Tariffs

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“Prices would rise — sharply — they said, reigniting an inflation crisis that tens of millions of Americans had elected [President Donald Trump] to solve,” CNN’s David Goldman wrote on Friday. “But that massive, tariff-induced inflation spike hasn’t materialized. Not even close.”

Indeed, it hasn’t. But who exactly is Goldman referring to when he says, “they said”? Well, Goldman might want to check his own newsroom.

On May 16, CNN’s Allison Morrow wrote, “There’s no denying it now: Tariffs are raising prices.”

“Donald Trump’s pitch to Americans on the campaign trail last year included a simple (and simplistic) promise: lower prices on Day One. Even if he didn’t mean it literally, it’s now Day 115, and the results of his only significant economic policy show that the opposite is happening,” Morrow wrote.

Three days prior, CNN’s Nathaniel Meyersohn wrote, “Tariffs have already made mattresses, strollers and power tools more expensive.”

Some other doomsday predictions from CNN include Auzinea Bacon’s May 24 article titled “These companies will raise prices because of Trump’s tariffs,” accusing Trump of giving “many Americans whiplash” as companies announced “daunting” price hikes. “Anything from groceries and clothing to toys and cars could cost Americans more,” Bacon wrote.

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A federal appeals court agreed on Tuesday to allow President Trump to maintain many of his tariffs on China and other U.S. trading partners, extending a pause granted shortly after another panel of judges ruled in late May that the import taxes were illegal.

The decision, from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, delivered an important but interim victory for the Trump administration, which had warned that any interruption to its steep duties could undercut the president in talks around the world.

But the government still must convince the judges that the president appropriately used a set of emergency powers when he put in place the centerpiece of his economic agenda earlier this year. The Trump administration has already signaled it is willing to fight that battle as far as the Supreme Court.

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The United States’ new tariff on foreign cars is having an impact on the Mexican automotive industry, official data indicates.

The national statistics agency INEGI reported on Monday that Mexico’s exports of light vehicles declined 2.9% in annual terms in May, the month after the Trump administration imposed a tariff on all foreign cars. Domestic production of cars fell 2% last month, INEGI said.

United States content in vehicles made in Mexico is exempt from the 25% tariff the U.S. government imposed on foreign cars in early April, reducing the duty on Mexican cars to an average of 15%, according to Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard.

Nevertheless, the duty is detrimental to a Mexican automotive industry that had grown accustomed to tariff-free trade in North America thanks to the USMCA and NAFTA. Around 80% of the vehicles Mexico exports go to the United States.

INEGI reported that Mexico exported a total of 301,112 light vehicles last month, while 358,209 vehicles were assembled in the country.

 

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LONDON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that the United States will get magnets and rare earth minerals from China under a new trade deal and that tariffs on Chinese goods will go to 55%.

In return, Trump said the U.S. will provide China “what was agreed to,” including allowing Chinese students to attend American colleges and universities.

Several global brands are among dozens of companies at risk of using forced labor through their Chinese supply chains because they use critical minerals or buy minerals-based products sourced from the far-western Xinjiang region of China, an international rights group said Wednesday.

The report by the Netherlands-based Global Rights Compliance says companies including Avon, Walmart, Nescafe, Coca-Cola and paint supplier Sherwin-Williams may be linked to titanium sourced from Xinjiang, where rights groups allege the Chinese government runs coercive labor practices targeting predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities.

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The talks have been led by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, with the Chinese contingent helmed by Vice Premier He Lifeng.

The talks ran for almost seven hours on Monday and resumed just before 10am local time on Tuesday, with both sides expected to issue updates later in the day.

The inclusion of Lutnick, whose agency oversees export controls for the US, is one indication of how central rare earths have become. He did not attend the Geneva talks, when the countries struck a 90-day deal to roll back some of the triple-digit tariffs they had placed on each other.

China holds a near-monopoly on rare earth magnets, a crucial component in electric vehicle motors, and its decision in April to suspend exports of a wide range of critical minerals and magnets upended global supply chains and sparked alarm in boardrooms and factory floors around the world.

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As U.S. tariffs tighten the screws on China’s export machine, Beijing is striking back with strategic precision. Export restrictions on rare earths are now Beijing’s latest move to break down European trade barriers and push back against escalating pressure from Washington.

In today’s global trade standoff, the gloves are off. The U.S. is wielding its market clout — 25% of global consumption originates from the American domestic market. Anyone in the export business must deal with the United States. China, meanwhile, holds an current monopoly on rare earths — and is making it clear it will not hesitate to weaponize that dominance. The stakes are rising, and national interests now override globalist courtesies.

Europe is learning the hard way: in geopolitics, there are no friends, only temporary alliances. China’s tightened export controls on rare earth elements risk plunging Germany’s industrial sector into a severe resource crisis. With nearly 85% of global rare earth refining under its control, Beijing is the chief supplier of key metals like dysprosium, terbium, and yttrium — critical for electric motors, medical tech, and defense systems.

Since April 2025, access to these raw materials has been restricted to licensed exporters only — a de facto embargo. The fallout is immediate: several German manufacturers have already been forced to scale back operations. Others face complete shutdowns. Industrial metal prices continue climbing, and the fragility of global supply chains is now exposed in brutal detail. Europe’s resource dependency is becoming a major liability — and a strategic weakness in the coming trade war negotiations.

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The Trump administration raised tariffs on aluminum and steel to 50% today, a move experts say could increase costs on everything from homes and cars to household and office supplies.

While the U.S. has carved out its own niche in domestic metals manufacturing, it also relies on imports from abroad to fill in the gaps: America imported 26.2 million metric tons of steel and 5.4 million metric tons of aluminum from abroad last year, according to the International Trade Administration. Canada serves as the biggest foreign source for both metals.

The White House has been aggressively trying to pare back on America’s reliance on foreign nations, imposing 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum in February, citing national security concerns. President Trump, during a visit to a U.S. Steel mill in Pittsburgh on May 30, announced he was doubling down on that rate, raising the 25% levies to 50%. The higher tariffs went into effect Wednesday at 12:01 a.m. EST.

While the new tariffs have won over some of the nation’s largest steel makers, who saw huge gains in share prices following Mr. Trump’s May 30 announcement, experts say the levies will raise cost of manufacturing on a wide range of products, making many items more expensive to buy. That’s because businesses typically pass on most or all of tariff-related costs to consumers through higher prices, according to economists.

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President Trump’s renewed tariff war with China is escalating tensions far beyond trade policy. Despite a brief truce in May, Trump recently admitted that negotiating with Xi Jinping is “extremely hard,” and both sides have since accused each other of violating the agreement. As economic diplomacy unravels, the broader U.S.–China relationship grows more volatile, raising the risk that Beijing may abandon any remaining hopes for peaceful coexistence.

A conflict between the United States and China is becoming increasingly plausible, and perhaps even inevitable. Tensions in the Taiwan Strait have reached dangerous new heights, fueled by Beijing’s military modernization, its sharpened rhetoric, and its belief that Taiwan and the United States are edging closer to crossing red lines. While China still claims to prefer peaceful reunification, its rapid expansion of capabilities, including amphibious assault craft, cable-cutting tools, and joint-force interoperability, signals preparation for a military solution.

China’s greyzone operations around Taiwan, such as unannounced drills, airspace violations, and undersea cable sabotage, have become routine. This normalization of pressure steadily erodes the status quo and raises the risk of miscalculation or deliberate escalation. The shifting political climate in Taiwan under President Lai Ching-te, who has taken a hard stance against Chinese influence, and a more assertive posture from Washington have further narrowed the space for de-escalation.

Under Trump’s second term, the United States is gradually abandoning its long-held policy of strategic ambiguity. His administration has sharply increased arms sales to Taiwan, removed diplomatic language opposing Taiwanese independence, sent U.S. troops to train Taiwanese forces, and reaffirmed ties through legislation and senior-level visits. While aimed at strengthening deterrence, these steps may convince Beijing that time is running out to forcibly achieve unification before U.S. commitments harden into irreversible guarantees.

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During his remarks to Parliament last Thursday, Prime Minister Carney waxed gleefully about the U.S. federal trade court ruling against President Trump’s tariffs, just moments before the federal appeals court stayed the opinion of the lower court. It’s a little funny.

Carney doesn’t seem to recognize the reality of the economic landscape before him. He complains about blocked access to the U.S. consumer base with a level of entitlement that’s genuinely humorous. Meanwhile, the Canadian economy around him is collapsing:

Following the 2024 presidential election, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau traveled to Mar-a-Lago and said if President Trump were to make the Canadian government face reciprocal tariffs, open the USMCA trade agreements to force reciprocity, and/or balance economic relations on non-tariff issues, then Canada would collapse upon itself economically and cease to exist. In essence, in addition to the NATO defense shortfall, Canada cannot survive as a free and independent North American nation, without receiving all the one-way benefits from the U.S. economy.

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A US federal court has blocked President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, in a major blow to a key component of his economic policies.

The Court of International Trade ruled that an emergency law invoked by the White House did not give the president unilateral authority to impose tariffs on nearly every country.

The Manhattan-based court said the US Constitution gave Congress exclusive powers to regulate commerce with other nations and this was not superseded by the president’s remit to safeguard the economy.

The Trump administration lodged an appeal within minutes of the ruling.

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The court found the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which Trump has cited as his basis for ordering massive increases in import duties, does not authorize the use of tariffs.

A three-judge panel ruled on several lawsuits arguing Trump exceeded his authority, casting doubt on trade policies that have jolted global financial markets, frustrated trade partners and raised uncertainty over the outlook for inflation and the global economy. The Trump administration filed an appeal, and it was unclear if the White House will respond to the ruling by pausing all of its emergency power tariffs in the interim.

Many of Trump’s double-digit tariff hikes are paused for up to 90 days to allow time for trade negotiations, but the uncertainty over their eventual outcome has stymied businesses and left consumers wary about what lies ahead.

“Just when traders thought they’d seen every twist in the tariff saga, the gavel dropped like a lightning bolt over the Pacific,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

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The European Union said it agreed to accelerate negotiations with the US to avoid a transatlantic trade war, signaling a more amicable approach just days after President Donald Trump criticized the bloc for taking advantage of the US and slow-walking talks.

“There’s now a new impetus for the negotiations,” Paula Pinho, a spokeswoman for the European Commission, told reporters on Monday, a day after Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke with Trump by phone. “They agreed both to fast track the trade negotiations and to stay in close contact.”

Following the call, Trump extended the deadline to hit the EU with 50% tariffs by more than a month to July 9 to allow for more negotiations. “We had a very nice call and I agreed to move it,” Trump told reporters Sunday.

Talks so far have been beset with a multitude of problems, with no clear path to finding a middle ground that will appease them both. The Europeans have complained that it’s not clear what the US wants or even who speaks for the American president, and the US has said the EU unfairly targets US companies with lawsuits and regulations.

Trump Tariffs Are Authorized By Emergency Powers Act– thefederalist.com
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You can buy a set of three pads of legal paper, “proudly made in the U.S.A.” by TOPS, for $16.64 (that is, $5.55 per pad). Or go to Simplified and get an imported two-pad set, currently marked down to $22 ($11 a pad).

Simplified is not confident customers are willing to pay much more for its products, so when President Donald Trump put tariffs on China, it went to court to object.

The case was filed in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Florida, Pensacola Division, on April 3 by Emily Ley Paper, Inc., an upscale stationery website doing business under the name Simplified.

The Trump administration asked to move the case to the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT). The outcome of that request could make this case an easy win for Trump once the CIT reviews the transfer order.

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Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy has revealed that the company has not seen significant changes in average selling prices or consumer spending habits based on Donald Trump’s tariff policy. His statements at Amazon’s annual shareholder meeting serves as another nail in the coffin for warnings of economic doom spouted by hysterical Trump haters.

TechSpot reports that in a recent Q&A session at Amazon’s annual shareholder meeting, CEO Andy Jassy addressed growing concerns over how the Trump administration’s tariffs on Chinese imports could affect the e-commerce giant’s business. Jassy stated that, in contrast to warnings from retailers like Walmart and Target about imminent price hikes, Amazon has neither experienced notable increases in average selling prices nor observed any decline in consumer demand.

“We have not seen any attenuation of demand at this point,” Jassy reported to shareholders. “We also haven’t yet seen any meaningful average selling price increases.

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The growing impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs is creating “tensions” among members of the G7 heading into a critical summit in Canada next month, the federal finance minister says.

Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne and Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem are chairing three days of meetings with top finance officials from the world’s largest economies in Banff, Alta., this week. The talks are expected to focus on the war in Ukraine and artificial intelligence, and how the G7 members can work together to grow the global economy.

However, Trump’s aggressive trade policies are likely to dominate the proceedings, and could even impact what members can feasibly agree to.

“There’s no doubt that around the table, you need to find unity, but at the same time, it’s true that the tariffs are creating tensions amongst the different partners,” Champagne told Global News in an interview from Calgary on Tuesday.

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At least two members of Trump’s cabinet sold substantial stock holdings just before and on the day of the president’s surprise April 2 tariff announcement that shook global markets and triggered a $2.4 trillion sell-off. Attorney General Pam Bondi divested millions in assets on the day Trump announced the “Liberation Day” tariffs, while Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sold stocks on the days leading up to it, according to recently filed disclosures with the Office of Government Ethics.

 

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The Trump administration’s latest trade deal with Britain unfairly penalizes U.S. automakers that have partnered with Canada and Mexico, a trade group representing Detroit automakers said Thursday.

In a sharply-worded statement, the American Automotive Policy Council (AAPC) said the U.S.-UK trade deal “hurts American automakers, suppliers, and auto workers,” according to the group’s president Matt Blunt.

The deal unveiled Thursday between U.S. President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer lowers the tariff on British vehicles to 10 percent from 27.5 percent on the first 100,000 cars shipped from Britain to the United States.

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China said Friday sales to the United States slumped last month while its total exports topped forecasts, as Beijing fought a gruelling trade war with its superpower rival.

Trade between the world’s two largest economies has nearly skidded to a halt since US President Donald Trump imposed various rounds of levies on China that began as retaliation for Beijing’s alleged role in a devastating fentanyl crisis.

Tariffs on many Chinese products now reach as high as 145 percent — with cumulative duties on some goods soaring to a staggering 245 percent.

Beijing has responded with 125 percent tariffs on imports of US goods, along with other measures targeting American firms.