Kenneth Raposa
Appearances
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
tariffs is harder than rocket science, because rocket science, we know where we're going, and we could communicate with the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 satellite right here from the United States, but yet we can't seem to figure out how to manage trade or how to tariff a certain country, so you have an industry in the United States. So it is a lot harder than rocket science.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Now, as far as the tariff story goes, there's three front strategy to Trump's tariffs, right? You have what I call the help a brother out tariff or the tariff threat, which you saw over the past two weekends, where Trump would say, we have a national emergency at the border with fentanyl and drugs.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
We are asking you, you're our friends, you're Mexico, you're Colombia, we have a free trade agreement with you guys, we're asking you to help us out. You don't want to help us out? Okay, we're going to hit you with 25% tariffs and maybe you'll change your mind. They did change their mind.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
So now there is no tariff and we have supposedly more policing at the border, we added the Colombians taking in their migrants, and we'll see how that goes over a month. That was the deadline that Trump gave to reassess the situation. That's one way that we're going to use tariffs. The other way is as a revenue, and that would be maybe a lower tariff of 10% to 15% across the board.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
That would basically wipe out all the free trade agreements we have, because even Korea, which had a free trade agreement with the United States, would now be faced with tariffs for imports, whatever we import from Korea. And the idea there would be that the government is raising revenue, and that revenue would be used to...
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
enable the government to extend something like the Tax Cut and Jobs Act, or, of course, lower our fiscal budget deficit, which is about $2 trillion today. And then the third is what we heard out today, which is more of a balanced trade situation, right? And this would go after certain countries. We've already had this with China, for example, when Trump was elected the first time.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
We have to ask on those guys. The balanced trade issue, which is what we've heard today from the White House, is where you're telling a country, look, We know that we're the big guys. We know that we're the consumers. We know that we love to shop till we drop in the United States. And there's never going to be equal trade among us, right? Because we're a bigger consumer than you are.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
But we don't want to have a growing deficit. We don't want to go from a 2017, $16 billion deficit with Canada to a record-breaking $70 billion one. We don't want to go from a $900 billion deficit in goods with the world to a 2024 record-breaking $1.2 trillion goods deficit. We want to see some stabilization, or maybe it's some countries going the other way.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Because that's not the case, those countries are going to face tariffs. So one thing Trump said today was, as an example, Hey, if the Europeans want to import a Jeep Wrangler from the US, it's a 10% tariff at least, not to mention the VAT tax, value added tax on top of that. But if we want to import a BMW convertible made in Germany, it's a 2.4% tariff.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
So in the idea of the reciprocity, we will say, OK, we're going to hit that convertible beamer with a 10% tariff and VAT or something equivalent, just like you're doing to our guys. So that's the free-prompt strategy. And that's what we saw coming out of Washington today with the tariffs that would come down the pipe in April to balance trade with our biggest trading partner. Okay.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Okay. So, I work for the Coalition for a Prosperous America. They are in favor of tariffs because their members are companies who are impacted by trade from countries who have low-cost labor, lower taxes, weaker environmental regulations than we have here. And if they want to exist as a company, if they want to exist as a going concern, They need some sort of protection.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
They're very in favor of tariffs. The same thing with a lot of our members who work in agriculture, who are beef ranchers, for example. We have free trade agreements with numerous countries like Mexico. We're importing more beef than we ever did before.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
The beef that you have on the shelves in the grocery store probably came from Mexico or Brazil, probably didn't come from Oklahoma or your local farmer, unless it's labeled as such, right? So these guys want to have a... I don't want to use the word... It's a level playing field because there's never really going to be a level playing field when you have the strongest currency in the world.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Obviously, our dollar goes much farther in Mexico. If you want to build a beach house and we only have a million dollars, we're not going to be able to build it in Malibu, but we are going to be able to build it in Colombia or Margarita Island in Venezuela. That's for sure. Because the dollar is much stronger for us, it's much easier for us to import.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
If you want to have a strong dollar, you want to have the dollar be the world currency and the world reserve currency, then you have to have some sort of protection if you also want to have industry and people who produce things in the United States. Otherwise, as time goes on, as we have seen, it's going to be a market just increasingly penetrated by imports.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
And that's going to lead to layoffs and more treatment centers in upstate New York and other areas instead of people working.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Well, the top downside to tariffs, of course, would be, let's say, for example, I'm an auto industry, right? And I have to import an engine from my contractor in Canada. Right now, it's duty-free. So now there's a tariff. I'm importing the engine. The guy I'm importing it from, the customs broker, is going to say, well, that $5,000 engine is now trapped at 25%.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
You have to fork up that money ahead of time. Now, imagine if I'm importing 1,000 of those engines. Now, I've got to fork over hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars to pay for the tariff to my customs broker. Now, I might be able to reach an agreement with my customer on the other end, where I can say, what if I buy more volume, or can I take on a loan?
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
So the tab is a little less impacted than the 25%, meaning that $100 tab to 25% doesn't always mean that the good is going to be all of a sudden $125, is what I'm trying to say.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
But for a company like that, like the auto industry in particular, that tab that sends things back and forth across the Mexican and Canadian border all the time, multiple times for the same item, it would be a big headache for those guys, for sure.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Okay, well, let's look at it like this. Do you remember the China tariffs when Trump was first in office? You remember those, obviously. And you don't remember that... Yeah, that really meets a higher cost for you. We all heard about inflation in 2021 and 2022, which was because of COVID and the lockdowns and money printing, right?
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
So your insurance went up, your health insurance went up, your table bill went up, your food costs went up. None of these eggs, for example, went up. We all heard about that. So many things that went up that drove inflation, gasoline, these were not things that we import.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
it's certainly not things that we import from china and china was the main main source of our uh uh tariffs in 2018 and of course they were ascended during the biden presidency as well so tariffs against china our number one trade partner did not lead to inflation okay not not measurable and either janet and even janet yellen our president secretary before our new one scott the zen said the same thing it's not measurable now
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Recently, the Boston Federal Reserve came up with a report, and the report was, let's pretend there's going to be a 25% tariff on Mexico and Canada. Let's pretend there's going to be a 60% tariff on China. I think if I remember off the top of my head, it was a one-time increase of the inflation rate of 0.8%. percentage point. So what does that mean?
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
That would be a one-time thing. Now, we can argue, oh, no inflation is good. Okay, I get it. Life is very complicated. But what if I told you that your inflation is higher, but your income is higher, right? You're making more money. You're now working. They're now hiring more people at General Motors. People now have the economy better.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
There's more people producing and making things, and I think rather than working part-time jobs in retail and in travel and tourism. There's always a payoff, right? We can't sit back and not be active. We can't be inactive because we're afraid of something happening. That's not what leadership is.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
You can't be afraid if you take an action that you're going to break something and something's not going to go right. If something does not go right or goes terribly wrong, you know, tariffs are not permanent. You could remove them, right?
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
So all of a sudden, like I was telling you, if $100 time and 25% really was a 25% charge in addition to your $100 widget, which it is not, but if it was even close to that, you could always say, ah, that's too much for our consumers. That's too much for our economy. They're now gone. So it's not permanent.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
But all the studies show, from the Boston Fed to the US Industry Commission show that tariffs are not a major factor for a play pit. It's money printing, right? Big problem there, government spending. Those are the main reasons for inflation, not power.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Sure. So when you think of the pharmaceutical market, there's two things. There's branded drugs, which would be like Some new drug, right? Some new branded drug that just came out a year or two ago. This is where the pharmacy companies like Pfizer make all of their money. And then there's the generic drugs, which is what most people take.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Somebody's on blood pressure medication or even something like Viagra. This is all generic medication now. So it's commoditized. It's lower cost. And the big pharmaceutical companies have decided that it's much easier for them to either, A, contract manufacture overseas, which India being one of the lead spots, followed by China. or just get out of the business altogether.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
And so then those players in India and China, namely India, become the brand, like Dr. Ready or Cipla or Sun Pharmaceutical. These are all brands that they sound American, right? But they're not. They're Indian brands. And on the pharmaceutical side, I believe India is a culture of more than half, at least 60%, maybe more, of our pharmaceuticals, generic pharmaceuticals.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
In order for them to even make these pharmaceutical goods, they rely on China for organic compounds and synthetic chemicals that go into your drugs, right? So China is a major component of the generic supply chain in the United States.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
And not only that, because of China's Made in China 2025 policy, they're also moving way up the value chain, and China is investing heavily in branded drugs and new treatment, so they can become the Pfizer's and the AbbVie's of the world. And they're getting there. They're on par with a lot of our big biotech guys. For the US.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Well, for generic pharmaceuticals, it's about 80%, right? So, about 80% of your generic farmer is overseas. And the majority of that comes from India. Other markets would be Israel is huge with Teva Pharmaceuticals. That's an Israeli brand. And a lot of companies also from Ireland, believe it or not. A lot of those would be American companies that contract manufacturing in Ireland.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
And these guys are a big source of Americans' trade deficit in Ireland because of pharmaceutical drugs, actually. One of the biggest sources of Americans' trade deficit is pharmaceutical drugs because, as we know, Americans are on a boatload of drugs. Right? No one's on drugs like Americans. So we have a huge deficit. It would be great if we... Hey, we're number one.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
We're number one.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Well, some people say it is a national security issue, actually, because if you can't get things like antibiotics or when you had COVID, for example, when you couldn't imagine if you're in a situation with COVID and this could happen easily in the future, why not? But you go, we don't have the labs to make vaccines.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Let's pretend you thought the mRNA vaccine was God's gift to mankind to save you from COVID. We don't have the labs to do those things. We don't have the innovators. Well, where are we going to get it? Well, we got to get it from China. We got to get from somewhere else. And as you increase your...
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
purchase of, as you would actually increasingly depend on imports, then you lose the local lab talent to even want to get in the pharmaceutical business because it's just so small, right? It's just a branded guy. So we're doing R&D and wonder drugs, you know? So it's very important to have a little mix of all of it. You can't just have the branded, the big one, the drugs that are here.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
You got to have the generic drugs as well, because these are the drugs that we take all the time. And these are the things that are going to keep you alive during surgery, for example, like anesthesia, for example. We don't even make that in the United States. Those kind of medications are very important.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
And again, what happens if, let's pretend, again, let's pretend, and these are not ridiculous assumptions. Let's pretend that you said, okay, ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, that is the cure. We don't need the vaccine. Or doctors can use that. They can use that as a prophylactic to COVID vaccine. Guess where all of that is made? It is almost entirely made in India.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Now, if India also says, we want to use these things, they have a billion people. They have three times more of our population. Do you think they're going to let... A bunch of these life-saving pills disappear from their market to serve the United States.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Even if the United States was charged with paying $5 more a pill, they probably wouldn't do that because they have an old national security issue to deal with, a national health emergency, for example. So it's important to make these things here, and we do not.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Yes, that is still the domain of the US, high-end biotech. But I will tell you that the large research guys, so Pfizer or Eli Lilly, if they're trying to come up with new things like synthetic biology, for example, this would be like a robotic arm, for example, and making it work with your skin. If you're doing research in that, those guys partner with the Chinese.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Because the Chinese are just set up to do those things, okay? So China is also learning to do that, and they are going to be leaders in that, and the Chinese government wants to be leaders in that, as I said earlier, with the Made in China 2025 policy, where they made biotech a very important part of China's growth strategy. India doesn't have anything like that.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
India is more involved in the generic space, right? But China is involved in boom. China's a beast, man. If China sets out to do something, they get it done. You guys are no joke. And if they say they want to be leaders in something, they tend to be leaders in it. They get there. They have not failed yet.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Well, I will say it's getting better insofar as now it's a conversation whereas before it never was. Okay. So, and it's only been a conversation in my view, maybe the last four years, right? Because COVID really hit in 2020, 2021, right? That's where it really became a conversation. So today you had Trump saying, I want to bring the pharmaceutical supply chain home.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
I want to make more generic drugs. He didn't say generic drugs. He said, I want to make more pharmaceuticals at home. What? We can obviously assume that that means generic, considering most of the drugs that Americans consume, including some basic things like a saline drip in the hospital, it's imported.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
We assume that he's not just talking about the branded drugs, because a lot of those drugs are already made in the United States, or again, contract manufactured in Europe and Ireland in particular. So yes, it is a topic of discussion. It is something that you hear more about on Capitol Hill. You have the President of the United States talking about doing it, right?
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Making it so that you could do those things there. But again, like manufacturing anything else, you have to be incentivized. And when you're making something that is low cost, like a generic drug that people take every day, How can you make it cost effective for a lab to produce that in the United States and not go broke?
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
Or not need the US government to give them a check of $100,000 a month in order to do it. So there's policies in place to make sure that can happen. None of those have become law yet, but wheels are in motion. It is a topic of discussion, right?
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | February 15th, 2025: Trump's Crackdown Triggers Cartel Retaliation & Global Tariff Fight
But again, you have to make it so that those key drugs, those generic drugs, including those drugs that you mentioned earlier, like ADHD medication and others that are in constant short supply in this country, like penicillin that are not made here, for the most part, you can do it here and you can make some money or at least not lose money.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
Then you and I spent a lot of money making an 11-pound widget, and then Europe says, it's got to be 12 pounds. So it's a constant barrier for us so they can protect their local widget guys. Also, which is something that all Americans have heard of, I'm sure, in the news is, It's what Capitol Hill always complains about is the phytosanitary measures.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
These are measures on food and animal care where the Europeans and the British will say, we don't want to import your beef. We don't want to import your chicken because you give them a... a certain vaccine that we don't want, or you had a case of mad cow disease, whatever it may be, right? So that is the way that that blocks trade.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
So there's a lot of other issues that the Trump administration has looked at. And then, of course, the other issue would be balanced trade. So where are the countries that we have a huge trade deficit with. Of course, the EU is the second only to China, which is big, but declining because of the tariffs of 2017. In the UK, we have a surplus.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
So I was actually kind of surprised with the tariff on there. But I believe that the reason for the tariff on the UK is because they might become a transshipment point for the European Union in some way, right? With the European USA, you know, our multinationals in UK, we'll ship it through there or whatever, but the UK has a 10% tariff.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
Again, the reason why it's higher is because a lot of these countries, especially in the emerging world, like India and China, they want to protect their own industry. They want their industries to grow and they want to protect labor, okay?
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
It's very simple because the consumer is king. We have to be able to fill our garages, not with cars. We have to fill our garages with ski mobiles, canoes, children's play sets, toys no one uses, skis that have been known as used, 50,000 pairs of shoes. That's why they want you to buy all these things. No one buys like the United States. No one's ever going to be a consumer like the United States.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
The average American consumer has a $6,000 revolving debt on their credit card. In the UK, I think it's $2,000. In Japan, it's zero. So, I mean, that's why they'd have a complaint. They wanted the United States. The United States is the free market. There is no other free market but the United States. Yeah, Singapore has zero tariffs. Okay. Singapore. Okay.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
California is like... I mean, the Massachusetts economy is probably bigger than Singapore. So, I mean... You know, whatever. Good for them, right? So, you know, they never complained because they thought that as long as Americans could buy cheap goods in their shop until they drop, then Wall Street was fine with that. And of course, the Capitol Hill was fine with that.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
And so, you know, but look, a happy consumer is a happy voter, you know, so maybe there's a connection. Or a happy voter, you know, but we have not always seen that though, have we? Because the consumer has been very happy for a long time.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
You know, consumers have been very happy for a long time and there's been unrest in this country politically because of the, because of global trade, because of how that is set up and because politicians are not listening to what Americans are saying on that issue since the 1990s. Where we are today is because of that, you know?
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
You got Trump, and that has been his centerpiece argument for, you know, since 2016. He ran on trade.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
Look, oh no, the Atlantic and the Democratic advocacy media was shocked by Trump. I mean, I don't even know what to say to that. Of course, he could literally come out and say, we found an alien race and they're going to cure cancer and they're friendly and here's their big spaceship and they're going to teach us how to travel at warp speed. And it would be like, what? These guys...
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
you know, it would be the end of the world. It's the apocalypse. Yeah, how dare he? How dare he do that? We totally discount anything that they say. Now, as far as the rest of the world goes, no, the Europeans are absolutely beside themselves with grief. The economist today is talking about how this is the end of the world.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
There's a big image of Orange Man Trump carving out the United States from the rest of the planet. Like we're somehow the bad guys and we hate the rest of the world and we're giving the rest of the world the big middle finger and tell them to go fend for themselves. The United States has been the consumer market for all of their goods forever.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
And all we're saying is, can we please be a consumer of our own goods? Not all, not 100%, but some. Can it be possible? We don't have antibiotics in this country that we make, at least not in big numbers. We have one company that makes amoxicillin, which is a pedicillin, which would have saved you from COVID if you had it in 2011. I can count one company on my hand.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
Well, the positive side is that you are going to entice companies to manufacture goods in the United States. And that might mean that they're investing in new greenfield manufacturing plants, like we heard recently from Hyundai when they said they would invest in steelmaking in Louisiana. That's unheard of. They're only doing that because of the tariff threat. Also, maybe a gesture of goodwill's
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
So Ireland is going to cry about all that because they're the big pharmaceutical guys because they lowered taxes or whatever the tax rate is in order to attract all American pharmaceutical companies there. Look, what if you didn't have all of these medications? What if your country didn't have it? What would you think about it?
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
If you want us just to be totally import dependent, this is a terrible idea. So the United States is saying, we're still going to trade with the world. We still want to buy your BMWs and Jaguars, okay? That's not going to end, but we want you to invest in our country. If you don't want to, and the American consumer decides he's not going to buy the BMW, okay? He's going to buy a
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
a Tesla instead or whatever, then that's their prerogative and that's you. You failed. And I will say this, I believe BMW has a factory in Mexico, so they could stop crying because they could just ship cars from Mexico to the United States.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
Okay. Well, I did give you a worst case too because I said, again, using our amazing widget factory, I said that if we require parts from Vietnam and Southeast Asia in order to make our widget, and we're just a small company with 10 guys running the show, that we are going to be in trouble because we can't tell those guys, hey, let's up the ante.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
And instead of buying 1,000, we're going to buy 2,000 because maybe we don't have the money to do that. We got to go to our banker and we got to get out a loan to do those things for our suppliers to say, okay, I'll lower the price for you because you're increasing your volume. We might not be able to do that.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
And so when we order those goods from a customer and our customer broker is going to call us up and say, hey, Ken, you just ordered $100,000 worth of goods that's coming out of Maersk ship on June 1st. And you owe us, you got to deposit $100,000 with customs. Right. You know, that's going to be a problem. That's going to be a headache for us. That's going to be a big headache for us.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
Look at this. Look at this. Go ahead. Yeah. Okay. You and I, not our widget factory. I'll give myself an example because I don't... We're sick. We're sick. The doctor says you're diabetic. You've got to stop eating the chocolate cake every day or you're going to be on dialysis. I can't stop eating chocolate cake. I must keep eating it because I love it. Okay. That's the story.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
You're going to be on dialysis by the time you're 60 years old and you'll be living on it until you're dead. Or I can say, okay, I'm going to stop eating chocolate cake as much as it sucks. And the doctor says, you're in fine health. I'm not too happy about this fact that I'm not going to eat chocolate cake, but at least I'm happy in the long term that I'm going to be healthier. This is long term.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
We're thinking long term here. We're thinking What am I going to do to rearrange global trade? Because the way global trade is now, it is set to manufacture things in Asia. Yes, the United States innovates, but after we innovate, we don't mass produce. Asia masses produce. Look, there's a company in my home state, Massachusetts, called Boston Dynamics.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
to hope that the Koreans weren't going to be tariffed, but that's another story. So that's one reason why you do it. And if you and I, let's say, here's another reason. If you and I, other than the Greenfield project, right, this would be a brand new manufacturing plant to make whatever it may be, Starlink satellites. You and I have a factory. We spent millions of dollars to build this factory.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
They make those stupid, ugly robotic dogs that you've probably seen. and some cyborg robots.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
Well, what country thinks long term that we're always worried about surpassing the United States?
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
What place in the world? Is it the Europeans? Are we worried about the Europeans? No, we're not worried about the Europeans. Is it the Brazilians? No, we're not worried about that. Who's the long term planners that we're so worried about taking over us? It's the Chinese.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
Yeah, I agree with you. Okay, so it's not going to be long-term pain like we're going to be suffering for years. You know what I mean? Going back to our widget factory, we might be suffering for a few months and hopefully we don't go out of business, honestly. I don't know. And I will say this, and maybe some companies will. Maybe some companies will go out of business. That is absolutely true.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
Okay? But I will tell you this. There are many people who manufacture in the United States, like the United Oil Workers, who also went out of business. Tens of thousands, millions over the years because of the policy that has been in place since the 1980s. You can keep doing that. You can keep doing that. And Every passing year, you will have less and less opportunity for blue-collar workers.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
They're not going to work for Bain. They're not going to work for McKinsey Group, whatever it's called. They're not going to all become doctors and brain surgeons. They're not going to work for Wall Street. And you know what else? What's going to happen? They're not going to work for AI companies developing software because they're not all geniuses.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
And what's going to happen to that service sector on the tech side when China competes with Microsoft and Adobe and Intel? They might not compete with OpenAI in the United States market, but when the Vietnamese and the Brazilians want an AI platform, and the Chinese say, we charge you only $10. The Americans say, we charge $200. Ah, well, now the service industry is going to start to cry.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
We built it in 1980s. It got all the good equipment. It's ready to roll. We can make 100 widgets a day at this factory, whatever the widget may be. But we only make 60 widgets a day, maybe as low as 50. And the reason why is because import penetration from all these countries that, I wouldn't say abuse the United States, but think of the United States as their country, as their market.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
And they're going to understand what it's like that manufacturers have been dealing with for a very long time. They're going to understand the pain.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
That could create a real problem. Yeah. Possible. Anything in life is possible. Anything is possible, right? I mean, yes.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
Jeff, did you make up that saying, anything in life is possible? Well, let me give you another saying. And again, we're talking offline about us being X-types. And I'm going to give you another saying from the great Jedi master Yoda. who said there is no... Oh, man, you're geeking out on me now, buddy. Do or don't do. Do or don't do. There is no try. You either do it or you don't do it.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
You can stay with the status quo. It's fine. We already know what the status quo is going to lead to. We already know. We already know. Europe knows it's deindustrializing. The European Central Bank former president, Mario Draghi, wrote a big report on this. UK knows it's deindustrializing. It's lucky to grow at half percent.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
Their market is in free fall right now because their market depends on us. Jaguar, which is owned by an Indian company called Tata Motors. It's not even a British company anymore. They are worried they can't sell Jaguars. That is ridiculous because if you and I want a Jaguar and we can afford a Jaguar, we are going to buy a Jaguar. We're not going to replace it with a Subaru Forester.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
We're going to buy a Jaguar.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
I mentioned the Subaru Forester because I have one in my driveway, but I'm telling you, it's not a Jaguar. I would rather have a Jaguar, but I can't afford a Jaguar. If you want a Jaguar, you are going to buy a Jaguar. That is the fact. Look, there's going to be pain if it's that horrific then Trump can reverse course. Hopefully, it's not that horrific. I believe what we're going to see.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
So, just to explain to your audience, what we saw on Liberation Day, there was, if you assume this, a baseline tariff of 10%, okay? All countries, this is supposed to be non-negotiable. And then the tariff rose higher. So, other countries might have a 40% tariff, such as the case in Vietnam. 46%, I think it is.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
So you and I that spent millions of dollars on this factory floor and all this equipment, we're not firing on all eight cylinders. We're firing on maybe four. So what happens is all of a sudden, you and I are starting to get orders from Boeing and Ford to make that widget. And now we're hiring a third shift. And now we're putting those machines back to work. And so that's the good thing.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
So that might get negotiated lower because they might say, okay, you agreed to, I don't know, lower your tariffs on motorcycles. Wait, I'm just now making it up as if the Vietnamese are importing tons of Harley Davidsons. They could actually import a Harley Davidson from Thailand because Harley makes Harley Davidson in Thailand. So it's irrelevant even if they were to say something like that.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
You'd be a fool if you fell for that. But they could say something like that, and Trump could probably fall for it. And then that tariff gets lowered, okay? That's a possibility. But there will be a limit, or there should be.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
Because if Trump is going to say that tariffs are X on Monday, and now they're Y on the following Monday, meaning they're non-existent, that is not good for a business and market sentiment. Because business and market sentiment means certainty. If the market understands that tariffs are 10% period or 15% period, that's it, end of story, they can adjust to the new economic regime.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
If they think that it's going to be 10% and then two weeks later it's going to be nothing and we're going to go back, it's too confusing and the market's going to be volatile.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
And again, back to our widget factory, we're not going to know whether we should be buying more from Mexico or ending our relationship with our Vietnamese suppliers who we love and we love going to hang out with them in the summertime on the beaches in Vietnam, or if we should call our friend from college and tell him, hey, we'll pay the American price, which is a little bit more money for your widget.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And as I said in a Compact Magazine piece I did this week is that, you know, you could break out the Grizzly Cooler, which is made in the United States, or a Royal Master Grill, which is also made in the United States. Some of them anyway. Look at you. Look at you. Those are two very good puns. And they're not members of the coalition for fun.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
That's the best case scenario, right? That's the best case scenario that would happen with tariffs. You have to keep them permanent in order to make that happen. Businesses, like markets, they need certainty. So Trump can't be willy-nilly about this.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
He can't say there's going to be a tariff on Monday and then on Friday he says, oh, I changed my mind because so-and-so country said they're going to import more chicken. That's not how it works. So you have to be very serious. and show these countries what's going to be permanent.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
So let's pretend we're at Walmart. Everybody knows what Walmart is. And Walmart has to fill its warehouses with goods that you and I buy. And it's springtime. So of course, since the end of the holidays, they've been buying patio furniture and things like that. So they are calling up They're factories that they work with in South Asia, obviously, Southeast Asia and China.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
And they're saying, I need 100,000 orders of this Adirondack, plastic Adirondack chair. Okay. Well, that plastic Adirondack chair used to cost $10 for Walmart to import. And now with tariffs, maybe it costs... Let's say all things being equal, it's 20%. So let's say now it costs 12, right? So 20% of 10, that's a $12 tariff. So Walmart might say, oh, that's too much money.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
Actually, Walmart will say that because Walmart just wants things cheap. And Walmart's going to say, I don't want to pay that. And then the Chinese or the Asian company that makes that plastic adder on that chair is going to say, well, a deal's a deal. And then Walmart's going to say, well, instead of me importing 100,000, How about if I import 150,000 of them instead? Can you give me a deal?
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
Oh, yeah. Okay. I'll lower the price 10%, right? So, the tariff, in other words, what I'm trying to tell you is that $100 chair tariffed at 10%, just to make it very simple math, does not mean the chair costs $110, right? That's not what it means. Because of what I just explained to you, Walmart can set prices. Walmart can force its clients to lower prices.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
They can also tell their clients, I'm going to buy more, increase volume. Can you lower price for that reason? So there's many ways that the price change. So it's not a direct percent. It's not like $100 becomes $10 more out of your pocket. That's not how it works. But not every company is Walmart. Not every company is Walmart. So now let's look at the small company.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
Let's go back to you and I. You and I have been at our widget-making factory. We need to import a whole bunch of- We're widget kings, buddy. That's right. We're the widget.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
We're a widget dynasty, man. And we got to import some things from- From, let's not say Mexico, because that free trade deal looks like it's been untouched, except for steel. We're going to import some stuff from Vietnam. And it used to be 3.5% duty. And now it's a 46% duty. And that was $100 good. So now for us, it's going to be a problem because we're a smaller business.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
And we're not going to be able to make that kind of deal with our supplier. So we're going to have to be very creative. We might have to say, oh, no, I don't have the money to do this. at the moment, so I'm in trouble. That is very possible.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
Or you might say, I'm going to work what's in my factory for now until I can find new suppliers and maybe those guys are in Mexico, maybe I can find guys in Mexico because again, the free trade deal in Mexico seems to be intact.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
Or maybe I say, which would be Trump's dream and hope, that you and I call our friend that we haven't spoke to since college and he says, Ken, you didn't know that I made this widget too? And Okay, it's going to cost you $10 more a pound, but hey, at least you know you can get it. Whatever you want, here's the price, deal, sold. And now that's what's happening.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
So otherwise, again, you and I are going to have to pay that price. And however we talk to our suppliers about it, that's what we end up getting the final price tag of. But there's going to be some suffering for sure. But look... Life is not easy, man. Life is not easy, man.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
The reason why you and I aren't generals in a war is because we're probably sitting there and we're thinking of all the worst case scenarios and we're pining over what could possibly go wrong and who's not going to like us anymore and who's going to be mad and we're not going to get anywhere and then we're just going to go years and years into the future and no change is going to be made.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
We're not going to take any risks because we're too busy worried about what might happen. Well, that's not what leadership is. You have to take action. If this is a complete disaster, which I don't think it will be because the China tariffs were not a complete disaster, you can reverse it. This is not open heart surgery.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
If all of a sudden the market goes down 80%, which it's not going to do, and people are being laid off left and rights and there's bread lines being formed, you can say, okay, we're all done with that experience. Experiment. Let's go back to the way it was before I came up with this idea. I mean, that's the worst case scenario.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
This is harder than rocket science. A rocket might have 10,000 pieces in it, but we import tens of thousands of items and we have tariff codes for tens of thousands of items. So this is harder than rocket science, really. And it's not going to be easy, but we cannot be afraid.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
The United States, since the days of Ross Perot back in 1990s, and I know you're a Gen Xer, I'm pretty sure you are, and you know who Ross Perot is.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
If you're a millennial news junkie, you would know who Ross Perot is. Since that time, though, the electorate has said The free trade deals, NAFTA, for example, eh, not so sure it's great for us because blue collar labor, which dominates the United States, right? We're not all software engineers and doctors and lawyers or Wall Street brokers, right?
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
Those guys have been... Okay, I don't know if I can say this on the air, so I have to pause. I bet you can. Give it a try. No, give it a try. Have been screwed. Okay, and government reports that have said this, okay? The International Trade Commission, look it up. Free trade deals were great for Walmart. They were great for Microsoft. These are multinational corporations.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
They're not really interested in the homeland, like me and you and our widget factory. Our widget factory is interested in the homeland. Microsoft is not interested in the homeland. They're not. So the electorate has said, we want someone to pay attention to our interests. So a lot of times you hear people will say, oh, All these guys who import goods, they're going to be crushed.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
All these guys have a whole business importing goods from Vietnam and Cambodia. They're going to be absolutely crushed. It's absolutely devastating. Okay. I get it. Look, there are companies in the United States, large and small, who have invested tens of millions of dollars, maybe even just hundreds of thousands of dollars from companies that have four or five people in it.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
And they are constantly being crushed by import penetration from around the world, from countries that no one can compete with because their wages are lower, not because they're being paid slave labor, but because their currency is worth The price of a seashell at a gift shop at Cape Cod in the summertime. So these are countries that you cannot compete with on labor alone.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
Not only that, when you look at a country like China, they heavily subsidize industries that they see as being industries of the future and industries that they want to be dominant players in. you are not going to win that fight with the Chinese, period. So there is something you have to do.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
You can either say, forget it, we're going to throw our hands up in the air and we're going to de-industrialize like the Europeans and the British. Or you could use tariffs and other measures because tariffs are not the sole solution. to do something about it and take action.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
If you don't do anything about it, five, 10, 15 years from now, instead of 60% of the cars that are on the road in the United States being American made, it'll be 40%, 30%, until it's almost nothing. Because look at places like Korea, big car manufacturer in Korea. Everybody knows Hyundai and Kia. Those are the brands. I think it's 80% of cars on the road in Korea are made in Korea. Japan, 90%.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
Okay? Great for them. Yep. So, the United States is just saying, you know something? I don't need to be 100% of our cars. How about if it's 75%? How about if it's 80? How about that? Can that possibly think? The United States doesn't even have an auto industry anymore because of free trade. We have a North American auto industry now. It's over.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
And that's the reason why Trump can't even put tariffs on Mexico and Canada cars because it would totally destroy the auto industry because America doesn't have an auto industry anymore. It's the North American auto industry now. With Mexico and Canada, it's all entwined. You cannot take that apart without massive pain. So we already lost the auto industry in this country.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
And the auto industry in this country is the center of the hub of automation. What's the industry that decides we're going to automate? How do you automate? It's the auto industry. It's not the guys who make fabrics. It's not the guys who make airplanes. It's the auto industry that taught us how to automate.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
Well, again, a lot of the countries that we trade with, like let's look at the EU, for example, in the UK, their basic tariff was called the World Trade Organization, their baseline tariff. Let's say ours is 3.4%. Theirs might be, I think the UK is 3.9 or 4, and maybe the EU is 5. So it's not a huge difference.
The President's Daily Brief
PDB Situation Report | April 5th, 2025: Trump's Economic Gambit & China Flexes On Taiwan
But what Trump is complaining about, what Trump team is complaining about is that it's not the tariff It's the non-tariff barriers. So let's say, for example, you and I, we have that widget factory, we're trying to make some money, right? So we got our widget and it's a beautiful widget, but our widget weighs 10 pounds. And the rule in Europe for this type of widget is it can only weigh 11.