President Shit’s First 100 Days: Day 72

April 3, 2025 12:00 pm EDT Halodoc Editorial (Open Thread) Comments Off on President Shit’s First 100 Days: Day 72
Chart of Hell by Sandro Botticelli between 1480-1490

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Another Week In Hell: Thursday

Our tour of the Ninth Circle Cocytus – reserved for those guilty of the most grievous of sins: Treachery – continues.

In 1889, Carroll D. Wright, a prominent statistician employed by the U.S. government, addressing the Convention of Commissioners of Bureaus of Statistics of Labor: “The old saying is that “figures will not lie,” but a new saying is “liars will figure.” It is our duty, as practical statisticians, to prevent the liar from figuring; in other words, to prevent him from perverting the truth, in the interest of some theory he wishes to establish.”

And boy, do we have some big, fat, lying liars perverting the truth.

If none of this makes sense it is because it is deceitful and fraudulent.

[h/t to Boss for several of the following. Bless her, she intuitively knew I was going to be insane, and possibly go postal, with all their lies and insanity, threw me a few lifelines to get some of this down.]

Let’s start with the big lies and go from there.

The White House Lies Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Declares National Emergency to Increase our Competitive Edge, Protect our Sovereignty, and Strengthen our National and Economic Security
April 2, 2025

In part, reads: [Emphasis mine]

Large and persistent annual U.S. goods trade deficits have led to the hollowing out of our manufacturing base; resulted in a lack of incentive to increase advanced domestic manufacturing capacity; undermined critical supply chains; and rendered our defense-industrial base dependent on foreign adversaries.

President Trump is invoking his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA) to address the national emergency posed by the large and persistent trade deficit that is driven by the absence of reciprocity in our trade relationships and other harmful policies like currency manipulation and exorbitant value-added taxes (VAT) perpetuated by other countries.

Using his IEEPA authority, President Trump will impose a 10% tariff on all countries.

This will take effect April 5, 2025 at 12:01 a.m. EDT.

President Trump will impose an individualized reciprocal higher tariff on the countries with which the United States has the largest trade deficits. All other countries will continue to be subject to the original 10% tariff baseline.

This will take effect April 9, 2025 at 12:01 a.m. EDT.

These tariffs will remain in effect until such a time as President Trump determines that the threat posed by the trade deficit and underlying nonreciprocal treatment is satisfied, resolved, or mitigated.

Today’s IEEPA Order also contains modification authority, allowing President Trump to increase the tariff if trading partners retaliate or decrease the tariffs if trading partners take significant steps to remedy non-reciprocal trade arrangements and align with the United States on economic and national security matters.

Some goods will not be subject to the Reciprocal Tariff. These include: (1) articles subject to 50 USC 1702(b); (2) steel/aluminum articles and autos/auto parts already subject to Section 232 tariffs; (3) copper, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and lumber articles; (4) all articles that may become subject to future Section 232 tariffs; (5) bullion; and (6) energy and other certain minerals that are not available in the United States.

For Canada and Mexico, the existing fentanyl/migration IEEPA orders remain in effect, and are unaffected by this order. This means USMCA compliant goods will continue to see a 0% tariff, non-USMCA compliant goods will see a 25% tariff, and non-USMCA compliant energy and potash will see a 10% tariff. In the event the existing fentanyl/migration IEEPA orders are terminated, USMCA compliant goods would continue to receive preferential treatment, while non-USMCA compliant goods would be subject to a 12% reciprocal tariff.

The White House Lies Sheet

Lies upon lies:

Show more: “So we have a $17.9 billion trade deficit with Indonesia. Its exports to us are $28 billion. $17.9/$28 = 64%, which Trump claims is the tariff rate Indonesia charges us. What extraordinary nonsense this is.“

The US has a goods trade surplus with Australia of $17.9 billion.

What they confirmed 5 hours later via White House Deputy Press Secretary Kush Desai is they sent their most stupid to get schooled:

Liars will figure …. perverting the truth. Indeed.

☝ Show more: “Are you seriously pretending otherwise?”

Yahoo link –> “Trade war with penguins”: Trump places 10% tariff on uninhabited Antarctic islands

CNN – Understanding the scope of Trump’s tariffs so far, in 4 charts

In March, the administration imposed a 25% tariff on all aluminum and steel imports. Canada is the largest supplier of both to the US. Such tariffs could backfire on the industries they’re designed to protect, though.

For instance, William Oplinger, CEO of Alcoa, one of the largest US aluminum makers, warned in February that the aluminum tariffs could cost 100,000 American jobs, including 20,000 from his industry.

More recently, Trump announced a 25% tariff on finished cars will take effect on April 3, and a 25% tariff on car parts will take effect no later than May 3. Even if more auto manufacturing shifts to the US, Americans are set to pay higher prices due either to the higher cost of domestic production or increased costs of importing cars.

CNN

Here’s what happened today
• Sweeping tariffs: President Donald Trump declared a national economic emergency and announced tariffs of at least 10% across all countries, with rates going even higher for 60 countries deemed the “worst offenders,” according to White House officials.

• China hit hard: China, the second top importer to the US behind Mexico, will now face a 54% tariff under the new policy. Beijing, along with the EU, Japan and South Korea have already threatened retaliatory tariffs. Here’s what some world leaders are saying and this is a breakdown of tariffs by country.

• Markets rattled: US stocks plunged in after-hours trading as investors digested Trump’s decision to impose tariffs that could escalate a growing trade war and upend the global economy.

CNN

US tariff rate would surge to highest level since 1910 under Trump tariffs, Fitch says

From CNN’s Matt Egan

President Donald Trump’s massive new tariffs would send the US tariff rate dramatically higher to levels unseen since around 1910, according to Fitch Ratings.

Trump’s very aggressive tariff moves are set to lift the US tariff rate from just 2.5% last year to 22%, according to Fitch.

That surpasses the roughly 20% tariff rate the United States charged following the infamous Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, which set off a global trade war that economists say worsened the Great Depression.

“This is a game changer, not only for the US economy but for the global economy,” Olu Sonola, head of US economic research at Fitch Ratings, wrote in a statement today.

Sonola said “many” nations will likely plunge into recession.

“You can throw most forecasts out the door, if this tariff rate stays on for an extended period of time,” the Fitch economist said.

CNN

Fact check: Trump’s false claims about tariffs and trade
By Daniel Dale, CNN
Updated 6:50 PM EDT, Wed April 2, 2025

Analysis by Glenn Kessler April 3, 2025 Washington Post gift link: The false things Trump said about tariffs during his announcement
The president relied on claims that have been debunked many times before.

Killing the patient:

Update:

President Shit’s Public Schedule – 04/03/2025

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