President Trump announces that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer have successfully concluded three-days of topline trade negotiations with their Chinese counterparts.
President Trump and Chairman Xi will now evaluate the successfully negotiated details and institute the topline strategy as part of the overall future trade agreement. According to the Truth Social post, there will be a 55% tariff on Chinese imports and a 10% tariff on U.S. goods to China.
[SOURCE]
At a 55% tariff rate against Chinese finished-goods imports, there will be ZERO inflationary pressure to the U.S. consumer.
None. Zero. Zippo. Zilch.
I will explain why below.
Tariffs are paid by the importer based on the *wholesale price* of the product as delivered by the exporting country depending on the exporters’ tariff rate.
Tariffs are NOT LEVIED/PAID based on the retail price of the product as sold to the consumer.
Example: A pair of Denim Jeans made in China for Guess Brand. The Chinese manufacturer sells the jeans to Guess Brand for $10 a pair manufactured. Guess sells the jeans at retail in the USA for $100 (a $90 gross profit).
A 50% tariff on China means the jeans cost Guess Brand $15 instead of $10 (an $85 gross profit). A 50% tariff on Guess brand jeans, that retail for $100, changes the cost to the retail brand by $5.
Multinational corporations who have off shored their production and manufacturing to China are the ones screaming about tariffs. Ultimately in the final analysis, President Trump is exposing corporatism, multinational corporate vultures; he is not necessarily just exposing China.
In the example above the company makes $85 gross profit as opposed to $90 gross profit on the pair of jeans if they do not raise the retail price.
They don’t raise the price because their profit margins are already ridiculous, and that’s why consumer prices do not go up. A 50% direct tariff on Chinese goods only marginally hits the multinational corporation.
American consumers need to understand this dynamic better.
Unrelated yet enmeshed in the geopolitics of U.S-China trade, if these earnest details hold up it means the likelihood of China taking any aggressive or hostile action toward Tiawan is gone. If these earnest agreements are not adhered to, the opposite is true.
Lastly, on the issue of the Chinese students – Marco Rubio has control of the visa filtering and vetting process. It should not be a problem to target specific issues that may arise and yet adhere to the U.S. commitment.
Promises made, promises kept. Winning, soooo much winning! And we ain’t no ways tired yet. 😉
Just gets better and better. Go Trump!
Thinking a few multinationals are still going to try and keep their ridiculous margins by sticking it to the US consumer.
Should not be too hard to expose them taking advantage and take appropriate actions to correct it.
Which reminds me of the automotive market still being screwed up.
Screwed up in part during the Plandemic when all the economy car lines were mysteriously dropped.
Doubtless in order to make room for Chinese EVs to be produced in Mexico.
Lots of data points all point in that direction. No coincidences when there’s that much money involved.
I’m unfortunately in the market for another car where the other driver involved totaled my last daily driver. The market still sucks for me locally for anything that is cheap enough to not require a bank note to buy.
Same here. The used car prices were expected to come down somewhat, but they haven’t.
Look at the year. People prefer non-computer over computer controlled.
I got a 2020 Toyota Yaris to sell that is worth more than I paid for it new.
Massive market distortions will take a long time to settle out.
What is incredible are cars that are not Toyotas or Hondas with over 200k miles that are priced about the 10k level.
Up our way ( British Columbia) right hand imports from Japan are becoming extremely popular.
I was helping a friend locate one a month back.. he picked up a truly near mint 2009 Suzuki 4×4 with 55,000 kilometres on it.
It had the preferred bigger engine for $14,000 ( Can) $10,500 ( U.S.)
Can that be done in the U.S.A.?
Cheers!
Probably, but I don’t think it would be as cheap for me unlike how it was for a Sergeant I knew when it come to shipping cars from France to the US.
He maintained another address in France and registered them there for at least a year before he shipped them.
Some detail about a being a registered personal vehicle there had made the difference on the duties or other. He was fortunate as his family owned a fair bit of property in France and he inherited a sizable share of it.
Great story – clever gig!
He just likes collecting and driving classic cars. If your in the area during the summer you might get lucky as he often brings a number of them to the car shows in Southern Maine. And not just a few of them, but an entire row.
For years that was a business here in Commiefornia. Japan for ridiculous reasons has more stringent pollution laws than Commiefornia, so Japan used to sell us low mileage engines that had past legality there. We could swap out an engine for $2000 or less and get years more out of our vehicles.
Isn’t utopian, statism, collectivism great?
Cash for clunkers and analog vice digital.
Yup, the real commuter cars replaced with junk GM electrics.
And the guy with three Islamic names cash for clunkers program to get rid of analog cars and replace them with computer controlled ones.
Company feedback mechanisms should flood these companies with the above equations from Sundance
We know. They know. No more pretending
Consumers have choices on which multinational to patronize or leave at the altar
It’s simple: If the label reads, “Made in China,” it goes back on the shelf.
Not a lot of choices when it comes to replacement auto parts specific to the make/model/year of your car.
Possible sure, just no guarantee the alternatives were not from the same source but transhipped through another country.
I’ve noted that Standard Motor Products does pretty well on the stuff for my old vehicles, ranging in age from 40 to 60 years old and both gasoline and diesel, auto and truck, some mechanical, some with early computer.
That too has changed in recent years though, with increasing production in China, but there’s still some stuff made in the U.S. They do a significant amount of private label for box store auto parts distributors as well, with some OEM production in certain niches.
21 bucks for a distributor cap for a ’65 Ford, that’s price reality these days. I’ve got some in stock that have 4.95 on them. Echlin if memory serves. I developed inventory to maintain my old fleet, an idea that came to me when scouring old Mopar dealers for parts for my first car, a ’39 Dodge, some 30 years after it was built. Find ’em, stock ’em.
Pity I’ll never buy another vehicle. Here in Oregon there’s no sales tax on them with only a pittance of dealer tax, 1/2 percent, if the dealer chooses to levy it. No sales tax on big purchases certainly helps, especially with inflation, which also increases the tax amount.
Trump is wrong about allowing the 300,000 ChiComm students (spies) to matriculate in our universities. Why the flip flop???ugh!
Agree.
“Lastly, on the issue of the Chinese students – Marco Rubio has control of the visa filtering and vetting process. It should not be a problem to target specific issues that may arise and yet adhere to the U.S. commitment.”
based on sundance’s article yesterday about the “student” who overstayed the visa and is selling guns (!), I dont think rubio’s got control.
Marco Open Border Gang Of Eight has control.
“Lest we forget.”
The spy has been working for many, many, many years. He was caught under Secretary Rubio’s watch. I’m grateful for Secretary Rubio’s leadership.
He was arrested in dec 2024, so, not caught under rubio’s watch..
Every year 1 billion people cross the US border. There can never be actual control.
Federal authorities can deter criminal activity thru prompt and severe consequences for violations. But tracking visitors? No.
If foreigners cannot be employed (E verify) 90% of the problem goes away. There is a reason Border Patrol was originally under the Department of Labor!
Regarding the Chinese student gunrunner, I will state that the news report was merely a version of what actually occurred. That is what normally happens on significant cases, with political elements.
It should have been addressed long ago, not used as a bargaining chip.
This is PDJT Panda Face.
If you can show me where PDJT GUARANTEES 300,000 Chinese students then that would be great.
I’m not going to throw a hissy fit when I haven’t seen the details of what the requirements will be for these “students” to “study” in the USA. There may be all sorts of limitations, restrictions, paperwork, # of years, choose Americans first, and more.
exactly
It was pressure for the CHI-Com Inc re negotiating tactics.
Make them all Physics Majors. Teach them String Theory. It will be like planting a virus in a computer.
55% is quite a bit – but as CTH points out, because of the Massive profits companies make, it really doesn’t affect the American consumer.
As for the Chyna Student visa issue… IF we tighten up the vetting of such students and tracking them… we may be able to limit the damage they cause.
Best to start gradually cutting back on F-1/J-1 visas over the next few years…
And require full transparency from universities.
.
So how do we track visa holdovers without an automated program across databases that includes airline ticket purchases, border entry and exit records, employment (taxes) and school records, real property purchases, business licenses, marriage licenses, utility records, credit card usage, social media and internet records… on millions of people holding student, tourist, and temporary work visas.
Not easily. https://www.oig.dhs.gov/reports/2017/dhs-tracking-visa-overstays-hindered-insufficient-technology/oig-17-56-may17
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Fortunately we are building just such a totalitarian surveillance system.
.
I hope not. “Totalitarian” is about the operation of laws, not technology.
Clarion, please remember that I’m the privacy troglodyte who refuses to use a cell phone. I am still looking for information and ideas for laws that will counter the misuse of such a system.
.
Border entry/exit should (Should!) already be covered, with the systems CBP uses.
As for the many other issues, I can’t say – however, if we Really want to make it work, it could be done.
If we kept track of overstays better – the other issues won’t be as much of a problem.
Not easy, but do-able… IF the establishment Wants to do it.
Even better, don’t let them in, in the first place.
It costs money to track them, and we end up paying the price in loss of our freedom and privacy as well.
Just enforce E-Verify on all employers with severe penalties for non-compliance.
Your best chance for that to happen is Trump and he is not doing it
Isn’t this one of the purposes of DOGE? Not just hunting financial fraud, waste, and abuse but aligning the multitude of database systems in use at the Federal Government?
With a name and unique identifier, all the records you’ve mentioned should be able to be collated on non-citizens in the country. Of course, we citizens get tracked too.
You are relying on information the Chinese government gives for the vetting process so no your not vetting anyone from China
Why wouldn’t they then sell it for $105 instead? Sorry if I don’t understand. Corporations always pass costs down to the consumer.
In my opinion what matters is what idea they can sell to the consumer. If they can sell the ‘it’s the tariffs’ idea, they will.
Corporations charge what the market will bear. They are extremely motivated and precise in how they research and quantify maximizing their revenue and profits because money is all that matters to them. If the market doesn’t bear 105, they charge 100. They might try 105 and, if numbers don’t reflect their analysis of market resistance, they’ll have a ‘sale’ and it may or may not become permanent.
Not being a corporation and old fashioned I ran my business, in manufacturing for heavy industry, on a time and materials quote basis, imputing a fixed conservative profit into each job. Business colleagues told me I ‘left too much money on the table’ and should charge more because they got away with it.
Perhaps that’s why many of them became millionaires and I did not. Then again, they’re mostly all dead now too, and I’m still alive. Money isn’t everything but don’t tell a corporation that.
Competition works to keep prices down at all market levels.
True insofar that cartels do not form and dominate the markets to limit competition.
Which is exactly why we have to break up some of these oligopolies. Competition makes for a strong innovative economy.
Trillions are at stake.
They will fight with everything that they’ve got to keep the grift going and ignore the accumulation and compounding of market inefficiencies. As long as they get their’s, they could care less about the world’s conomy until the wheels fall off.
Considering that cartels only exist due to government and regulatory support, how are you going to break up the cartels without upending government. There is zero chance that Trump or any other president is going to give power to the states, for eg.
Yes, I know the local material handling dealer owners met monthly to talk about how they would manage price competition and undercutting each other, with rogues getting starved out for parts and warranty work.
In the midst of that came the Toyota dumping incident and gray market machines. Interesting times. I’m talking mid-80’s to late 90’s period.
I was a nobody; a vendor who made stuff and invented things to make them more money. I can only imagine what goes on with the big ‘groups’.
Because as the price of gas goes down the cost of shipping the goods goes down! Many products you buy everyday has more costs to ship them than the cost of the raw materials to make the product. Think about toilet paper….soft drinks….on and on. The cost of gas effects every step of the product production.
It’s the same reason that almost most stores do not charge the customer the 3% fee that the shop owner pays to receive payment from a credit card…like at the gas stations here in California. Use of cash is one price; use of a credit card in a higher price.
I would say that 3% credit card cost is usually included in the price of most retail items.
The importer has leverage over the Chinese manufacturer.
“Hey Chan, tariffs are adding $5 to my cost. Reduce your price by $2.50, and I’ll take the hit on the other $2.50”
“Oh nor, I kant take leduction in plice”
“OK then, I guess I’ll get my stuff made in Vietnam, Bangladesh or Fiji. that means you take a 100% hit”
“No no no, I take. In ferk, I take orr of 5%. You my customer long time”
Example: A pair of Denim Jeans made in China for Guess Brand. The Chinese manufacturer sells the jeans to Guess Brand for $10 a pair manufactured. Guess sells the jeans at retail in the USA for $100 (a $90 gross profit).
A 50% tariff on China means the jeans cost Guess Brand $15 instead of $10 (an $85 gross profit). A 50% tariff on Guess brand jeans, that retail for $100, changes the cost to the retail brand by $5.
Except GUESS will now charge customers $105?
Doesn’t happen
Please review the price announcement by Nintendo for their Switch 2 console which has already been released and sold at the stated price. I went into more detail in another comment here. The short: Nintendo justified their higher price because of Tariffs. We know at the time of the announcement, no tariffs were in place and was still under negotiation. Doesn’t matter. They are charging the higher price to retailers and retailers are bound by the MSRP they stated because they believe the politics will convince the consumers “this is what we have to do and that it’s Trump’s fault… don’t blame us!”
It’s not “doesn’t happen” it’s “This already happened.”
Nintendo is using the justification of tariffs to increase their profit margin, nothing more.
It’s vulture capitalism.
Bingo!! Consumer pressure can force prices down.
It seems that raising prices under false pretenses/representations would be fraud and an opportunity for an enterprising law firm to bring a class action lawsuit. Boy what a nightmare for Nintendo. Anyone know one?
I expect as much. More than once Nintendo has effectively scalped their own products over the years.
I hope their suit against the developer Pocketpair goes down in flames.
so, is this a “one-off” or not/ are there other companys out there passing along tariff increases?
I would say the general rule Sundance states it true. In a commodity product, competition among retailers will set the price despite tariffed wholesale increases. Absolutely. Can’t go down any other way without illegal collusion of some sort.
But where the manufacturer sets the retail prices? cars, iphones, game consoles… anything with an MSRB on the box or label? That’s what people will likely pay.
Agreed. This is my take. It’s false and misleading. But they did it. What stops others from doing the same? In the case of specific market monopolies (iPhone is a monopoly because no other phone is iPhone, as opposed to a given Android phone) All game consoles are each their own monopoly. So there is no competitive force where the consumer has a choice.
There is a vocal minority saying they will not buy this console or the games because the price is too high, but the rest are addicts who will buy anything Nintendo makes at any price. Just as iPhone users will buy the latest iPhone for absurd prices… people are stupid and what they are doing depends on people being stupid.
And I’m the denim pants were a specific brand and style that they “must have” retailers would do it even if the manufacturer sell to retail… with MSRB. Without MSRB restrictions, retailers will compete to lower the prices, no doubt.
But back to the Nintendo case. It also appears the other two major players (Microsoft XBox and Sony PlayStation) are raising the prices of new games (disks or downloads) to match the rate on Nintendo games. So it’s a contagion among the brand/system monopolies.
But without the matter of monopolies with MSRB, I agree normal market rules apply. I don’t know what retailers pay Nintendo for the games or consoles but I suspect Nintendo is keeping the largest part for themselves.
As I mentioned above, there is potential legal liability for false and misleading advertising. And representing that your price increase (money taken from the consumer) is gained through false pretenses, well seems to me to be fraud.
I mean no disrespect, BTW. Your statements work perfectly when retailers have both good margins for profit and are able to compete amongst each other on price. But when the manufacturer sucks up most of the profits for themselves, the effects of tariffs harder to ignore by retailers for reasons of MSRP and/or existing tight margins.
And it’s not wrong that the public has ALREADY cried out, on announcement day, to lower the prices. The live streamed event has an unending flow of comments demanding a lower price. And the more I think about it, the more I realize how stupid Nintendo is in the matter. Not merely for the obviously false justifications made in public, but also for the lack of good strategy. The rates of their services and the costs of games, both Nintendo owned and third party made (they pay fees to Nintendo when they sell games I believe just as iPhone app makers must pay the iPhone tax) have gone up significantly. And many have decided “the old switch and games is good enough…. don’t need the switch 2 or its expensive ecosystem.” I think what they should have done would be set the Switch 2 to the SAME price and original switch. People would migrate, still being able to play their old games and then they’d be trapped in a much more expensive ecosystem. They’d definitely get their money and wouldn’t sacrifice their consumers.
Anyway… There may be more, but there are at least two different classes of where tariffs can hurt and where they shouldn’t and probably some varying in between.
Game consoles are “Early Adaptor” products.
The company will squeeze as much as possible upon initial release. The prices then come down, often drastically.
That means early adopters will pay the higher prices, but the bulk of the sales will be at regular prices with no regard to tariffs. Meaning the average price of a gaming console will barely nudge.
See my reply to Nightshift June 11, 2025 4:18 pm just above.
Most jeans are going for far less than $50 right now. If Guess wants to up their price even more, they deserve to go under. 🤣. Even Levi’s, which have become made with extremely thin denim, have their prices under 50 bucks. Only the snobs will still buy Guess jeans, pay the higher price, and then complain that the tariffs are bad…gives them something to b#$tch about
I don’t disagree, I’m just saying they will. The Internet is filled with complainers about higher prices. Some of the prices when researched are mostly food based. People complaining canned goods have gone up because of tariffs on aluminum/steel etc
I’m not complaining, I’m happy, and I buy very little of any goods sold.
Based on the percentage agreed on it will actually be $3. China will eat that in any number of ways just to keep the price at $100 if they think the price increase will cost sales. That will be the determining factor on who pays for the tariff and how much. If the US retailer tells their Chinese supplier that the cost increase will lower overall sales, China will eat it.
Sorry I used 30% instead of 50%. The theory still applies. What happens to sales numbers will decide where tariffs are applied
Buy them at Costco for $29.
@Sundance,
Does this agreement address trans-shipments coming from other nations?
I think that would be part of the other agreements between the US and those other nations…
There are only two genders. 😉
I assume you mean Chinese goods being shipped through other countries?
Absolutely. I had a friend call me from Cambodia and said, “I can’t believe it, most of the garments over here are made in Mexico. I laughed and told him that no, the garments are made in Cambodia, but they are tagged Made in Mexico and shipped to the U.S. through Mexico (at that time) duty free.
Tariffs are based on “country of origin,” not country of shipment (or trans-shipment). Falsifying country of origin on import documents is fraud.
American students got sold our in favor of the communists.
How is that America First?
I didn’t read a lot of detail in PDJT’s Truth Post.
If you can find the details of allowing Chinese “students” into the USA then that would be fine. But I know that PDJT says flattering things in public but in private the details are revealed.
I’m not going to whine until I see the Rules for them being allowed into the USA.
Who’s whining? I thought he was going to right a longstanding wrong and he did not.
He could have, he chose not to.
Details do not matter.
I did not say that you were whining.
I said that I am not going to whine until I see the details.
You can do whatever you want. However, I am going to wait until I see the details and then, if I am disappointed, I will commence my whining.
good point
PDJT’s Panda face until he’s required to expose his dragon face
Foreign students are paying list price for tuition. That is good. American youth are wise to the education scam and are learning the trades. When the foreign students have a plumbing or electirical issue they will call the American students who will charge top dollar.
Americans can be the blue-collar hired help?
I have researched the college issue and the issue of the Chinese students for years, no amount of cope is going to turn this stinking deal into anything but what it is, a sellout, a kick in the teeth to Americans.
Bruce: The foreign students will just let the water leak and the electrical problems become worse, and then move to a different rental apartment.
Cultural infiltration to the USA universities is given the green light. I don’t understand the positive side of this trade agreement at this juncture
Bottom line: If companies continue to manufacture in China, nothing changes. Same with huge numbers of Chinese students at US universities. Nothing changes. It’s theater.
I won’t buy $100 blue jeans made in China.
This ^^^
I hope people see the charade for what it is. This doesn’t move manufacturing back. It doesn’t mean any new jobs are created here. This literally does nothing. Absolutely nothing.
thats what I’m asking. are clothing makers going to move back to USA? not seing that for 5 bucks a pair of jeans. but maybe. what do I know?
1000%. I’ll agree i don’t know everything, but I’m sure textiles fabrication isn’t coming back to the USA for a 50% increase in prices paid from $10 to $15.
The worst part of this, aside from our hollowed out manufacturing sector, is that we import what are essentially products made from slavery. Slave wages in China to child labor in Africa for things like cobalt mining.
The manufacturing of clothes is a bad example. Since the tariff impact will be so minimal, it will probably have little to no impact on that market. Where it will have a greater impact will be on items like automobiles where U.S. car manufacturers will have the opportunity to sell in a different market.
No deal solves all problems but Trump’s efforts are making things better than they were. How can you complain about that?
This is exactly the type of deal I’ve been saying for months that we’re going to get. People kept insisting that I’m a concern troll and to wait and see. While the 55% tariff is good, it will not be sufficient to reshore most manufacturing. For its domestic vendors, China will find ways to sidestep them. They’ll divert materials through other countries and take advantage of more favorable trade conditions elsewhere. US manufacturers will have a harder time avoiding them, not that I care about sleazy unAmerican corporatists.
What we do need to do is fast track rare earth mining and processing. We cannot be dependent on China. They’ll violate this so called agreement in a heartbeat. They ignored every facet of the last deal.
I agree. Anything critical to the survival of the nation, especially anything necessary for defense should be made within our shores.
To be clear, however, I’m not saying we need to increase MIC spending. We need private entrepreneurs to mine, refine, fabricate, etc all critical components. One glaring example is we don’t have a single lead smelter in the USA. It closed when Obama was president, and I was still a young man in my 20s 😆. Joking aside – we can’t even make the bullets we need without importing heavy metals.
If you’re saying Trump failed on this, don’t think this is done. Expect China to break the deal at some point in some way and Trump makes changes.
People think Trump’s way to bring people to the table is to set a high rate and that this is his way to open negotiation and after the negotiation, it’s all done. NOPE! He will change the deal at any time when necessary.
55% is still pretty high. Companies who do not need to manufacture in China are going to continue to move out of China.
Those commodity products that can be made anywhere, like denim jeans, are already gone to Bangladesh, Maldives, Surinam, or wherever.
It will be the more complex products that rely on a web of specialty component suppliers that will be hardest to get out of China. China now has the entire ecosystem of downstream suppliers for electronics, appliances, power-tools, etc.
Think about how many different tiny little pieces go into some products – all the springs, gears, chips, connectors, screws, wiring-harnesses and so forth. Those are probably all made by different subcomponent suppliers. China has all those suppliers today. All those little parts get built into subassemblies at the next tier of suppliers. Then the subassemblies are put together inside a plastic or metal shell to form the final product. Having the whole downstream network of sub and sub-sub suppliers located physically close to each other speeds things up and lowers costs. At one time the US owned the entire chain of production. Now China does.
It will take years to get all those multiple sub-suppliers migrated back. Until then the US might bring back final-assembly factories but they will be dependent on sub-assemblies shipped to them from China. But no time like the present to get started.
https://allamerican.org/lists/
List of “Made in the USA” products.
Levis, Wrangler, Dickies, American Apparel, American Eagle, True Religion jeans ARE ALL NOT MADE in the USA
“American consumers need to understand this dynamic better.”
Say this again.
Then say it again after that.
So, no landing fees for Chinese built ships.
Chinese Communists will continue to infiltrate our systems of higher education.
Minimal economic impact to consumers.
Comfortable life continues with minor inconveniences like attacks on cities, persecution of patriots and other similarly minor occurrences.
I did see riot fencing going up all over D.C., including around the White House. Security, I guess, for the parade. Moving around is pretty difficult. Freedom, U.S. style.
Hope for the best, plan and train for the rest. God bless.
There ought to be a Long Beach
TeaContainer Party just on principle.If only the Longshoremen’s money tree wasn’t so well watered, they’d do a great job.
as long as somebody is getting rich I guess is all that matters
Now that THAT’S out of the way…..
He can turn to even BETTER things…
Congrats Mr. President, job well done…
ROUND TWO – *FIGHT*!…
…- *FINISH HIM*!!!…
I do not doubt Trump. I do not believe China.
Are there mechanisms to severely punish China for non-compliance?
The globalist do not give up.
There will be no mechanism for noncompliance. Just look at the last trade deal. China violated the terms like it was their job, and nothing was done. Screw me once, shame on you. Screw me twice, shame on me.
how does this incentivise clothing manufacturing back to the USA? seems like the only effect would be a little more money for DC to waste on BS.
It doesn’t, unfortunately. I work in manufacturing, and this is the exact type of deal that I expected. I was hoping for the Peter Navarro strategy with steep punitive/protective tariffs, but I knew it would never happen. Unfortunately, there is just too much pressure from our wonderful corporate sector. They’re all a bunch of sellouts.
I am Only for DeCoupling from China. They are – At Best – an Adversary.
We didn’t/wouldn’t buy from or trade with the Soviet Union ! We shouldn’t be doing Anything with them and should treat them just like the old USSR.
Same. I want absolutely no business with China. Talk about a high cost of a low price.
I don’t believe for a minute that the Chinese will keep their word, what will happen after Trump when we get another president China will not keep the word if it was me I would disengage from China..
Thank you, Sundance. I found your explanation to be very helpful.
i hope hes keeping track of the 280K Chinese Students hes letting come back.
China will try to break this trade agreement from the moment it is signed.
Thanks Sundance!
I’ve been eager to get your analysis on this USA/China trade policy update… I have a couple of wobbly (young/inexperienced) Jedi’s to pass this along to ;). You made this so easy to understand. Much appreciated.
The timing is somewhat unusual with regard to the issue of the Chinese lab technician sending biological material to unnamed ‘researchers and professors’ at the University of Michigan, that has been in the news in the past few days.
Counter argument:
They will raise retail prices because politics make people stupid. FOR EXAMPLE!
The Nintendo Switch 2 was released and the price is ridiculous. But it’s ACROSS THE BOARD higher. Not just higher for the console unit but for the fees and the software downloads and game cartridges as well. *AND* the price is higher in EVERY country except for Japan.
Nintendo’s statement was “Because of the tariffs” and people believe it.
It’s what they think the people will believe that indicates they can raise the prices without the backlash. And that’s exactly what has happened DESPITE at the time of the announcement, no changes in Tariff policies had been made. It was speculative pending negotiation! So.. “preemptive gouging.”
So while I agree they SHOULDN’T raise prices, they absolutely WILL raise prices as they believe they can get away with it. This Nintendo Switch 2 story has already played out like this.
Don’t buy it!! It just warps our children’s growth.
So thats on the buyer, allowing / subsidizing the unwarranted increase … Just like guess jeans, there are always alternatives.
You can’t stop stupid people from buying something by negotiating a trade deal. They’re still gonna be stupid and companies like Nintendo know that. The consumer holds all the cards if we would just play them properly. What have you bought recently that you did not absolutely need?
Anything with MSRB or otherwise arrives with a price tag printed by the manufacturer, retailers don’t generally lower the prices on such products unless they are discontinued or a newer model is due to be released.
I can’t help but think that hanging over this was the recent change of position on the origins of COVID and the info about the DIA knowing early on that it was created and leaked from the Wuhan lab. The “official story” now appears to be that it was an accidental infection which was spread by some of those who worked there, which is obvious bullshit, but would be a necessary lie to maintain the relationship.
One thing that bothers me is that I saw no mention of fentanyl.
The rare earth detail smells like Trump was very convinced of a necessity or urgency.
My guess or hope is that Trump plans a strategic stockpile reserve buy of these materials. If the goal is to make US defense manufacturing independent of other countries like China or Ukraine, then it would be good to buy a large stock at a low price before announcing a rare earth initiative for US production.
THIS is what winning looks like, and all the talking heads will have to feign amasement when we see NO increase in retail prices, after assuring us there WOoULD Be.
Tariffs are paid according to the transaction value
of the import, ie the amount paid or payable . Wholesale represents a range of prices, not a specific value. And some imports are at retail.
Yup. But if the margin between wholesale and retail is small (which is true for many products like specialty electronics and cars) then common assumptions do apply.
In the example provided, SD’s argument holds up. But what about all the other things that they sell here? Think Dollar stores, iPhones, and everything else in between, besides designer jeans.
The devil is in the details, and we really don’t have any for the UK nor this one. I understand that keeping things secret maintains leverage in deals with other countries. But something tells me there will be significant exceptions.
President Donald J Trump reversing the treason of Free Trade.
Tariffs: The Taxes That Made America Great
https://buchanan.org/blog/tariffs-the-taxes-that-made-america-great-136986
This is a good deal; I agree with Sundance.
However, there will always be the negative side screaming, that President Trump and Secretary Rubio were fooled again and the doomers are absolutely positive all prices will go up ostensibly and we will have more Communist infiltration and most likely go to war with China because they cannot be trusted.
So, get that thought settled in your mind and move along. No amount of facts, evidence or positivity will be allowed by some who travel the path of doom, gloom, and devastation.
Not to mention, it has always been President Trump’s fault, even before he was POTUS!
SMH!!!
Agreed. No one seems to be taking into consideration that China may leave Taiwan alone and we may not have to deal with that along with all the other dark things going on around the world.
Excellent comment Abigail Straight, just excellent!
We will always have the “summer soldiers and sunshine patriots” with us.
They are often more of a problem than the foreign enemy.
So we must deal with them the best we can and get on with the important things in life.
Sundance and many of our Treepers here are very good a doing exactly that, thank heavens.
I’m not saying I agree with this, I’m posting this man’s statement to show the amount of disagreement and the many differing beliefs on what this deal will or won’t do, in the comments.
This deal is no longer about what we were told it was about in the first place.
He’s an idiot or just a globalist liar. Completely ignores what happened in #45’s term after the same much-published fears of tariff-driven price increases were proven not just somewhat wrong but totally wrong.
billions in tariffs collected in May and the US is just getting started: https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/us-collected-record-22bn-tariffs-may-which-was-just-3-total-government-spending
Gotta love this. Hope its real. However when was the last time China honored any of their promises, NEVER!
Oh well lets hope there is always a 1st time for everything…
Question.
If we take away funding from colleges and universities that are teaching students to be good little communists, will China still want to send their students here?
If you are gonna let the ChiComs go to school in the US, then perhaps it would be a good idea to let the American people know what colleges they are attending so that they can decide if they want to go to a school where they may become wrapped up in an espionage scheme.
IMO, I do not think we are yet at the point where the government (Trump included) can use the “trust us, we are gonna vet the Chinese students … trust us, we got this” card.
“if these earnest details hold up it means the likelihood of China taking any aggressive or hostile action toward Taiwan is gone. If these earnest agreements are not adhered to, the opposite is true.”
So, does this mean we won’t be going to war with them peeps…today? Yeah I guess not today. Maybe not tomorrow, too. One day at a time with them.
Thanks, Sundance. I like your subtleties in the in-depth explanations.
Flooding the MAGA zone!!!!
Economic security is national security.
No details on transshipping and routing assembled products through Mexico and Canada?
How many Billions per year increase are we talking about? Should be easy to calculate.
And the charges on small shipments remain at what level?
WHAT ABOUT CHINA SHIPPING TO US, MEXICO AND CANADA – FENTANYL PRECURSOR CHEMICALS?
80,000 Americans are dying a year – China learned a lesson from the Opium Wars.
The only downside is that the $770 Gucci sandals that China manufactures for $1.85 a pair will never be manufactured in the U.S.
Never trust a dragon… just sayin..
Goes to prove that inserting “students” into American universities provides the best return to Communist China. How is Trump going to stiffle their
students'” spying and crimes?
Chinese students stay, never give an inch, failure.
Lastly, on the issue of the Chinese students – Marco Rubio has control of the visa filtering and vetting process. It should not be a problem to target specific issues that may arise and yet adhere to the U.S. commitment.
This was my main preoccupation and so far Rubio has been doing a great job.
I suspect that Marco does not love commies.
So China keeps us dependent on China for our weapons and China will keep 300k of their soldiers on our soil
Sounds like winning for Xi
The world’s worst currency manipulator will be forced to manipulate their currency to avoid price shocks. Definitely a W.
Reading through further comments, I didn’t see much if any discussion of the de minimis aspect, apparently an important one to PDJT, and any impact on it, and the current appeal from the Court of International Trade, from a trade deal with China. Is it still in play with the current stay on the CIT ruling and continuing with the trade deal, or?
I’d like to know what the tariffs were like BEFORE. How much did we pay and how much did they pay?