Trump’s New Tariff Twist, a $250 Million A.I. Job Offer, Your Friday News Quiz | The Headlines
Child vaccination rates have declined again, likely causing an increase in formerly rare diseases.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0s8dAMhLgI
Tag: taxes
USA Vehicle Disaster
The Japanese trade deal is actually bad for U.S. car companies. Cars manufactured in Japan will have a 15% tariff on them, but cars made in Mexico by U.S. companies will have a 25% tariff, giving U.S. companies a disadvantage. They could move that back to the U.S., but the move itself is costly, and the cost to make the cars in the U.S. is even costlier.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfxC6hCMlmI
Can Trump Use Emergency Powers To Tax All Imports? His Tariffs Are Back in Court on Thursday.
“the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit will hear oral arguments in a case that could determine the fate of the Trump tariffs—or clear the way for a huge expansion of executive control over economic affairs. The administration is appealing a May decision from the Court of International Trade (CIT), where judges unanimously sided with a collection of small business owners and state attorneys general who challenged the president’s use of emergency powers to impose tariffs on nearly all imports.
At the center of the case is the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), the 1977 law that the Trump administration used in February to slap tariffs on imports from Canada, China, and Mexico. The Trump administration again invoked IEEPA to impose its so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs in early April, which included a universal 10 percent tariff on all imports and higher, country-specific tariffs, some of which are set to go into effect on August 1 after being delayed several times.
In May, the CIT ruled that Trump had overstepped the authority granted by the emergency powers law. “We do not read IEEPA to delegate an unbounded tariff authority to the president,” the judges said in a unanimous opinion. “We instead read IEEPA’s provisions to impose meaningful limits on any such authority it confers.”
The Trump administration appealed that ruling, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit placed a temporary stay on the lower court’s ruling, allowing the tariffs to remain in force until the appeals court has a chance to review the case.”
https://reason.com/2025/07/30/can-trump-use-emergency-powers-to-tax-all-imports-his-tariffs-are-back-in-court-on-thursday/
Yes, Tariffs Are Raising Prices
“All taxes are paid by someone, and President Donald Trump’s tariffs are no exception to that rule. The question of who pays and in what amounts is likely to become even more of a focal point in the coming days and weeks, as the White House follows through on its threat to hit imports from dozens of countries with higher tariffs starting on August 1.
Economic data from the past few months, during which the Trump administration hiked tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada, China, and elsewhere, provide a preview of what’s to come after the August 1 tariffs hit: Higher prices for Americans.
That is, of course, what economists say tariffs do. Raising prices is really the only function of a tariff—which artificially inflates the price of imported goods to make them less attractive than domestic alternatives. Economists will also tell you that’s not the whole story. They say that domestic producers often raise prices as well, since imported competing goods are now more expensive. They also say that tariffs on raw materials and intermediate parts—like the Trump administration’s levies on steel, aluminum, and the parts necessary to build a car—will push up the cost of building other, more complex goods, and those higher costs will be passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices.
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There have been “relatively quick price responses to tariff announcements,” report a group of economists connected to the Harvard Business School’s Pricing Lab, which tracks prices throughout the economy. In a paper updated earlier this month, the Harvard economists report that there’s been a “cumulative increase in imported goods prices since early March” of approximately 3 percent. The paper relies on data from four major U.S. retail chains.
Their data show that prices for both imported and domestic goods have climbed since Trump took office, with foreign-made goods increasing more quickly thanks to two noticeable leaps that occurred right after Trump’s tariff announcements in early March and early April.
https://reason.com/2025/07/29/yes-tariffs-are-raising-prices/
Did Trump Just Trick the E.U. Into a Trade Deal? | Raging Moderates
Prof G and Jessica Tarlov are big fans of Hilldog.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5dgHs_wIkE
Europe Caves to Trump on Tariffs
Trump’s EU trade deal is only a win if a 15% tax on imports from Europe is a win. Things from Europe being more expensive, and importing companies making less money, are bad for the economy and the people in it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6htfcWxknU
EU admits it can’t guarantee $600B promise to Trump
“The European Union has admitted it doesn’t have the power to deliver on a promise to invest $600 billion in the United States economy, only hours after making the pledge at landmark trade talks in Scotland.
That’s because the cash would come entirely from private sector investment over which Brussels has no authority, two EU officials said.
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The EU officials said that the estimated $600 billion will add to the EU’s current $2.8 trillion private investments in the U.S. that accounts for approximately 3.4 million jobs.”
https://www.politico.eu/article/eus-600bn-us-investment-will-come-exclusively-from-private-sector/
Is America Ceding Ground to China in the Pacific?
U.S. tariffing and ending aid to Pacific countries in such a way that makes the U.S. look like an erratic and bad partner, and makes China look relatively better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B77a8o3RSUw
Scott Bessent Takes Premature Victory Lap on Tariff Revenues
“The revenue undoubtedly came from a surge in imports to the U.S., which led to payments that filled federal coffers. It would seem to be a win for an administration that has staked an awful lot on waging a trade war with the entire planet to (take your pick) redress wrongs done to America, raise revenue for the government, and encourage domestic manufacturing and employment. But that victory lap comes too soon; the tariff windfall more likely represents efforts by U.S. firms to accumulate inventory before tariff rates rise even higher.”
https://reason.com/2025/07/18/scott-bessent-takes-premature-victory-lap-on-tariff-revenues/
Liberation Day 2.0 Is Here — When Will We See the Tariff Fallout? | Prof G Markets
The U.S., being the more innovative and intellectual property driven country, gets more value in trade from many countries even when we have a trade deficit. Trump trying to mess with such relationships is foolish. China really was/is a bad actor and needs to be dealt with strategically.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHL7Kqz9tSM