Drudge Retort: The Other Side of the News

Drudge Retort

User Info

qcp

Subscribe to qcp's blog Subscribe

Menu

Special Features

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Her decision to back Kennedy comes after Collins said she spoke with him about the Trump administration's biomedical research funding cuts. read more


In Kentucky, local storeowners are already hearing about their suppliers' prices going up. One estimate suggests President Trump's tariffs could cost the average Kentuckian up to $1,200 each year.


The base's name was changed to Fort Liberty in 2023 upon the recommendation of a commission that Congress tasked with renaming military installations dedicated to Confederate leaders. Renaming it again for Roland, not Braxton, is effectively a technicality. Even Hegseth's proclamation that "Bragg is back" suggests that the change is basically a wink and a dog whistle to those who still want the original Bragg to be revered. It's not fooling anyone, and it's not the first time it's happened in North Carolina.


Searing statement from the ABA accuses the Trump administration of failing to respect the law and Congress. read more


These are wild times at TPM because they're wild times in the American government. It's hard to keep up with everything happening from one moment to the next. I had not had a chance to look at the new DOGE executive order the President signed this afternoon with Elon Musk standing beside him. I don't think it's too much to say that it puts Musk functionally in control of the U.S. government.


Comments

More: Consider Mid-Continent Steel and Wire, which produced roughly half of the nails made in the U.S. After the steel tariffs took effect, its sales plunged by more than half, causing it to lay off 80 workers. Another 120 quit because they worried its Missouri factory might close. After this damage, the Commerce Department granted the company a tariff exemption.

Auto makers were another casualty. Ford Motor said tariffs subtracted $750 million from its bottom line in 2018, which reduced profit-sharing bonuses for each of its workers by $750. GM said the tariffs dented its profits by some $1 billion, equal to the pay of more than 10,000 employees.

The tariffs also made U.S. manufacturers less globally competitive and prompted retaliation that hurt American businesses. Canada imposed tariffs on $12.8 billion in U.S. products, including 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum. Harley-Davidson shifted some production to Thailand to avoid Europe's retaliatory tariffs on U.S. motorbikes.

Retaliation caused Mr. Trump to exempt Canada and Mexico as part of the renegotiated Nafta deal. His Administration also struck deals with some countries that exempted a certain amount of their steel and aluminum exports.

Even so, the tariffs created uncertainty for U.S. manufacturers and boomeranged on steel and aluminum companies. Employment in durable goods manufacturing began to decline in early 2019, which reduced demand for steel and aluminum. Employment in fabricated metals manufacturing that used steel and aluminum plunged and is still some 35,000 lower than when the tariffs took effect.

U.S. steel and aluminum firms enjoyed a surge in post-pandemic investment and consumer spending, and profits rolled in. But demand for the metals fell again as U.S. manufacturing struggled amid President Biden's regulatory onslaught and higher interest rates. Domestic steel-making capacity utilization has fallen back to 70%, about the same as in 2016.

Which is why U.S. steel and aluminum producers now want tariffs with no exemptions. They blame imports for reducing prices. But steel prices are about 50% higher than pre-pandemic levels and aluminum prices a third higher. Cleveland-Cliffs shares rose 17.9% Monday, and other steel makers by 5% or so in expectation of windfall tariff profits.

This is political rent-seeking at its most brazen, and it benefits the few at the expense of the many. None of this matters to Mr. Trump, whose dogmatic views on tariffs can't be turned by evidence. But we thought our readers would like to know the rest of the story.

Drudge Retort
 

Home | Breaking News | Comments | User Blogs | Stats | Back Page | RSS Feed | RSS Spec | DMCA Compliance | Privacy | Copyright 2025 World Readable