Today, Trump announced “Liberation Day,” where we’re supposed to celebrate the enormous increase in the prices that we pay for imported items that we all buy on a regular basis. According to CNN, these tariffs will ultimately cost American families $2,100 per year. Gainfully employed citizens are already contending with the cost-of-living increases set upon them by inflation and price gouging. Now, the same government that snatches tax dollars from their checks is making things worse by levying these petty and frivolous fees on countries that we depend on.
America’s average import tax will surge to 19% this year from 2.5% last year — the highest rate since the Smoot-Hawley era in 1933. Fitch Ratings said the rate would rise even higher, sending America’s effective tariff rate to its highest level in more than a century.
As a result, Americans’ after-tax incomes will decline 2.1% on average this year, the Tax Foundation said. Although no one will escape the tariffs, wealthier Americans’ incomes will decline less, the group found.
Oh, goodie, rich people will be ok while the rest of us try to keep our heads above water. Sensational…
Of course, Trump isn’t moved by the impending doom that we’re facing. In fact, his glass isn’t even half full, it’s overflowing with unfounded positivity about how much this will help America go “boom”.
“The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom,” Trump told reporters gathered on the White House South Lawn. “And the rest of the world wants to see if there’s any way that they can make a deal. They’ve taken advantage of us for many, many years. For many years we’ve been at the wrong side of the ball, and I tell you what, I think it’s going to be unbelievable.”
It is “unbelievable”, Donald, because it’s a lie unless by “boom” you mean crash and burn, then sure, “boom” is on the way.
However, the market is not reacting kindly to the Trump tariffs and despite his insistence, they don’t seem to share his rosy outlook on what this will mean for investment and economic growth. Quite the opposite in fact.
The Dow fell 1,400 points, or 3.4%, pulling back from a session low of 1,570 points in the red. The broader S&P 500 was down by 4.3%, hitting its lowest level since September. The tech-heavy Nasdaq plunged 5.5% and also hit its lowest level since September. All three major indexes were on pace for their worst day since the 2022 inflation crisis.
We’re barely through Q1 of the Trump administration, and fires are burning everywhere. This is America.
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