Levis should be making its products here in the USA. Not some foreign country.
Just my opinion.
Sounds like a deal needs to be made.
Lesotho is a country in South Africa.
My heart is breaking…
Sounds like a Lesotho problem to me.🤔
What honestly should be done is that countries should be trading with their neighbours and not simply be relying upon the US solely.
LEARN_TO_CODE_PING!
It is shortsighted of Trump not to take into account other factors besides the trade imbalance. Considering the situation of the increasing violence by Muslims in Africa and the political situation in South Africa (and other nations) it makes sense to help certain African nations stay economically viable and politically friendly to the U.S.
I know many will disagree because they think tariffs exist in isolation concerning only trade and have no bearing whatsoever on other aspects of foreign policy. African nations are indeed important to the U.S. and keeping China and Russia from gaining more of a foothold (Let alone Islam, and Socialism) should be a major part of decisions regarding how we deal with those nations.
No, let Levi's and the other companies exploiting them help them. After all, they are the only people these guys can find to sew garments together, they are vital to the success of these companies, right? Let these modern day slave plantation owners pay them more, provide decent housing and amenities, healthcare, HIV testing/medications...isn't Levi's big on the whole LGBTQRZFRKLSYBWOYADAYADAYADA movement and their particular health needs? Seems like a great opportunity to prove it.
Not one more thin dime of American taxpayer money for this garbage, NPR. This garbage...or yours.
Reading this makes me thankful NPR was defunded.
This is why tariffs are necessary. Without tariffs, all US jobs would move to other countries that have cheaper wages.
The tariffs are to level the playing field.
Levis used to be made in San Francisco.
Individual trade deficits, particularly with small countries with limited resources IS NOT a material part of the U.S. trade deficit problem. What products made in the U.S. can tiny Lesotho afford to import for domestic use? Like none.
Our Tariff ambitions focusing on little countries like Lesotho is addressing a problem looking at the hole not the donut.
The US has 6% of the world’s population.
The rest of the world (94%) doesn’t normally walk around naked.
What a shame that we won’t be funding NPR anymore to have them tell us what a big meanie Trump is. Levis should find American garment manufactures to make their products for America.
My Revised Tariff Plan
Brian Griffin | 4/14/2025 | Brian Griffin
The total tariff shall be:
1. 25%, on aircraft grade aluminum alloys and automotive grade ferrous metal,
2. on national security products [we could and should make],
a. initially 0%, and then increasing by 2% at the start of every IRS quarter month after 2025 to 20%, on
I. industrial level components,
II. any drug for lawful retail sale & consumer use,
III. drug, chemical and plastic industrial inputs, other than refinery hydrocarbons and those for making fertilizer,
VI. semiconductors,
V. solar cells and panels,
VI. basic rare earth element products other than ore,
3. 0%, on
a. other raw materials, including coffee beans, fertilizers and their precursors,
base metals, electricity, raw & refined hydrocarbon products,
when vended without resale or short leash supply restriction,
b. foodstuffs, when sourced from a country for which the Secretary of Agriculture justly holds in good standing
for lack of undue impediment on import of US agricultural products generally vendable in the USA,
4. tariffs paid on section 1 and 2 imports, except from China,
may creditable on a one-to-one basis after bona fide export of manufactured products containing them
via any optional scheme the Secretary of Commerce may allow a bona fide manufacturing exporter to participate in.
The base tariff, on all imports not assigned a total tariff, shall be:
1. 20%, on items of a type that have been sold at retail that can be made and packaged by automated equipment,
2. 10%, on any other product,
3. 200%, on a service such as gambling or pornography historically banned by law, or
4. 10%, on any other service.
The base tariff for a particular import shall be:
1. increased 2% per dollar as estimated by the Secretary of Commerce,
on the industry wage shortfall of a key source country compared to the USA,
up to 20%, but levied only if the country is industrially advanced,
2. increased by the percentage of the latest 12-month US<->international commercial cash flow US shortfall,
excluding most raw material transactions, as to be estimated by the Secretary of Commerce, up to
a. 10%, if the key source country is industrially advanced,
b. 5%, otherwise,
3. increased by the percentage of the latest 12-month US<->the key source country commercial cash flow US shortfall,
excluding most raw material transactions, as to be estimated by the Secretary of Commerce, of up to
a. 10%, if the key source country is industrially advanced,
b. 5%, otherwise,
4. adjusted based on the latest 12-month US<->foreign exchange rate change,
as to be computed at least annually by the Secretary of Commerce, with
a. proportional addition by up to 5%, when unfavorable to the US dollar,
b. proportional reduction by up to 5%, when favorable to the US dollar, but to not less than 10% tariff,
5. as directed by the President of the United States and otherwise allowed by law,
adjusted based on domestic producer profitability, by industry and/or product type,
except when the import is a garment from a country that is not industrially advanced,
or contains intellectual property of key value significance,
as shall be calculated by the Secretary of Commerce, with
I. a 10% addition, no domestic producer of product or service type,
II. addition of calculated percentage that is less than 10%,
III. reduction by calculated percentage that is less than 10%, but to not less than 10% tariff.
For tariff purposes, a country is to be considered industrially advanced if it:
1. exports vehicles sold in the USA, other than motorcycles, which can be driven on a federal interstate highway,
2. produces an aircraft, or more than 10% of an aircraft by value, when such aircraft is certified by the FAA,
3. enriches uranium,
4. produces weapons for export to the USA which had a listed import value in excess of $100 million
in a prior 12-month period less than 24 months past,
5. is considered as such by the Secretary of Commerce for reasonable cause.
There shall be no tariff on bartered items internal to a motor vehicle organization, bartered beverage exchange system, or other barter system approved for tariff exemption by and justly held in good standing with the Secretary of Commerce.
[Certain dollar amounts on apparel, electronic and stuff typically sold below any possible US production amount
should be tariff exempt, not never the whole item regardless of cost. We don’t need to be importing $1,000 cellphones that
could be made in the USA for far less.]
The Secretary of Commerce may by regulation provide tariff exemptions up to the following amounts:
1. $100 on a laptop or personal computer
2. $60 on a smartphone
3. 10 cents per square inch of LCD screen
4. $45 per hard disk drive
5. $1 per first GB of solid-state memory and 20 cents for each additional GB
6. $5 on a shirt, blouse or dress
7. $4 on a pair of pants or skirt
8. $1 on an undergarment
9. $15 on a suit
10. 10 cents per inch of sewing, up to $2 on shoes and any other garment including dolls clothing
11. 80% of the genuine wholesale value of material in a garment
12. 90% of the genuine wholesale value of precious metal in an item of jewelry
13. such amounts on kitchen appliances that do not exceed
80% of values of competitively priced basic models as of June 1, 2023
14. such amounts on hand tools, powered and unpowered, that do not exceed
80% of values of competitively priced basic models as of June 1, 2023.
The Secretary of Commerce or any federal judge shall refuse admission to the US to products whose ability to be supplied to the US market might be the result of a coercive technology transfer agreement, patent infringement or technology or trade secret theft.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4310879/posts
hey npr
how about a story about all the Americans thrown out of work when levis moved its production offshore
lesotho benefited from a bad US policy
now it is being corrected
Consider Lesotho and jeans under my tariff plan:
The base tariff, on all imports not assigned a total tariff, shall be:
1. 20%, on items of a type that have been sold at retail that can be made and packaged by automated equipment,
2. 10%, on any other product,
That 10% is the baseline Trump tariff.
The base tariff for a particular import shall be:
1. increased 2% per dollar as estimated by the Secretary of Commerce,
on the industry wage shortfall of a key source country compared to the USA,
up to 20%, but levied only if the country is industrially advanced,
Lesotho isn’t industially advanced. It is exempt.
2. increased by the percentage of the latest 12-month US<->international commercial cash flow US shortfall,
excluding most raw material transactions, as to be estimated by the Secretary of Commerce, up to
a. 10%, if the key source country is industrially advanced,
b. 5%, otherwise,
Lesotho isn’t industially advanced, so at most 5% more.
3. increased by the percentage of the latest 12-month US<->the key source country commercial cash flow US shortfall,
excluding most raw material transactions, as to be estimated by the Secretary of Commerce, of up to
a. 10%, if the key source country is industrially advanced,
b. 5%, otherwise,
Lesotho isn’t industially advanced, so at most 5% more.
4. adjusted based on the latest 12-month US<->foreign exchange rate change,
as to be computed at least annually by the Secretary of Commerce, with
a. proportional addition by up to 5%, when unfavorable to the US dollar,
b. proportional reduction by up to 5%, when favorable to the US dollar, but to not less than 10% tariff,
At most 5% more.
****
The Secretary of Commerce may by regulation provide tariff exemptions up to the following amounts:
7. $4 on a pair of pants or skirt
10. 10 cents per inch of sewing, up to $2 on shoes and any other garment including dolls clothing
11. 80% of the genuine wholesale value of material in a garment
[So 10% to 25% tariff on the non-exempt value. The tariff might come to 40 cents on a pair of jeans.]
****
There shall be no tariff on bartered items internal to a motor vehicle organization, bartered beverage exchange system, or other barter system approved for tariff exemption by and justly held in good standing with the Secretary of Commerce.
[If American jean components are used, the tariff could go to zero cents.]