Market Madness, Manufacturing, and the Liberation Day of It All

Louis Matsakis: Yes, this is absolutely beautiful quote that I really want to have a hat or a t-shirt or bumper sticker. Just a absolutely incredible picture that the Secretary Lutnik is doing painting there. Here are two basic camps in the Trump administration and I think that you are part of why you are watching this confusion because these two camps are fighting with each other. They are both going on TV. So a camp has a crowd of deals. Let’s call them. People in the agreement say Trump is the final negotiator. This is an incredibly provocative arrangement. These tariffs are an inaugural point, and the target is not to keep the tariffs higher, but to create a new world economy where the United States is not torn by this unjust trade deficit, and we are starting a new world where the United States is treated more well, we surround our energy, and you see things change rapidly. I would say that this is the camp that was talking to the fake Walter Bloomberg tweet. Other camps, perhaps the army of their iPhone workers, believe that the real goal here is not to remove tariffs or just use them as a discussion strategy. Of course, we can definitely get some discounts from other countries on the way. The tariffs will be adjusted over time. But broadly, the tariffs will be in place because their main point is a manufacturing renewing in the United States, and in fact people are probably not uniting the iPhones, but all types of industries have to return to the United States. They were quite unclear about which industries they want to prioritize here. But the concept here is really, I think this is a kind of growth in some ways of Twitter, the reaction among the specific population of the United States, including a high school diploma, seems to have a brief change in globalization, especially men. So the idea is to return to this age where the guy went to work and a manley worked, leaving small screws on the iPhones and doing something to do something that had a quote, feminine email work. So this is another camp.

Joey Shifer: Yes Okay Ok, I certainly want to produce it all and I think we’re going to touch it in the next section. But we’re going to take a quick break. We’ll be back with Louis Matsakis. Welcome back Uncanny valleyThe So let’s talk about some effects on both the tariffs and the insanity of the market. From your report, how is it hurting small business and production?

Louis Matsakis: So these tariffs are basically a disaster for each type of small business you can imagine. So your local coffee shop is importing beans from Indonesia and Colombia. A garment maker, on the street boutique, they are importing clothes from China, Vietnam to Cambodia, potentially Bangladesh and such places. And I really think, this is not necessarily a tariff rate. Obviously, trying to determine how your small business is already running on a thin margin, trying to determine how to absorb 30 percent more, it is obviously a big deal, but what is the real problem is uncertainty. So these tariffs were suddenly announced. When Trump was talking about them, no one knew how high they could be. I have seen some reports in the Washington Post that actually indicates that they are still considering how much the tariffs will be and how they will be calculated a few hours before Trump’s announcement. They turned around during the announcement. They finished it after the markets closed, I think, because they knew that this big crash was about to be. So what does it mean, for example, let’s say you make shoes. You are a US -based shoe designer, but you produce your shoes in China. This type of business, they work months, sometimes a year, a whole year, 12 months ago. And so they have already set their prices, they have already talked to buyers, who are about to carry their shoes, they have already agreed to the next season’s price. Like this moment, a shoe maker is probably producing like a fall shoe very soon but probably their winter shoes have already gone into production, or they are at least discussing the manufacturers right now. And their summer shoes, priced five, six months ago. And in some cases, that summer shoes, they are already on a ship. So you have already paid your manufacturers for them, and that ship is coming, and if the ship suddenly comes from China you will have to pay 34 percent tariffs you are not expecting. So I think it makes it really hard to plan for a business now.