Trump's Economic Plan: Massive Tariffs Explained
Plus, Harris goes into the lion's den & faces tough questions from Fox News
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Good morning,
Have you been following the Menendez brothers saga? Yesterday, nearly two dozen relatives of Lyle and Erik Menendez gathered in LA to urge authorities to release the brothers or have a retrial.
The two have been behind bars for more than 30 years and are serving life in prison for killing their parents with a shotgun in 1989.
Both men maintained that they acted in self-defense after years of physical and sexual abuse from their father. Attorneys argue the judge overseeing the original case did not allow the jury to fully see evidence of the abuse.
The story got more attention in the past month following Netflix’s ‘Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,’ where extensive interviews give light to new details and nuance about their family and the aftermath of the murders.
Even Kim Kardashian visited them in jail, and called for the brothers to be freed.
We’ll be watching.
Mosheh, Jill, & Lauren
PS: Don’t forget to refer friends & family to subscribe to the Mo Newsletter… you could get free Mo News merch — DETAILS at the bottom of this newsletter!
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📌 WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH THE TRUMP TARIFFS?
Former President Donald Trump has doubled down on his sweeping plan for broad tariffs should he win the election in three weeks. Economists across the political aisle are sounding alarm bells. Trump says they are all wrong.
Tariffs, or taxes on imports, require companies based outside the US (or American companies that import parts from abroad) to pay more to bring items into the US. Those costs ultimately get passed down to US consumers.
Tariffs were used more frequently decades ago. They are meant over the long-term to reduce demand for foreign products, and boost domestic manufacturing.
The concerns: How much short-term pain/cost is created for Americans, and will tariffs unleash a trade war where other countries retaliate by announcing their own tariffs on US products?
Trump sees them as a bargaining chip to keep companies in the US, and as a way to bring in government revenue to allow for further tax cuts. He has dubbed himself “tariff man.” His plan, which has fluctuated in speeches, includes a 60% tariff on everything from China and an “automatic” tariff of up to 20% on goods from any other US trading partner.
That’s more than a ninefold increase in the volume of affected imports since Trump’s last round, which has mostly stayed in place. Economists are warning his policy will bring widespread price hikes, worsen inflation, add to the $35 trillion deficit, and could even lead to a recession.
BEEN HERE BEFORE
Back in 2018, then-President Trump began a controversial trade war with China— imposing $360 billion in tariffs on Chinese-made goods as well as on steel, aluminum, and solar panels. Beijing retaliated with its own tariffs on US products, which economists fear will happen around the world if Trump’s plan gets put in place.
Lessons from the washing machines: The prices of all washing machines— foreign and domestic— went up after Trump imposed tariffs in 2018, costing Americans $1.5 billion/annually. Why? Supply and demand— more people went for the American-made machines so the companies hiked the prices.
But proponents of the tariffs say prices eventually went back down, and they created about 1,800 new US jobs.
How much more costly machines got. Via: WSJ
Biden’s Tariffs: President Biden kept most of the Trump-era tariffs in place, and also imposed tariffs on Chinese semiconductors and 100% of the country’s electric vehicles.
That’s for a couple reasons: 1. The domestic suppliers do not want to lose the market share they gained, and 2. Tariffs are a bargaining chip, and China remains one of the US top adversaries.
At the same time, the Biden administration did ease aluminum and steel tariffs for the European Union, which in exchange agreed to drop retaliatory tariffs against American motorcycles, bourbon, and other products. Trump has previously called the EU an adversary.
THE WARNINGS
“The world economies are now so interwoven with each other — to rip and pull that apart would be incredibly disruptive to the US,” Douglas Irwin, an economist at Dartmouth College told the Wall Street Journal. “It would really ripple through the economy in ways that are very hard to predict.”
One prediction from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan think tank, warns Trump’s new plan could amount to a more than $4 trillion tax hike over the next decade.
Yale’s Budget Lab estimates it could cost a typical US household between $1,900 to $7,600 per year.
But, as the New York Times Paul Krugman puts it, “there’s really no debate” or even a discussion between economists who say that tariffs are passed on to consumers, and Trump loyalists who insist that it will be foreigners, not American consumers, paying the taxes on imports.
Trump has talked recently about using the threat of “obnoxious” tariffs of up to 2,000% as part of his negotiations to get more factories built in America. Here is more of Trump’s conversation at the Economic Club of Chicago about tariffs on Tuesday.
TRUMP’S DOUBLING DOWN
On Tuesday, John Micklethwait, the editor in chief of Bloomberg News, grilled Trump on his plan before a roomful of business and economic leaders. (above)
Trump insisted that high tariffs— and even just the threat of a tariff— paired with his tax cuts—would bring those auto factories currently in China and Mexico into the US.
John Deere, which Trump claimed during the interview was halting production on a Mexico plant because of the tariff threat, responded by saying that none of their plans have actually changed.
📌 HARRIS FACES CONTENTIOUS INTERVIEW, THREE WEEKS BEFORE ELECTION DAY
Vice President Kamala Harris sat down for her first Fox News interview Wednesday, as the campaign looks to appeal to independent voters and shed the narrative that she won’t answer challenging questions. The conversation with anchor Bret Baier covered the border crisis, the increased cost of living, where she differs from President Biden, as well as her previous support for controversial issues like using taxpayer money for gender-transition surgery for prison inmates.
In the 30-minute interview (full video), the two frequently talked over each other as Baier tried to get Harris to directly answer his questions, and Harris pushed back on interruptions.
Harris fans and critics had two completely different takes on the interview. Republicans think Harris did not answer the questions and applauded Baier. Democrats say she handled questioning well and criticized Fox News.
From the right:
From the left:
The big question: Will the interview moved any Fox News viewers over to Harris’s side?
The cable network’s audience leans to the right, but does include some independents. With the race essentially tied, both candidates are doing everything they can to court every single voter.
⏳ SPEED READ
🚨NATION
📌 Elon Musk has given $75 million, so far, to put Donald Trump back in the White House (NPR)
📌 100 year old former President Jimmy Carter votes in Georgia, fulfilling wish to live long enough to cast ballot for Kamala Harris (CBS NEWS)
📌 Nebraska Supreme Court rules convicted felons who completed their sentences can vote (NBC NEWS)
📌 Georgia judge blocks election rule requiring hand counting of ballots (REUTERS)
🌎 AROUND THE WORLD
📌 This is how a Russian disinformation campaign starts (NBC NEWS)
📌 China won't renounce use of force over Taiwan; Xi visits frontline island (REUTERS)
📌 Israel vows to improve Gaza conditions after US threat to withhold weapons (AXIOS)
📌 Italy bans couples from traveling abroad for surrogacy (BBC)
📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH
📌 FTC takes on subscription traps with 'click to cancel' rule (REUTERS)
📌 SpaceX sues California regulator, claiming its launches were blocked because of Elon Musk’s politics (GUARDIAN)
📌 New cervical cancer treatment cuts risk of death from disease, according to trial results (CNN)
📌 Amazon goes nuclear, to invest more than $500 million to develop small modular reactors (NBC NEWS)
🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT
📌 Garth Brooks says he revealed rape accuser’s name because she refused to give him a pseudonym in lawsuit (THE WRAP)
📌 Nick Jonas runs off stage after being targeted by laser pointer during Jonas Brothers concert (VARIETY)
📌 Someone edited the ‘Wicked’ movie poster to look more like the musical’s version. Cynthia Erivo called it ‘deeply hurtful’ (CNN)
📌 Clark first rookie to make All-WNBA 1st team since 2008, joined by unanimous choices Wilson, Collier (AP)
🗓 ON THIS DAY: OCTOBER 17
1931: Gangster Al Capone is sentenced to 11 years in prison for tax evasion and fined $80,000, signaling the downfall of one of the most notorious criminals of the 1920s and 1930s.
1956: The Game of the Century, a chess match won by the 13-year-old future world champion Bobby Fischer against Donald Byrne, took place at the Marshall Chess Club in New York City.
1989: A 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck during Game 3 of the 1989 World Series, between the San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics, forcing the game to be postponed for 10 days. 67 people were killed and more than 3,700 injured.