Tailoring the Trump-VAT
... to a trade war with China. Plus a little news review.
[Public advertising from the White House web site.]
Published: 2025-04-10
Updated 2025-04-11: A timely article by Judge Napolitano has been added to Sources and into the article.
Updated 2025-04-13: Updated with new information from b. at Moon of Alabama.
Yes, No, Maybe
US President Trump has tailored the rates of his VAT tax. The report of the demise via a 90 day pause of the almost global import tariffs by Reuters was presumptuous. Axios [and TASS] reported that the tariffs are not canceled, but still in place at the "baseline" 10%.
Yes, US consumer, you'll be paying your government 10% extra to purchase anything from almost anywhere. Except China, where US consumers will pay the US government, via the importer, ten fourteen times that at 125% 145%.
As noted in this newsletter article on the tariffs, Trump invoked two “Emergency” Acts in his executive order to justify the executive branch usurping the Congress’ constitutional role to enact law, including taxes. Legal challenges to the Trump VAT have been issued. Federal judge Andrew Napolitano has argued the case against the legality of the Trump VAT to inform the public.
The US represents 4.5% of the global population. China seems quite happy to serve the other 95.5%. It responded to the US tariffs in kind with an 84% version. That may well be has been upped to 125% in the coming days.
In case it isn't obvious, China does not care much for US products and doesn't seem to care about raising the costs for their population of US imports. One would be surprised if the general Chinese population even cares.
[Update] As b. notes, exceptions have been granted for the high tariffs on China for various technology products (cell phones) as the prohibitive tariffs would smash the profits of US tech companies like Apple. The result is that high tariffs on low tech products may foster creation of replacement low tech manufacturing in the US, but the high tech will remain in China. China is not differentiating, but applying a blanket tariff. Bernard concludes that the result will be entirely the opposite of the intended effect:
The trade between the two countries will thereby become more unbalanced than ever before.
[MoA]
Team Trump have no idea what they are doing.
Needless to say, the Europeans were ropable over the tariff rates and quickly applied their own 25% tax on US imports. One can be sure that the EuroCrats would be happy to add the income to their budgets. It might even buy a few artillery rounds for Ukraine, if they can find any. To soften the blow on the US for the reactionary tariffs, they informed the US that they would be happy to increase their purchasing of US LNG. This, in case anyone forgot, costs 3 times the price of gas from Russia which they sanctioned themselves out of.
Speaking of sanctions, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin delivered a speech to the European Parliament, that bastion of free speech. In it, he stated that (quoting TASS):
Serbia will never go to war with Russia in exchange for EU membership [and]
Serbia will not "do something so low as imposing sanctions on Russia because of a conflict that could have been avoided if you had just respected the Minsk Agreement."
[TASS]
In response to this nation preserving policy, the EU:
started the process of putting Mr. Vulin on the sanctions list.
[TASS]
TASS also slipped in a postscript from the Serbian Deputy PM:
[Vulin] also told TASS that Brussels had devised a plan to overthrow Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic with the support of Western intelligence services.
Wild speculation by Vulin, surely.
One may recall that an assassination attempt against neighbouring state Slovakia's Prime Minister Fico occurred 11 months ago. Recently, the EU pressured the Romanian Supreme court to cancel its Presidential election. Thereafter, the winning candidate Georgescu, was denied the ability to register for the Romanian re-run.
[I sometimes forget where the parts of former Yugoslavia are located.]
Over in Germany, former hedge fund manager Friedrich Merz has announced a coalition with the Social Democrats (SPD) to form a government. This follows the agreed "firewall" policy of freezing out AfD, which achieved the second highest vote in the February national elections.
Incoming Chancellor Merz' policies include further haggling to remove the "debt brake" which prevents the German government from running deficit spending. With the release to indebt the state the coalition will provide some tax relief and increase military spending and continue to "support Ukraine" (and thus NATO) in the lost war with Russia.
Nobody seemed to notice that a week ago Germany begun its first permanent foreign troop deployment, in Lithuania. Some may develop concern that a Germany with foreign deployed troops is re-arming and fighting Russia.
Speaking of Russia, its war in Ukraine continues apace with more advances on fronts from Sumy, Belgorod, Kharkov (north, northeast and east), Lugansk, Donetsk (north, east, and south) and Zaporozhye too numerous to count. But, Moscow's attention is split between working with its Chinese and Iranian partners to finesse the US and its Zionist provocateurs from doing anything really stupid in oil rich southwest Asia, and negotiating a resuscitated diplomatic relationship with the US. Trump’s latest plan for the war with Iran was to offer it to Netanyahu: After you, Bibi!
Down here in Australia, I've got the chainsaw out. The winter is coming and there's wood to be cut.
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Sources
Tariffs - Trump Blinks Again; b.; Moon of Alabama; 2025-04-12
Tariffs & the US Constitution; Andrew P. Napolitano; Consortium News; 2025-04-10
Trump announces 90-day pause on tariffs; Reuters; Archive.today; 2025-04-09
Trump pauses reciprocal tariffs for 90 days for everyone but China; Axios; Archive.today; 2025-04-09
EU Council approves tariffs on US goods - Business & Economy; N/A; TASS; 2025-04-09
EU ready to increase US gas imports to ease tensions - European energy commissioner - Business & Economy; N/A; TASS; 2025-04-10
EU moves to sanction Serbian Deputy PM Vulin over Wednesday remarks - TASS source - World; N/A; TASS; 2025-04-09
Assassination attempt on Slovak prime minister: What we know so far - RT World News; Rt; Archive.today; 2024-05-16
Germany's Merz unveils coalition deal to spur growth, tackle migration; Reuters; Archive.today; 2025-04-09
Germany's future coalition government: what has been agreed?; Reuters; Archive.today; 2025-04-09
Germany launches permanent troop deployment on NATO's eastern flank - POLITICO; politico.eu; Archive.today; 2025-04-01
Trump Again Threatens Attack on Iran, Suggests Israel Could Lead It; Dave DeCamp; Antiwar; 2025-04-09
China Retaliates With 84% Tariff As Trump’s Trade War Escalates to 125%; Abdul Rahman; Scheerpost; 2025-04-10
Pepe Escobar : Donald and Bibi: Birds of a Feather.; Napolitano interviews Escobar; Judging Freedom; 2025-04-09
The "West" Is IMPLODING Even Faster After This. | Dr. Jan Oberg & Ian Proud; Pascal Lottaz; Neutrality Studies; 2025-04-08
The most piercing comment in this discussion is, unsurprisingly, by Jan Oberg. He is an historically informed deep thinker. His observation and criticism is blindingly obvious and obscured: no politician in the European establishment is advocating a vision for the future. There is no inspiration, no plan. All is reaction. In this moment of global realignment, vision is what is required.
Copyleft: CC0
“…., Nobody seemed to notice that a week ago Germany begun its first permanent foreign troop deployment, in Lithuania. Some may develop concern that a Germany with foreign deployed troops is re-arming and fighting Russia.…”
Dunno about you, but one of my takeaways from studying European history, was that Germany rearming is bad for ALL European neighbours - and Germany putting actual troops on the ground outside its own territory should be verboten. Because after Germany stretches its legs it always ends up needing and taking liebensraum, so to speak.
Good luck to to the rest of Europe with that one. Especially our hapless Lithuanian friends who are now being wound back in time to the days when they were subjects of their Hanseatic overlords.
“…. Over in Germany, former hedge fund manager Friedrich Merz has announced a coalition with the Social Democrats (SPD) to form a government. This follows the agreed "firewall" policy of freezing out AfD, which achieved the second highest vote in the February national elections….”
My reaction to this is that AFD are nakedly embracing fascism and this should disqualify them from political office altogether. However…that should equally well apply to the SPD, CDU, CSU, Greens, Linke, Wagenknecht cult and all the others…as they too have nakedly embraced and armed and funded the fascist regimes in Ukraine and Israel!
The real reason the AFD is being frozen out by them is therefore not the given readings of being pro-fascist.
The real reason is that their overlords in Langley, VA have redlined the AFD because it isn’t sufficiently rabidly Russophobic.