Hours after blindsiding markets by announcing that from September 1, the US will impose a 10% tariff on the remaining $300 billion in Chinese imports, Donald Trump spoke to reporters before departing for what’s expected to be a raucous rally in Cincinnati.
“The stock market will take a hit but ultimately it will get much better”, he said, in the course of explaining that he’s “not worried” about the market reaction to the latest escalation in the trade conflict between the world’s two largest economies. US equities plunged for a second consecutive day on Thursday following the tariff news.
The president proceeded to feed the public the same, old line about who’s paying for the levies on Chinese goods. He also accused China of currency manipulation for the umpteenth time. “What China is doing is they’re devaluing their currency and they’re pumping money out like they never have before”, the president said.
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“They’re paying for these tariffs, we’re not”, he insisted.
As ever, that is a stone, cold lie. The tariffs are a tax on US citizens. Period. Although that is self-evident to most educated Americans, it most assuredly is not to Trump’s base, which continues to buy into the notion that Beijing is writing Trump actual checks for “many billions of dollars”.
Nothing will disabuse his supporters of that blatant lie, and he continues to push it to the public with virtual impunity. Reporters should take him to task, but at this juncture, the press is presumably exhausted with watching the president insist that the sky isn’t blue and the grass isn’t green. There is no chance of him admitting what’s actually going on and if the situation ever does blow up the domestic economy or catalyze some kind of historic market collapse, he’ll just blame the Fed.
Also on Thursday, Trump said the 10% tariff which will go into effect in a month is “for a short period of time” and indicated that 25% is not, in fact, the ceiling. In other words, what everyone assumed was the “all-in” scenario (i.e., 25% duties on the entirety of Chinese imports) isn’t actually “all-in”.
Speaking of “all-in”, Trump went so far as to say he’d be “fine” with it if America didn’t trade with China at all.
“If they don’t want to trade with us anymore, that would be fine with me”, he said, confidently. “We’d save a lot of money”.
This idiot doesn’t have a clue.
Debate Deal: let’s make a deal, I won’t call you Rumpster if you don’t call me Pocohantus.
He is not an idiot.
He is a hand man.
Satan’s right hand man.
Mitch could stop it all, but just sits there on his thumb and does nothing. He could prove to be America’s greatest traitor by far. Trump is just an idiot.
“We’ll save a lot of money.”
Indeed, as people stop buying electronics, clothes, raw materials, we’ll definitely save money. But we also won’t have electronics, clothes, raw materials…….
LOL. this is the comment of the week right here.
Do we really need all that stuff?
He is the Manchurian Candidate.
Lots of opportunity in Rust Belt states tons of shuttered factory towns left for dead real estate is cheaper than dirt much better than those bloated FAANNMG stocks that won’t stay down I’m buying in a few are you? Eventually those stocks will crash just like 09 only a matter of when. I am short the market and hope for more days like the last 2… Sadly I have alot if ground to make up what an opportunity to sell stocks even now at this juncture….