The financial punditry are verklempt, puzzled and perplexed as the wholesale inflation rate calculated by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics Producer Price Index [DATA HERE] shows a drop in PPI of -0.1% for August.

Despite the pundits claiming the Trump tariffs were going to drive up prices, the data shows the manufacturers of products are absorbing the majority of the tariff costs, the importers are absorbing the remnants and the consumer prices are not reflecting the tariff.  Go figure!

[DATA HERE]

Exactly as expected, the wholesale price of tariffs are being offset by production cost reductions by the export dependent manufacturing companies overseas.  This is exactly what took place in the first term, and the situation is duplicating even with higher tariff rates.

Export dependent nations are squeezing their own productivity, their governments are subsidizing the critical industries and the tariffs are being absorbed before they even leave the docks.   This is the USA “rust belt” in reverse.  The same scenario played out in the USA for decades as domestic manufacturers tried to retain U.S. industry.  Now the foreign countries are experiencing their own economic squeeze.

(more…)

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent noted, when you add the previous Biden revision of -577,000 to the current revision of -911,000 the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) had overreported Biden’s job growth by almost 1.5 million jobs.

The BLS reports today [SEE DATA HERE] an annual revision of 911,000 fewer jobs that previously reported.  These further puts President Trump’s decision to fire the head of the BLS into context.

[SOURCE]

(more…)

Have you watched Director Kevin Hassett deliver media remarks before?  Have you a generally good idea of his disposition and general commentary as delivered?   If so, watch this interview and note how muted, monotoned and vanilla Hassett’s general elocution is as he cuts through the narrated questions.

Whenever someone is given the tap on the shoulder for a senior executive promotion, this exact change happens.  I suspect Hassett is the next Federal Reserve Chair appointment.  Just a hunch, but this is not the typical Hassett.  WATCH:

[TRANSCRIPT] MARGARET BRENNAN: Good morning, and welcome to Face The Nation. We begin this morning with the Director of the National Economic Council, Kevin Hassett. Good morning and thank you for being here.

KEVIN HASSETT: Good morning. It’s great to be here.

MARGARET BRENNAN: In person.

KEVIN HASSETT: Yes.

(more…)

U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer has asked the Supreme Court to accept the case by next week, hear arguments in early November and “expedite” its ultimate ruling “to the maximum extent feasible.” [Appeal Here] with [Expedited Review Request Here]

[SOURCE]

From the request for expedited consideration, “The en banc Federal Circuit’s erroneous decision has disrupted highly impactful, sensitive, ongoing diplomatic trade negotiations, and cast a pall of legal uncertainty over the President’s efforts to protect our country by preventing an unprecedented economic and foreign-policy crisis,” Sauer notes.

Adding comments from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, “The recent decision by the Federal Circuit is already adversely affecting ongoing negotiations. World leaders are questioning the Presi-dent’s authority to impose tariffs, walking away from or delaying negotiations, and/or imposing a different calculus on their negotiating positions.”

(more…)

Peter Navarro, President Trump’s top trade and manufacturing policy advisor, speaks to pool reporters outside the White House.

Within his remarks about the economy overall, Navarro then breaks down the issues soon to come before the Supreme Court surrounding the use of the IEEPA (International Emergency Economic Powers Act) to enact defensive trade tariffs.

Navarro also addresses the false premise that tariffs create imported inflation.  As reflected in the 2018 tariff outcome, the exporting country absorbs the majority of the tariff impact.  Additionally, the tariff rate is applied to the wholesale price as contracted by the importing company in the USA.   WATCH:

.

(more…)

There are going to be two major stories in 2026 that we will have full context to understand.  Yes, the 2026 midterm politics are going to lead the headlines, but two other issues will have considerable impact.

The first, is the FISA (702) reauthorization, and there is a lot that will surface in the next several months likely to upend the best laid plans of the administrative UniParty [Tulsi Factor].  The second, is the USMCA reauthorization – the end of the trilateral trade agreement, and the structural shift into two separate free trade agreements.

As to the latter issue, while Mexico and Canada are currently in a state of economic flux, only Mexico is preparing to deal with the seismic shift that is about to unfold.  Canada is going to be caught completely off guard.

While Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is trotting around Europe trying to establish his relevance amid the pro-Ukraine coalition,  Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is spending time focused on her domestic economy.

Mexico is preparing to drop significant tariffs on Chinese imports, a proactive move to position Mexico in advance of the upcoming bilateral discussion.

Sheinbaum knows that right now for every deportation ICE executes, her economy is hit as remittances recede. Simultaneously, for every mile of border wall that is completed, the financial dependency model increases.  President Trump’s leverage in the upcoming bilateral trade negotiation against Mexico increases each day, week and month.

Claudia Sheinbaum is smartly focused on trying to get ahead of the issues, while Mark Carney ignores his vulnerability and is about to make Canada naked to the economic weaknesses created by Justin Trudeau.

(more…)

From an initial report of 3.0% to a revised report of 3.3% second quarter growth. [BEA report HERE]  Not a surprise, when we factor in the prediction we presented after the first quarter GDP.

However, it is nice to see the BEA finally admit, “The increase in real GDP in the second quarter primarily reflected a decrease in imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP.”  I digress.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy rebounded this spring from a first-quarter downturn due to fallout from President Donald Trump’s trade wars.

In an upgrade from its first estimate in July, the Commerce Department said Thursday that U.S. gross domestic product — the nation’s output of goods and services — expanded at a 3.3% annual pace from April through June after shrinking 0.5% in the first three months of 2025. The department had initially estimated second-quarter growth at 3%.

(more…)

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appears on Fox Business to discuss some very important current issues in the world of finance, banking and trade.

Bessent begins by answering questions about the U.S. government taking equity interests in companies that come to the U.S. for support.  Bessent then notes the potential for the Trump administration to construct a taxpayer stake in Fannie and Freddie, before the Treasury Secretary moves on to talk about the trade issues with India.  WATCH:

.

(more…)

Against the example of the U.S. Government taking a 10% stake in Intel, a private technology company who manufactures microchips, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick outlines the parameters where the Trump administration would consider taking a stake in private sector companies.

Secretary Lutnick notes that when a company comes to the U.S. government for assistance or benefit, the government -ultimately the taxpayer- should gain an equity stake in that company.  WATCH:

.

(more…)

National Economic Council Director, Kevin Hassett, appears on CNBC to discuss the 10% govt stake in Intel, the status on U.S. trade agreements and other economic matters of interest. WATCH:

.

(more…)