And it’s ridiculous. Y’all, this really is ridiculous! tRump thinks the negotiations aren’t going fast enough, so he’s threatening to triple the current tariff rate on them, outside of the steel and aluminum he’s already slapped on! He was putting 20% on then dropped it, like all others, down to 10% across the board. The 25% on metal was put on everyone before that. And because he’s impatient, he wants to put 50% on instead of leaving the 10% in place. Temper, temper! From Kevin Brenninger on CNBC:
President Donald Trump said he is “recommending a straight 50% Tariff on the European Union” after complaining that trade negotiations have stalled. The announcement came after Trump threatened to impose a tariff of at least 25% on Apple if the company does not start manufacturing iPhones in the United States.
Trump later said he is “not looking for a deal” with the EU. Stock futures sank following Trump’s posts.
Gee, ya think? He’s just making things worse and worse with these idiotic tariffs, so no one is going to want to trade with us anymore. Hello isolation! If China is stepping up with the countries that are pissed with us, I bet the EU could, too. WHY can’t he see how much damage he’s doing? The tariffs *will* be passed along to us consumers. Pretty soon, we will be priced out of almost everything. It’s already hitting my household badly enough. What about the poor people? Will they even be able to *get* the necessities?
“The European Union, which was formed for the primary purpose of taking advantage of the United States on TRADE, has been very difficult to deal with. Their powerful Trade Barriers, Vat Taxes, ridiculous Corporate Penalties, Non-Monetary Trade Barriers, Monetary Manipulations, unfair and unjustified lawsuits against Americans Companies, and more, have led to a Trade Deficit with the U.S. of more than $250,000,000 a year, a number which is totally unacceptable. Our discussions with them are going nowhere! Therefore, I am recommending a straight 50% Tariff on the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025. There is no Tariff if the product is built or manufactured in the United States. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” — President Donald Trump, Truth Social
Asked later Friday if he was looking to cut a deal with the EU in the next nine days, Trump said he was not. “I just said, it’s time that we play the game the way I know how to play the game,” he said during an executive order signing event at the White House. “I’m not looking for a deal,” added Trump, who frequently praises tariffs as a clutch negotiating tool and a way to bring in federal revenue. “I mean, we’ve set the deal. It’s at 50%.”
I would use my usual phrase here, but it’s gotten old and I haven’t come up with a new one yet, so nope. Can you say ridiculous? (I knew you could.) The Cheeto Prophet’s administration seems to be unable to say the same thing that he says. That’s sad. Plus, lies, lies, lies.
It’s a reversal in momentum for Trump, who recently touted preliminary trade “deals” with China and the United Kingdom and has backed off other tariff proposals. Markets were encouraged by those moves, as investors felt relief from the economic uncertainty and instability Trump’s tariffs had threatened to create.
But Trump “believes that the EU proposals have not been of the same quality that we’ve seen from our other important trading partners,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a Fox News interview Friday morning.
Asked if the EU will be able to negotiate in the nine days before the 50% tariffs kick in, Bessent said, “I would hope that this would light a fire under the EU.”
Meanwhile, the White House view Friday morning was that the stock market was overreacting to Trump’s tariff comments, CNBC’s Eamon Javers reported.
Erm, excuse me, but I think that’s a damn good reason to fall, both after the “make iPhones in the US” and then “50% tariff on the EU”. Note that what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said is different from what Agent Orange said. They need to make up their minds. Which is it?
People in the stock market pay *very* close attention to El Presidente Imbécil’s tariffs. I’ll bet they’ve figured out what’s going to happen as a result of these tariffs, too.
“To go to 10% was going to be the highest tariff rate that we had on the world in 90 years. To go to 50% is a completely different order of magnitude,” Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said Friday morning on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
“If they’re putting in place tariffs that have a stagflationary impact, which is to say they slowed down output by raising the cost of production while also raising prices, then that’s the Central Bank’s worst situation,” Goolsbee said.
WHAM. Busted! Thank you, sir! That says it much better than I could (I was trying to). So, yea, they pay attention to tariff news. Now we have tariff increases that are going to hurt us and isolate us further. We have an administration that can’t seem to agree on what they’re talking about for tariffs. And remember, the EU is helping Ukraine, unlike Trumpolini, so this isn’t going to help, either. All because a certain “President” is impatient and can’t make up his mind. Whee? Thanks for sticking with me!
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I could be wrong, it’s just my opinion, but it seems to me that the increased tariffs would drive the EU away from bargaining altogether.
That would be my theory, as well. And it would drive them away from US-made products. I hope they can work with the rest of the world to sell or buy what they need. It would serve him right. It would suck for the country but I would still laugh.