https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-liberation-day-2a031b3c16120a5672a6ddd01da09933
In the past weeks many different tariffs have been brought onto countries that do business with the United States. These include but not limited to Chine, Mexico, Canada, and Europe. Trump has announced new tariffs the will put a 34% on Chinese imports and 20% on European Union imports. This threatens the architecture of the global economy and may trigger broader trade wars. Due to the economic emergency Trump has claimed he has implemented a baseline 10% tax on imports from all countries. He claims these tariffs will boost domestic manufacturing to change the post World War 2 world trade system. Trump has stated,”our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered” by other nations. This is going to be a difficult transition for middle class citizens when the price rises for things like auto needs, clothing, food, and housing. Trump made a statement saying,”Taxpayers have been ripped oof for more than 50 years, but it is not going to happen anymore.” He has claimed he has acted to bring in hundreds of billion in new revenue to the United States government and restore fairness to global trade. Not long after the tariffs were put into place Trump declared a national economic emergency, leading to many Americans lost their factory jobs. Many news outlets have reported on this matter with experts being quoted saying,”U.S. tariffs will approach levels not seen since the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, which incited a global trade was and deepened the Great Depression.”
This is a scary reality we are now living in. Many jobs have been taken away and prices of day to day goods are going up. The average American will begin to struggle with paying for auto needs, clothing, food, and housing. Trade war will drastically change the flow of products world wide. This will hurt relationships between countries the United States have been close with for decades. These tariffs are doing more harm than good by the looks of it. Companies are losing money, the stock market is in disarray, and people are losing their jobs.
Many Americans are in distress and Trump shows no signs of backing down even when countries like China are rising tariffs on the United States. China has decided to raise the tariffs on U.S. imports after Trump raised China’s tariffs to 34% tax. With Trump being such a wild card, there is no way of knowing what he will do with these recent events. The tariffs on Mexico have lowered due to Mexicos compliance with the United States but tension with Canada continues to grow. This all seems like a power play of who will yield first.
There are many ways to connect these events to class. One of them is reciprocity, you scratch my back I scratch yours. There no longer seems to be any motivation to do so. It appears Trump wants to “show off” his power but it seems to just make relations more complicated.