"Trump’s Economic War Against The
Communist Chinese Empire Just Went Nuclear"
by Michael Snyder
"Well, isn’t this fun? News that President Trump had decided to pause some of the tariffs that he recently unveiled for 90 days sent stock prices soaring. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up more than 2,900 points on Wednesday, and that is very good news. But not that much has actually changed, and the global trade war is still officially on. In fact, President Trump just hiked the tariff rate on Chinese imports to 125 percent…
"President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he was authorizing a 90-day pause in reciprocal tariffs to all countries except China, on which he was raising the levy to 125% in the latest twist of a saga that has roiled financial markets for a week. The universal 10% tariffs remain in place."
So let’s summarize what just happened.
-The universal baseline 10 percent tariffs are still in effect.
-The additional reciprocal tariffs that were recently announced have only been delayed for 3 months to allow for negotiations to take place.
-The tariff rate on products that we import from China has now been raised to a whopping 125 percent.
-Other previously announced tariffs remain in place.
As you can see, the reality of what we are facing hasn’t really changed much at all. But headlines that boldly proclaimed that “the tariffs have been paused” sent stock prices screaming higher. The extraordinary rally that we just witnessed really didn’t make much sense at all, but we’ll take it. These days, any victory that we can get is a reason to celebrate.
Of course there shouldn’t have been any confusion about what Trump just announced, because what he posted on his Truth Social account was very clear. "Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately. At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable. Conversely, and based on the fact that more than 75 Countries have called Representatives of the United States, including the Departments of Commerce, Treasury, and the USTR, to negotiate a solution to the subjects being discussed relative to Trade, Trade Barriers, Tariffs, Currency Manipulation, and Non Monetary Tariffs, and that these Countries have not, at my strong suggestion, retaliated in any way, shape, or form against the United States, I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
Virtually everybody is still being hit with a 10 percent universal tariff. And our economic war with China has just gone nuclear.The reason why Trump raised the tariff rate on Chinese goods to 125 percent is because the Chinese just dramatically hiked the tariff rate on U.S. imports…"China said it is raising its tariffs on U.S. products to 84%, up from its previously announced 34%, after President Trump’s import duties on Chinese good went into effect today at a rate of 104%."
In addition to hitting the Chinese with a tariff rate of 125 percent, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is warning that President Trump is also considering removing Chinese companies from our stock exchanges…"He also said that all policy options remain open, including the possibility of removing Chinese companies from U.S. stock exchanges. “Everything’s on the table,” before adding that it will be the President Trump who will decide on this matter."
Can you imagine what would happen if Trump actually did this and then the Chinese retaliated by doing the same thing to U.S. companies? It would be a bloodbath. Our economy has been so deeply entangled with the Chinese economy for so many years, but now an economic death match between our two nations has begun.
If there are products from China that you wish to purchase, I would get them now while you still can. It is being reported that Amazon has already been canceling orders for products that are imported from China…"Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) has canceled orders for multiple products made in China and other Asian countries, according to a document reviewed by Bloomberg and people familiar with the matter, suggesting the company is reducing its exposure to tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump.
The orders for beach chairs, scooters, air conditioners and other merchandise from multiple Amazon vendors were halted after Trump’s April 2 announcement that he planned to levy tariffs on more than 180 countries and territories, including China, Vietnam and Thailand, the people said. The timing of the cancellations, which had no warning, led the vendors to suspect it was a response to tariffs."
In a few months, there will be shortages of certain products that we have become dependent on China to produce for us. In addition, we are being warned to brace ourselves for “significant price shocks”…"Americans will be hit by significant price shocks on a huge array of everyday items under sweeping tariffs imposed by President Trump. Clothes, shoes, electronics and cars will be impacted, alongside food, alcohol, and many other essentials." A lot of people are telling me that the short-term pain will be worth it because everything will work out in the end. So let’s see how things play out.
President Trump has also announced that new tariffs will be coming on imported pharmaceuticals…"US President Donald Trump says he will soon announce “major” tariffs on imported pharmaceuticals, a move that could end decades of low-cost global trade in medicines. For years, most countries, including the US, have imposed few or no tariffs on finished drugs, thanks in part to a 1995 World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement aimed at keeping medicines affordable." This is going to be interesting. We are very heavily dependent on pharmaceutical production from China. Needless to say, the drug shortages that we have been witnessing in recent years are only going to intensify, and prices are likely to go haywire."
Meanwhile, our farmers are going to suffer because the Chinese aren’t going to be buying their output. At this stage, it is being reported that Trump administration officials are considering a new round of bailouts for U.S. farmers…"The Trump administration is exploring options to shield American farmers from deepening fallout as its trade conflict with China intensifies, including a possible revival of bailout programs once used during earlier skirmishes with Beijing.
According to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, officials are “looking at that again,” referencing a $28 billion aid package deployed during President Trump’s first term through the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), a government-owned entity designed to support farm incomes and prices. “Obviously everything is on the table, but we’re in such a period of uncertainty in terms of what this looks like,” Rollins told Bloomberg Wednesday at the White House, adding that no final decisions had been made, emphasizing the administration’s hope that aid wouldn’t be necessary.
What about the rest of us? Can we get bailouts too? This economic war between the U.S. and China is going to cause pain on both sides of the Pacific. Those that assume that this is going to be a one-sided match simply do not understand how much the Chinese economy has grown in recent years. For example, one Chinese electronics giant is doing things that nobody else in the world is doing…"I’d never seen anything like this Huawei campus. Built in just over three years, it consists of 104 individually designed buildings, with manicured lawns, connected by a Disney-like monorail, housing labs for up to 35,000 scientists, engineers and other workers, offering 100 cafes, plus fitness centers and other perks designed to attract the best Chinese and foreign technologists.
The Lianqiu Lake R&D campus is basically Huawei’s response to the U.S. attempt to choke it to death beginning in 2019 by restricting the export of U.S. technology, including semiconductors, to Huawei amid national security concerns. The ban inflicted massive losses on Huawei, but with the Chinese government’s help, the company sought to innovate its way around us. As South Korea’s Maeil Business Newspaper reported last year, it’s been doing just that: “Huawei surprised the world by introducing the ‘Mate 60’ series, a smartphone equipped with advanced semiconductors, last year despite U.S. sanctions.” Huawei followed with the world’s first triple-folding smartphone and unveiled its own mobile operating system, Hongmeng (Harmony), to compete with Apple’s and Google’s."
President Trump is going to do his best to crush China, and the Chinese are going to do their best to crush us. My concern is that this economic war could ultimately lead to a shooting war. Our relations with China are going downhill really fast, and the Chinese have been engaged in a “staggering” military buildup…"NATO must not be ‘naive’ about China in light of Beijing’s ‘staggering’ expansion of its armed forces, the alliance’s chief has warned. Mark Rutte said the country’s substantial investments in its defence capabilities must act as a wake-up call for Western nations who have not taken the threat seriously so far."
For years, I have been warning over and over again that the U.S. and China are headed for an inevitable military showdown. Many criticized me for this for a long time, but now we can literally see how we are going to get there. History is being made right in front of our eyes, and the Chinese are pledging to fight this economic war to the end. But if this economic war ultimately evolves into something else, we will all be wishing that we could turn back the clock."
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