The trade and economy mega-thread (3 Viewers)

[superchuck500]

Is there a trade deal with China? Is it really a deal or just a pull-back to status quo ante? Is Trump advancing US interests in this well-executed trade battle plan or was this poorly conceived from the start . . . and harmful?

I think the jury's still out, but I haven't seen that the Chinese are offering much in compromise - and it's not even clear if there's going to be an agreement. But it's clear they are working on something and I'm sure Trump will sell it as the greatest trade deal ever. The proof will be in the details.

 

[longtime lurker]

Mortgage rates surge over 7% as tariffs hit bond market

Mortgage rates surged over 7% to end the week, after massive volatility in bond markets surrounding President Donald Trump's tariff agenda.

www.cnbc.com

 

[superchuck500]

 

[nolaspe]

Good for them, I wouldn't want to visit this giant dumpster fire either...

 

[nolaspe]

 

[nolaspe]

 

[nolaspe]

 

[FullMonte]

I've said it over and over again...It's very clear what is happening here.

Donald Trump is playing chess while the rest of the world is dealing with geopolitical economies on a global scale.

 

[bird]

I've said it over and over again...It's very clear what is happening here.

Donald Trump is playing chess while the rest of the world is dealing with geopolitical economies on a global scale.

Yeah, and he is playing against himself.

And we’re losing.

 

[nolaspe]

 

[Optimus Prime]

Smartphones and computers are now exempt from Trump’s latest tariffs | CNN Business

Electronics imported to the United States will be exempt from President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, according to a US Customs and Border Protection notice posted on Friday.

www.cnn.com

 

[fooferdoggie]

this is like the typical trump admin.

Um, It Turns Out No One at the Ports Is Collecting Trump’s Tariffs

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark

 

[bird]

Smartphones and computers are now exempt from Trump’s latest tariffs | CNN Business

Electronics imported to the United States will be exempt from President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, according to a US Customs and Border Protection notice posted on Friday.

www.cnn.com

I am stunned, not.

 

[bird]

this is like the typical trump admin.

Um, It Turns Out No One at the Ports Is Collecting Trump’s Tariffs

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark

I am shocked, shocked, I tell you.

 

[UriUT]

So there it is.

 

[longtime lurker]

Trump can pull stocks back from the brink, but bond and currency markets may not be so easily impressed as they rapidly de-dollarize

"The fact that the dollar is going down at the same time, I think, lends some more credibility to the story of investor preferences shifting."

fortune.com

 

[nolaspe]

I'm so weary of all of this winning, amirite? Lol...

 

[Optimus Prime]

While Donald Trump recently instituted and paused hefty tariffs, sparking a trade war and chaos in financial markets, most of the country’s conservative media either applauded the US president or critiqued the policy but not the person behind it, according to journalists and observers of conservative media.

Meanwhile, economists, business leaders, Democrats and even some Republicans warned that the tariffs, which prompted the largest American stock market drop since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, could cause a recession.

“News is what impacts the greatest number of people,” like tariffs and “the evaporation of wealth and the ripple effect on not just the US economy, but the global economy”, said Howard Polskin, president of The Righting, a newsletter and website that monitors conservative media. “By any stretch of imagination, that should be a lead story.”

But the chaos of last week posed a serious challenge to many aspects of rightwing US media, which often acts as a largely unquestioning cheerleader for Trump and his Maga movement.

The story was sometimes played down, sometimes cheered but rarely seriously questioned – even amid warnings of price rises, recession and cratering investments, especially precious 401(k) retirement accounts.

The most popular conservative news source in the United States is Fox News, which has a much larger audience than CNN and the leftwing MSNBC network. Its hosts, such as Sean Hannity and Jesse Watters, consistently praise Trump and bolster his inaccurate claims.

But Fox News has faced new competition from Newsmax and One American News Network (OANN), networks that positioned themselves as even more reliable Trump supporters.

The Wall Street Journal, which has the same owner as Fox News, features a right-leaning opinion section, but also has done lengthy investigations into Trumpand Joe Biden and is a favorite among people in the financial sector.

Rightwing commentators such as Tucker Carlson and Ben Shapiro also command a large audience through podcasts and social media.

After Trump declared 2 April “liberation day” and announced that the country would on 5 April institute a 10% universal tariff on all imported goods and on 9 April start “reciprocal tariffs” on some of its largest trading partners, including a 34% tariff on imports from China and a 20% tariff on goods from the European Union, Hannity described it as “a day that will be remembered as a turning point and the start, I hope for every American, of a new golden age”.

China retaliated with a 34% tariff. Global stock markets fell sharply; the Dow Jones industrial average declined more than 2,000 points over the next two days.

Economists and leaders of financial institutions said that the tariffs increased the likelihood of a recession and inflation.

Most Republican lawmakers stood behind the president; a minority, like Senators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, expressed opposition and said the tariffs amounted to a tax increase for Americans.

While Fox Business, a sibling network, had guestswho criticized the tariffs, Fox News personalities told viewers nervous about their investments that everything would work out well.

A Fox News spokesperson did not respond to the Guardian’s requests for an interview.

“I don’t really care about my 401(k) today,” Jeanine Pirro said on 3 April on the show The Five. “We’ve got to have manufacturing in this country … and Donald Trump is the only one who could do it because he’s got the biggest consumer base in the world. He’s not afraid of anybody.”

Despite the market upheaval, the Fox Newscommentators were “in too deep” to break with Trump, said Matt Gertz, a senior fellow at Media Matters for America, a leftwing advocacy group.

“They have, for nearly a decade now, sold their audience on the sense that Donald Trump would be a good president,” Gertz said 7 April. “Now he is single-handedly causing a worldwide market collapse,” but “they can’t abandon him”.…….

‘A new golden age’: how rightwing media stuck by Trump as global markets collapsed

Trump’s tariffs were sometimes played down, sometimes cheered but rarely seriously questioned by the right

www.theguardian.com

 

[ktulu909]

this is like the typical trump admin.

Um, It Turns Out No One at the Ports Is Collecting Trump’s Tariffs

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark

Ive been working on a couple of small projects involving some orders from AliExpress as recent as this week and havnt paid a dime in tarrifs. Now maybe ive been lucky,or something else is going on.