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Tariff On, Tariff Off. Is it an insider's Game? (Updated) [1]

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Date: 2025-04-23

It’s been a tumultuous few weeks with trump’s stupid tariffs creating havoc in the U.S. and the world economy. And possibly creating high profits for those on the inside of these erratic announcements.

Here are some additional developments today.

Tariff relief for selected companies

From www.nytimes.com/...

Businesses Plead for Tariff Breaks After Trump Spares iPhones Top lobbying groups for the agriculture, construction, manufacturing, retail and technology industries have pleaded with the White House in recent days to relax more of its tariffs. On Monday, executives from retailers including Home Depot, Target and Walmart became the latest to raise their concerns directly with Mr. Trump.

We fully expected companies and products to get individual relief — if they kissed trump’s ring?

Bessent tells investors that China Tariffs will come down

From finance.yahoo.com/…

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told a closed-door investor summit Tuesday that the tariff standoff with China is unsustainable and that he expects the situation to de-escalate. Bessent added that negotiations haven’t started but that a deal is possible.

The summit wasn’t open to the public or media. Why not? Why aren’t these pronouncements made to the public?

Also, is this market manipulation? Stock process rose today, in anticipation of tariff relief.

Or was this the plan all along for trump to back off on tariffs on China?

trump announces China tariff relief

trump later today told reporters that China tariffs will come down. finance.yahoo.com/...

145% is very high, and it won't be that high. It will come down substantially. It won't be zero. It used to be zero.

Isn’t this more market manipulation?

And no, tariffs against China were never zero.

Will the Fed Chair be fired or not?

After a recent series of attacks against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, trump told reporters today that he has no intention of firing him. finance.yahoo.com/...

Never did. The press runs away with things. No, I have no intention of firing him.

Is this psychological manipulation of the Fed Chair and/or market manipulation?

Futures for the major stock indexes rose after trump’s announcements. finance.yahoo.com/...

Solar Cells

Now, trump wants to to slap tariffs as high as 3,500% on solar panels from Southeast Asia. www.upi.com/...

The United States is set to impose tariffs of up to 3,521% on solar panels imported via a small number of Southeast Asian nations. On Tuesday, the U.S. Commerce Department announced new tariffs targeted at companies in Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and Vietnam after a year-long investigation on allegations that Chinese subsidiary companies were flooding the American market with cheap goods.

We suppose, trump hates green energy anyways.

Higher taxes on the wealthy? Seriously?

From www.washingtonpost.com/…

President Donald Trump’s inner circle is weighing whether the White House should back raising taxes on Americans earning more than $1 million per year as part of the GOP’s 2025 tax legislation. Bannon said — “Politically, it’s game, set, match — it’s a no-brainer. This would destroy the Democrats.” Does anyone believe it? Is it intended to gaslight the nation and co-opt an issue championed by Democrats? Since the wealthy make their earnings in capital gains or unrealized paper gains, the increased tax rate will have little effect anyways on tax revenues.

No surprise on who will pay for the tariffs

From finance.yahoo.com/…

Americans are expecting a tariff-fueled price surge. Corporate America says they're right: Morning Brief. On Tuesday, two members of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and stalwarts of corporate America — Verizon and 3M — made one thing clear: Should tariff costs materialize, we will pass those on. Reporting from the Wall Street Journal looked at how some smaller businesses could be put on the brink of extinction as the harshest levies on Chinese imports take effect.

Some of these predictions will change if trump backs off on the tariffs, partially or fully, but the harm has already been done to the economy and to individual savings and retirement accounts, and the effects will continue for years to come.

Tariff Profiteering?

Gallego and Sen. Adam Schiff sent a letter Thursday to the White House chief of staff and the U.S. Office of Government Ethics requesting an “urgent inquiry” into whether Trump, his family and other members of his administration engaged in “illegal financial transactions informed by advanced knowledge of non-public information regarding his changes to tariff policy.”

corporations a “new set of excuses to price-gouge American consumers” and arguing that companies will probably put up prices even for goods that do not face additional border taxes In the US, the Democrat senator Elizabeth Warren has warned Trump’s tariffs could lead to profiteering, givingAmerican consumers” and arguing that companies will probably put up prices even for goods that do not face additional border taxes

IMF Outlook

Meanwhile, the IMF is forecasting severe de-growth in world economies, because of the tariffs and market whiplashes. www.imf.org/…

The global economic system under which most countries have operated for the last 80 years is being reset, ushering the world into a new era. Existing rules are challenged while new ones are yet to emerge. Since late January, a flurry of tariff announcements by the United States, which started with Canada, China, Mexico and critical sectors, culminated with near universal levies on April 2. The US effective tariff rate surged past levels reached during the Great Depression while counter-responses from major trading partners significantly pushed up the global rate. The resulting epistemic uncertainty and policy unpredictability is a major driver of the economic outlook. If sustained, this abrupt increase in tariffs and attendant uncertainty will significantly slow global growth.

Epilogue

Let’s make sure that the electorate — Democrats, Republican and Independent — understand that all these shenanigans are there to serve the Republican elites, not the people. Small businesses are suffering, saving and retirement accounts are shrinking, jobs are being lost, costs are going up, the collective knowledge and expertise of the government is being decimated. The only way to end this madness is to elect Democrats into office nationwide.

What does your crystal ball say about the events in the coming weeks? Will the economy and stock market recover? Will trump continue to manipulate markets, companies, countries and the American People? Will Democratic leaders offer a more concerted effort to stop the trump blitzkrieg?

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