Let’s give the tariffs time to work. If they don’t work I will be the first to admit I was wrong. President Trump seems to be backing off his hardline positions with a 90-day reprieve for most, and taking tariffs off cellphones, electronics and associated items made in China. I think that is a good move and if we can cut deals with the 75 or so larger traders the U.S. buys and sells to, then this country will be far better off.
The tariffs make sense. If China charges us a 100% tariff, then it’s only fair that we charge them one. The same goes for Canada, Mexico, Vietnam and all the others. If they want to charge us 40% then it’s only fair that we charge them the same. What is good for the goose is good for the gander.
Higher prices may come for a while. Foreign car dealerships are going to feel the pinch. But the good news for consumers is that the price of gas should come down substantially.
People are worried about buying cheap stuff from China at Walmart or Amazon or any other country. Others are upset that Amazon and Temu purchases my be higher. I honestly don’t want stuff from China. If China never ships another thing here it wouldn’t bother me. Sadly, everything we own today is, in some way, likely tied to a foreign country including consumer goods, prescriptions and grocery store items.
My friend Dr. Glenn Mollett relates when he was a kid, he had a transistor radio made in Hong Kong. He thought it was funny to have such an item made from so far away. Throughout the years, he said however, it became the norm. Cars, televisions, furniture, appliances and steel started coming from other places. Sadly, our American manufacturers were moving to Mexico, or any country on the planet where they could find slave labor. This turned into big profit for them because they shipped the goods cheaply back to the United States and made big profits. The problem was that those jobs were forever lost in America. The American workers had to go out and find jobs at Walmart and Starbucks making $10 an hour which today is more like $15 to $18. They had been used to making $35 or $40 an hour before their job moved out of America.
Mollett continued, “Back in the fifties, sixties and even seventies people could go to one of the big cities in their state and find a good paying manufacturing job. There were lots of jobs. We made a lot of cars, televisions, radios, clothes, furniture, steel, lumber, and had coal mining and much more. These people made enough money to buy a house, buy two cars, buy food, raise their kids and have a real retirement after working 30 years. That was called the American dream.
Today the American dream for many is applying for disabled Social Security and then praying that you can afford to go to Walmart. Don’t even think about buying a new car, a new house or taking a vacation because on today’s income it is not going to happen.”
He’s right. Let’s try to keep breathing and see how these tariffs play out. We need jobs to come back to America. We need our own companies to come home. We need to buy our own American steel and make things here once again. If other countries will come to America and build their products here and hire our people that will be a good thing.
Just maybe, in a few years, once again, people in America will dream again.
Overview of the key economic successes of President Donald Trump’s administration:
Economic Achievements
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (2017)
Trump signed into law the most comprehensive tax reform in decades. Key provisions included:
• Reducing the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%
• Doubling the standard deduction and increasing the child tax credit
• Encouraging capital investment and business growth through incentives for equipment purchases and repatriation of overseas profits
Record-Low Unemployment
By the end of 2019, the unemployment rate had dropped to 3.5%, the lowest in 50 years.
Notably, the country saw historically low unemployment for:
• Black Americans (5.4% in August 2019)
• Hispanic Americans (3.9% in September 2019)
• Asian Americans (2.5% in June 2019)
Rising Wages and Income
Real median household income rose to $68,700 in 2019, a 6.8% increase over the prior year—the largest one-year increase on record.
The most significant gains were among lower-income earners, narrowing the income gap.
Strong Stock Market Performance
The financial markets saw record highs:
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose from ~18,000 in January 2017 to ~29,000 by February 2020
• The S&P 500 and NASDAQ followed similar upward trends, driven by investor optimism around deregulation and tax policy
Deregulation
The Trump administration emphasized deregulation, claiming a ratio of 8 regulations eliminated for every new one introduced.
Areas targeted included energy, finance, agriculture, and labor. In 2019 alone, estimated regulatory savings for businesses reached $13.5 billion annually.
Trade Policy and Manufacturing
Trump renegotiated NAFTA into the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), updating provisions for labor, auto manufacturing, and digital commerce.
While tariffs on China were controversial, they were part of a broader strategy to encourage fair trade.
Between 2016 and 2019, manufacturing added over 450,000 jobs, before COVID-19 halted growth.
Energy Independence
The U.S. became the world’s top producer of oil and natural gas under Trump.
• Energy exports increased significantly
• In 2019, the U.S. became a net energy exporter for the first time in nearly 70 years
• Environmental rollbacks supported expanded domestic energy production
Sources:
1. Congressional Budget Office. “The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2018 to 2028.” April 2018.
2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Civilian Unemployment Rate, 2016–2020.”
3. U.S. Census Bureau. “Income and Poverty in the United States: 2019.” Issued September 2020.
4. Yahoo Finance historical data; MarketWatch. “Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Performance, 2017–2020.”
5. Office of Management and Budget. “Regulatory Reform under Executive Order 13771: Final Accounting.” 2019.
6. Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. “USMCA Fact Sheet.” 2020.
7. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Manufacturing Employment Data, 2016–2020.”
8. U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). “U.S. Becomes Net Energy Exporter.” November 2019.
Overview of the key economic successes of President Donald Trump’s administration:
Economic Achievements
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (2017)
Trump signed into law the most comprehensive tax reform in decades. Key provisions included:
• Reducing the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%
• Doubling the standard deduction and increasing the child tax credit
• Encouraging capital investment and business growth through incentives for equipment purchases and repatriation of overseas profits
Record-Low Unemployment
By the end of 2019, the unemployment rate had dropped to 3.5%, the lowest in 50 years.
Notably, the country saw historically low unemployment for:
• Black Americans (5.4% in August 2019)
• Hispanic Americans (3.9% in September 2019)
• Asian Americans (2.5% in June 2019)
Rising Wages and Income
Real median household income rose to $68,700 in 2019, a 6.8% increase over the prior year—the largest one-year increase on record.
The most significant gains were among lower-income earners, narrowing the income gap.
Strong Stock Market Performance
The financial markets saw record highs:
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose from ~18,000 in January 2017 to ~29,000 by February 2020
• The S&P 500 and NASDAQ followed similar upward trends, driven by investor optimism around deregulation and tax policy
Deregulation
The Trump administration emphasized deregulation, claiming a ratio of 8 regulations eliminated for every new one introduced.
Areas targeted included energy, finance, agriculture, and labor. In 2019 alone, estimated regulatory savings for businesses reached $13.5 billion annually.
Trade Policy and Manufacturing
Trump renegotiated NAFTA into the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), updating provisions for labor, auto manufacturing, and digital commerce.
While tariffs on China were controversial, they were part of a broader strategy to encourage fair trade.
Between 2016 and 2019, manufacturing added over 450,000 jobs, before COVID-19 halted growth.
Energy Independence
The U.S. became the world’s top producer of oil and natural gas under Trump.
• Energy exports increased significantly
• In 2019, the U.S. became a net energy exporter for the first time in nearly 70 years
• Environmental rollbacks supported expanded domestic energy production
Sources:
1. Congressional Budget Office. “The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2018 to 2028.” April 2018.
2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Civilian Unemployment Rate, 2016–2020.”
3. U.S. Census Bureau. “Income and Poverty in the United States: 2019.” Issued September 2020.
4. Yahoo Finance historical data; MarketWatch. “Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Performance, 2017–2020.”
5. Office of Management and Budget. “Regulatory Reform under Executive Order 13771: Final Accounting.” 2019.
6. Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. “USMCA Fact Sheet.” 2020.
7. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Manufacturing Employment Data, 2016–2020.”
8. U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). “U.S. Becomes Net Energy Exporter.” November 2019.
Mike – If there is a plan then lets hear it but we know there isn’t. It’s just slapdash and stopped before it even started. Don and his friends made out well on the insider trading thought. This is just more of the “quid pro quo” from his first term. What will you give ME if I don’t institute the tariffs. Notice I said ME because he has no other person he wants to benefit more. Once again you MAGA’s astound me with an ignorance that is disturbing at best.
Continuing to do what we have done wasn’t working.
Trump is a businessman.
He made a lot of good decisions before, so going to let him work and give it time.
If we can shutter the country for a year due to the China Virus,
we can let negotiations play out for our economic health.
Calling Trump a businessman is like calling Al Capone a philanthropist. And I’d love to hear your list of previous good decisions. And seriously, our economic health was great before Dear Leader took over. No one has ever destroyed an economy faster than Don the Con. We could talk about the insider trading last week but I’m sure you don’t want to talk about that but it sure mad Don and his friends richer.