Financial markets have been roiled since President Trump imposed stiff tariffs on China, where Apple and other tech companies make many of their products.
I'm pretty sure all the people who deal with imports have to be on the verge of a mental breakdown. What a nightmare. Policy made by a petty, stupid tyrant based on apparently nothing but vibes and changing as often as he shits his diaper is no way to run a country, but here we are.
A friend works for a hardscaping company - sidewalks, drainage, parking lots, etc. Every day she gets an email about price changes on equipment and materials. It's making her crazy!
I once worked on a project to calculate tariffs on goods for an importer. It was a massive job with lots of edges cases. And that was under normal conditions.
My gut feel is that some, maybe even most of this can be worked in, but there is absolutely going to be shit going under the radar because it’s too hard, too confusing or out right contradictory.
I've exported computer parts before and you'd be surprised that the way to declare them is not: "gaming PC" or "Macbook air 13"" in the customs form but more like "Data processing machines" and if you were to ship a motherboard, it has to be declared as "Data Processing Machine Parts" or whatever it is, with a totally different code and classification, same thing for memory devices, for CPUs and even for storage devices.
So yeah, I have a feeling they won't even bother covering all the angles and just allow assembled computers, phones (since the US made iPhone is impossible at this point) and "chips" whatever they decide classifies as a chip.
It's been hell since the start of February. Reporting from the front lines. I've got folks working 16 hour days right now to keep supply chains moving.
Basically, a lot of the important shit that the CEOs of companies who contributed to his campaign depend on. So, he is caving, but only for his big donors.
I hope China doesn't back down, though, and keep their counter-tariffs in place until all our dumb tariffs are taken away. Bullies only understand force.
That didn't originally mean Brave New World totalitarianism by distraction, it meant doing things the common people wanted and needed. Juvenal was an elitist and thought that the state should serve the ruling class and nobody else. So no relief from hunger, and no public ceremonies or events that the Great Unwashed could participate in.
Prices are still going up and companies are pocketing the difference with even more price gouging. Nobody seems to be stopping them either. Never mind the reciprocal tariffs that got added on top of everything else by other countries.