Lone Candle
Champion of Truth
Tariffs degrade long run efficiency, but uncertainty caused by Trump’s erratic use of tariffs has a greater negative effect on the economy in the short term.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEPXbtFx8v4
Trump’s deal with China has made things less bad than they were before the meeting, but they are still way worse than they were before Trump engaged in a trade war with China.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr-gB3BNykQ
“Board game makers have been hit particularly hard by Trump’s tariffs, which have raised the cost of importing just about everything. Cephalofair is based in California, but like many other businesses in the industry, Johnson’s company relies on contractors in China and Vietnam to make the tokens, pawns, cards, and other physical elements of its games.
Manufacturing all those parts in the U.S. is not possible if game companies want their products to be competitively priced. With high tariffs in place, the costs compound quickly. Nathan McNair, the co-owner of Pandasaurus Games, broke down the math in a post on his company’s website. The added cost of the tariffs makes every step more complicated, from design to sales, and can even change what games a company chooses to make in the first place. “This has not just squeezed our margin; this has substantially increased our risk,” he concluded.
Trump’s tariffs have already stung Cephalofair in several ways.
…
for businesses like Johnson’s, which can’t afford to risk the possibility of being hit with a massive tariff bill just because a shipment arrives at the wrong time.
Instead, those businesses will do what Johnson has done: Delay orders, slow production, and hope more stability emerges.”
https://reason.com/2025/10/31/trumps-tariff-chaos-crushes-board-game-makers-the-u-s-is-our-least-trustworthy-trading-partner/
“the “national security” argument clearly has been foundational to Trump’s trade policies. Higher tariffs will make America’s military more self-sufficient and capable against future threats; that’s the White House’s point of view.
One problem: that’s not how the people actually in charge of America’s national security see it.
“The Defense Department routinely acquires items and materials from foreign sources indispensable to meet defense needs that are not readily available or produced in sufficient quantities within the United States,” wrote John Tanaglia, director of pricing, contracting, and acquisitions for the Pentagon, in a memo dated August 25.
The memo instructs other officials at the Pentagon to provide “duty-free entry certificates” to military purchases that would otherwise be subject to tariffs. Doing so, the memo explains, will “maximize the Department’s budget to meet warfighter needs.”
First and foremost, that’s yet more proof that tariffs are raising costs for American purchasers of foreign goods. And it is true, of course, that Trump’s tariffs are straining budgets everywhere. Being able to ignore those costs must be nice—many, many businesses across the United States surely wish they had the power to simply wave away those costs as easily as the Pentagon apparently can.”
https://reason.com/2025/10/15/trump-says-tariffs-are-about-national-security-pentagon-officials-say-they-need-a-tariff-exemption/
China’s stranglehold on the supply of rare earths is damaging America’s ability to build military equipment and commercial cars. So far, Trump’s trade war on China is costly with little to no reward.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXd0dTfc2Pk
One reason the U.S. is behind China in rare earth metals is that China can tell companies what to do for the good of the country, while Congress and presidents have allowed companies to chase short-term profits at the expense of the country.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNrMWJiJ3sc
Trump sanctioned a Chinese port for accepting Iranian oil. China put a tax on U.S. ships.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qri0lqnvmAY&t=628s
“”The most persuasive case against protectionism is not the standard one that undergraduate students are taught in their introductions to international economics, which goes like this: Tariffs distort the allocation of resources and impose a ‘deadweight burden,'” Mokyr wrote in the June 1996 issue of Reason. “The standard argument is certainly correct, but somehow it has failed to persuade many people since it was first enunciated by Adam Smith and David Ricardo.”
The better argument, instead, is that “protectionism and insularism impede innovation, depriving our children of the comfort and security that progress and economic growth bring,” he said. “Free trade and international competition not only lead to a better allocation of resources; they ensure that countries do not lull themselves into the technological lethargy that is the archenemy of economic growth.””
https://reason.com/2025/10/13/this-years-nobel-winners-for-economics-explained-how-innovation-makes-us-rich/?nab=1
Europe is just now sanctioning Russia oil refineries in India.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3tEZXBayWc
“A decade ago, only a fairly small group of congressional Democrats voted to support President Barack Obama’s free trade agenda. Protectionism was on the rise, helping fuel the campaigns of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. Most of the “yes” votes for Obama’s trade program were Republicans.”
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/10/05/jared-polis-trump-democrats-campaign-free-trade-inflation-00592744