This is a great presentation that dramatizes what happened to the people in small towns and larger cities in North Carolina with globalization:
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2 thoughts on “A North Carolina Perspective On Trump’s Tariffs”
Here are the players …Peter Navarro ( Mister Tariffs ) and Scott Bessent, US Treasury Secretary and Howard Lutnick, Commerce Secretary.
Bessent has been in the global investment management business for 40 years, according to his official profile. A former adjunct professor at Yale University, he has previously served as the Chief Investment Officer of Soros Fund Management, an investment management firm owned by billionaire investor George Soros. Notably, Soros has long donated funds to the Democratic Party.
Unlike Navarro, Bessent has said tariff negotiations were on the table and that having countries come to this point was the strategy all along. “I think…at the end of the day that we can probably reach a deal with our allies, with the other countries that have been…good military allies and not perfect economic allies. And then we can approach China as a group,” he said. Bessent also warned that despite a “tariff wall” in the US, China could continue dumping goods in other countries.
According to American journalist Charles Gasparino, Bessent’s more conciliatory stance got Trump’s approval and led to the decision on lower tariffs. The FT reported, “The shift in clout on Trump’s trade team reflects the president’s dawning realisation that he has to show he is trying to stabilise markets after withering criticism from all sides of the political spectrum and from many business leaders that he has been too complacent about the damage his tariffs would inflict on the economy and the financial sector.”
Fred, having reciprocal tariffs with countries like France and Germany and England is more justifiable than having reciprocal tariffs with 3rd world countries because the latter will severely undercut our own workers on wages. But the problem with Europe is the value added tax. That is the equivalent of a tariff on our products– in addition to the usual tariffs. We can’t have reciprocal tariffs with countries like China that pay its workers a pittance.
Ideally, Trump would be able to factor all of these considerations into the equation and make the best deal for our country. But as you say, there is a lot of pressure being brought to bear…
Here are the players …Peter Navarro ( Mister Tariffs ) and Scott Bessent, US Treasury Secretary and Howard Lutnick, Commerce Secretary.
Bessent has been in the global investment management business for 40 years, according to his official profile. A former adjunct professor at Yale University, he has previously served as the Chief Investment Officer of Soros Fund Management, an investment management firm owned by billionaire investor George Soros. Notably, Soros has long donated funds to the Democratic Party.
Unlike Navarro, Bessent has said tariff negotiations were on the table and that having countries come to this point was the strategy all along. “I think…at the end of the day that we can probably reach a deal with our allies, with the other countries that have been…good military allies and not perfect economic allies. And then we can approach China as a group,” he said. Bessent also warned that despite a “tariff wall” in the US, China could continue dumping goods in other countries.
According to American journalist Charles Gasparino, Bessent’s more conciliatory stance got Trump’s approval and led to the decision on lower tariffs. The FT reported, “The shift in clout on Trump’s trade team reflects the president’s dawning realisation that he has to show he is trying to stabilise markets after withering criticism from all sides of the political spectrum and from many business leaders that he has been too complacent about the damage his tariffs would inflict on the economy and the financial sector.”
I guess we will find out who Trump listens to.
Fred, having reciprocal tariffs with countries like France and Germany and England is more justifiable than having reciprocal tariffs with 3rd world countries because the latter will severely undercut our own workers on wages. But the problem with Europe is the value added tax. That is the equivalent of a tariff on our products– in addition to the usual tariffs. We can’t have reciprocal tariffs with countries like China that pay its workers a pittance.
Ideally, Trump would be able to factor all of these considerations into the equation and make the best deal for our country. But as you say, there is a lot of pressure being brought to bear…