Fortune (October 24)
“Some economists have called the “K shaped economy.” Affluent households continue to spend freely on travel, entertainment, and premium goods, keeping service-sector inflation stubborn. Lower- and middle-income consumers, by contrast, are pushing back, trading down, stretching budgets, or delaying purchases altogether.”
Tags: Affluent, Consumers, Economists, Entertainment, Households, Inflation, K shaped economy, Middle-income, Premium goods, Service-sector, Spend, Travel
New York Times (September 16)
“While other countries have scrambled to meet President Trump’s demands to strike deals for reduced tariffs, China has kept to its own timetable.” The costly price has been a 15% drop in “China’s exports to the United States… so far this year.” China has successfully offset this with surging exports to other countries, but robust exports are “masking weakness in other parts of its economy. A persistent real estate downturn has wrecked [sic] havoc on the economy. Consumers are spending less, while joblessness among young people remains a major problem. China is also dealing with a stubborn deflationary spiral, spurred by overproduction in key industries and price wars.” Still, given its degree of media control, the Chinese government does not appear anxious about negotiating a trade deal with the U.S.
Tags: China, Consumers, Deals, Deflationary spiral, Demands, Downturn, Economy, Exports, Havoc, Joblessness, Overproduction, Price wars, Real estate, Spending, Surging, Tariffs, Trump, U.S., Weakness
Fortune (August 27)
“Investors are underestimating the inflation risk of President Trump’s tariffs, which will push up import costs,” concludes analyst Henry Allen of Deutsche Bank. “One indicator forecasts that U.S. inflation may soon exceed 4%. Consumers are also expecting higher prices. But the inflation swaps market has yet to reflect these risks.”
Tags: 4%, Allen, Analyst, Consumers, Deutsche Bank, Forecasts, Higher prices, Import costs, Indicator, Inflation, Investors, Risk, Trump’s tariffs, U.S., Underestimating
CNN Business (August 14)
In the U.S., “businesses have been eating Trump’s tariffs. That’s starting to change.” Wholesale inflation “picked up steam last month, with prices rising by the fastest monthly pace since June 2022.” The Producer Price Index (PPI) “jumped 0.9% from June, lifting the annual rate to 3.3%.” With costs “sharply on the rise for producers and manufacturers in July,” it looks like “higher prices could soon filter down to American consumers.”
Tags: $3, Businesses, Consumers, Costs, Higher, July, Manufacturers, PPI, Prices, Producers, Tariffs, Trump, U.S., Wholesale inflation
New York Times (August 13)
“Not content to steer the ship of state, our president apparently wants to run the ship of commerce, too. Literally. The entire Fortune 500.” President Trump thinks “he is the C.E.O. of Everything…. In ripping up numerous business regulations, Donald Trump seems intent on replacing them with himself.” This “is bad for corporations, consumers and capitalism. Please just run the executive branch, Mr. President, and let real executives run the businesses of America.”
Tags: Bad, Business regulations, C.E.O. of Everything, Capitalism, Commerce, Consumers, Content, Corporations, Executives, Fortune 500, Ship of state, Trump
AP (August 1)
“For weeks, President Donald Trump was promising the world economy would change on Friday with his new tariffs in place. It was an ironclad deadline.” Instead, with a one week delay for tariff updates, he “injected a new dose of uncertainty for consumers and businesses still wondering what’s going to happen and when.” Precious “few things seemed to be settled other than the president’s determination to levy the taxes.” Even the “legality of the tariffs remains an open question,” with a federal appeals court hearing oral arguments on Trump’s authority to impose the tariffs.
Tags: Appeals court, Authority, Businesses, Consumers, Delay, Ironclad deadline, Legality, Levy, Oral arguments, Promising, Tariffs, Taxes, Trump, Uncertainty, Updates, World economy
Wall Street Journal (June 25)
Steel and aluminum :”are trump’s worst tariffs.” They “will hit consumers, jobs and national security.” On June 3, President Trump announced that U.S. tariff rates on steel and aluminum would double to 50%, effective the next day.“ This move constitutes “the most reckless trade action of the Trump presidency.” The tariffs on these crucial manufacturing materials “will drive up the cost of U.S. manufactured products dramatically.” They may “drag the economy into a recession” and “will increase the probability of retaliation against American exports and an all-out trade war.” On top of that, the tariffs “will harm national security by increasing the cost of two essential components of defense procurement.”
Tags: 50, Aluminum, Consumers, Defense procurement, Economy, Exports, Jobs, Manufacturing, National security, Recession, Reckless, Retaliation, Steel, Tariffs, Trade war, Trump, U.S.
Washington Post (April 9)
“Trump grabbed a life preserver. In announcing a 90-day pause on most tariffs… he acknowledged, however reluctantly, the harsh realities of economics, foreign policy and domestic politics.” While the pause is “indeed worth rejoicing,” it is only a partial pause as the trade war continues with China. “Investors, business and consumers will still be living with uncertainty. For the long term, Trump and his team are well advised to come up with a less volatile economic strategy.”
Tags: Business, China, Consumers, Economic strategy, Economics, Foreign policy, Investors, Lfe preserver, Partial, Pause, Politics, Realities, Tariffs, Trade war, Trump, Uncertainty, Volatile
Wall Street Journal (February 10)
Trump’s first-term “levies hurt consumers and U.S. manufacturers.” The “truth” about his past steel tariffs is that they “made U.S. manufacturers less globally competitive and prompted retaliation that hurt American businesses.” The tariffs ultimately “created uncertainty for U.S. manufacturers and boomeranged on steel and aluminum companies.” Second-term Trump just “gave the economy another jolt of uncertainty… when he signed executive orders imposing 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports.” Is his “strategy to harm U.S. manufacturers and workers?” His tariffs are “political rent-seeking at its most brazen” and benefit “the few at the expense of the many.”
Tags: Aluminum, Boomeranged, Brazen, Businesses, Competitive, Consumers, Harm, Levies, Manufacturers, Rent-seeking, Retaliation, Steel tariffs, Trump, Truth, U.S., Uncertainty
Wall Street Journal (August 17)
“Volkswagen, GM and other big brands are losing their grip on a once-lucrative market as Chinese consumers embrace homegrown electric vehicles.” The issue is broad ranging. “Manufacturers from China’s Asian neighbors aren’t faring better… Toyota’s Chinese JV income fell 73% in the quarter through June compared with the same period of 2023, while Honda’s equity income was all but wiped out.” China is turning into “a money pit for foreign automakers.”
Tags: Big brands, China, Consumers, Equity, EVs, GM, Homegrown, Honda, Income, JV, Manufacturers, Market, Money pit, Once-lucrative, Toyota, Volkswagen
