Jay Smith @jaynemesis: "𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩’𝐬 𝐔𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐦 - 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝐈𝐧..."

United Kingdom

𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩’𝐬 𝐔𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐦 - 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝐈𝐧 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐞, 𝐎𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐲! //𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝟣 𝘰𝘧 𝟤 - 𝘚𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝟤 𝘰𝘧 𝟤 𝙄𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙤 Bend the knee, or pay the price! - That’s the message Trump has been sending out to major nations around the world since "Liberation Day” back in April, where he announced sweeping tariffs on countries around the world. Since then we’ve seen increases, decreases, new trade agreements, broken trade agreements and memes about penguins refusing to accept the tariffs. In this post, I want to go through what’s happened so far, the implications, and what’s next. 𝙋𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙪𝙞𝙣𝙨 As mentioned, the first wave of tariffs was quickly ridiculed online for its inclusion of various uninhabited territories, including Heard and McDonald Islands, which boasts a population of over 2 million penguins. This was just one of many territories included that had zero trading relationship with the US at all. Journalists soon moved on from the strange list of territories, to the bad maths used to justify the tariffs. Countries like Germany and South Korea, who export large quantities of cars, electronics, and industrial goods to the US had some of the lowest rates. Meanwhile countries like Pakistan and Algeria that had a trade deficit with the US were slapped with 25% and 30% respectively. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘼𝙧𝙩 𝙊𝙛 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘿𝙚𝙖𝙡 - 𝙉𝙚𝙜𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 It didn’t take long for some countries to set up calls, fly out negotiators, and attempt to charm Trump into giving them better deals. Trump hit pause on implementation of most tariffs to allow for negotiations, but this was messy, with some tariffs being changed, some being paused, some resumed again, etc. Among the first in line to negotiate, was Japan, who negotiated their rate down from 24% to 15% in late July. In August however, Trump reneged on the deal reinstating the 24% rate for electronics. Japan has since filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization. 𝙉𝙤 𝙋𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙉𝙤 𝙂𝙖𝙞𝙣? The impact of tariffs has still not fully seeped through to consumers in the US, but increasingly businesses are passing on the costs they are incurring as they struggle to shift supply chains and adapt production processes. Due to the turbulent status of Japan’s trade deal with the US, $SONY (Sony Group Corp.-ADR) postponed shipments of PS5’s to the US while they waited for clarity. Eventually, they opted to adjust the price for US consumers from $499.99 to $549.99, directly citing the higher import costs. $CSCO (Cisco Systems Inc) and $BBY (Best Buy Co Inc) were the first big names to raise prices back in May, and rumours even circled that $AMZN (Amazon.com Inc) was considering including tariff surcharges as an additional line-item in product descriptions, although they never followed through. 𝘽𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙆𝙣𝙚𝙚 Company CEO’s quickly pleaded with the Trump administration for exceptions or delays to tariffs to give them time to adjust. The auto industry was particularly badly impacted, with both $F (Ford Motor Co) and $GM (General Motors Co) reliant on complex, lengthy supply chains for parts. $AAPL (Apple) CEO Tim Cook even gifted Trump a 24-karat gold plaque during negotiations that would involve Apple investing a further $100bn in US manufacturing. Apple was forced to the negotiating table after Trump threatened a 100% tariff on iPhones and Macs as part of a broader tariff on non-US produced semiconductors. //𝘌𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝟣 𝘰𝘧 𝟤 - 𝘚𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝟤 𝘰𝘧 𝟤