Trumpenomics
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@jon-nyc said in Trumpenomics:
Walking back China tariffs now, partially anyway.
Futures markets are happy.
We received our tariff based price increases on our Cristofori (Pearl River) pianos this week. The net effect was 8-12% increase on our discounted price to the consumer. The verticals were 12, the grands around 8%.
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America First is seeking to create more balance in global economy, Bessent says
Apr. 23, 2025 10:21 AM ETBy: Liz Kiesche, SA News Editor
The architects of the Bretton Woods pact recognized that global growth required global coordination, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday. "Yet everywhere we look, we see imbalance."
"America First does not mean America Alone," he said. "America First seeks to establish fairness in the economic balance."
The Trump administration is seeking to restore equilibrium in trade through its tariff policy and to restore inner order to the international system.
"Mission creep" has knocked the International Monetary Fund and World Bank "off course," he said in a speech to the Institute of International Finance.
More than 100 countries have approached the U.S. seeking to negotiate more balanced deals. "We're engaged in meaningful discussion and look forward to talking with others," he said.
The U.S. wants to help change the system, "because we want balance, too."
One unstainable aspect is the "persistent over-reliance on the United States for demand," he said.
The Treasury Secretary said the Trump administration wants to work with the IMF and the World Bank. Then he went on to list a number of items he says the IMF must do.
The IMF must be "a brutal truth-teller." Rather, he said the institution has been "whistling past the graveyard." The IMF has been "Pollyannish" and maintaining the status quo. IMF funding must be temporary, he noted.
The IMF must hold countries accountable for fiscal reform, and "sometimes, the IMF must say, "No,'" Bessent said.
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Just more evidence that there was so little to gain with these antics. If one wants to put a coherent frame on it, you'd just have to take seriously the notion of protectionism, higher prices, and more manufacturing jobs. Which is not a better America, but at least it's a comprehensible goal.
In practice, what will probably happen is that these shenanigans will show up in inflation and jobs numbers, Trump will declare victory over a bunch of nothing-burger concessions by countries that never treated America unfairly to begin with, and the fate of the whole exercise will be left up to China, who may or may not decide to rub America's nose in it, at significant cost to both countries in the short term, and maybe a benefit to China in the long term.
@Horace said in Trumpenomics:
… and the fate of the whole exercise will be left up to China, who may or may not decide to rub America's nose in it, at significant cost to both countries in the short term, and maybe a benefit to China in the long term.
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Finally.....
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@Doctor-Phibes That wasn’t even funny though.
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China’s government is projecting confidence that it can outlast the U.S. in a protracted trade war in large part because of the potential damage inflicted by its restrictions on rare earth metals, said Eswar Prasad, a Cornell University economist who has spoken this week with Chinese finance officials.
“That is the choke point,” Prasad said. “Beijing does not feel like it is going to back down and that the U.S. is in no position to dictate terms. A big, big part of that is rare earths, where they feel they have the capacity to do significant harm to American manufacturers.” -
Every time I see Nutlick behind the President it reminds me of a weak 2nd grader hiding behind the fat 3rd grade bully and laughing at all of his playground jokes.
https://www.reddit.com/r/thescoop/comments/1k6ry94/howard_lutnick_all_those_factories_that_youre/
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More Shapiro being shocked at how dumb this all was
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I'm sure nobody knows more about China than Donald Trump, but it kind of feels like he misunderestimated them a bit.
