Revisited: Q&A Tariff Impacts

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yeah, Today's Q and A how many countries had tariffs
on the US prior to Trump's tariffs. This is brought
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(00:22):
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(00:44):
Once you've done this, you may look for a little
microphone button. You see it, you tap it, you may
lay it out a message right there, maybe a topicer
question for a future Q and A Today's note? Is
this the listener? Send me a story with this note.
Twenty eighteen, Trump offered zero tariffs for either side, so

(01:06):
it's pretty obvious who is getting over on who? So yeah.
The note was sent along with a Washington Time story
from twenty eighteen. During the second year of President Trump's
first term, explaining that back then, President Trump offered all
non sanctioned countries a zero tariff deal, or in other words, hey,

(01:28):
if you drop all of our tear your tariffs against
us against the United States, then we'll do the same
for you. Trump will not impose any tariffs against any
of those countries. Now, this note is instructive because what
was true seven years ago remains true today. President Trump's

(01:48):
tariffs are not punitive. It dominates conversation these days. But
they're not punitive, as they have so often been positioned
in news reporting to be. They're generally reacting, dictionary or
in response to longstanding tariffs imposed by other countries against
the United States. Trump is often said that other countries

(02:10):
are ripping us off. However, international trade policy isn't exactly
in the wheelhouse of knowledge for most Americans right in
due to the lack of understanding or clarity of this situation.
The Trump tariff news often hits Americans one of two ways.
President Trump's supporters trust that he knows what he's doing

(02:31):
and that if he's imposing tariffs on certain countries, probably
for good reason, while those who are skeptical of Trump's
policies are outright oppose him, and them tend to think
that Trump's just this big, bad bully trying to use
tariffs top pressure of other countries to cave to his demands,
as is often the case, There's more to the story.

(02:52):
President Trump's current trade policy, which is called the Fair
and Reciprocal Plan. It was laid out for the world
to see on February thirteenth, and a fact sheet. In
his plan, he states, gone are the days of America
being taken advantage of This plan will put the American
worker first, improve our competitiveness in every area of industry,

(03:14):
reduce our trade deficit, and bolster our economic and national security.
The United States is one of the most open economies
in the world, yet our trading partners keep their markets
closed to our exports. This lack of reciprocity is unfair
and contributes to our large and persistent annual trade deficit. Okay,

(03:37):
so Trump's latest plan is effectively a more comprehensive version
of what he brought about during his first term, and
as we've seen, after giving trade partners around the world
time to understand his plan again. This came out in
early February He's not not afraid to act on it
by issuing reciprocal tariffs. That brings us to the interactive

(03:59):
portions of tois Q and a trivia time you right,
a Joel Sure, step up to the microphone. See how
you do here? Prior to President Trump's second term as president,
how many countries slash territories to countries and territories imposed
tariffs against US goods?

Speaker 2 (04:21):
Total? Shot in the dark fifteen. I really have no clue.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
I think this is instructed. One hundred and ninety seven,
All right, one hundred and ninety seven, Yeah, one hundred
ninety seven countries slash territories, including every European country, Canada, Mexico, Zimbabwe,
you name it. In fact, literally you're ready for this. Literally,

(04:49):
if you name a country, you will be right. Hell come,
here's the next trivia question for you. How many countries
are there in the world.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
Well, I'm guessing, I'm guessing. What was the figure you said?
One hundred ninety seven? Yeah, well that's what territories? Uh yeah,
I don't know, fewer than one hundred and ninety seven. Bright,
that's right.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
Good S where fifty to fifty on this one? They're
one hundred and ninety five. Okay, yeah, So effectively every
country in the world, plus a couple additional territories, impose
tariffs against US goods. Obviously came as a surprise to
Joel I think would have come as a surprise to
pretty much everybody unless you're involved in trade policy for

(05:36):
some reason. I'm guessing this is probably new information to you. Now,
were you ever given that kind of an indication by
all the people who like the Trump tariffs in the news?

Speaker 2 (05:48):
No?

Speaker 1 (05:49):
Now, do you care to fancy a guess as to
where the US ranks in terms of the use of tariffs?
Even now? Out of the one hundred and ninety five
country out there, how many countries have higher tariffs than
the United States Right now? With everything Trump has already.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
Done seventy two.

Speaker 1 (06:11):
One hundred and fifty two, Wow, we're still near the bottom.
With everything Trump's put into place, all of this tariff hype,
we are still one of the lowest in the world.
For what we're doing in other countries, at an average
of one and a half percent, the US tariff rate
remains one of the lowest in the world. The median

(06:32):
tariff rate around the world is two point six percent,
or in other words, the average other country is still
imposing tariffs at a rate that is seventy three percent
higher than what the United States has imposed. But you
don't get any of this information from your news media.
Just bad Orangeman Trump tariffs look abody wants to do

(06:54):
to the Canadians. So, as always, you got two sides
of stories, one side of facts. The facts are these. One,
Trump is right, trade isn't fair for the United States.
It hasn't been fair for the US, and objectively, our
country has been taken advantage of by effectively every country
in the world. Two. Trump would need to raise the
average tariff right still by seventy three percent just to

(07:15):
equal what's done against US goods. Three, he has offered
a reciprocal trade deal to eliminate tariffs to all non
sanction countries in the world. They could all go to
zero right now. Trump would take every tariff off if
they would just take their tariffs off. So it is
their choice. This is a demoscraple. It is not Trump's choice. Really,
it is their choice not to drop their tariffs. They've

(07:39):
brought this on. So as a free trader by nature,
I have never been like Hey, let's go do some tariffs. However,
when you really get into the nuts and bolts of this,
there is no denying that President Trump is entirely correct,
not a little bit correct, bigly correct on this issue,
and his actions today are aren't only not funitive on

(08:00):
these countries, they're still not even technically reciprocal. By rate.
Trump has gone easy on most of the rest of
the world regarding tariffs,