Donald Trump the Megathread part II - Mod Warning added to OP 10/1/26

USD devalued at pace against the euro to $1.13 while main indexes continue to give up their rebound rally gains.

T bond heading for same territory as before Trump announced his three month pause.

It might be Friday but it's also just another "flip the table day" in the White House.

About the American public paying for the tariff. The head of a well known Irish crisp was on the radio during the week saying he could pay a percentage of the tariff to not to pass on the cost to the consumer and stay competitive in that market. So the suppliers do have have a choice to pay the tariff themselves or pass on all or some of it to the consumer.

He could reduce the export price but I doubt his diaspora buyers are what sustains his business and in the current environment that niche demand could diminish further.

A percentage.

Technically the manufacturer does not pay the tariff, it is the import company/business. The manufacturer could lower his price, which would allow the importer to sell at a cheaper price and still maintain their margin.

It was Keogh's crisps.

In his case he likely felt they would become uncompetitive in the US market if the price had to increase a considerable amount beyond it's current rate.

He said that the increase in the value of the dollar (relative to when they started trading in the US) meant they could keep a similar profit margin to what they had previously, even if the price dropped for their American purchasers.

The problem he has now, is the value of the dollar is dropping vs the Euro.

He did also say that in the event the tariffs got too high, they would just work on increasing their sales in other markets and abandon the US. The US is currently responsible for 15% of their sales I believe.

So where he stands now is hard to tell as things are fluctuating so much. But I imagine they're not prioritising any growth in the US going forward and will look to more stable markets for that.

This is going to get really awkward for Trump. At some point, the tariff raises have to stop when it's clear China will just continue to match.

American consumers will immediately and obviously be affected by these tariffs while Chinese consumers won't. It feels like China is doing this, not to protect itself, but to goad Trump into making what it sees as mistake after mistake.

The importer always pays the tariffs.

The difference is when it's a large multinational like VW, they don't sell direct to the US public. Is the EU branch selling to the US branch, so there's some scope to reduce the base price.

But for industries who import an item that they use for manufacturing, like fabric and then that enters the supply chain at a higher price (because they have to pay tariffs) then everyone starts adding their profit margins, the end price to the consumer goes up.

I'd love to hear how that trump supporter who was interviewed about tariffs, who runs a T-shirt printing business and imports from China is getting on.

Chinese ministers are admonishing the US, calling for reversals from the Trump administration and declaring the Beijing will not back down, according to comments reported by Reuters:

China’s commerce minister has said that that the country firmly opposes and condemns the US’ wanton unilateral tariff measures, and has taken resolute countermeasures to safeguard its own rights and interest.

They’ve also said that the US’ repeated imposition of abnormally high tariffs has become a “numbers game” and has no practical economic significance. The ministry has urged the US to take a big step in cancelling the so-called ‘reciprocal tariffs’ and completely correct its wrongful practices.

If Trump keeps going, we're going to get into comical numbers of thousands of percent, like the 1320% vs 1300%.

China should just come out and say "If Donald Trump plans to raise tariffs when we respond, both countries should raise it to one million percent today so the economic impact of tariff raises on the world's markets isn't drawn out over months and years."

USD weakening rapidly, gone past $1.14 to the euro.

Those tariffed imports getting more expensive.

China actually saying that's their last move on tariffs.

The statement also suggested it may be Beijing’s last move in the tit-for-tat tariff raises as “at the current tariff level, there is no market acceptance for US goods exported to China”.

“If the US continues to impose tariffs on Chinese goods exported to the US, China will ignore it,” it said, flagging that there were other countermeasures to come.

I'd love to see a reporter ask Trump, with the new tariffs China has placed on the US, who actually pays them? The US companies or China? Of course, he'll probably say China.