https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-12-2025
"Trump’s 25% tariffs on all aluminum and steel imported into the U.S. went into
effect today, prompting retaliatory tariffs from the European Union and Canada.
The E.U. announced tariffs on about $28 billion worth of products, including
beef and whiskey, mostly produced by Republican-dominated states. “We deeply
regret this measure,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.
“Tariffs are taxes. They are bad for business, and even worse for consumers.
These tariffs are disrupting supply chains. They bring uncertainty for the
economy.”
Canada also announced new tariffs on Wednesday on about $21 billion worth of
U.S. products, in retaliation for Trump’s tariffs. François-Philippe Champagne,
Canada's minister of innovation, science, and industry, said: “The U.S.
administration is once again inserting disruption and disorder into an
incredibly successful trading partnership and raising the costs of everyday
goods for Canadians and American households alike.”
With the stock market falling and business leaders begging Trump to stop the
trade machinations that are creating the volatility that is wrenching the
economy downward, Trump said yesterday to reporters: “[L]ong-term, what I’m
doing is making our country strong again.”
In an interview on the
CBS Evening News last night, Commerce Secretary Howard
Lutnick, a billionaire financial executive, was asked whether Trump’s economic
policies were “worth it” even if they cause a recession.
“These policies are the most important thing America has ever had,” Lutnick
answered. “It is worth it.”
Former representative Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) reposted Lutnick’s assertion and
said: “In my graduate thesis, I quoted a hardline communist official from
Poland in the 1950s who was asked about terrible shortages of food and housing.
He said people had to sacrifice and “if that’s what it takes to prove the
superiority of socialism, it’s worth it.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
