Posted on 07/22/2025 2:21:03 PM PDT by SaxxonWoods
U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced a new 19% tariff rate for goods from the Philippines after what he called a "beautiful visit" by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to the White House, saying U.S. goods would pay zero tariffs.
"It was a beautiful visit, and we concluded our Trade Deal, whereby The Philippines is going OPEN MARKET with the United States, and ZERO Tariffs. The Philippines will pay a 19% Tariff," Trump said, calling Marcos a "very good and tough negotiator." Trump said the two Pacific allies would also work together militarily but gave no details. Marcos, the first Southeast Asian leader to meet Trump in his second term, told reporters at the start of the meeting that the United States was his country's "strongest, closest, most reliable ally."
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Yes, but if they pay 19% and Red China pays 50% or whatever it is, they are at a comparative advantage.
Trump is starting to remind me of Mr. Magoo. Wanders around saying crazy stuff, bumping into the furniture, falling into mud pits and walking out with buried treasure.
Maybe a little more like Lt. Columbo. Knows more than he lets on. Has exceptional intuition. Knows his adversaries’ weaknesses. Says things that forces them to stumble against their better judgment. Exaggerates his foibles to get dismissed as a harmless incompetent.
USA customers//importers pay the 19% import tariff.
https://tradingeconomics.com/philippines/exports/united-states
https://tradingeconomics.com/philippines/imports/united-states
Good
Besides bananas, what the heck do we import from the Philippines? Cute Filipinas don’t count.
Nurses.
My sil is from the Philippines. The Philippine people still love us and are grateful to the US because of what we did for them in WWII. I think even the young people feel that way, because they are taught it in school and by their elders. Elders are still revered there, also.
I have 3 good friends from there, all immigrated here (legally) and are fantastic. One is a state amateur golf champion and never saw a golf club until she came to the USA!
Among the most hard working people on the planet. I know my Sil sends a large portion of her income to her mother in the Philippines. She bought her a brand new Toyota Camry a couple of years ago. When she came to America, my brother told her she didn’t have to work, but she wanted to so she could help her family back home. My brother and sil’s hobby is garage and estate sales. She sends tons of items to her family.
Same with these people. One told me her first job was in a laundry, at 6! Her new husband bought the Mom a house as she was living in a shanty. They send her money too. None of these people are on welfare in the states, they are hardworking and support themselves. Two are married, one is on her own after divorcing her lazy American husband. She came here, went to school, became a teacher. She now has her own housecleaning service and is surviving in Long Beach, CA, of all places. She has a son who also works and supports himself.
They’re hard working all right!
I really don’t understand why we’d force trade deals like this on every country.
Give both countries say 10-20% of total imports allowable as tariffs on any industries as they want to protect. Both countries are allowed to cap any import once they hit 100% imports of that domestic production. (ie they can limit any import to equivalent as their production to protect domestic companies.)
This allows both countries to put restrictions on, and full protection, on industries they choose, without blocking the overall trade. Add in penalties against gov’t subsidizing or other scale-tipping activities, but otherwise make it as fair trade as possible. As the big brother, we should be helping countries we’re friendly with, not just trying to take advantage of everyone.
And I don’t know why we’re putting such huge tariffs on raw materials. We should be happy to import those while allowing for sufficient domestic production to meet national security concerns, but otherwise why wouldn’t we want to save our internal resources for long-term / emergency requirements?
“I really don’t understand why we’d force trade deals like this on every country.”
That’s OK, it can be confusing. I’m still learning too. Keep reading and watching, especially the sudden monthly surplus going into our Treasury that has been a minus number every month for over 4 years until last month, when it was suddenly a $27 Billion surplus. Let’s see what happens in the months ahead.
We are “forcing” because those countries have been taking advantage of us for decades. They are now dealing with us and Trade will be more even going forward. If they could get away financially with ignoring us they would. They can’t, we are finally standing up for ourselves and they have more to lose then we do, that’s why they are making deals.
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