Untariffing the tabs ...
Chuck Schumer claims "the Trump slump is upon us now" as the stock market SKYROCKETS 📈 pic.twitter.com/m8q0ec6r3l
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 9, 2025
Ed: Perhaps Schumer should have been paying closer attention.
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A key Apple supplier has suggested it could shift some production to the US and other countries in order to dodge the brunt of President Trump’s 104% tariffs on China.
Luxshare, a Chinese firm that assembles iPhones and makes AirPods, will also reconsider some planned investments in China as Trump’s trade war plays out, chairwoman Wang Laichun said during a lengthy call with analysts on Wednesday.
“If there is a commercial guarantee and we are able to conduct a good evaluation, we do not rule out having some products being localized to meet the needs of the US market,” Wang said, according to a transcript obtained by Reuters.
Ed: China is the whole ball game on trade. We need to rally the world to isolate China economically and kneecap their expansionist ambitions. Forcing these supply chains out of China is essential; rehoming manufacturing capacity to the US is even more important.
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🚨TREASURY SECRETARY BESSENT THROWS DOWN THE GAUNTLET TO CHINA!
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 9, 2025
"The only certainty we can provide is that the U.S. is going to negotiate in good faith...What I am certain of, is that what China is doing will affect their economy MUCH MORE than it will ours!" pic.twitter.com/Dblpbjsknr
Ed: That's true of tariffs generally, of course. That's why the markets responded so poorly to "Liberation Day," and why the 90-day pause on tariffs with cooperative partners generated a boom in the markets today. Bessent has consistently characterized the tariffs as a vehicle for negotiation, while Peter Navarro characterized them as non-negotiable. I suspect that Navarro just lost to Bessent in this policy fight, and I wonder how long Navarro will remain in the White House after this.
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NEW: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent rips the Spanish government, says they will be slitting their own throat if they side with China.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 9, 2025
The comment comes after Spain announced they are considering pursuing closer trade ties with China.
"Spain made some comments this morning.… pic.twitter.com/xQUs9E7pI6
Ed: In fairness, it's easier to choose our side when we're not escalating tariffs on them. But yes, the point of all this should be to force other countries to decide whether to engage with us or with China -- and make sure they understand the consequences of that choice.
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President Trump has introduced a number of new tariff policies, and I and my team are already digging into the details. I’ll have more to say on the specifics in the next few days.
— Congressman Jared Golden (@RepGolden) April 2, 2025
What I can say now is I’m pleased the president is building his tariff agenda on the foundation of…
What I can say now is I’m pleased the president is building his tariff agenda on the foundation of a universal 10 percent tariff like the one I proposed in the BUILT USA Act. This ring fence around the American economy is a good start to erasing our unsustainable trade deficits.
Ed: This is from last week but it's definitely worth including today. Trump took the tariff effort back to Golden's structuring here today, at least temporarily with this pause. Golden is one of the few Democrats on Capitol Hill willing to side with Trump on trade, and today he gets to offer a big I Told You So, if he so chooses.
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Trump plans to sign an executive order on Wednesday rolling back a federal regulation he has blamed for poor water pressure. His order would eliminate restrictions the Obama administration placed on how much water can flow from shower heads, an effort to conserve resources. Trump relaxed those standards during his first term, but President Joe Biden put them back in place.
“No longer will shower heads be weak and worthless,” said a draft of Trump’s order, adding that it intended to “make America’s showers great again.”
Ed: I'm grateful for this, but we need statutory language that will prevent the executive branch from imposing these regulations again in the future. If these restrictions are necessary, then Congress should pass them through law rather than have bureaucrats meddle with our fixtures and appliances to suit their tastes.
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NEW: Kevin O’Leary calls for 400% tariffs on China, says it’s time to “squeeze Chinese heads into the wall.”
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 9, 2025
O’Leary praised Trump for playing hardball with the Chinese.
“They cheat, they steal. They steal IP. I can't litigate in their courts.”
“You may not like Trump, you may… pic.twitter.com/PMVaDzP5V4
Ed: This was before the pause announcement, but I assume O'Leary's pretty happy at the moment with 125%.
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The Trump administration's massive tariffs on China have Apple reportedly flying planes full of iPhones to the U.S. and consumers rushing to buy them before the prices potentially skyrocket. ...
Apple can turn to alternate iPhone suppliers like India and Vietnam but it would take time and investment before they could match China's huge output.
The Trump administration has said Apple should shift iPhone manufacturing to the U.S., but Apple CEO Tim Cook has previously stressed that it's not possible to find skilled industrial labor in the U.S. on a scale anywhere near what China offers.
Ed: Nonsense. They can be found here, but Tim Cook would have to pay them something above the slave-labor costs that Apple currently enjoys in China. That's a back-door subsidy that Apple has enjoyed for far too long, and its products are still more expensive than their competitors.
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The benefit of @realDonaldTrump’s approach is that we now understand who are our preferred trading partners, and who the problems are. China has shown themselves to be a bad actor.
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) April 9, 2025
Our counterparties also have a taste of what life is like if they don’t take down their trade…
Our counterparties also have a taste of what life is like if they don’t take down their trade barriers.
This is the perfect setup for trade negotiations over the next 90 days.
Advice for China:
Pick up the phone and call the President. He is a tough but fair negotiator. The longer China holds out and retaliates, the worse the outcome for China.
Ed: Ackman was publicly criticizing these tariffs a couple of days ago. I still think that the White House changed its strategy after seeing the market reaction last week, and that Scott Bessent ended up gaining Trump's trust. There's nothing wrong with changing assessments as new data comes in and adjusting strategies as a result, either.
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One of the ways Jill Biden's and the president's top aides tried to weather the calls for him to step down, according to Allen and Parnes, was by inflicting "serious reputation damage" on Harris in the weeks following the debate. "They sent electronic messages to people trashing the vice president, saying if you keep pushing on Joe Biden to get out, you’re going to end up with Kamala Harris, and that’s going to be a huge mistake," Allen told Vanity Fair. Jill didn't like the VP in part because she "had never gotten over" Harris's racially charged attack—during the 2020 primary campaign—on Biden's opposition to federal busing mandates designed to integrate public schools in the 1970s. Allen and Parnes describe her as "the keeper of the vindictive flame for the family." Even after the election, she remains "really bitter at Harris," according to a family friend.
Jill's "venom was even more potent" when it came to former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), the most prominent Democratic who had publicly prodded Biden to step aside. In December, when Pelosi needed hip replacement after suffering a fall in Luxembourg, the first lady "wasn't interested" in sending her condolences, a slight that did not go unnoticed.
Ed: Behold my shocked face. What's so funny thus far about the Now It Can Be Told genre in post-Biden political literature is how well it tracks with the assumptions made by anyone who paid attention to the White House during those four years. And if it tracks so well, where were all of these Now It Can Be Told 'journalists' before June 27, 2024?
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