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On Tariffs, It's Good to Be Tim Cook
WSJ ^ | The Editorial Board

Posted on 04/13/2025 12:28:31 PM PDT by FreedomNotSafety

“Tariffs are advertised in the name of helping American workers, but what do you know? They turn out to favor the powerful and politically connected. That’s the main message of President Trump’s decision to exempt smartphones and assorted electronic goods from his most onerous tariffs.

“All of this exposes the arbitrary political nature of tariffs. Some industries benefit but others don’t. Too bad if you make shoes, or clothing, or thousands of other consumer products that must pay the tariffs but lack the political or market clout to win exemptions. Too bad, too, if you’re a small manufacturer that relies on a component from China but can’t afford a high-priced K Street lobbyist.

(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: commerce; concerntroll; concerntrolling; openbordersrag; pearlclutching; tariffs; tds; trade; trump
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Link is to reach article via Google which may bypass firewall. Continued excerpt:

“Welcome to the new tariff economy, where you still pay onerous taxes, endure punishing regulation, and now must also navigate the political minefield of arbitrary tariffs.”

1 posted on 04/13/2025 12:28:31 PM PDT by FreedomNotSafety
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To: FreedomNotSafety

Yep, unfortunately. Seems like any billionaire in need can get a personal audience with Trump.


2 posted on 04/13/2025 12:29:51 PM PDT by 9YearLurker (\)
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To: FreedomNotSafety

(And I am all for high, strategic tariffs, bringing industry and critical supply chains home from China, especially.)


3 posted on 04/13/2025 12:31:09 PM PDT by 9YearLurker (\)
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To: 9YearLurker

There is also an element of political expediency in this. Trump’s policies will not significantly affect things like food and fuel prices. This will allow the low-info voters to not get mad.


4 posted on 04/13/2025 12:37:35 PM PDT by Fai Mao ( All Democrats need to go to prison.)
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To: FreedomNotSafety

So many voices so little logic. Trump is protecting the American consumer until those products can be made in USA.


5 posted on 04/13/2025 12:38:23 PM PDT by JayGalt (Fight! Fight! Fight!)
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To: Fai Mao

Yeah, that may be part of it.


6 posted on 04/13/2025 12:41:31 PM PDT by 9YearLurker (\)
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To: FreedomNotSafety

So says the powerful and politically connected globalist, Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal.

The Wall Street Journal’s op eds these days are crap.


7 posted on 04/13/2025 12:47:03 PM PDT by FreeReign
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To: Fai Mao

The entire idea is to be disruptive, if it wasn’t disruptive nothing would result from this initiative.

The 90 day “pause” was initiated because the people and businesses cannot keep up with the rapid pace of the changes being made. The computer software used by US customs, brokers, and underwriters cannot be rewritten fast enough. Goods on ships heading to the United States were ordered before the tariffs were put in place or even announced.

The buyers of the goods pay the tariffs and many of the businesses will not be able to afford the unexpected increase in costs. Who knows what will happen?

But the WSJ is being disingenuous when they say that Billionaires are the ones getting the exemptions. They have now borrowed a page from the lefty handbook.


8 posted on 04/13/2025 12:50:40 PM PDT by fireman15
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To: JayGalt

I’ve heard a lot of excuses for tariffs but protecting the consumer has never been one of them.


9 posted on 04/13/2025 12:52:19 PM PDT by FreedomNotSafety
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To: FreedomNotSafety

The article Stokes class warfare.

Of course international trade gives advantage to the wealthy; they are the company owners. Little people like you and me don’t have the resources to make stuff and sell it in scale.

We do benefit in terms of national security and overall economic growth, which ends up in people having dollars, houses, beef and butter. Things you want your kids to have.


10 posted on 04/13/2025 12:58:46 PM PDT by lurk (u)
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To: FreedomNotSafety

Get it together. The topic was holding off on tariffing some electronics that could not yet be made in the US.


11 posted on 04/13/2025 1:02:54 PM PDT by JayGalt (Fight! Fight! Fight!)
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To: fireman15

Then it should have been announced that this would take effect on 1 July.

That would give businesses time to recalibrate


12 posted on 04/13/2025 1:11:05 PM PDT by Cronos
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To: JayGalt

Ok. He is helping the consumer by holding off on the tariffs he imposed.


13 posted on 04/13/2025 1:12:05 PM PDT by FreedomNotSafety
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To: FreedomNotSafety

Commerce Secretary Lutnick said today that the exemption on tariffs for electronic devices are temporary.


14 posted on 04/13/2025 1:16:53 PM PDT by mass55th (“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.” ― John Wayne)
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To: FreedomNotSafety

I wish the administration would listen to Elon Musk on tariffs , the prime mover genius…we’re lucky he gives us the time of day.


15 posted on 04/13/2025 1:24:56 PM PDT by GreatRoad ('In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act' )
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To: FreedomNotSafety

WSJ is gone.


16 posted on 04/13/2025 1:28:30 PM PDT by iamgalt
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To: JayGalt
Very true.

People say “Trump has no plan” like untangling decades of Deep State and Democrat disaster is a Sunday drive in the country.

He does have a plan—but real leadership means adapting as the terrain changes (and it is constantly changing).

Negotiating with 180+ countries for fair trade while rebuilding a corrupt, bloated, and incompetent government is a Herculean task.

Bottom line: Quit your bellyaching. Unless you’re in the White House, you have no clue what fires he’s putting out.

17 posted on 04/13/2025 1:34:17 PM PDT by RoosterRedux (WWIII has begun. It's the Left in the U.S. and around the world against MAGA. )
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To: FreedomNotSafety

It never ceases to amaze me that there is so much deliberate misunderstanding. Backseat driving must really be satisfying.

There are many moving parts and the means to resolve the issues facing America are not simple. The actions will be rolled out in stages. That is not a flaw; it is the rational logical and only way to repair our economy and rebuild our industries and infrastructure.


18 posted on 04/13/2025 1:38:29 PM PDT by JayGalt (Fight! Fight! Fight!)
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To: FreedomNotSafety

WSJ whining because they can’t get their slave labor crap products.


19 posted on 04/13/2025 1:48:32 PM PDT by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: Cronos
Then it should have been announced that this would take effect on 1 July.

That would give businesses time to recalibrate

Something like that would seem to have made the most sense, but there are other things that may be going on here. China had been continuing its posturing indicating that an invasion of Taiwan was imminent. People more informed than I am expected it to happen right about now.

A big stick was used which completely disrupted trade with China immediately. Because of the way that the supply chain works this is already causing factories in China to shut down. Workers in China do not have the safety net that people here do... when factories shut down, they lose their pay and have to move back to wherever they came from with whatever meager savings they have managed to stash away.

This caused Xi Jinping to make a speech yesterday saying that his people were so tough that they could live eating tree bark. And film clips from the 1950s when Mao was in charge and killing tens of millions of people through starvation and execution were broadcast to remind people not to act up.

Their plans apparent plans to invade Taiwan this year seem to have come screeching to a halt. They had calculated previously that the end of March is the optimal time to invade... so they will likely have to put these types of plans off until next year at least. (What do you think would have happened if Kamala had been elected?)

And yes, the way the tariffs were dropped severely impacted some US businesses. I mentioned yesterday that I have a close friend whose Customs Brokerage business has basically been almost completely shut down. But he said that he believes that the Chinese are going to have to come crawling back fairly quickly because their economy is so much more dependent on us than we are on them. So, he is actually optimistic for the long term.

20 posted on 04/13/2025 1:50:20 PM PDT by fireman15
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