TARIFFS; THE QUESTION IS “WHY?”

The tariff issue has always been a problem that needs to be addressed. It appears that Mr. Trump is managing the tariff situation to his own self-interests. But the question needs to be asked “why now?” Why are we considering a tariff that will only raise the cost of living for everybody and the reciprocal tariffs from other countries will raise the cost of living in those countries as well. A tariff is a tax and the tax in this case is paid directly to the federal government which employs the tariff. With the 25% tariffs that have been placed on many countries imports, it is impossible to imagine in any way sh,ape, or form that our inflation rate in this country will approach less than10% within the next few months. It is impossible for people to accept inflation and the potential implications of everything inflation will do in this country to our dismay. We believe that the Trump tariff plan was originally designed as the negotiation tool to extract from other countries whatever Trump wanted from those countries. His concept seems to be that our federal dollars and our commerce dollars are so hugely impactful on those countries that rather than risk losing those dollars those countries will concede. We also believe that the Tesla situation is a viable reason for his China tariffs. As time goes on we learn that now up to a 104% tariff can be placed on all goods coming into this country from China. This would include the major competitors that Elon Musk must face with his Tesla vehicles. Rivian and BYD have become very successful Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers. And the Tesla brand seems to be losing sales to those major competitors. So we believe that Trump has made a deal with Musk. He wants Musk to be the focal point for all the government firings. In exchange, Trump will protect the Tesla company’s profit bottom line. This is of course an unconscionable and totally lacking integrity strategy. We condemn in every respect all tariffs because they are useless except for filling Donald Trump’s pockets so that he can compete with the Saudi wealth fund that he so envies. Do not be fooled by the aspect of bringing manufacturing jobs back to this country. That will not happen. And even if way down the road it did happen it would only mean that we would all be paying a much higher price for every product that is manufactured in this country in the coming years.