Wall Street Journal (December 9)
President Trump promised “a manufacturing boom. He got one—in China.” Cementing its ”status as the world’s indispensable factory floor…. Chinese industrial production broke records this year as its factories churned out more cars, machinery and chemicals than ever before. Despite the disruptions of tariffs, the country’s trade surplus in goods has set a record, as growing shipments to Asia, Europe, Latin America and Africa offset the hit from Trump’s levies on direct sales to the U.S.”
Tags: Africa, Asia, Cars, Chemicals, China, Europe, Factories, Indispensable, Industrial production, Latin America, Machinery, Manufacturing boom, Shipments, Status, Tariffs, Trade surplus, Trump, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (December 7)
“Advertising spending will grow more than predicted in 2025 because tariffs didn’t take as big a bite as expected and AI provided a boost…. Global ad revenue excluding U.S. political advertising will grow 8.8% in 2025 to $1.14 trillion, WPP Media said, raising its forecast from the 6% it predicted in June,” while worldwide advertising is now expected to grow 7.1% in 2026, up from June’s forecast of 6.1%.
Tags: $1.14 trillion, 2025, 2026, 8.8%, Ad revenue, Advertising, AI, Forecast, Predicted, Spending, Tariffs, U.S., WPP Media
Washington Post (December 6)
“Trump and Vance promised their trade and immigration policies would usher in a new golden age, leading to a renaissance of new factories that would employ native-born workers…. Yet manufacturing contracted for the ninth straight month in November… as factories face slumping orders and higher prices for inputs because of tariffs.” Republican leaders are urging consumers to “relax.” This is neither “a winning economic message” or at all “soothing… when you’re struggling to pay for groceries, let alone Christmas presents.”
Tags: Consumers, Economic message, Factories, Golden age, Groceries, Immigration, Manufacturing, Native-born, Prices, Relax, Slumping orders, Struggling, Tariffs, Trade, Trump, Vance, Workers
Bloomberg (October 22)
“Six months into Donald Trump’s trade war, the resilience of Chinese exports is proving just how essential many of its products remain even after US levies of 55%.” The weaknesses of Trump’s tariffs are becoming clear. They “appear somewhat limited in their ability to control what American firms import, as China’s sway over sectors such as rare earths and electronics makes its products hard to dislodge.” On top of that, loopholes play a factor. “American importers are able to pay a lower levy by declaring the customs value of goods based on their first sale in a third country, and then raising the price when the items reach a US port. Transhipping via Mexico or Vietnam means some firms are likely not paying the full tax.”
Tags: China, Customs value, Dislodge, Electronics, Essential, Exports, Importers, Loopholes, Mexico, Price, Products, Rare earths, Resilience, Tariffs, Trade war, Transhipping, Trump, U.S., Vietnam
Washington Post (October 20)
“President Donald Trump says he beat inflation. But several conventional measures of rising prices paint a different picture. Most experts agree inflation has picked up in recent months, in part because of Trump’s tariffs. Economists expect more tariff-driven price increases in the months to come.”
Tags: Beat, Conventional, Economists, Experts, Inflation, Measures, Rising prices, Tariffs, Trump
Politico (October 19)
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde believes the global economy is “in transformation,” brought about especially by two factors. “One is the tariffs, which have changed the map of trade around the world and reconstituted new alliances and reformed the way in which we trade with each other…. The second major transformation is the impact of artificial intelligence on everything we do from data management to dating and everything in between.”
Tags: Alliances, Artificial intelligence, Data management, ECB, Global economy, Impact, Lagarde, Tariffs, Trade, Transformation
Bloomberg (October 7)
Should Trump’s “signature tariffs” be overturned by the Supreme Court, “it would unleash a bureaucratic nightmare involving reams of refund paper checks.” This could involve refunding “the bulk of the $165 billion in customs duties collected so far this fiscal year back to companies that paid them. But they won’t have an easy time getting their money back.”
Tags: $165 billion, Bureaucratic nightmare, Companies, Customs duties, Overturned, Paper checks, Supreme Court, Tariffs, Trump
Bloomberg (October 2)
“The European Union plans to hike tariffs on steel imports to 50% and cut by nearly a half the volume of steel that’s allowed in before that higher rate is imposed.” In recent years, “European steel imports have risen as production has fallen.” This move is designed to “align the bloc’s rate with the US, which has sought to push back against overcapacity from China.”
Tags: Align, EU, Imports, Overcapacity, Production, Steel, Tariffs, U.S.
Time (September 27)
“The latest move in a sweeping tariff agenda that has roiled global markets and touched various sectors of the economy, as well as Americans’ wallets,” begins with the imposition of tariffs on branded pharmaceuticals (100%), kitchen and bathroom cabinets (50%), upholstered furniture (30%), and semi trucks (25%). Though “Americans could see an uptick in some prices,” this could be limited by exemptions, as well as the existing or expanding U.S. presence of major producers.
Tags: Branded pharmaceuticals, Cabinets, Economy, Exemptions, Furniture, Global markets, Prices, Roiled, Sectors, Semi trucks, Sweeping, Tariffs, Uptick
Fortune (September 23)
“The OECD has lifted its prediction of global growth to 3.2% for the year, up from the 2.9% it forecasted in June. Predicted U.S. growth rose to 1.8%, an uptick from the 1.6% predicted in June. Still, the OECD warned it had not revised global or U.S. prospects for next year, and the outlook is not good” as the negative impact of tariffs has yet to fully materialize. In 2026, “global growth is predicted to drop to 2.9% while U.S. growth is set to hit 1.5% in 2026, a significant decrease from the respective 3.3% and 2.8% growth in 2024.”
Tags: 2026, 3.2%, Decrease, Global growth, Materialize, Negative impact, OECD, Outlook, Prediction, Tariffs, U.S., Uptick, Warned
