The deal will lower tariffs on car imports from Japan to 15% from 25%.
Carmakers Blast Japan Trade Deal
The Wall Street Journal reports Detroit Carmakers Blast Japan Trade Deal, But Their Shares Are Rallying Anyway
Detroit’s automakers blasted the Trump administration’s trade pact with Japan as a “bad deal” for the U.S. car industry Wednesday, but global auto stocks rallied on news of the agreement.
Under the agreement, tariffs on Japanese cars will be lowered to 15% from 25%. Toyota’s shares ended Wednesday trade in Tokyo about 14% higher, its largest single-day percent increase in more than 15 years. Honda closed up more than 11%.
The trade deal with Japan is also giving investors hope that there could be similar reductions on tariffs for vehicles imported from other countries—including trade agreements that would benefit U.S. automakers, which have a significant presence in Canada and Mexico. Shares in GM and Ford Motor were up midday about 6% and 2%, respectively, while Jeep-maker Stellantis jumped 11%.
Even so, Detroit’s car companies weren’t pleased.
“Any deal that charges a lower tariff for Japanese imports with virtually no U.S. content than the tariff imposed on North American-built vehicles with high U.S. content is a bad deal for U.S. industry and U.S. auto workers,” said Matt Blunt, head of the American Automotive Policy Council. The body represents General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis.
Japan shipped roughly 1.4 million vehicles to the U.S. last year, the third-largest exporter after Mexico and South Korea. The tariff reduction represents a major win for Japanese automakers, providing them an edge to President Trump’s 25% tariffs on most other car imports from around the world.
Tariffs have already started to take a bite out of automaker profits. On Monday, Stellantis warned investors that its earnings took a hit of around $350 million as a result of Trump’s auto tariffs. A day later, GM said the levies cost it more than $1 billion.
Detroit’s three car companies have much to gain from seeing auto tariffs lowered in other countries because they manufacture some cars and import many auto parts from around the world.
Overall, in 2024, about 3.7 million cars made in Mexico and Canada were imported and sold in the U.S., according to GlobalData, an industry-research firm.
“The Japanese deal at least highlights that some mitigation on 25%…U.S. auto tariffs is possible,” Citi analysts said in a note. But it will arguably make life more difficult for U.S. car companies who still have to pay 25% to import from Canada and Mexico, the note said.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview with Bloomberg Television that the U.S. agreed to lower Japan’s car import rate to 15% because Japan provided an “innovative financing mechanism” to make a deal happen. Japan is providing equity, credit guarantees, and funding for major projects in the U.S., he said.
Analysts noted the possibility that the deal with Japan could point to some relief in a forthcoming pact between the U.S. and the European Union. But Japanese carmakers will clearly have a competitive advantage for now, they said.
Japan Trade Deal Offers US Automakers Relief, Not New Markets
Bloomberg reports Japan Trade Deal Offers US Automakers Relief, Not New Markets
If only Switzerland would open itself up to US chocolate exports. Oh right, it did. Even so, I’m guessing the master chocolatiers are safe in their Alpine redoubt from an American influx. On a similar note, President Donald Trump’s touted victory in getting Japan to open up to US auto exports as part of Tuesday’s trade deal amounts to very little of substance. It may yet carry a silver lining of sorts for Detroit.
Japan hasn’t levied tariffs on foreign autos for nigh on half a century. There are some formal barriers including specific standards and certification requirements. But the reason Japan doesn’t buy many vehicles from the US is that it mostly doesn’t want the kind of vehicles the US produces.
The best selling model in Japan is the Honda N-Box, a “truly adorable little mini van”, as Car and Driver puts it, that gets upward of 50 miles per gallon and can be had for as little as $12,000, according to the manufacturer’s website. This makes sense, since Japan is characterized by dense urban living, high-quality public transit and gasoline prices that are, on average, roughly 40%, or more than a dollar per gallon, higher than in the US.
US automakers do not, in general, make an adorable little anything. Ford Motor Co. barely even makes cars anymore, outside of the Mustang brand. Along with General Motors Co., it has mostly retreated from international markets to focus on serving the peculiarly robust tastes of its domestic market. There, more than 80% of light-duty vehicle sales are for hefty trucks such as the best-selling Ford F-150 series and SUVs that command a premium, and the market for sedans has been left largely to the likes of Japan’s automakers.
Logic would dictate that if Japan’s car companies are getting a 15% tariff on their exports, then surely Canada and Mexico will ultimately get similar or lower rates, if for no other reason than to take pressure off the US automakers. (As an aside, GM could really use a similar deal for South Korea, too). Therein lies the optimistic interpretation of Trump’s deal, and US auto stocks — along with European counterparts — rallied Wednesday on this modified TACO trade. Logic has been in short supply this year, but hope remains in abundance.
Modified TACO Trade
The markets are happy with the backdown of Trump from 25 percent tariffs to 15 percent tariffs.
But GM and Ford are not happy with Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada.
The market expects Trump to back off those tariffs and so do I. But some reshoring efforts are underway.
GM and Ford will either eat those costs or pass them on.
GM Profit Down 35 Percent Due to $1.1 Billion Tariff Hit
On July 22, I commented GM Profit Down 35 Percent Due to $1.1 Billion Tariff Hit
The next quarter will be worse says CEO Mary Barra.
As part of its mitigation plans, GM will bring more production back to the US.
The tariffs are now so onerous that it makes sense to bring production back to the US.
But the bottom line has not changed, GM will have to raise prices or deal with perpetually lower profit, or some combination.
In addition, GM will face higher prices for steel, aluminum, and copper no matter where it produces cars.
US Car Exports Headed towards Zero
The US is building big trucks and cars most of the words does not want.
Other than Tesla, the US has temporarily given up on EVs.
Musk has offended most of the world in one form or another. And Tesla is more than a bit dated.
Tesla’s last new model was the Cybertruck in 2023. It’s been an amazing flop as one might have suspected just looking at the silly thing. It’s the 2023 Edsel.
Prior to that, the Tesla model Y was introduced in 2020. Model Y deliveries started March of 2020, over five years ago.
Musk said his next car won’t have a steering wheel. Good luck with that idea, especially since Tesla Full Self Driving (FSD) is a joke.
Motor Trend Tests Tesla’s FSD, Tesla Flunks 3 Ways, Funny Videos
On July 20, I commented Motor Trend Tests Tesla’s FSD, Tesla Flunks 3 Ways, Funny Videos
Tesla’s FSD is not ready for prime time and won’t be without LIDAR.
Musk has said his next model release will be a a robo-taxi without a steering wheel. It’s doomed from the start.
Play the video. It’s hilarious.
GM Spiral
EVs will eventually win. Meanwhile it’s hybrids. The US lags on both, still producing large cars and trucks that baby boomers, gen X, the older millennials, and unions like.
Neither the automakers nor the unions are prepared for the inevitable transition.
Ford CEO: China’s EV Costs, Tech, and Quality “Far Superior” to the West
On June 30, I noted Ford CEO: China’s EV Costs, Tech, and Quality “Far Superior” to the West
“Their cost, their quality of their vehicles is far superior to what I see in the West,” Farley said. “We are in a global competition with China, and it’s not just EVs.”
BYD Pricing
In China, BYD offers a range of electric vehicles (EVs) at various price points, with some models starting under $10,000. For example, the BYD Seagull EV has a starting price of 69,800 yuan (approximately $9,555) and can be found with discounts down to 55,800 yuan (about $7,780). The company also offers more premium models like the Han EV, which starts at around $32,800.
My post brought out the expected ad hominem attacks on Ford and its CEO.
But look at the details.
“Drivers get in the car and their phone pairs automatically, and an AI companion equivalent to ChatGPT handles everything from navigation to entertainment. The vehicles also have facial recognition that knows which seat someone is in and adjusts media preferences.“
The Western manufacturers do not have that at any price.
Related Posts
March 13, 2025: The Amazing “Success” of Trump’s 2018 Aluminum Tariffs in One Picture
I hope you can take a bit of headline sarcasm because the true story follows.
May 31, 2025: Trump Will Double Steel and Aluminum Tariffs to 50 Percent
Tariff madness continues.
July 8, 2025: Copper Spikes to Record High After Trump’s 50 Percent Tariff Announcement
This copper tariff is seriously idiotic. And it follows on the heels of idiotic tariffs on steel.
The US will be the high cost producer of Steel, Copper, Aluminum, cars, everything. A few thousand manufacturing and mining jobs return. Call it 100,000 jobs if you like.
We will lose 1,000,000 jobs elsewhere in the process. Many small businesses will go bankrupt.
There is no advantage to paying the most in the world for Steel, Copper, Aluminum, and cars.
It’s idiotic to try to bring all manufacturing back to the US. All that will do is make US the high-cost producer of everything.
Exports, except services and technology exports, where the US still has an edge, will collapse.
Meanwhile, this TACO deal with Japan was better than the market expected for now.
We still have the best weapons in the world.
lol, who cares if Detroit is upset. They need to shut their cake holes and focus on quality.
I got 333K on a Honda and 356K on Toyota – basically trouble free, but all maintenance was kept current. I once owned a Ford Taurus, which was an absolute POS. My neighbors raced funny cars and always bought Chevy. They told me this year they wuddnt buy GM on a bet. The son bought an Iona (I think that was it) with 100k warranty. GF has a 2012 Cruze and it has had all kinds of parts fail – worst thing to hear is “Its a factory part.” I wanted to avoid CDA and CVT trannies, but accepted a CVT in a Toyota RAV4. GF wud not buy used. Looked at a couple of GM cars – one small SUV had a 1.2L turbo – pfffft! I’d buy a low mileage 10-yr-old Honda or Toyota before a new Ford or GM.
All those UAW guys that vote for President Pedo are getting what they earned.
Pedo in Chief.
BYD … phone automatically links up … CCP really enjoys this feature lololol.
Americans will never buy tiny 12k Hondas. You can’t fit a three-hundred-pound American in anything that small. Nearly half of the country is obese. My guess is the US market will continue to produce, or market, huge vehicles for their huge customers.
You get poor enough you will. My thoughts are if you are working and getting clobbered by inflation you will go new and small. Your other option is used but thats a crap shoot and most people dont have the time tools or knowledge to keep a used car running. If your young and or just broke can afford a car or ins ebikes are your option
Where i live in slightly northern ca. there seems to be more people on ebikes not only for “exercise” but going to work. Ie uniforms think restaurant staff etc.
The meth heads homeless and close to being homeless are all on ebikes/ old school homemade mopeds. I think you can get small gas motor setup on amazon.
Ps i dont think anyone wants to steel your regular bike anymore
Ozempic is picking off the porkers. In a decade they may be extinct.
Even if some US cars might sell in Japan, would there ever be enough demand for US auto to bother making right hand drive versions?
Ford stopped producing Figo in India, bc consumers taste shifted from small cars to crossovers and SUVs. Ford produces pickup trucks, SUV and crossovers in Thailand. Ford might produce ev cars in Thailand, India and Indonesia. GM sold Opel and Vauxhall to PSA bc they weren’t profitable for decades and to invest in: ev.
Indonesia is the largest nickel producer. Nickel batteries (NIMH) are cheaper, safer and easier to recycle than Lithium Ion batteries. However, they produce less energy
and decay faster.
I have often closed my posts with the question “Who does Trump work for?”
In this case Trump is working directly against our auto manufacturers by giving a foreign nation preferential tariffs. He is working for Japan and giving them a competitive advantage.
Only Trump would call lowering the 60 year long 25% tariff on truck imports to 15% after rising tariffs to 30% only months ago rational.
Trump truly is an idiot!
No nation should take his nonsense seriously.
Since Truck imports from Japan are minimal because of the tariff then maybe we should put the tariff on cars to 25%. Is that what you are saying?
No, there should be no tariffs and competition should be ‘Merit Based”. The notion of “Regulation by Tariff” is absurd in a free market or country.
50% tariffs on copper or coffee for example are absurd because we do not have the resources or capacity to produce those items competitively.
I prefer the inherent deflation of importing low cost, high quality items with printed dollars. It raises the standards of the world and encourages developing nations to support their growing populations instead of having to emigrate to nations with wealth and jobs.
Those same nations then can afford to buy our higher margin products and participate in our banking system denominated in dollars. The notion of robotic US based production in an isolated world that lives in abject poverty is a recipe for disaster.
The US has always thrived with our strong allies our banking leadership has allowed us to finance foreign resource development for our consumption (again with printed dollars that have to be repatriated).
Trump and his minions do not understand the power of exporting dollars for goods as it pertains to controlling inflation and global resource management.
Rest assured that another nation (think China) will step up to replace us with Trump destroying our trading relationships and eroding the dollar based global economy.
Having a perverted, malignant narcissist as president has massive costs when it comes the destruction of our former global co-operative dominance.
>
China’s intent all along has been to rise up and replace the American Empire. Trump has long understood their intent. Thus, America First. The BRICS came about before Trump. A reaction to American dominance in a unipolar world. The world isn’t one big cooperative happy family, especially with astronomical global debt and a global debt reset coming.
Your theories are easily disproved by the fact that the US had free trade with Mexico for decades and millions of migrants still came every year. Mexico’s quality of life didn’t improve. Free trade was just exploiting serfs, slave labor and environmental arbitrage in corrupt countries to make rich people richer. The US financiers have their hands in all corruption, from laundering money for drug cartels, human trafficking with Epstein, to selling garbage securities as AAA and extorting people through price fixing and insurance schemes. There is no value to the culture the US exports. Trump is as bad as the rest of them.
You would have to if you wanted Ford and GM to compete in cars.
Remember when the big fear was that Asia was going to own us back in the 80s? Who knew they’d be totally right but only because we made it happen lol
We did not make it happen… Trump did…
I do. Only back then everyone would have laughed you out of the room if you suggested it was going to be China and not Japan that would do the owning.
If US car manufacturers were to make “an adorable little car that gets 50 mpg” they might make a huge profit, but they are too busy telling customers what they want.
1. They can’t compete on small cars. They can’t make a profit on them.
2. Very few Americans want small cars.
3. Very few Americans can fit into a small car.
You can’t fit Americans in those small vehicles. Half the country is obese.
This caught my eye.
“ Ford Motor Co. barely even makes cars anymore, outside of the Mustang brand. More than 80% of light-duty vehicle sales are for hefty trucks such as the best-selling Ford F-150 series and SUVs that command a premium, and the market for sedans has been left largely to the likes of Japan’s automakers.”
The reason that Ford and GM focus so much on trucks is because the US has had a 25% tariff on imported trucks since the mid 1960s, but only a 2.5% tariff on cars. They could compete on trucks for the last 60 years because of the 25% tariff but they couldn’t compete on cars with only a 2.5% tariff. So they have been getting out of car production.
In order for Ford and GM to compete
on cars in the US they also need a 25% tariff.
Of course, this is also why the US will never be able to export vehicles to other countries in any significant numbers. We are uncompetittive. And we are getting even more uncompetitive as Ford and GM are saddled with 50% tariffs on steel, copper and aluminum. And 25% tariffs on auto parts. Which foreign auto companies don’t have to pay. Trump is tilting the field in the favor of foreign auto companies.
“the US will never be able to export vehicles to other countries in any significant numbers. We are uncompetittive.”
Great info, PapaD. I would add an important point, however. The US has long been uncompetitive for car exports due to high labor & benefits costs which has nothing to do with the Trump steel tariffs.
But with Trump’s new trade deal with Japan, for example, we will add a 15% tariff on their car exports & GM can now sell the Corvette in Japan with it only meeting US vehicle standards & not the Japanese standards that made it very difficult for us to export cars to Japan.
Overall, the new trade deals with the Philippines, Indonesia & Japan seem like a much better deal for the US.
But again, American cars have always been uncompetitive to these three countries due to our high costs to manufacture.
So what did we win? Japan is not going to buy very many overpriced American cars.
An hour of distraction from trump’s pedophelia. Bondi TOLD him he was on the list: https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/23/politics/bondi-trump-epstein-list-files.
Expect more nonsensical ‘deals’ he can announce over the coming month.
What do you think we will be able to sell to the Phillipines and Indonesia that the people there can afford to buy?
Trumpcoin?
Um, we are the 2nd largest exporter, so they have to be importing some things from us, just not cars. In the past, we’ve only avg ~ 68K car exports. I think we can stop acting like America has ever (i.e., way before Trump) made money off car exports. It’s a dead horse.
I did say autos, did I not?
Petroleum $12 billion
Pharma and chemicals $12
Machinery and tech equipment $20
Aircraft $6
Agriculture $9
Other misc $5
Autos: they don’t want them
Wrong on high cost of manufacture. Germany and Japan have higher cost of manufacture, and still sell in the US, while American cars are not selling there because they are gas guzzlers. Ford and GM owned European brands, but those produced cars tailored to Euro customers.
Heavy trucks are another category, and by Euro standards just weird.
It’s my understanding this latest trade deal with Japan will make it such that any car made & sold in the USA that meets our safety requirements can now be sold in Japan. Prior to the deal, Japan had their own standards that US cars had to meet, making it very difficult for US car makers to export to the Japanese market. I don’t expect us to start selling millions of US cars made in Japan. But it you’re right that Japan’s costs are higher, then GM & Ford can be competitive.
That’s not a valid point. Japanese car makers make different vehicle for different markets, whatever the regulation is in them. You make cars that the end customer wants, not force trade deals to force feed them.
Truck and large SUV business tax write-off preferences started under Dumbya 22 years ago, celebrating 9/11 with a shopping spree. Nothing to do with domestic / foreign, nothing to do with tariffs.
That’s a completely different topic. The 25% tariff on imported light duty trucks started in 1964/65. It still exists today. Except for Japan apparently. They now only have a 15% tariff on trucks.
Correct, Trump literally hates America.
I doubt that he hates America. He is just too stupid to understand it.
The main reason they do is because Trucks aren’t subject to fuel economy ratings like cars are. That exemption was put in place decades ago and the big 3 figured out that making Trucks meant they didn’t have to meet fuel economy rates or be subject to fines (tariffs really) on their vehicles.
Over time trucks evolved from 2 seat cabs into 4 seat luxury cabs and SUVs followed.
Yes. Almost 80%of the vehicles produced in the US are classified as “light trucks” (which includes SUVs, Vans etc). This is GM and Fords big profit makers. Partly because of fuel standards as you say. But mainly because they have been protected by 25% tariffs for 60 years now. So they can charge higher prices, make better profit margins, and still compete with imported trucks that are subject to the 25% tariff.
In Related News:
In general, we get a one-sided view of what Trump is doing & how it’s all bad. Let’s take a moment and look at the MAGA side as John Carney lays out Optimum Trade Theory. Granted, there’s a long way to go, but this is progress for sure, at least in my book. Your mileage may vary.
Breitbart Business Digest: Trump’s Trade Deals Are Game Changers
Not a Musk fan, but I just can’t take mish seriously on Tesla. He’s been writing about Musk is going to fail for almost a decade now, and been wrong every step of the way.
Good for put option loss tax deductions.
TSLA down 10% this morning.
This is fine.
Meanwhile, what kind of tariffs are U.S. automakers paying on their Mexican imports made with peon wages?
Zero tariffs if they meet USMCA rules. 25% if they don’t.
But the rules are whatever Trump says they are
True. You cannot trust anything he says. He has broken the USMCA deal before. But he seems to be keeping to it at the moment. In fact, apparently Canada has been keen to start renegotiating it already, but he said he didn’t want to. Probably because he doesn’t like multi-party deals. Too complex for him.
I doubt that he will keep many of the “deals” that he is making with Indonesia, Japan, UK etc. He will find an excuse to break them and ask for more. I suspect the other countries realize this. So they will make these little deals and stall on the big complex ones. No point putting in a lot of effort when the person you make a deal with won’t keep it.
Instead of eating the tariffs to maintain market share, Japan should offer the cars at discounted prices in Mexico & Canada, where customers would be incentivized to buy Japanese instead of American. They could help this movement by establishing classes of cars (based on gas tanks or mileage or weight) that pay less sales taxes just like food or children’s clothes. They could even arrange for a deal on certain exports into the Japanese market to help balance trade [win-win].
This would perfectly circumvent the goal of more American car exports, without any talk of retaliation or punitive measures, and would be good for everybody.
They probably will. The Koreans can do that as well. And China is already selling inexpensive vehicles in many countries.
I see that Canada just had a meeting for their elected provincial and federal leaders. Topic #1 was how do deal with Trump’s tariffs. Topic # 2 was how to negotiate a good deal with China. Topic #3 was how to expand trade with the rest of the world. Perhaps more discounted autos from Japan, Korea and China will start to be sold in Canada.
Honda and Toyota are in great shape in Canada because they manufacture a LOT of vehicles there (Ford makes none in Canada currently and GM not many).
So it should be easy to get a vehicle deal with Japan since it’s made in Canad and would satisfy the need to keep Canadians auto workers working.
A great idea.
You mentioned “There is no advantage to paying the most in the world for Steel, Copper, Aluminum, and cars.” Damn straight.
You know why Canada has cheaper than US alluminum manufacturing costs? Tons of near free hydro-electricity. A HUGE item in alluminum manufacturing. (Smelting bauxite with the Bayer process.)
Now WTH do we need to beat Canada’s cheap hydro blessings? LET THEM! While we do something else!
Trump is clueless. Has no concept of “comparative costs”, “relative costs”, “Comparative Advantage”.
His feeble brain is stuck in a shallow 1960’s economic thinking. JUST STUPID. This only raises OUR costs to uncompetive levels and destorys NET JOBS.
Demand for steel will rise in the US. Trump wants to expand US steel production, not to close plants. Nippon will expand and modernize plants. US Steel co and workers are protected from cheap import with 50% tariffs. Globalization and comparative cost hollowed up the flyover areas, leaving behind rusty skeletons in the mid west
He was talking about aluminum needing cheap electricity. Which Canada has and we do not have. Which is why it is stupid to put tariffs on aluminum imports.
Regarding steel. Our manufacturers (such as auto companies) need to import steel because we cannot make enough of it ourselves. It will take a decade or more to build new steel mills. So our manufacturers will keep importing this additional steel you talk about and pay a 50% tariff on it till we build new mills. Which will only weaken US manufacturing.
“The deal will lower tariffs on car imports from Japan to 15% from 25%.”
Before Liberation day tariffs on Japanese cars were 2.5%.Now they are 15%. How do you construe that as a pullback? I am genuinely mystified by your statement.
Trump went from 2% to 30% to 15%
On what planet is that not a pullback?
I wonder if this reduces the tariff on Japanese truck imports to 15% as well. We have had 25% tariffs on truck imports for 60 years now.
A quick Internet search suggests it does. More to follow to see if the 15% applies to all “light duty” vehicle types.
And again, you honestly thought that 30% was the final number???
Be that as it may, if the original tariff was 2.5% and it’s now 15%, then THAT IS NOT A TACO.
That’s called winning! And in time, Japan may be forced to move some of the remaining Japan-based manufacturing to the US.
You have a strange concept of winning. What exactly did we win here? You need to explain it.
Yes, we have a different concept of winning. I’m fine with tariffs on Japanese cars going from 2.5% to 15%. You’re not which is fine. It’s America. Everyone has the right to their own opinion.
“ I’m fine with tariffs on Japanese cars going from 2.5% to 15%. You’re not which is fine.”
Actually, I don’t care. I am just an interested observer who points things out. Such as:
80% of vehicles sold in the US are classified as light duty trucks and truck imports have been subject to a 25% tariff for the last 60 years. This lowers it to 15% for Japan. Are you okay with that?
No wonder that Ford and GM are upset. That 25% tariff on imported trucks has been in place for 60 years. Which is why Ford and GM dominate the truck market and make most of their profits from truck sales. This is not winning for ford and GM.
When you take the original tariff and compare it to the tariff now you do not see a pullback but an increase. You know that but you wrote the misleading header anyway. Imagine you were the negotiator and at the end you go back to your boss and say it’s a win because the other guy pulled back from 30% to 15% when the starting point was 2.5%. He would say you are trying to bullshit him.
The “original” US tariff on truck imports has been 25% for 60 years now. Which is why Ford and GM make most of their profits from truck sales and barely produce any cars now. (Roughly 80% trucks and 20% cars).
Dropping the 25% tariff to 15% on the majority of US production (trucks) is definitely a decrease.
Japan will invest $550 billions to expand semi, pharma, shipbuilding, steel, critical minerals, energy, autos and AI. Mazda, Subaru, Honda, Toyota shares are popping up. Japan PM Ishiba isn’t resigning. This deal is important to Ishiba and Trump.
Sure they will. Nudge nudge, wink wink.
On a separate note, the Lutnik family seems to be confused about the legality of Trump’s tariffs. While Lutnik senior claims that the Trump tariffs are totally legal, the sons of Lutnik senior are reportedly buying tariff refund claims from companies at 20-30 cents for the dollar under the assumption that Trump tariffs are illegal and that those tariffs will eventually have to be repaid.
This is called hedging.
Nice new euphemism.
The Japan deal is probably the most confused trade deal ever. On the one hand, the deal is supposed to reduce Japan’s trade surplus vis-a-vis the US, but on the other hand, Japan is supposed to run now a larger trade surplus vis-a-vis the US to be able to invest in the US as agreed under the deal. Put differently, the deal contradicts a national account identity.
All they need to do is build a better car
The High Costs of Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful’ New Car Loan DeductionBy letting some buyers deduct interest on auto loans, the GOP megabill promises to lower transportation bills. But this tax break could do the opposite.
Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful’ Car Loan Interest Deduction Is No Gift – Bloomberg (archive.ph)
Thanks for the link. What a dumb fricking idea. Up there with “no tax on tips” or “no tax on OT”. The last thing middle-class Americans need is a justification (interest deductibility) for taking out a huge vehicle loan. The article has a misstatement: “For the first time, Americans will be able to deduct interest payments on new car loans when calculating their taxes.”
No – in the ’70’s almost all interest – even on credit cards – was deductible. Even sales tax was deductible. People saved every receipt from the hardware store. Of course, tax rates were much higher. In 1981, congress cut tax rates and eliminated interest deductions on most things (except homes). Now the GOP has cut rates further and they’re back to handing out goodies like deductibility of car interest.
When u sell a house u pay capital gains on the different between the selling
price minus buying price plus renovation, legal, closing cost, inspection…Trump might cancel capital gains or adjust it to the cpi, to encourage transactions.
It is confusing … every post wrt Trump tariffs has been negative … so he lowers tariffs and still gets a negative. Seems like darned if you do … darned if you don’t.
As someone who has to pay the tariff, perhaps if the tariff were eliminated, some “praise” or positive acknowledgement might be forthcoming.
Old enough to remember the GM bailout. And they still are jingling nickels and dimes in a cup on the street corner.
A trade deal with our most important ally in Asia is huge. Obama gang to jail is huge.
Obama gang going to jail? LOL you fell for that one very easily.
No jury full of democrats will convict them but they’ll still lose in the court of public opinion.
Supreme court little ruling that told president have legal immunity…
DC court will exonerate many, but not all. DC was vacuumed for the first time ever in history by Trump boots . The smear campaign will cont until the Nov 2026 election.
Supreme court little ruling that told president have legal immunity…
It’s his job.
I would suggest that you not hold your breath waiting for any of that to happen.