....markets have been too complacent to want to dwell on hopes that Trump tariffs are mere negotiating tool (LOL!!!), they may well be but it does not take anything away from a clear Trump agenda to settle scores and prove to his supporters that he is fighting for them and deliver for Team USA, when the real agenda as I mentioned is to raise funds to pave way for the huge tax cuts.
.....the tariffs he imposed will ignite a global trade war that is severe enough to decimate many sectors of the American economy that is dependent on foreign import components and send the American economy and market into a tailspin.
.....Wall St is still in denial, quietly worried about his tariffs but openly express a wait and see view without judgment, and quietly selling down stocks in a big way while retailers remain oblivious to it all.
.....Trump can't give concessions if his real agenda is to raise $$ for his $4.5T tax cuts- if he gives concession to one, another ally like France or UK would also be seeking it, and would be sending a message to Canada that Australia is far more important than its neighbour.
....And I can bet that Trump isn't done with 10+10 with China, so the repercussions to hit Australia would be far deeper than currently envisaged, it could plunge Australia into recession just as it would do to Canada.
...Love your Trump! We Are the Choices We Make.
...Trump 2.0 can do what Trump 1.0 can't because Trump is not going to be President after 4 years so he can be bold to do what he wants to do without worry about re-election prospects and leave a lasting legacy = America's Brexit Blow to Labor’s hopes as US seeks ‘across the world’ tariffs Tom McIlroy, John Kehoe and Jessica Sier
Feb 28, 2025 – 6.00pm
Canberra/Tokyo | Labor’s push for an exemption from Donald Trump’s looming steel and aluminium tariffs has been dealt a fresh blow after his newly appointed Commerce Secretary warned that the US president wanted a globally consistent regime with the sole focus of boosting America’s economy.
As the Albanese government dampens expectations that Australia could be spared from Trump’s imposition of 25 per cent tariffs, due to come into force on March 12, Howard Lutnick said the president had taught him everything he knew about tariffs and the pair wanted punitive treatment of imports from “across the world”.
Australia sends $1 billion a year in steel and aluminium exports to the United States, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Treasurer Jim Chalmers and other officials are seeking a carve-out like the one negotiated by the Turnbull government in Trump’s first term.
In an additional blow, Australia’s economy also stands to be damaged by Trump’s announcement on Friday that he would double tariffs to 20 per cent on all Chinese-made goods sold in the US.
Economist Warwick McKibbin said this move would hurt Australia’s economy because it would hit local miners and energy exporters.
“The tariffs on China will affect Chinese exports to the US and those exports are partly produced using Australian energy and mining exports to China,” said McKibbin, a fellow with the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics.
“China will then cut back their demand for our exports. That will weaken the Aussie dollar, reduce our exports and our GDP.”
The share prices of Australian mining companies BHP and Rio Tinto fell by more than 2 per cent on Friday as Trade Minister Don Farrell was preparing to speak to Lutnick over the phone.
KPMG chief economist Brendan Rynne said that based on a preliminary estimate, the growing tariff threat could cause a GDP loss in Australia of between 0.25 per cent and 0.5 per cent.
“What it also does is create a whole lot of uncertainty for the US Federal Reserve with regards to their pathway for US interest rates,” he said.
“The risk is that central banks are going to see a short-term spike in inflation again due to the tariffs, particularly if there are retaliatory tariffs imposed.”
Lutnick’s intervention, delivered in a Fox News interview, came as Trump confirmed that 25 per cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico were on track to be put in place on March 4.
Lutnick said Trump was determined to put tariffs “across the world” in April because he believed the US was being “treated like crap by everyone”. ‘Someone’s got to care about these workers’
“We have to care about Americans. You know, the global view that says, if I move car manufacturing out of Michigan, out of Ohio to Mexico to Canada, doesn’t that lower our costs? It does.
“But what does it do to Americans who live in Michigan and Ohio? You know what it does? It decimates their community.
“Someone’s got to care about these workers. Someone’s got to care about these people.”
China warned the US that it would take countermeasures to safeguard the country’s interests after Trump’s latest threat.
Beijing accused the White House of “shifting the blame” and taking steps to destabilise global supply chains after Trump threatened more tariffs over deadly drug flows into the US.
The fresh China tariffs coincide with the start of the country’s annual parliamentary meetings next week, a major political event where Beijing is expected to announce its main economic priorities for 2025.
“We have repeatedly stated that unilateral tariffs violate World Trade Organisation rules and undermine the multilateral trading system,” a commerce ministry spokesperson said in a statement.
The announcement also leaves Beijing less than a week to publish countermeasures, as the Trump administration shows signs of a hardening stance towards its strategic rival.
“China urges the US not to repeat its mistakes and to return to the correct path of resolving disputes through equal dialogue as soon as possible,” the statement said.
“If the US insists on proceeding with this course of action, China will take all necessary countermeasures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.”
