Terror Tariffs: Bank It!

February 2, 2025

Clear and a bit chilly this late-afternoon Sunday here in California’s Central Valley — no matter how you look at it, in the morning we’ll face another Monday. If we survive the night, that is …

And adding fuel to a shitlist of ugly shit from that stinky piece of shit, the T-Rump, the last two Mondays have been etched into the unhinged, upheaval-like part of our country’s nefarious history.
And beyond what the Orange Turd and his creepy-shit shadow Elton Musk have done, it’s seemingly finally going to hit the financial resources of life nowadays — in the US first, followed by the world. Yesterday, the T-Rump did the act — he signed off on some shit that could have some bad, bad reactions.
(Axios): ‘Economists fear the across-the-board tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China — and the immediate retaliation that followed — could further stress already strained U.S. households and walk back recent economic gains.

Sometimes shit stinks from far away:

Goldman Sachs, Jan 21: "Despite Trump’s comments that the 25% tariff will be implemented in 10 days, we continue to believe the odds of a 25% tariff on Canada and Mexico are low (20%)." Why have analysts been caught so flat-footed by Trump doing *exactly what he said he would*?

Paul Krugman (@pkrugman.bsky.social) 2025-02-02T00:25:33.397Z

And always does up close (Reuters): ‘President Donald Trump said on Sunday the sweeping tariffs that he has imposed on Mexico, Canada and China may cause “some pain” for Americans, as Wall Street and the largest U.S. trading partners signaled hope that the trade war would not last long.

Of course, there was no explanation of what ‘some pain‘ actually meant or anything, other than it “will all be worth the price,”
Yeah, right.
And not just us — it’s a shit on the world (the Guardian):

Deutsche Bank’s top currency strategist, George Saravelos, said if Trump’s tariffs went ahead, they would be the “largest shock” in global trade policy since the end of the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates half a century ago.

“We see immediate recessionary consequences for some of the economies involved and broad-based negative read-across to the world economy,” Saravelos added.

Paul Ashworth, the chief North America economist at Capital Economics, warned that Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China was “just the first strike in what could become a very destructive global trade war”.

“Imports from the European Union will be hit within the next month or two and a universal tariff is coming in April. Since exports to the US account for around 20% of their GDP, today’s tariffs could plunge both the Canadian and Mexican economies into recession later this year,” Ashworth added.

Pop!

Terror tariffs, or not, yet here we are once again …

(Illustration out front: Pablo Picasso’s ‘Agonizing Horse,’ found here.)

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