Trump caving. Prepare to declare victory

I think in my perfect world tqqq would hit $40 this week. I’d buy 20,000 shares.

Then Apple would head back to $210 and tqqq to $56

And then I’d escape. And I would never ever ever do this again. Honest. This time I really mean it. Mostly

FIFY:

Tariffs by the US are a horrible idea. But everyone can use them as much as they want.

Augie we are the biggest economy in the world, the wealthiest country in the world, whatever tariffs you are talking about haven’t made a dent. I read about some shrimping towns around the South, Mississippi or Louisiana that were ecstatic about the tariffs because they couldn’t compete with the price of imported shrimp. They said that with tariffs they could now charge more for their shrimp catches. Good for them bad for consumers.

What has hurt Americans more than tariffs is the exporting of jobs to other countries. Good paying union manufacturing jobs going to countries with cheaper labor. That’s not a tariff problem that’s a corporate greed problem.

Completely agree on corps moving overseas. Huge problem. That is changing for the good.

US has been getting killed by tariffs, for decades. It’s made it difficult for US manufacturers and farmers to compete. All Trump wants is a more level playing field….they’ll still make money because of the shear volume.

But again, all we hear is tariffs by Trump are bad. All of them. But no one ever has an issue with other countries levying tariffs on the US.

THAT IS THE ISSUE.

That is not “free trade”, that is one party being taken advantage of because leadership has allowed it to go own for decades.

or yes or no

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency announced good news for Apple, Nvidia, Dell, and others late Friday night. A new list of goods to be exempted from the latest round of tariffs on U.S. importers was released, and it includes smartphones, PCs, servers, and other technology goods, many of which are assembled in China.

This latest round of tariff rates is currently set at 125% for Chinese goods and a 10% tax on imports from other trading partners. China also had an additional 20% tax on its goods that began in March, bringing its total to 145%. 

Importers of these electronics will no longer face the newest taxes, and it cuts the Chinese rate down to 20% for them. The exceptions cover $385 billion worth of 2024 imports, 12% of the total, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

It includes $100 billion from China, 23% of 2024 imports from there. For these electronics, the average tax rate went from 45% to 5% with this rule.

The biggest global exemption is the import category that includes PCs and servers, with $140 billion in 2024 imports, 26% of it from China. Circumstances may change again, but this benefits AI king Nvidia

Nvidia, server-makers like Dell, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Super Micro, and PC makers like Dell and HP. The average tax rate went from 45% to 5% here, according to Barron’s calculations.

The biggest newly exempt category for Chinese goods is smartphones, with $41 billion in 2024 U.S. imports, 81% of all smartphone imports. A 145% tax on that would be $60 billion, but even the new 20% tax is a hefty $8 billion. 

Apple assembles devices mostly in China in addition to India and Vietnam. Should these rules remain in place, the biggest beneficiary would be the iPhone maker, but it will still be faced with a 20% tax on its imports from China. The average tariff rate on smartphone imports went from 119% to 16% in the new system, according to our calculations.

The exemptions also highlight the White House picking winners and losers in the nascent tariff war. For example, the apparel, footwear, and headgear industry will still be hit by 145% tariffs on Chinese imports, and 20% elsewhere. Its average tariff rate remains at 44%.

But in any case, it will ramp up the uncertainty that hangs over corporate investment decisions.

The exceptions also include some parts for PCs and servers including solid state storage drives. It also broadened the range of exemptions for semiconductors, which got some relief in the original executive order from April 2, along with copper, pharmaceuticals, lumber, some critical minerals, and energy.

Some of these categories, like semiconductors and pharmaceuticals, may see their own special tariffs applied.

The new exemptions also includes semiconductor manufacturing equipment, which is good news for foreign suppliers like ASML, and U.S. customers like Intel, TSMC, Texas Instruments, and GlobalFoundries.

Doesn’t say so