
I guess maybe that’s the bright side, but we also might have been able to get a deal if we’d have known we had some time to look around.
Tess from Philly: There is always time to look around for better deals. Pay no attention to media frenzy.
Why? you were going to buy it anyway. What’s the big deal?
I was hoping to get a deal. In the past, I’ve always gotten something extra with the purchase of my kids MacBooks. At least twice I’ve gotten $100 apple credit cards which I put towards a Christmas present
So what is the point of the tariffs ?
None really, every one is on the dog & pony show…after all the world IS in fact a stage…and like Sundance said and rightly so, Musk won and now knows HE has the power. He made Trump blink.
Really? Have you paid no attention?
The tariffs were already there. They were just primarily other countries putting tariffs on you and me. THEY didn’t have any tariffs against them.
That is NOT free trade and Trump is trying to reverse that trend to the benefit of the American People. Wars…even economic wars…are messy; especially in the beginning. In the end the winners will be small business America, American Manufacturing and the average American consumer.
To get countries to the negotiating table to balance trade. THAT is his goal. And it worked.
Where’s the “table”? All I heard was Xi’s threats and temper tantrums. Negotiating?
Are you really not seeing what has just happened? 130 countries willing to stop screwing America?
Xi has begged other countries to stand with them, they’ve all said no.
PDJT is not Jesus. He is trying what he believes will work and is the best angle.
We have ZERO choice other than not let perfect be the enemy of good.
I work for the federal government and I knew Musk was full of shi* from the very beginning. There isn’t $1T fraud, waste, and abuse. LOL you gullible fools.
Discretionary spending is only 25% of the budget but almost everything in discretionary spending could legitimately be axed. Let the States take over. They can’t print money which solves inflation.
I have to say this really pisses me off. It’s one thing when we’re all in it together but picking winners and losers makes me angry. Why shouldn’t the chips sellers suffer as much as the guys who sells lawn chairs or washing machines. I’m angry.
Yep. And we were told Trump said he doesn’t care, he’s not backing down and then went golfing.
Lots of bots posting today…have fun with your “anger” on this Holy Day.
Sorry, us bots don’t feel anger.
And certainly not when our 401k’s are poised for a nice rebound tomorrow.
I’m not a bot. Palm Sunday is the perfect time to be angry over our country’s seeming unwillingness to eliminate Chinese slave labor.
Trump 1.0 was a tariff guy. They had 8 years to move home. It’s all a waiting game. He’ll be gone soon enough.
As the very brave Liz Truss discussed last month, the Technocrats, and Davos elites rule the world.
Can we remove the chips in the washing machines? I am particularly interested in the chip that will not allow me to put enough water in the machine to clean the clothes.
It truly is all about the money.
AMZN stock should see a bit of a boost tomorrow.
Hopefully, all the tech stocks are up tomorrow!
👍
actually I think Elon was right about pissing off tons of americans if the products went up 100 percent or more.
I also understand what Trump is trying to do, which I’m 100 percent behind. So, it’s new tariff policies and applying the tariffs on tech stuff much slower , and add tariff stuff as more of these companies start producting tech products in USA factories . It will take time to get these new factories working.
The other trump people are right too. But Elon just doesn’t want an uprising of Americans if tech product went up 100 percent.
P.S. also this shows TRUMP is flexible and willing to change if needed. Being Flexible and taking small steps seems wise to me, these 2 things I learned a few years ago, and apply everyday to what I do.
DJT is navigating an ocean of challenges.
He’s moving back on some things… but not all things.
Am I disappointed?
Yeah, somewhat.
Has our President used a tariff 2 x 4 to get the donkey’s (and the world’s 🌍) attention?
You betcha.
Was this the original intent – or a last-minute change?
A course correction?
Heck if I know.
One thing is – DJT Has the world’s attention – bigly.
Those 75 nations scheduling negotiations for bilateral trade talk aren’t canceling their appointments, are they?
Is he giving CCP-Xi a chance to
‘Save Face’… so he doesn’t lose his
‘Mandate of Heaven’?
Knowing that he can always re-impose punitive tariffs in the future??
Is this a way for DJT to send a message to Xi:
‘With one hand I can give…
And with the other…
I can take back.”
Yes???… No???
Or is it partly the reality that our manufacturing infrastructure for some products is so underdeveloped
(Thanks Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama-Biden!!!)…
That we cannot immediately supply certain products domestically… and the tariffs imposed may affect American consumers more greatly than first expected??
I have no real idea – all I know is The President is definitely throwing chaos into the way the world’s economy has been (mis)managed the past
80 years…
Round and round we go… where it stops,
Nobody knows!
We are definitely living
In
‘Interesting times’
They should have had this ironed out among themselves before they announced anything.
Different people were saying different things, publicly, and those who wanted to defend the policies didn’t even know what they were defending.
If Elon was to have veto power, it should have been exercised in the first place.
Whether he’s right or not, and some people think Elon is right, he stomped his feet and got angry and got his way.
As he did with H1B visas.
This is my real concern…the H1B’s and offshoring is taking American jobs bigly…if Elon is now the new “boss” we are all screwed….
I must have missed that with the the H1Bs. He and the others got their H1Bs just s they wanted them? Now THAT pisses me off.
It’s just another was of exfiltrating our wealth, privatizing the gains, socializing the losses.
Good observations. I think this might also be maneuvering by PDJT to discourage the CCP from escalating this war from economic to kinetic. Lots of weak stomachs and high-threshold MAGA purity tests around here today. Hell, we’re not even two weeks into an historic, multi-year reform of global trade and reshoring our manufacturing base… I’ll patiently wait and assume PDJT is following solid reasoning on this, such as pushing the malevolent CCP toward an off-ramp from WW3.
It should only take 3 years for US to catch up…
Ok so chartreuse highlighters remain under tariff and everything else is like before.
Cool.
WTF?
I think a trip to harbor freight in a gew weeks may clear your head on this
Cool plus funny post! 🙂
“From the Civil War to the 20th century, U.S. economic policy was grounded in the Morrill Tariffs, named for Vermont Congressman and Senator Justin Morrill who, as early as 1857, had declared: “I am for ruling America for the benefit, first, of Americans, and, for the ‘rest of mankind’ afterwards.”
To Morrill, free trade was treason” Pat Buchanan
a forgotten congressman from an unimportant state, primarily responsible for triggering the Civil War.
That brought prosperity through Tariffs to America. His stance that Free Trade is treason is near and dear those of us who love America. Goodbye
Speaking about Abraham Lincoln:
“Campaigning for Henry Clay, “The Father of the American System,” in 1844, Abe Lincoln issued an impassioned plea, “Give us a protective tariff and we will have the greatest nation on earth.”
Battling free trade in the Polk presidency, Congressman Lincoln said, “Abandonment of the protective policy by the American Government must result in the increase of both useless labor and idleness and … must produce want and ruin among our people.”
In our time, the abandonment of economic patriotism produced in Middle America what Lincoln predicted, and what got Trump elected.” Pat Buchanan
Let us not forget who that tariff’s battle was truly with at the time – England.
England has always used protectionist tariffs to stifle competition from even its colonies. Its imposition of tariffs on flax and cloth production in Northern Ireland is what caused a lot of Scots Irish to emigrate to the Colonies in the 1700’s. That and religious oppression – and of course the English are back to their old ways on that score as well.
As a Scots-Irish descendant ty for that piece of history. They provided much of the soldiers for our American revolution. I highly recommend Jim Webb’s “Born Fighting” my friend.
Sadly the end of Gaelic Ireland began with the Ulster Plantation.
It will take time. There is no LCD/LED glass manufacturing in the US at this time.
Renesas make the only power semiconductors needed to power CPUs and GPUs. (patent issues)
Lots of process machinery needs to be moved or built here.
Trump has seemed to operate with an expectation that it will take until September to move sufficient manufacturing back here to get the ball rolling.
Until then, he will need to relax tariffs on specific target areas, but maintain expectations of heavy tariffs in the future.
It seems to me that Our President Trump is taking the necessary path.
Agree; as an example, with the recent executive order bringing back incandescent light bulbs, there is not a single manufacturer in the US that makes those so imagine the gearing up to manufacture computer items is going to take even more time.
Pragmatic and willing to look at the reality of situations is a very good trait to have and in the long run the projection of personalities into the mix, creating winners/losers not only will change weekly and daily in some cases where one day someone is up and the next week down is going to turn into click bait for those that play that game.
…..and adding capacity to some of these important items is not an easy. Bring up a wafer fab facility is not a two week deal. But this pisses me off…pisses me off because it should have never been over there in the first place…national security…to say nothing of intellectual property issues.
I don’t think so. If you give those companies an inch they will take a mile. Delay to September they will try to wait him out.
Besides, patent issues notwithstanding, it would take a looong time and YUGE $$$ to set up an LCD or semiconductor plant here from scratch. No way would it be possible to even get feasibility studies done by September.
To encourage moving manufacturing to the United States, rather than introducing huge tariffs cold turkey, a better approach would have been to start out small and increase tariffs over time.
Or if he wanted to start out with huge tariffs, he should have offered rebates on tariffs to those companies willing to invest in onshoring.
I disagree. Moving LED/LCD display manufacturing here is just moving a few machines by boat, and establishing a supply chain for the needed chemistry.
I seriously considered buying the equipment needed six years ago; But, I would not have been able to compete with the overseas product pricing.
President Trump’s team has got this. The drama is by design. It is all by design. Years of thought went into planning this.
“I would not have been able to compete with the overseas product pricing.”
Even if you introduced it at a competitive price, the Chinese government would have subsidized the competing product they make to undercut you until you failed.
Happened here in WNY with former Congressman Chris Collins (R-NY) with his Buffalo China venture.
He had connections, so if he could not make a go of it to keep Americans working, who can?
IIRC this was probably 15 yrs ago now.
Sure, moving the stuff is fairly straightforward but getting everything else set up to build a product is gonna take several years.
The company that I just left (automotive electronics manufacturer) has factories all over the world… those kinds of products don’t even come close to the complexity of what’s needed to produce semiconductors or displays…. no clean room, etc. Just to set up or even move a production line within an existing automotive factory — and qualify it — is a year-long ordeal.
We had a production line for building small stepper motors that had been running in Japan for a very long time and wanted to duplicate it here in America… that onshoring process took two painful years, and all the equipment for that production line fit in one medium sized room, about 20 foot x 40 foot.
Assuming newer equipment is even available (for example you don’t want to start out out with gen 3 LCD fab equipment to build 85 inch TVs)… do you have the best location picked out? Geological studies done? You definitely don’t want to be in an earthquake zone. Environmental studies done? Bribes to the local politicians? Trained workforce?How long to design the manufacturing plant? How long to build the manufacturing plant? Supply chain?Logistics?
Many years.
The US is still far too reliant on all that tech, so it was a little overly ambitious of Trump to try to do everything at once – most of this stuff isn’t even made in America or most other countries.
Sometimes “you don’t have the cards” – you can try and bluff your way through, but when your opponent calls your “all in” bet, you’ve got no choice but to leave the table.
Not over ambitious… anything over 10% is political. He wants negotiations. China, Europe and the rest of the globe has been stealing from the US taxpayer with Politicians allowing it. Politicians don’t understand basic economics. President Trump is a business man. I have no idea why taxpayers can’t do without for 2-3 years. Most of them are in debt up to their necks because they think they need a new $1400 iPhone.
The Art Of The Deal
I expect a similar ‘carve-out’ for automotive soon – meaning American owned/based companies ONLY (not Toyota, Honda, etc…) will be exempt from the 25%. This was already hinted at last week.
I see it as a smart play. Most Chinese products are still tariffed. The products that are harder to onshore or source elsewhere are not. This would have produced visible and easily expressed pain. People can do without their Temu junk but cell phones are like crack to addicts. Go to any public location where people are and just observe the actions of your fellow humans. It is not who argued the point better. It is President Trump seeing the wisdom in the arguments.
I leave the phone at home. It seems when ever there is a lull after a forced interaction most people’s phones appear out of no where and they immediately begin to zone out. It’s a trip.
I’m truly enjoying the Masters Golf Tournament this weekend where they do not allow cell phones. It’s refreshing to see people actually watching play instead of having their phones pointing at everything.
Per the businessman who’s been on cable news often recently, our hole card is to de-list Chinese companies from the stock exchanges….the CCP and their companies ignore requirements for listing, and so our SEC Chairman could remove them.
Well I guess chopsticks still have a tariff on them.
In my view he’s in a tough spot, a catch-22 so to speak. NONE of that stuff is made here and the demand for it is gigantic so, yes there would be tremendous backlash so I really don’t have an answer other than to hold fast and see what happens.
We will see potemkin factories being put up and closed in 4 years.
Like it or not, the number never should have been 125%. It should have been enough to cause the pain and get things moving, and then keep it there at that level, not cause a large backlash. Raise it again in 6 months if needed. Now it is zero!!!
BigD57: I agree. Too much screwing around.
we need that stuff made in USA
my big problem with this is.now that pdjt has dropped the tariffs on these whats to say china doesn’t put export tariffs on all these.
Yeah and that is whybwe have to be capable of self sufficentcy in manufacturing we are 20 years late to the party.
We may have to take a war footing on this and start creating the tools for building repla ement tech firstnfor military and then a slow rollout to domestic production.
Someone mentioned above we have no production for LCD touch screens. Which piece of mildly advanced military equipment exists without that?
Develop the manufactiring tech underground for military with the goal of rapid scaling for commercial use.
People get so emotional regarding tariffs. It is fluid situation. Keep it moving. This too shall pass. Unless you just retired, and even then, it may not have a personal impact in the long run. Sit back and maintain a non-emotional posture during the 2025 tariff process. Countries are coming to the table to negotiate tariffs unlike anything in modern US history. Chill and keep it moving.
Let’s all remember Trump has got to keep a fragile Congress on board to get at least the budget bill and tax cuts done. If this backpedaling was necessary to ensure that, it will be worth it; the tariffs can always be reapplied after he has more breathing room, and these businesses have more time to plan.
Hope for the best.
“The administration will try to spin this, but it is a really bad look.”
It is also a major concession on protecting American consumers’ privacy and data security, as well as national security. Chinese-manufactured electronic systems are riddled with integrated backdoors and other security vulnerabilities.
In the larger view, we must now consider the implications of the reality that threats to Americans’ access to cheap electronic consumer goods (i.e. cellphones) is now a third rail in American politics. Cellphone dependence/addiction now carries enough political weight to influence politics and policies.
keeler: Good point. The smartphone now becomes a political lightening rod, similiar to guns and abortion.
Interesting point.
Something to consider.
I see that absolute addiction to electronics (especially cell phones 📱)
All around me.
Growing up with 1 rotary/dial, Western-Electric telephone 📞 in the kitchen,
I can take or leave the heroin-like addiction some have to their phones…
But that’s the problem.
Many people get their daily dopamine rush from their use of cell phones.
I started my career with Western Electric.
It is not the addicts that will drive this. It is the modern world.
My business is 100 percent mobile app integrated for my field people.
How long do you think it would take to landline America again
I am still using in house software to process everthing but all my reporting after process goes on line.
Government filings are all done on line.
I dont.think.we can turn back but.we have to take the reins
That is why I mentioned both addiction and dependency.
I have long considered digital communications the railroads of our day. Just the railroads had positive and negative influences on 19th century societies, so have digital communications have had positive and negative influences on 20th/21st century societies.
My point is not that we should stuff the genie back in the bottle, which is impossible, but to acknowledge the reality these technologies are so integrated into contemporary society and daily life that the average person fears any disruptions to them, and also that such a dependency carries political influence.
nicely supported I concur
America is just now waking up to how deeply foreign adversaries are embedded in its critical supply chains—and it’s not just tech.
President Trump’s recent tariff exemption on Chinese consumer electronics and semiconductor tools—seen by some as a corporate concession—revealed a deeper issue:
China’s leverage over the U.S. economy is no longer external. It’s structural.
As seen by the recent Xtweet by Sundance, American cattle ranchers are warning that 85% of the U.S. beef processing industry is now controlled by just four mega-corporations—two of which are foreign-owned. One is Chinese-controlled. Smithfield Foods, once an American staple, now answers to Beijing. As one rancher put it:
“They don’t have to stop shipping us food. They just have to stop processing ours.”
This didn’t happen by accident—it happened because Washington allowed it.
CFIUS, the very body created to block foreign takeovers that threaten national security, failed to stop these acquisitions. The food supply, like semiconductors and telecom infrastructure, is now a national security asset. And yet the gatekeepers let/sold it through
So while tariff carve-outs protect consumer prices and court domestic investment, they also highlight how vulnerable we’ve become.
China doesn’t need to win a trade war. It just needs to own enough of our inputs to make retaliation meaningless.
Food. Chips. Debt. Logistics.
Every strategic node we once guarded with foreign policy is now compromised through boardroom deals CFIUS failed to stop.
The ranchers see it. The markets feel it. The regulators looked away.
And the only question left:
Does America claw back control—or wait to be cornered?
JoeS: We have to claw back control and there could be a war over this process. China’s military building has been huge. I am reminded how Japan reacted when the US put the economic squeeze on Japan’s resources.
billela,
You’re right to flag the stakes, but this isn’t a replay of Japan 1941. China didn’t use bombs to gain control—they used contracts, acquisitions, and our own blind spots. And they’ll try to defend it with currency moves, proxy pressure, and economic disruption.
The U.S. had the tools—CFIUS, tariffs, antitrust, export controls—but we didn’t use them. That’s how they embedded themselves in our supply chains, our markets, and even our food system.
Now, we claw back control.
But we have to do it surgically—using economic statecraft, not brute force—to inflict the least harm on the American taxpayer.
This isn’t about revenge. It’s about resilience. And it starts by using the tools we should’ve used years ago—strategically, quietly, and without flinching.
The establishment has been painting us into a corner.
DJT is the Only One who is trying to change that.
Pray it’s not too late.
Here is a data point for you.
April 9th, I ordered one of these for $366. Now, they are $1700 each.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CZDSLM77
The batteries to go with it are still $170 each, for now.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C8MK5NK1
It will take time to bring manufacturing back here.
Wrong, wrong move.
I thought this was very odd when I heard it. I really don’t think this has anything to do with “consumer backlash”. iphones made in India won’t see the 125% tariff. TV’s made in Korea won’t see a 125% tariff. Computers and chips made in Taiwan won’t see a 125% tariff. Consumers might have to pay an extra $100 for a 75″ Korean TV or an Indian iphone but that won’t stop anybody from buying them.
Something else is afoot. The only thing that comes to mind is that President Trump was told to fear massive dumping of US treasuries by the Chi-Coms. I can’t see any other reason for this.
Why by China? Which has been gradually unloading their exposure for the past few years.
It’s the Brits and Europeans that have been hoovering up T-bills, and its the EU and those same banks that were existentially targeted by many of DJT’s policies, especially the tariffs.
I disagree. It’s not so much about public backlash as it is a recognition that our industrial base has been hollowed out.
If there’s a public backlash, it’s because there isn’t a good domestically-produced alternative in the quantities required.
When the globalists try to claim that our manufacturing hasn’t been gutted, point to the tariff relief on these items.
It might be because he cannot build them here overnight and people do actually need them to operate.
It does give the affected US companies some time to plan to move their operations out of China and into some other country, if not back to the US.
Wethal: Any US company that did not see this coming deserves what it gets.
Why even bother with tariffs at all? I liked the “burn it all down” attitude at the beginning, but this is really weak.
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For now. U.S. tech companies have been warned and need a chance to extricate, because China can just grab their stuff. Also something with bonds and U.S. financial guys’ pressuring (not my bailywick.) Finally, DOGE. We need it right now. Nothing is perfect.
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Agreed….Like to see PDJT have….. sidebar….conversations with these people. They need to understand that this production/technology capacity REALLY needs to be brought Stateside; define the timeframe. ‘Severe consequences if it doesn’t happen.
This will enable China to wait longer to come to the negotiating table. Maybe much longer.
“I was wrong.”
And that’s what what we like about you, Sundance. Either way, you call things as you see them and let the (silicon) chips fall where they may.
I refuse to see this as a loss, or a win for anyone. Even listening to the various you-tube financial gurus and pundits from all sides of the aisle dooming and glooming and picking winners and losers while the opening scene of a 16 act play (4 years, 4 quarters) is just commencing it’s too soon to be drawing conclusions.
At this point, this appears to be a pragmatic move; not a win-lose or power-no power situation at all; just a matter of reality given the enormity of the parts to the project that President Trump-47 has taken on, speed of initiating the action necessary given any appearance of slowing down gives the swamp an opening to end the entire venture – thus the calculations for the availability of the electronics needed while the domestic industry gets going means a correction is needed.
It’s too early for drawing any conclusions. Rome wasn’t built in a day, watching the sausage gets made is not a pretty sight, etc., etc. and this economic mess started way back around the 1,000 lights of globalism made its debut, so veering here, swaying there, and back again is to be expected.
I agree, Bessie 2003:
No plans in war or in this case major international economic trade rebalancing, survive first contact with the enemy.
The President is adapting to changing conditions.
Rome didn’t fall in a day either.
Kitty cat says it all.
Techzilla sucks. If it weren’t for CTH I would just have a landline and sh!tty satellite tv. I don’t need any of that crap on the list or the readymade hot garbage on the shelves now. I need Jesus, air, water, food shelter and companionship. Some way to start fires and kill game would help.
Most of We The People will happily walk into a buzzsaw as long as we ware wrapped in our warm and fuzzy dopamine safety blanket.
I am going outside.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/trump-exempts-computers-handsets-chips-reciprocal-tariff-blitz
What’s next on the reprieve list — pharmaceuticals???
It should only take a few months to move pharmaceutical manufacturing back here.
Setting up chemical plants to manufacture the base chemistry for polymers, shampoo, cleaners, pesticides, etc. will take longer.
Semiconductors will take the longest.
If Elon has that much juice…
How about he give US seasoned citizens Our damn Monies back…
It ALL falls on POTUS.
The Truth has no agenda.
In God We Trust
{All others pay cash}
Trust God
Fear not
Hopefully TEMU and AliExpress will get crushed–it’s a long-term game.
President Trump is not going to let traders short the markets based on his policies. He bobs and weaves, and when the traders have their shorts in place, he does a 180 and rips their faces off, then he does it again. Lesson: Don’t short the Prez.
I don’t see it that way. It was a good move. Those products that would hurt American users the most during a transition are exempted. At the same time, he showed producers the stick, even whacked them with it once. Message sent. Message received.
Now it is their move to get production of those products moved to the US as fast as possible. 90,000 empty industrial buildings in the US. Sweep them out, turn on the power, pack up Chinese production lines and ship them here, start hiring. It really does NOT take that long. DO IT! Do it NOW!
“See what I’ve got in my hand? That’s right, “tech bro.” A big ass tariff. Think I won’t do it again? REALLY? Try me.”
It was unnecessary for President Trump to exempt these things since they were 93% of China’s exports to the US. I wish he didn’t do it – it really made him look weak.
It happened right before the weekend. Last night POTUS was at the fights in Miami…he is not too terribly concerned.
What is and what’s not is in a blender making nothing but mush of the whole thing. Instead of making America great, it seems, we’re making America look like spineless jellyfish.
President Trump is finally realizing how far down the China hole the US has fallen. For 50 years, everyone has been preaching the same sermon without any action. The problem has escalated far beyond a simple solution. Massive restructuring in the US is needed including the entire education system, building and industrial infrastructure, and financial recapitalization.
I used to think our problems were fixable. I seriously doubt they are until a total collapse like the Soviet Union experienced takes place. With $40T debt and growing, we probably are very close to that.
FTP
“There is no other honest framework to view this, other than President Trump retreated fearing backlash from corporate donors, Silicon Valley allies and the broader system of adverse politics. The administration will try to spin this, but it is a really bad look.“
My thoughts exactly. Trump just blinked, and he should not have done it.
Why worry about corporate donors? He’s termed out after this 4 yrs is over. And why worry about any repercussions from the ChiComs? Isn’t this whole tariff war mostly about fighting them anyway?
Cant pretend your way out of this one. Some will try.
I didnt see electronic voting machines on the list so glass half full?
What did we get in return in private?
[Facebook Google]?
[Zuckerberg]?
Sundance – Just a thought:
You may want to start adding a “Technocracy” tag to posts… This is one that could use it.
It’s like the old saying “Don’t bite off more than you can chew”. To onshore all these integrated circuits, components, etc. that are integral to high tech in our society today won’t happen overnight. Agree this is not a good look, I think that some in the administration thought we could onshore quicker. It just goes to show how much of our manufacturing ability has left our country, unfortunately to chyna. A sad state of affairs previous administrations put us in. It will take months if not years to bring most of this back, if possible.